Cuisine: Indonesian
This was definitely one of the more exciting plates I had on my culinary adventures this year! Sojahaus Setia quite a small and friendly establishment, though it is my unfortunate duty to report that it was an absolute sweat box in there on a toasty June day. I’m also sad to say that I was their only customer on a Friday at 6pm – though they close at 7pm, and I’m not sure how European it is to eat that early.
They just serve one daily dish, which is made with homemade tofu and tempeh. I didn’t catch the name for this dish, but I can describe the various components: along with the obvious mound of rice, we had a refreshing little carrot and cucumber salad, some tofu in a nice, mildly spicy sauce, extremely thinly-sliced tempeh, some veg in a peanutty sauce, and a very flavoursome little patty. Everything was really tasty, and I found the tempeh especially intriguing – it was so thin and crispy, and I’ve never seen tempeh prepared that way before.
Actually, I hadn’t realised before that tempeh was an Indonesian dish. I’ve since discovered a vegan-friendly Indonesian restaurant in Prague which also serves incredible tempeh, and now I have a whole new appreciation for Indonesian cuisine. It helps that I believe tempeh to be the best meat substitute around.
It was a fun, fresh dish, and only cost €6 per portion – they even let me get another portion to takeaway as poor old Dr HH was bedridden. Nothing perked him up like seeing this feast!
Is tempeh the best meat substitute? How much do you love Indonesian food?!
Herbivores' Heaven 
Yum, everything looks great! I still prefer tofu, but tempeh is a close second!
I’m all about tempeh, I just love the texture!
I recently was listening to Food Stuff (now called Savor) and they did an episode on Tempeh and they talked about how it has waxed and waned in Indonesian culture. Now it is viewed as a source of pride in the country.
I have a cookbook about Southeast Asian cuisine and Indonesia is a HARD cuisine to make vegan. Meat and animals in everything! I would love to learn more about it though.
I wonder if that restaurant just caters to a lunch crowd? I know a restaurant I worked at would close at 7pm and people would get so mad. We also opened at 7 for breakfast! So that’s a LONG day! Anyways, our biggest source of income was from lunch and to-go orders, so I am thinking maybe that’s how that place operates?
Yes, it must be more lunch-orientated. I think in the UK if that was the case it would close much earlier in the day (4pm rather than 7pm), but I think maybe we’re a bit stricter with our mealtimes than Europeans!
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