Our final Enak! for 2025 was on the 4th of December and very special to me because I had the pleasure of finally tasting this amazing homemade meal from Enak! host Angela Wijaya.
Angela is from Indonesia, and is very passionate about her country, its culture and cuisine. This lunch was an introduction to the cuisine from the northern part of the island of Sulawesi, and specifically the town of Manado. It is the second largest city on the island and
is rich with history and famous for its beaches. Manado cuisine is known for being spicy and rich. Generally featuring fresh seafood, chicken and beef is also commonly consumed. The food is influenced by merchant traders from China, as well as colonial Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch. This Enak! lunch was priced at RM50 and 18 Enakers and 2 guests enjoyed the rendition of twelve hearty, sometimes spicy but always delicious food and drink.
My husband Paul started with the Sop Brenebon (a hearty beef soup cooked with kidney beans), and went back for seconds. I had the Bubur Tinutuan (rice porridge with pumpkin, corn and spices) sprinkled with Sambal dabu dabu (diced fresh tomatoes with chilli and
shallots), Sambal roa (smoked tuna with chilli) and Sambal Cakalang (smoked cakalang fish with chilli). The sambals were delicious and not spicy at all.
I then had the Nasi kuning (yellow rice cooked with coconut milk and herbs) with Ayam woku woku (slow cooked chicken stew with fresh herbs and chilli) and a piece of fried fish. After finishing everything on my plate, I decided to move on to the dessert section. I had the Kue Binyolos (deep fried mashed sweet potatoes). I must confess that I had 3 – they were fabulous and the sweet potato filling wasn’t sweet at all. Paul had the turnovers called Panada (fried cake bread with smoked cakalang fish), I believe
he had two as he enjoyed them so much. The filling was savoury with a unique flavour from
the smoked fish.
Kudos to Angela for preparing such a feast for us. It was certainly a privilege to be able to attend and enjoy such a special home-cooked meal. And an excellent end to the Enak! calendar.
Review by Santhi Nair-Moine
