Recados Filipinos

We closed 2012 with the Indonesian restaurant Dapur Babah Elite, and that basically summarizes my biases in terms of flavors. So we begin 2013 with rendang--strong, rich and pungent. I am one to immerse myself in anything that has been glossed by the color of stuff like turmeric, cinnamon, lemongrass, coriander and chili. There are billions of curry and curry-like flavors out there, and out of the few thousands I have tried so far, only a few have been disappointing--and that's mostly because of fear of strong flavors.

What I like about curry and similar dishes is how their personality changes. A teaspoon of fish sauce makes a world of difference. So does a teaspoon of chili. Even adding chicken broth, coconut milk, milk, wine or even tomato paste instead of water can spell something new. The same curry sauce or mix changes drastically with the use of a different protein.

This is how I came about my Lamb Rendang with Turmeric Rice. I chucked the traditional beef for lamb, added coconut milk and kaffir leaves, and finished it off with a healthy dose of lime. While the rendang base is fairly simple (ginger, galangal, lime, turmeric, chili, shallots, coriander, cumin and tomatoes in a blender or mortar, beaten or mashed to a pulp), I have also used pre-mixed rendang packets. It has been my best friend in my thesis nights when I didn't seem to accomplish much except for protracted dinners that went on until four in the morning, and every trip to the kitchen spoke of some kind of deliverance from being stuck in the same sentence for hours, even days. Paired with rice cooked in coconut milk and a dash of turmeric, my lamb rendang is my absolute favorite food-related memory of 2012.

Happy 2013! This year, I resolve to blog at least once a week. At least. The other resolution is to eat more adventurously as I have noticed I get lazy more these days and would often revert to the more than familiar places in trying to avoid frustration. For every great restaurant out there, there's a couple of dozen like it that are mediocre and hundreds that are simply atrocious. Most restaurant experiments have only led to the latter. Hopefully, we as consumers learn to discern between establishments that give us fads and gimmicks to earn a quick buck from those that give us really good food. 

My first meal at Dapur Babah Elite seven years ago left me awestruck at its dramatic interiors. The impact of aubergine, red and black created a sense of serenity that opposed the white walls and wooden furniture I acquaint with my childhood. The decor sets the stage for good food--it just has to. I was deliberately brought there as a tourist who would most likely enjoy the conversation pieces that offered a glimpse of Indonesian history and culture, but I could not make sense of the scaled down intensity of local flavors. Many locals find it too tame and does not offer anything striking from what has characterized the flavors they have been accustomed to. Dapur Babah's dilemma is how does it compete with numerous family recipes modified by time and aggrandized by nostalgia and familiarity.

Remove the familiarity, however, and one is left with the potential of Indonesian food, particularly Babah food--the resulting term describing the fusion of the culture of Chinese settlers, the indigenous Javanese population and the then occupying Dutch administration. Working within these parameters, Dapur Babah Elite presents a melange of flavors that make room for the uninitiated palate to access what would otherwise be an overwhelming excursion into three flavor profiles. 

While much of what we know of Indonesian and Chinese cooking has solidified into peranakan or nyonya cuisine, Dapur Babah Elite's edge comes from knowing how to incorporate Dutch tradition into the mix and recognizing the contributions made by bedienden (housemaids) in keeping each culture they serve well represented. They serve Erwtensoep--a traditional Dutch soup made of green peas, celery, parsley, sausage and chicken beside the Sop Merah Babah--a nyonya classic consisting of ox tongue, meat and shrimp balls in a tomato broth. Their Nasik Smoor Daging dan Kentang (Beef Onion Soup and Potatoes with Steamed Rice) and Nasik Smoor Lidah Babah (ox tongue soup with steamed rice, chili shrimp paste, cucumber and kerupuk/kropek are both combinations of Dutch and Javanese cooking styles.

Nasik Goerih Bebek

I tried the Nasik Goerih Bebek (Duck Fried Rice) and the Nasik Tjampoer Babah (Babah-styled Mixed Rice). The former is a nyonya/peranakan dish whose centerpiece was crispy duck flakes in galangal sauce and coconut rice. Other accompaniments include marinated tofu and dilis or deep fried anchovies. The latter featured pandan rice and an assortment of lauk-pauk (side dishes) such as sambal-marinated chicken, deep-fried shrimp, tempeh and vegetables in coconut sauce.

  

Phone number is +61 21 7060 2256

(image from: It's Free to F)