Considering the popularity of Southeast Asian foods and the number of Indonesian workers in Taiwan one might expect to see a lot of Indonesian restaurants. In fact there are just a handful and few of these offer authentic Indonesian cuisine. Dede's mini-mart and restaurant fills the void with a small, but tasty selection of Indonesian fare.
An Indonesian-born Chinese, Dede moved to Taiwan four years ago to study Chinese. After having parcels of his favorite snack foods sent from home, he decided to open his own import shop on the second floor of Taipei Railway Station that would cater to the Indonesian community living in Taipei.
After a successful year he seized the opportunity to open a second mini-mart a few doors down from the Taipei Grand Mosque, catering to Taipei's wider Muslim community. This time he included a few tables and a short menu of strict Halal dishes (using only meat butchered by a Muslim).
PHOTO, DIANA FREUNDL, TAIPEI TIMES
The menu, like the surroundings, is simple, with only 11 items to choose from, but the spices used are imported and the cooking is all done by an Indonesian chef. The food can be made spicy or mild depending on individual taste, and if it's not quite spicy enough, there are bottles of sambal hot sauce on every table.
The nasi rendang sapi (beef coconut with rice) and nasi kari ayam (chicken curry with rice) are the most recommended and popular choices among regulars. The remaining options include a few seafood choices and mie (noodle) dishes. There is no vegetarian alternative listed on the menu, but the cook will prepare a enjoyable hot and spicy nasi goring sayur (vegetable fried rice) on request.
Beverages can be brought inside or purchased from the limited selection of tetra-pack juices in the cooler. In addition to all the imported Indonesian nonperishable goods and toiletries there is also an assortment of sweet and savory snack foods available at the front of the shop. The rempeyek (deep fried peanut and bean crackers) and krupuk (shrimp crackers) are great for scooping up your food or for snacking on afterward.
Indojaya Cafe and Mini-market is a no-frills environment and the food is simple, but it's clean, cheap, spicy and tastes great. There's also a KTV in the basement with possibly the largest selection of Indonesian pop songs in Taiwan.
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
April 21 to April 27 Hsieh Er’s (謝娥) political fortunes were rising fast after she got out of jail and joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in December 1945. Not only did she hold key positions in various committees, she was elected the only woman on the Taipei City Council and headed to Nanjing in 1946 as the sole Taiwanese female representative to the National Constituent Assembly. With the support of first lady Soong May-ling (宋美齡), she started the Taipei Women’s Association and Taiwan Provincial Women’s Association, where she
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) hatched a bold plan to charge forward and seize the initiative when he held a protest in front of the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office. Though risky, because illegal, its success would help tackle at least six problems facing both himself and the KMT. What he did not see coming was Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (將萬安) tripping him up out of the gate. In spite of Chu being the most consequential and successful KMT chairman since the early 2010s — arguably saving the party from financial ruin and restoring its electoral viability —
It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
RSS