Food Pt 1

This is the first part of an intended 3 part post on food; in the supermarket, in the restaurants, and cooking at home.
Today we'll focus on restaurant eating. Much like the rest of Asia this culture has a history of street food and regional varieties. For obvious reasons we won't be eating street food, but there is a healthier alternative. There are a huge number of malls here (more on those later) and all those malls have food courts with a bewildering array of choices. Like food courts at home you go up to the counter, order the food ( they have pictures which help) and take your food to a table. Food is very cheap and hygiene standards seem good. The malls also have more upscale places where you can be served at a table. Also quite inexpensive. There are of course all kinds of cuisine, Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, regional foods, seafoods. Pizza hut, KFC and McDonalds are everywhere. Pizza hut is quite upscale, the Colonel serves spaghettii as well as chicken, and the McD's are the biggest outlets I have ever seen. There are kiosks elsewhere in the mall serving various frozen treats- Japanese gelato, frozen yogurt, baskin Robbins. Oh yes, Starbucks and its copycats are everywhere. All of these places are packed, leading to the conclusion that no one cooks at home. It is common when we will be eating with someone, for them to ask,"what ki ind of food do you want to eat?"
Then there are restaurants-not in the malls and usually not much to look at on the outside. We have only gone to ones that have been recommended to us. The most interesting was a seafood place with large tanks of live fish and crabs out front. You give your order to someone and pick out the individual fish or crab if desired, and tell them how you want it cooked. One of the choices is on the grill outside right next to the tanks. Then find a seat at a table and wait for it to be brought to you. I think this place is relatively expensive, but someone else was picking up the tab both times so I don't know how much. One of my frustrations is that they overcook the fish. They cook it till its almost chewy. Once i get better language skills, i will try to modify that. There is western food, notably La Rucola, an Italian place more noted for pizza and good beef ( the chef/ owner is said to be able to get his hands on good Australian beef.). The four and five star hotels have western type restaurants among others, with mixed results. The very best western style meal we have had was here in our hotel/ apartment complex. It seemed to be a glorified coffee shop, but they said they served food so we tried it. Tom had osso buco and I had chicken cordon bleu. Both were excellent and the total bill $23. We will eat there again.
The portion size at most Asian places is quite small by western standards. The protein piece is very small, usually a bite or two and often there is tofu or tempe as a filler, even though it wasn't mentioned in the description. But overwhelmingly there is rice or noodles in abundant quantity. We are learning how to eat like Asians, which is probably not a bad thing.
Indonesians are said to have a sweet tooth and they have embraced western style pastries. Shops are everywhere. Fortunately I lost my sweet tooth some years ago so I am not tempted.
A word about alcohol. Beer is cheap and widely available. Wine is outlandishly expensive. As noted, a nice meal can cost about $20-25 for two and a bottle of Jacobs Creek Shiraz ($12-14 retail in the US) is $57.00. So we are forgoing wine right now. Spirits are likewise expensive and we are only drinking gin and tonic with the duty free gin we brought in with us.
Cheers,
Anne