Friday - postlunch thoughts

Got to change my habits. So predictable. Walked into the student cafe on campus and as soon as one of the women sighted me, they started cutting the fruit (usually mango, guava, and honeydew melon, though yesterday banana was added to that threesome). Just like when I walk into Street Theatre Cafe or Gods, they know that all I want is a long black, to go. so they can, with 99% certainty, start preparing the coffee even before I've ordered it. Today, though, I'd already eaten, and I was only there to get some water and a wafer bar. I felt a bit sheepish as I saw the guava, cut in half, being put back on the shelf.

Arranged to meet Pak Agna for lunch. He was going to take me to one of his favourite eating spots, a warung out in front of the campus. On the street, warungs don't take up much space. Often they consist of some rudimentary stove and preparation area, a thin table, thin bench, and a bit of plastic to give the diners some privacy from the pedestrian and some protection from the road. At the end of the day, they're packed up. Each morning, if I'm early, I see them being set up again, these makeshift restaurants. The one we were going to, Warung Tahu Campur, was more permanent, like a shed, dark inside, but away from the traffic.

In the centre of the room was the oven, on the top of which tempe and tofu were being fried. In front, Pak Min, who's operated this wayung for more than 30 years (and Pak Agna has been coming here for 25 years), sat with his basic implements, the most important of which was his mortar and pestle.


In it, he put a big handful of peanuts, two cloves of garlic, a little salt, some special mixture (soy sauce, palm sugar, cinnamon, and other spices), and, in consultation with the customer, chilies. Pak Agna ordered for me, the one chili special. Other customers have 4-5 chilies. Pak Min said that he's had customers who've wanted 20 or more chilies. Pleased to note that later, a new customer ordered the one chili special, making me feel much less alone! If a local only wants one chili, then it's okay for me to have just one.

This ground mixture is topped with his secret sauce. A bowl laden with mixed tofu and tempe (hence the name of this wayung) and some fresh vegetables is then dowsed in the sauce/sambal mixture, with swigs from the soy bottle to add some saltiness. Enak sekali! Really delicious.

Really grateful to Pak Agna for showing me this little hideaway. I'll be going back. And I'll be explaining to Pak the concept of "It's my shout!". Naturally I was as full as a goog, which meant I could say kenyang (full, satisfied, sated). Which is why there's a guava rotting on the shelf.