25

December
2010

My Food Journey in Manado

category: restaurants
by Yun,

Early this month, A and I visited Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi province, mainly for its world famous diving. Manado’s local food, also known as Minahasan food, was also an interest to us. Manadonese food is very famous throughout Indonesia for two things. First, the flavor of choice is very, very hot and spicy. People in Manado will likely not go for a strike when fuel costs increase, but it is very unlikely for them to stay quiet when chili prices increase. Second, Minahasan people eat absolutely anything with legs, except tables and chairs for sure. Exotic meat choices include dogs, fruit bats, forest rats, cats, snakes. So, be prepared with what you’ll see in a Minahasan restaurant, or for more bizarre sights, in a butcher section at a Minahasan market.

Because of the distant location of our hotel from Manado city, we came down to the city only twice. So, due to the very limited time we got, we sadly must narrow down the list of food we wanted to explore in Manado.

Not long ago, my mom and I talked about different kinds of Soto, a traditional Indonesian soup mainly composed of broth, meat, and vegetables. Beef soto and chicken soto are omnipresent in various regions in Muslim-majority Indonesia, but we had never found pork soto. Since the majority of the inhabitants of North Sulawesi are Christians, alcohol and pork are often used in Manadonese cuisine. We unexpectedly found restaurants offering Soto Rusuk on the day we arrived at Manado, which is equivalent to pork soto made from pork ribs. Ahaa! Finally, we found pork soto! We went to Soto Rusuk Ko Petrus, which is famous in Manado, for our late lunch. The taste of the pork soto was beyond our expectation. The soup is very savory and the meat is so tender. If you want extra soup, they can refill it for you for free.

We picked fresh seafood for our first dinner at Manado. There are many seafood restaurants along the Kalasey beach, just south of Manado city. Our friends gave us two restaurant recommendations: City Extra and Ria Rio. We opted for City Extra. Our taxi driver told us that City Extra is popular among government officials. With its location by the beach, the seafood is very fresh, and I am a big fan of fresh seafood. We ordered Grilled Gala Shrimp and Grilled Spicy Grouper. Both were served fresh and very flavorful. The fish was covered with chili paste, reminding me of my mom who is crazy about hot spicy food. In addition to the two main dishes, Sambal Dabu-Dabu, which is a mixture of shallots, tomatoes, limes and various kinds of chilies, was also given as a dipping hot sauce. It was ultra hot.

One general rule of thumb for diving is no flying for at least 12 hours (or 24 hours to be safe) after diving. Consequently, we got one full day to revisit Manado city, to continue our food journey. Our plan was first to go to Wakeke to eat the famous Bubur Tinutuan, but we changed direction. One the way to Wakeke, we were chatting about Minahasan food with our taxi driver, and he said that he knew one restaurant popular for its Ragey (pork satay), which is another popular Minahasan dish. I of course said, “Yes, please bring us there.” Based on the information provided by the driver, the Ragey is good only when it is fresh from the grill. And yes, we were fortunate that, when we arrived at the restaurant, they were still grilling their famous Ragey. I thanked him for taking us to this restaurant, Kios Natasya. The restaurant was packed with local people. Perhaps, we’re the only tourists in the restaurant at that time. The Ragey was really really good. I will definitely return to this restaurant in my next visit to Manado.

The next dish was Bubur Tinutuan. There are many restaurants serving Bubur Tinutuan on the touristy Wakeke Road. Our restaurant of choice was Dego-Dego. In addition to Bubur Tinutuan, Perkedel Ikan Nike (fritter made from tiny fish indigenous to Lake Tondano, called Nike) and Perkedel Jagung (corn fritter) are also their specialties. For me, the taste of Bubur Tinutuan, which is a mixture of rice, yam, pumpkin, vegetables and some spices, was a little odd. Both of us did not really like it. I like the corn fritter very much, and it would taste even better if it was served hot. The fish fritter was very good and we ordered three portions of it. We also ordered Fried Banana, which tasted okay, not very special for Indonesians like us. It was surprising to us to see Manadonese people eating fried bananas with chili paste. Wow! They eat almost anything with chilies, even for fried sweet banana.

Then we ate “es kacang” for dessert at Es Miangas. A and I had different orders. Mine was red beans on ice, whereas A’s was a mix of fruits and red beans on ice. The iced red beans are an all time favorite dish of that restaurant. It was good and absolutely a perfect dessert for red bean lovers.

Our last meal in Manado was seafood at Ria Rio, very close to City Extra, also located along the Kalasey beach. The meal was very interesting. We ordered a 2-kg coconut crab cooked in black pepper sauce. Coconut crab is the largest land-living arthropod in the world, considered a delicacy and an aphrodisiac, with a taste very similar to lobster and crab meat. Eating a 2 kg of coconut crab is a lot of food. We also ordered a whole Garoupa fish (grouper) cooked in Woku Belanga style, which refers to being cooked inside a pot enriched with various spices such as lemon basil, turmeric leaf, lemon grass, tomato, chili pepper, and lemon. The fish was tasty but blazingly spicy. It was so good that A finished everything in the bowl, including the hot sauce, even though it tasted too spicy for him. He didn’t want to waste anything. Then he got a stomachache the next day. Haha… funny. Our last dinner at Ria Rio gave us a gratifying ending to our trip to Manado.

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13 Comments so far

  1. Sinar Indah | 25 December 2010, 03:07

    Hi Yun…
    duh jd kangen sm makanan minahasa nih seeing ur blog. We love eating banana fritter with sambal sauce (as here in the US we call “Sri Racha”–yummm…)
    and to eat brenebonen, di suruh coba pake chips, nggak? Since I didn’t see you mention about Cakalang, I wonder whether you tried that food or not? Ahh… Indonesia!

    Halo Mbak Sinar…. Mbak dari daerah sana ya? iya disana semuanya dimakan pake sambal, tp mknan sana enak2 siihhh…Yummy!!
    Nggak disuruh pake chips tuh, mungkin udah ketauan banget aku turis kali ya? hehehe….. I saw cakalang on the menu but got no chance to taste it. Enak yah? maybe next time….:D

  2. V | 25 December 2010, 03:37

    I love how the fish looks (on the 4th pic). It looks crispy on the outside but still very flaky and moist inside. A sign of skillful execution of grilled fish! :D

    And what’s the picture above it? Chopped up lobster?

    Grilled Gala Shrimp Ven…. They were yummy!

  3. veny | 25 December 2010, 03:41

    ihh seru yah tapi g gak suka masakan manado heheeee , g cmn pengen es kacang merah & bakwan jagungnya .
    ehh ga cobain klappertart yg beken disana ? enak ga sih ?

    Ga suka karena pedes2nya ato emang ga suka Ven? bakwan jagungnya emang enakkkk :D
    Beli Klappertart sihh…. enak yg beli di kawanua, kalo tempat2 laen kurang enak…. *menurut taste gue lho*

  4. Pepy @Indonesia Eats | 26 December 2010, 21:32

    Manado food is one of my fave Indonesian foods. Love the spiciness and richness of seafood and leafy usages.

    It is becoming more and more popular too Pep!

  5. xeensg | 02 January 2011, 05:46

    Thanks for blogging about food in Indonesia! I was just about to get dinner when I had to finish reading this post.
    xeensg,singapore

    Thanks for visiting my blog…..

  6. Rina Suryakusuma | 03 January 2011, 01:46

    belum pernah gw yun, ke menado :)
    kayaknya makanannya enak bener. Tasty and spicy ya :)

    Iya enak…. Di Jkt kan udah banyak resto2 Manado Rin…. enak2 juga kok yg di Jkt
    Kapan2 cobain deh….

  7. thesalem | 13 January 2011, 20:10

    hwaa takut liat kelelawar digantungin gitu..Temen gw yang orang Manado juga bilang biasa banget disana makan babi sama alkohol. Dan iya hahahaha, lucu banget sih lu, mereka makan segala jenis mahkluk berkaki kecuali meja kursi haha. Great post like always!

    Iya Mar… majority disana emang makan babi, udah mirip kaya di bali aja :) Thank you….

  8. Ricardo Bacas | 30 January 2011, 13:55

    Very interesting. I am travelling to Manado later this year and was in search for an address to eat Kenari,Coconut Crab. I adore it. But then, it is my Indonesian blood.
    Thank you so much for this insiders view and Good Luck!!

    Have a safe trip to Manado! I am sure you will enjoy your vacation…. Please share with us when you get back!

  9. Mary | 31 January 2011, 18:29

    Hi yun, just curious how are you able to travel to all these amazing beautiful places? i mean i just have never even been out of the united states but have always wanted to find a career where i can travel the world and see and explore the amazing beautiful things this earth has to offer, you are one lucky gal! So how are you able to travel so much? arent the cost expensive?

  10. Jack | 24 February 2011, 06:10

    Hi,
    Thank you for sharing such a nice good foods.

  11. mochachocolatarita | 26 February 2011, 05:44

    b b b bats? wawwwwww i am a bit scared but intrigued at the same time!

  12. Yulia Herawati | 17 March 2011, 05:41

    Could I get Kios Natasya address?

    Jl. Lumimuut, Manado

  13. James Cook | 09 November 2011, 16:07

    I really love the way you combine writing about food and travel. We just had a guest post on our website which you may be interested in about a new(ish) social website called eat with a local. the post is here http://ouroyster.com/home/reviews/eat-with-a-local