Somai Bandung

The Picasa and Hello program on my computer has been acting up so I have not really been able to upload some cool pictures I took last week. In the meantime here is a picture of my evening office snack last Friday.

This is Somai Bandung. Unlike the Chinese Dimsum Siomai which is made from pork, this is made mostly from fish parts, I think. It does not taste fishy at all though. The pieces are dense and chewy. They are chopped up into bite size pieces and mixed in with traditional peanut sauce, kecap manis, (sweet black sauce), and Sambal ABC (hot sauce). The result is awesome although it may look like a mess to you. The meat is also mixed in with pieces of potato and tahu (tofu). It is a solid pick me up at about 3 pm when I get lazy and tired. The vendors push their carts around the area every evening and the cost of this dish is around $0.50!! Cheap baby! Somay Bandung is names after the town Bandung. It is a slightly different from the plain somai we get in Jakarta. The pieces of meat are slightly larger. I prefer the local one for some reason.

Bandung is a valley town located about 2-3 hours drive from Jakarta. It is much smaller that Jakarta and the weather is much cooler. The town houses many factories which in turn have promoted a number of factory outlets to open up as well. They sell a large variety of branded clothing that may have small defects. And even the non-branded stuff is the latest styles. Bandung also hosts a number of collages and universities so there are a large number of young people loitering around there.

There are a few bars and some good restaurants there. Bandung girls are reputed for being very fair, beautiful, and tall. I can testify to this. They are also relatively smarter than the local city chicks I run into in Jakarta. Maybe it has something to do with the Somai?