MIND BLOWING Butter LOBSTER & FISH HEAD Curry! SEAFOOD Tour of Jakarta Indonesia

Hey guys, it's Mike Chen. Like I mentioned when I arrived in Indonesia, what I love about this country is that when you go to different regions, the cuisine changes as well. And today, I'm about to try Padang cuisine. And this is a really, really popular type of food here, emphasized by rich flavors like coconut and chilies. The restaurant we're going to right now, it's sort of like a version of dim sum. I'll show you what I mean. So as soon as I sat down, this all arrived. That's why I said this place sort of reminds me of a dim sum place. So you get all these dishes. What's really interesting, you got to keep in mind is that whatever you don't want, don't touch it. I guess you can like move it aside. But if you touch it in any way, you're paying for it. But whatever's in front of me right now, this is all the things I want, including this majestic creature. This is a white snapper curry fish head. And of course, I would never have found this restaurant. My local friends who are right over there, they don't want to be on camera. They told me they come here every single... You guys come here every single week. I don't blame them because this looks absolutely ridiculous. This is what I was told. It's called the marijuana sauce. Not because it has marijuana in there, but it's highly addictive. That's kind of like the crack rolls in Korea. So you're supposed to mix the red with the white. And I'm just going to mix a little part of it. And that'll be my little fish dipping sauce. I typically like to start with the colored part. I'm just getting a nice chunk of meat from this region. And that is just all good eating right here. Happy Indonesia trip to me. Oh god. Speechlessness has happened in several different scenarios for me. When I see the Grand Canyon, when I witness a sunset in Sedona, and just now when I bit into this fish head. I've had curry fish head twice in my life. First time was, of course, in Singapore. It doesn't even hold a candle to this. But the best fish head, curry fish head, I've ever had anywhere in the world. Let me get another piece to explain to you why this is so good. First of all, do you see? Take a look right here. The splendid white flesh of this fish. You see that? And you see how easily my spoon is cut into the meat? The fish is delicate. It's flaky. It's just crazy beautiful. Dip it in some of the curry. When you bite down, you don't need to bite hard. Because that's how delicate the meat is. The meat and the curry, it's almost like a poetic food dance. That's just going crazy when you bite into it. Because the fish disintegrates in your mouth. It mixes in with the curry flavor. The curry itself, this thing deserves an award. I wouldn't say it's not spicy at all. Very, very subtle hints of heat. I never had curry like this before. It has such a huge flavor of lemongrass. It's just the lime that's in here that adds that beautiful citrus flavor. And all that with the fish. You just want to stand up and give this thing an applause. That's what you want to do. Every single bite I take, I want to stand up and give it a hand. Absolutely amazing. I could dip anything in this curry. I know this is going to go good with my rice. So a little more meat. Look at this thing. Gently scraping the collar meat on this fish. It's like when you take a spoon to an apple, you kind of scrape it. It's almost like you're making this gentle apple sauce. It feels like what I'm doing right now. Just magical. This part right here, this cheek meat, that is the best part of the fish head. I'm really excited because if the collar meat was already that tender, this is going to be even more so. Look at this. It's like scraping baby food from a jar. Also, what I love about this curry is that for about a minute, you get that subtle tingling in your throat from just a slight bit of chilies that's in here. That's a perfect amount of chilies. Not to overpower the delicateness of the fish itself. That's a fish cheek. You'll want to kiss every single day of your life. Best fish head curry, hands down, ever had in my life. Must get if you ever come to Indonesia. Must get. Oh, sorry. I gotta try it with the sauce. It was so good, I forgot the dipping sauce. So the red and green dipping sauce. It's not really spicy. I think there's some like little bits of seafood in here. We got little bits of fish in here with some chilies. This just adds to the wonderful citrus flavor of the fish. Bravo on this selection. I'm gonna give it to my friends now to eat because this, I don't want this to get cold and it'd be really sad. So here you guys can start eating that. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So like I said, these are a bunch of the other dishes that's available here. And this is supposed to be something that is really unique. This is a fried pigeon. This is a really flavorful little bird. I think I left it out too long. You know, the breast meat is a tiny bit dry. I mean, the little legs are tiny, but the meat has huge flavors. A little curry flavor on this. This actually might be better with a little hot sauce. And this is the sauce that comes with the little, for the little pigeon. Oh, that's nice. Because it's so tiny, the curry and the spices penetrate really deep into the flesh of the little bird. The little bit of chili highlights that flavor even more. That's a delicious experience on its own. This is called balado. And this is my first time in Indonesia eating stink beans, which is a really popular item here. And well, if you're wondering why it's called stink beans, come smell this. This is the one time you're gonna be happy that smellovision hasn't been invented yet. Oh, hax is such a funky, smelty. It smells like onion. I love that though. Oh, oh, oh, maybe not. When I first put it in my mouth, it was, I didn't expect it because it's a bean, right? So I kind of expected it to be a little fibrous, a little soft. It's not. It's actually really crunchy. Then that funky odor just kind of spilled over my mouth. And that took me by surprise there. This is the popular beef rendang. And it's probably the only Indonesian dish I've had in America. Oh, that's good. Foods that change flavor as you chew. I told you guys before, my favorite kinds of dishes. As soon as you put it in your mouth, it doesn't taste like much, I'll be honest. It didn't hit me until about two or three seconds in. When I took that fourth or fifth bite, all the gloriousness of that beef fills your senses, entices your taste buds. And then you can taste all the spices that's in here, the slight sweetness from the coconut milk. But really the spices, it's almost, almost tastes like five spice. That's a glorious food experience. I mean, this is a transformative dish. No wonder it's one of the signature dishes for this country. I'm just telling you guys 100% honest opinion. It is that good. At least here, it is that good. All right, as you can see, we have tons of dishes to eat and a kitchen to clean up. And this food day, this ain't over. See you in a bit. Right outside the restaurant, I ran into this gentleman making a popular Jakarta street food, this dessert snack thing. It's called Pui Ape. It's like a little pancake shaped kind of like a UFO. And there's three different types of cakes. And this one I got, look at this thing. Like I said, shaped like a UFO. This one's a little broken. But pandan flavor, tender, moist cake. Look at this, right in the middle. That kind of almost looks like some shredded, like shredded meat. That is crunchy and sweet. With like a gentle, delicate little wafer on the outside. The inside is so moist and airy. Really nice pandan flavor. That's delicious. This is another cake. This is called the Pui Pan Chong. Pan Chong. Oh, it's so coconutty. How delicate this cake is. Dip it in the sugar that he just gave me. Oh, good. Really good. It's like melty, coconutty. Almost like a, like a paste in here. And the reason it gives me a lot of sugar is because you kind of need it. There's a little, it's no sugar flavor in here, except for the coconuts. A little salty even. And that sugar provides a nice crunch as well. This is the third of this gentleman's masterpiece. Pui Ju Ben. Little pinch cake. They're little tiny little, little cakes of different shapes and sizes. There's chocolate on top. I think all of this, with some ice cream, even more, you know. Thank you, very mochi. I'm saying that because, well, there's mochi in my drink. And it's also on one of our t-shirts. By the way, if you want to check out our t-shirts, link is below. This is the famous Nasi Udak that everyone, again, has been telling me, screaming at me, no less, to get while I'm here in Indonesia. And this is just another one of those dishes. Kind of like the Nasi Lemak I had in Singapore. Coconut rice, a wide variety of veggies and meats surrounding it. Like the planets surround the sun. This place is really known for their, their satay. So I got some chicken satay as well. So to eat this, I think we're going to have a little soiree. And combine all the ingredients. Just want to try this rice. Best coconut rice I've had so far in Indonesia. I don't mind if this whole plate was just rice and crunchy onions on top. Don't mind it. Oh, excellent chicken sausage. A little sweet and just such a juicy sausage. A little sambal sauce, some eggs, chicken skin. It's gonna take an all-inclusive bite. This is so melty. Not hard, really, really crispy. I love dishes that has a lot going on. Different types of texture. It just keeps everything really interesting, you know? We've got this drink that has a bunch of little mochi balls inside. It's really gingery. The mochi balls actually not as mochi-esque as the Chinese mochi balls. They kind of fall apart a little more. I've been looking forward to this. I've been wanting some good satay since I came here. Oh yeah. And I don't even like chicken. I love everything about this. Incredibly tender. You see how my fork is kind of digging into the chicken meat? Without much of an effort at all. You see how that's kind of breaking apart? It tastes like an inferno. Not spicy-wise. Just you can taste the fire that's in this little piece of chicken. It's peanutty. It's buttery. It's sweetened at that perfect point where the more you eat, it's not gonna grease up your stomach. This is a great meal, I think, on its own. It has everything, right? It has some meat. It has some crunch. It has some carbs. It has the beautiful rice in the middle. Backup dancers, meet Beyonce. This is the star of the show right here. Don't knock it till you try it. If I ever come back here, I'm probably gonna get another like five orders of this. I think we're just gonna go to town. What a happy food day so far. You guys want to go one more place? Let's go one more place. Last place today and my local friends took me to Layer Seafood. This place is pretty darn amazing. So if you know anything about fish or can identify what's a good tasting fish by looking at it, you can pick your own seafood. You can pick your own lobster, your fish, whatever you want. And this is one of the most famous seafood restaurants in all of Jakarta. This is their treasure trove of seafood. Look at this. I mean, basically everything you want is here. You got mud crabs, lobsters, a bunch of different types of fish. All right, let's go wait for our crab. This place also has like a little spice bar. It's kind of cool because it reminds me of a hotpot place. All right, so for the fish, we got a dwarf gourmani. And this is something that's really native to Southeast Asia. Beautiful fish. And check this out. Salted egg over fried fish skin. So the fish skin is really crispy. First time having a fish skin chip. This is salmon, by the way. This is so crispy and nice. You need some spice with this though. A little bit of the sambal. It's crispy, but with the salted egg and anything fried, you gotta have some spice. So it's perfect with the sambal. Never had this fish before. It's a popular fish in Southeast Asia. I love the way they cook it. This is kind of like the way they cook my fish in the Philippines the first day I was there. Wow, it is hot. Oh, this thing is fried perfectly. Crispy on the outside. Look at that beautiful, flaky, juicy, tender flesh. All the fish I've had in this country so far, really, there's no fishiness to it. They cook it so well and so clean. It does need some sambal though. And they give me a sweet soy sauce to dip it in. Ooh, my lobster just got here. Hey lobster, be right with you. It's perfect with this fish. The fish meat is almost sweet on its own. I'm just gonna add some chili. Oh, you know what? I don't need any chili. It's a little sweet soy sauce. This thing's a home run. Oh, and here's how the locals eat this fish. So besides the meat, you grab the tail and you crack it off. Fishtail cracker. Better than most crackers you've ever had. It's really, really good. With slight fishiness to it. Fresh fish cracker. Who knew? This is awesome. Now let's get to our crab. I've been waiting. This is like one of their signature dishes here. And I've had crab cooked all sorts of ways, but never with this much garlic. That finger lick was so good. I almost forgot about the crab for a second there. Dip it back in this garlicky, peppery sauce. A little bit of lime. Forget about all the other crabs you've had in your life. Alongside the black pepper crab I've had in Singapore, no other crab since then has been able to blow my mind as much as this guy right here. We already know this is fresh crab. The meat is succulent. It's slightly sweet. So tender. But this garlic sauce is garlicky and peppery and spicy. Basically everything that's good in the world is in this sauce right here. This is on par with the pepper crab I had in Singapore. 100%. I really didn't think another crab dish would be able to stun me, but this has done it. I'm gonna put this on my must-eat food list for Indonesia. So if you are in Indonesia or Jakarta, you come here, you get this. You guys need this. And this will be one of the best, if not the best crab you will ever eat in your life. Trust me. This is a butter grilled lobster. So instead of just dipping the lobster in the butter afterwards, it's grilled with the butter. That was drop-the-fork good. The seafood restaurant is just plain amazing. How good could butter lobster taste? I thought. It just looks like a regular lobster, I thought. I'm so sorry. I doubted you. The crab was amazing. But there's something so simply, simply delicious about the lobster. It's gonna add a little citrus to it. In this bite, I'm gonna dip it in the sambal they gave me. This thing was created by a food mad genius. This is like the candy of the sea right here. It's incredibly sweet and tender and juicy. And in the midst of all that, you get that nice, savory, creamy flavor of the butter. You see all the little bits of carbon here? You can taste the actual grill. And some of you might think that's a bad thing. No, it's not. You get that slight hint of fire along with like just a tiny, tiny bit of bitterness to go with the sweetness of the lobster. Take the lobster. We take it and dip it in the garlic sauce. Oh man. The lobster meat is sweeter than the crab meat. And then when you dip it in that sauce, it adds that gorgeous smoky, garlicky, spicy, peppery flavor in the meat of the lobster. It's just dropping a flavor bomb. You still retain the sweetness and the texture. All that great stuff that's happening over here. Into it? That's happy eating. Put it on your food bucket list. This is one of those places. Especially if you love seafood, gotta come here. Today, another great food day. The most incredible fish head curry I've ever had. Then melty, peanut buttery satay. And now this. I also want to say, I feel like Indonesian food, completely underrated. Completely underrated. I am having such a blast going on a food adventure here in this country. And I will highly recommend any of you guys, when you want to go, you know, food traveling, make this one of your destinations. Definitely don't miss out on this country. All right, guys. As always, all the places I've been to is listed for you in the description box below. If you like my t-shirt, don't forget to check out the store, which is also listed right down there. Like I said, I got to get to this before it gets cold, or I'm going to be hating myself for a long, long time. So thank you all again so much for watching. Until we eat again.