Asian Food Channel Wonderful Indonesia Flavours Promotional Dinner

Asian Food Channel Wonderful Indonesia Flavours Promotional Dinner

Last Monday, I was invited for the Asian Food Channel (AFC)’s Wonderful Indonesia Flavours Promtoional Dinner. It was held at Bebek Tepi Sawah in Singapore and I had the opportunity to meet the two celebrity chefs and hosts of Wonderful Indonesia Flavours, Rinrin Marinka and Tobie Puttock.

The Wonderful Indonesia Flavours series are eight episodes of 30 min food and travel show produced by Asian Food Channel with collaboration with Wonderful Indonesia. The exclusive original production will be rerunning at Asian Food Channel (AFC) and Travel Channel on Thursday, 7 January 2016 on AFC, Astro CH 703 and on Travel Channel, Hypp TV Ch 621 and ABNxcess Ch 253 beginning Friday, 29 January 2016 at 8.40 pm. The show features Celebrity Chef Rinrin Marinka with two co-hosts, Australian Chef Tobie Puttock and English Darren Robertson.

The food and travel show follows the trio to a culinary quest across eight incredible destinations – Tomohon, Solo, Makassar, Batam, Malang, Bandung, Banyuwangi and Raja Ampat.

Dive into some of the most remote regions of Indonesia to discover the intricacies of local culture and food.

From exploring organic farms and traditional markets in Tomohon through the exquisite simplicity of Minahasa cuisine, to immersing themselves with the Osing people in Banyuwangi, and unravelling the intricacies of Solo’s Dutch and Javanese inspired culture. Each episode ends with a delicious cooking demonstration set against the mountainous backdrop of Indonesia featuring dishes that were inspired by the hosts’ travels.

The dinner was an intimate dinner with group of regional media and VIPs from Indonesia Embassy and Wonderful Indonesia.

For dinner, we were served with Indonesian food from different regions of Indonesia. Most of them are new to me and unheard of and that’s why we should watch the Wonderful Indonesia Flavours to discover more about the Indonesian cuisine as well as places of interest.

For dinner we had Batagor, Batam Fish Soup, Mie Tarempa, Ayam Bumbu Gurih and Wedang Ronde. This is my first having such Indonesian cuisine and it was a learning experience.

I sat together to both chefs, Rinrin and Tobie and we had a lengthy conversation about their gastronomic adventure in Indonesia.

It is the Indonesian fried fish dumpling served with peanut sauce and lime. This is quite similar to Malaysia’s yong tau fu but the taste is slightly different though. I never knew such dish existed in Indonesia.

Batam Fish Soup is flavourful snapper fillets served in aromatic broth. I love the colours and presentation of this. The fish is well cooked and the soup is well seasoned. Most of the flavour comes from the fish and this is a local dish from Batam.

This is spicy stir-fried noodles with tuna. This is very similar to Malaysia’s mee goreng. The taste is extremely spicy and the uniqueness of this dish is the usage of tuna. Indonesians really love spicy as the hotness of this dish can hit the roof. The usage of tuna is really different and it blends really well. Good stuff!

The ayam bumbu gurih is served with rice, kuah kuning, garang asem bumbung, gulai singkong. The grilled chicken marinated with hint of lemongrass served with steamed rice, spicy white fish in turmeric gravy, fragrant bamboo-steamed chicken and cassava leaves in coconut milk.

I spoke to Tobie and he was amazed when he discovered this dish. The methodology to cook this is complicated and there are more than a dozen of spices involved to cook this. Thus, he did simplify the dish in the show so I can’t wait to watch it in January.

I love the chicken and the side dishes are extremely spicy. The chicken is well seasoned and grilled to perfection. As I mentioned, this is my first time having this dishes and it is a learning curve. Indonesians food is really unique.

This is Indonesian glutinous rice balls served in ginger syrup. This is very similar to Chinese “tong yuen” which is popular during Winter Solstice Festival. Chef Rinrin added cinnamon to enhance the scent of this dish and she also used peanut butter for filling.

I asked whether can we put durian as filling and the floor laughed. Well, everything is good with durian right?

The dinner was cozy and intimate. It was an evening of gastronomic adventure and lots of laughter. I learnt so much about Indonesian cuisine as well as life experiences from Chef Tobie. Thus, now I am really curious to watch the Wonderful Indonesia Flavours.

Remember, the Wonderful Indonesia Flavours will be rerunning at Asian Food Channel (AFC) and Travel Channel on Thursday, 7 January 2016 on AFC, Astro CH 703 and on Travel Channel, Hypp TV Ch 621 and ABNxcess Ch 253 beginning Friday, 29 January 2016 at 8.40 pm. The show features Celebrity Chef Rinrin Marinka with two co-hosts, Australian Chef Tobie Puttock and English Darren Robertson.

Thank you Asian Food Channel for inviting us to Singapore for this Wonderful Indonesia Flavours Promotional Dinner.

Wilson Ng