Lunch at Indo Cafe, Saratoga (Indonesian) Thurs 5/10

I have been meaning to check out this little low-profile Indonesian cafe Indo Cafe in, of all places, Saratoga. The menu is full of legit-looking Indonesian dishes (versus stuff toned down for the suburbs). I am going to check it out this Thursday at 12pm. If anyone wants to join, we can try a bigger variety of dishes. Cash only place.

Menu:

A couple of reports from 6 years ago:

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I’ll try and make it, thanks, Reuel.

Wow, Pictures on Yelp look legit! If I
am ever down that way will check it out as well.

Hi, I just saw your note about giving you a head’s up… I am sorry I couldn’t make it. Please let us know how you enjoyed Indo and I will try my best not to flake out on you again! Reuel

No problem! @psbanerjee and I had an interesting meal/ chat at this little cafe. I will try to find time to type up some notes.

Indo Cafe is a little Indonesian Cafe hidden behind the UPS store, with the recipes from one of the owner Maria’s grandma. Rick the other owner and I think either the husband or boyfriend did both the cooking and serving that day, donning a chef’s jacket and shorts. So he looked like he’s cooking at a beachside cafe somewhere in Indonesia. We had:

Ayam Penyet/ fried smashed chicken with chili sauce and rice. The chef explained the chicken was marinated in milk for 12 hours before frying, then smashed. The fat from the skin was rendered and that left a pretty thin crispy layer outside the chicken, with a dipping chili sauce on the side. That’s IFC- fried chicken, Indonesian style. The same chicken was available on the menu in un-smashed form also. To me, smashing didn’t make much difference as the chicken was slightly deformed.

Tumeric-lemongrass rice plate with beef rendeng, krecek / spicy pork rind curry, chili egg

I mentioned to @psbanerjee that I liked the beef rendeng, and @psbanerjee fairly pointed out that the meat was kinda tough. So I liked the sauce mixture more than the texture. There wasn’t much heat from this dish, and personally I preferred a bit stronger flavors from the galangal, ginger and lemongrass.

The krecek / pork rind curry was a first for me. It was cooked in a chili coconut milk and soaked in the flavors and tasted pretty interesting. The menu mentioned sator / stinky bean in the krecek. Wasn’t quite sure if the beans were already cooked into the sauce because I didn’t notice any in the krecek.

The chili egg was an egg with a chili sauce poured on top of it. I forgot what that last piece on the plate was.

Had an ice cendol with pandan jelly, jackfruit and coconut milk for drink.

Overall, a decent cafe and a welcomed choice for the South Bay as obviously there aren’t a lot of Indonesian restaurants around, and they certainly stick to Indonesian dishes and not gum the menu up with a bunch of more familiar dishes that sell but has nothing to do with the country and its food.

They are pretty chill people. Just go grab a menu and sit somewhere you like if they look busy to come to you.

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