Mutiara Chinese Food : Chandra Building, Glodok

Reminiscing old sweet memories can sometimes draw a smile or two. Looking back at those younger days when everything was carefree and uncomplicated. This definitely is exceptional to no one. She has been visiting to Jakarta's own China town since she was still in Junior high. Now, she was a mother of four, passing on the Chinese traditions and family customs. My mother, ladies and gentlemen.

Being her daughter and an Indonesian Chinese descendant, it is inevitable not to get yourself entangled with Chinese matters. From the most favorable tradition of dispersing Hong Bao in Chinese New Year (I can vouch for everyone who are still getting their hong bao) to simple 'eating bak cang day' or 'onde day' or mooncake day', every tradition has its own symbolic meaning. 

I can't say I don't love Glodok. I have been going there since I was a kid and yet, I still find myself amazed by the things that you can buy there. The traditional market sells all kinds of street food from Indonesian to Chinese delicacies. Through those alleys between tenants and private houses, you can find yourself with many things, perhaps an acek selling weird stone rings, a moon cake factory or a real China citizen selling so far the best bapia I have ever had. For my Mom, it is her candy land. For me, it is a historical cite where the oldies assume everyone with small eyes can speak mandarin and also, a historical cite where I can shop for tasty snacks and food (and that is just why I simply love our China town)

When moving inside to the indoor arena, you will find yourself in a more modernized China Town and in the food court, there is one Mutiara (pearl) that I treasure since I was a kid. It is a simple unfancy food court with numerous tenants, but I have always favored Mutiara. Everytime we go there, we always order the same thing and never get bored of it.

The owner of Mutiara is also the owner of Red Bean (a chain restaurant), notice the similarity of this menu to red bean's.

Kangkung Hot Plate (50k). It was super steamy and it was difficult for me to snap a good picture.

You can choose between seafood, chicken, or beef. Look at that quail eggs inside.. Om nom nom!

We have always chosen the beef. Yummy salty brown sauce with little bits of dried prawns, garlic and chili. Perfect!

Second dish : Their specialty and their most famous dish..  Gurame Fish Soup (75k). It was boiling like crazy..

The difference between this fish soup with the other fish soup is the taro..

 Tofu Seafood Hotplate (60k). Yummy yummy yummy.. They coated everything with batter and deep fried it before mixing it with that gorgeous boiling brown sauce..

The ingredients continue to cook by themselves due to the hot plate and as you can see from this picture, the sauce has thickened and intensified the flavors.

thick yummy sauce..

Those three dishes above are compulsory if you are eating there.. Now moving on to other dishes..

Black Pepper beef (55k). I didn't get the chance to try because it was quite little.. 

Chicken Kuluyuk (sweet and sour sauce) for 55k. Not my favorite, it was just mundane. 

Fired Lomie (thick noodles) for 38k. Their portion was quite generous. You can request the taste according to your preference. We ordered the chef to cook it slightly saltier instead of sweet..

Numerous times coming here but still I crave for their heart warming fish soup, still I crave for their unique tofu hot plate (which I can't find anywhere else) and of course their steamy Kangkung hotplate. Beware though! Their consistency is sometimes unmanageable. I ate there twice in the last couple of weeks and found the taste of their fish soup has changed between the two. The latter visit was accompanied by overcrowded and slightly angry customers, demanding for their food to be brought to their table on an instant. Alas, the soup was not as creamy and fragrant as the previous one which was PERFECT (the best fish soup hands down!).You might want to consider your timing the next time you pay a visit.

While eating, I was conversing with my Mom about how this place used to be the 'it' place for youngsters. Oh how the time has changed, but again, we keep one or two things to ourselves to this very day, like keeping the family customs and following the Oriental traditions. Going here for a family meal is definitely one.

P.S : Oh please order and enjoy their oyster omelette (ocien). It is also a must order! 

MUTIARA 

Taman Makan Minum Stand 5

Chandra Building, lt. dasar

Jl. Pancoran no 33-35, Jakarta

Phone : 6391033

It's my Ma's birthday.. This post is a tribute for her.. Long live Bu Komandan~ ;)