🇮🇩 Cultural Taste Test: Indonesia Festival Vancouver
| Location: | North Plaza, Vancouver Art Gallery (Downtown Vancouver) |
| Vendors Featured: | Bali Bites, Paon Jinang, Ambar Catering, Waroeng Merdeka |
| Highlights: | Rendang Sapi ($19.95), Nasi Jinggo ($15), Dawet ($8), Sate Maranggi ($15), Es Blewah ($7) |
| The Experience: | A vibrant celebration of Southeast Asian flavours, rich sambals, and refreshing iced drinks right in the heart of downtown. |
One of the many things I love about Vancouver is how diverse and multicultural we are. While some people believe newcomers should assimilate strictly into a single culture, I firmly believe that as long as we respect the laws and social norms of our new home in Canada, we should never ask people to forget their heritage. On special occasions, everyone should be encouraged to celebrate and share their culture with us. That open community spirit is what makes Canada so unique.
Today, my husband and I walked across the Cambie Bridge to Downtown Vancouver to attend the Indonesia Festival in the North Plaza of the Vancouver Art Gallery, celebrating Indonesian Independence Day (August 17th). Naturally, I was there for the food!
Since Indonesia and the Philippines are Southeast Asian neighbours, our languages share similar-sounding words, and our culinary traditions share many identical native ingredients. Being at the festival brought back so many comforting memories of home.
To kick things off, we headed straight for the Bali Bites food truck to order their Rendang Sapi (Dry Curry Beef Brisket for $19.95). I have visited Bali Bites twice before and loved their food, so I was thrilled that my husband got to enjoy it this time too. The beef brisket was melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the rich, fragrant curry sauce paired wonderfully with warm white rice. It was an incredible start to our food adventure.
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| Rendang Sapi from Bali Bites food truck: tender dry curry beef brisket over white rice. |
While we were browsing the remaining stalls, a sudden rain shower started up (typical Vancouver). We ducked across the street into CF Pacific Centre to stay dry for a few minutes. Once the rain eased, we returned to the plaza and found that several queues had thinned out, making it the perfect time to visit Paon Jinang for their Nasi Jinggo ($15).
This bowl came piled with white rice, fried noodles, tempeh, hard-boiled egg topped with spicy sambal, and shredded chicken breast for protein. The egg coated in sambal reminded us of Filipino palabok, particularly the noodle texture, though back home we generally do not eat this specific noodles with rice! The combination of savoury noodles, spicy sambal tempeh, and shredded chicken was delightful. Because the portion of rice was generous, we decided to pack half of it to save for later.
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| Nasi Jinggo from Paon Jinang with shredded chicken, sambal egg, and fried noodles. |
Next, we noticed a long queue formed at Ambar Catering and joined in to order their Dawet ($8). Similar to Filipino halo-halo, this refreshing iced drink combines coconut milk creaminess, deep palm sugar sweetness, and vibrant green pandan jellies. At the risk of losing my Filipino credentials, I think I actually preferred this to halo-halo! The rich palm sugar and pandan notes are absolutely delicious.
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| Refreshing Dawet drink from Ambar Catering layered with palm sugar syrup, pandan jelly, and coconut milk. |
For our final food stop, we visited Waroeng Merdeka and selected two savoury dishes: the Siomay Ayam Udang ($15) and the Sate Maranggi ($15).
The Siomay Ayam Udang consists of steamed chicken and shrimp dumplings, very similar to Chinese-style siomai. While we usually serve a similar dumpling snacks with soy sauce and calamansi in the Philippines, the Indonesian presentation comes drizzled with a fiery chili sauce.
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| Siomay Ayam Udang from Waroeng Merdeka: steamed chicken and shrimp dumplings with spicy sauce. |
The Sate Maranggi features marinated beef skewers grilled over heat and glazed in spicy sweet soy sauce. In the Philippines, pork barbecue skewers are the classic street food choice, whereas Indonesian satay relies on beef or chicken. The spicy soy glaze was so flavourful that I instantly craved rice to go with it, which is when we remembered our leftover white rice from the Nasi Jinggo earlier! It proved to be a magnificent match.
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| Sate Maranggi beef skewers from Waroeng Merdeka (with our chilled melon drink photobombing in the background!). |
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| Pairing the Sate Maranggi beef skewers with our saved Nasi Jinggo rice made for the ultimate bite. |
To finish our festival feast, we ordered the Es Blewah ($7) from Waroeng Merdeka. It is identical to the classic cantaloupe melon juice served in the Philippines, made with shredded melon, light sugar syrup, and crushed ice. It was ice-cold, refreshing, and nostalgic.
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| Es Blewah: chilled, shredded cantaloupe melon juice. |
After indulging in so many delicious dishes, we walked all the way back home across the bridge to burn off a few calories. I feel so grateful for Vancouver and Canada, where peace and harmony allow us to celebrate diverse cultures together in such a meaningful way.
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