Paris, CNN Indonesia —
The expression ‘you haven’t eaten if you haven’t eaten rice’ is very close to Indonesians. Rice, wherever you are, is almost always carried around to satisfy your appetite. No exception in Pariscapital of France.
Finding rice in Paris is actually not difficult because there are many restaurants or shops that serve Asian food such as from China, India, Arabic and Thailand.
But for Indonesians, sometimes there is a desire to taste Indonesian food for tourists or those who live in the city nicknamed La Ville Lumière.
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Indonesian food is not that difficult to find even though the quantity is less than other types of Asian cuisine. One place that can cure your nostalgia for the tastes of the archipelago can be found at the restaurant ‘Le Borobudur’.
Ike Santoso, owner of Le Borobudur restaurant, tells the reasons for opening an Indonesian food shop. Introducing Indonesia à la Français or French style is the principle promoted by this woman from Semarang.
“I like cooking Indonesian food, while French chefs are already great and there are so many French food restaurants. I want to present Indonesian food here in a French way,” said Ike to CNNIndonesia.com, recently.
One of the methods implemented by Ike is to provide menu variants that are not very numerous but are taken very seriously. He wants every food provided to have its own impression on visitors’ tongues.
Some of the mainstay menus at Le Borobudur restaurant include fried rice, chicken satay, beef rendang, grilled chicken and fish sauce. Ike said that fish pepes is one of the menu items that is most often sold out by visitors.
“I make fish pepes as unique as possible by wrapping it in banana leaves. The fish pepes often runs out and I often go back and forth to buy ingredients and make more fish pepes,” he said.
Sure enough, when CNNIndonesia.com visited the fish pepes in question had run out. Fried rice has finally become the choice to wash away the local taste buds.
Mouthful after mouthful of fried rice at Le Borobudur feels like ‘coming home’ to Indonesia. Savory shrimp broth, strong garlic aroma, and the sweet taste of soy sauce blend into one. The final touch of placing crackers on the side of the plate completes everything.
For Ike, making Indonesian food that is as close to its origin as possible is one of his principles. He doesn’t want the experience of 27 years living in France to fade his love for Indonesia.
Since opening in 2023, he has seen interest in his restaurant increasing, especially at two big events such as the 2024 Olympics and 2024 Paralympics. Indeed, when CNNIndonesia.com was there, the average number of visitors was local.
Most of them have just come to the place and are attracted by the pictures of food displayed in the front window of the restaurant. The Indonesian nuance in the restaurant with painting and puppet ornaments increasingly makes local visitors interested in ‘tasting’ Indonesia.
(ikw/wiw)
[Gambas:Video CNN]
