Restaurant: Medan Kitchen
Location: 8518 Valley Blvd STE 102, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 693-6231
Date: April 21, 2023
Cuisine: Indonesian Market
Rating: Tasty
Another haul out east to try this interesting Indonesian market.
Medan replaces New Century Lobster, that mediocre South Chinese Place.
Some menu on the board outside.
But inside the format is more supermarket than restaurant. Basically all the food has been prepared and placed in take out containers. It’s cold or “cooling” and you just pick what you want and check out.
Our haul.
There are a number of tables outside and some very flimsy plastic utensils.
Peanuts with Dried Anchovies. Salty and just a little sweet with a delightful mix of crunch and chew.
Mackerel in Chili Sauce. Rich fish with a delicious (and pretty hot) chili sambal.
Beef Rendang. Very nice sweet, nutty, and rich version of the classic. The beef was a touch chewy, and give we had to cut it with plastic forks…
Tendon Curry. Very gelatinous and quite delicious. Not for everyone.
Eggplant. Nice slightly spicy and umami eggplant.
Shrimp with Saytan or Tofu. Solid
Fried Cassava. Didn’t try, too carby.
Shredded Chicken. Like Indonesian taco meat.
Sambal. In case you need more heat.
Rice Packet.
Mixed in with the rice was more Beef Rendang, various veggies, a hard boiled egg, and curried chicken. Curry was delicious on the rice.
Super sweet Pandan Coconut Milk Drink. Delicious, but boy was this sweet.
I don’t love the format, or the cold food, or the plastic plates and forks. But the food itself was delicious. Really quite good. It isn’t really cheap either. Certainly not expensive, but only a little bit cheaper than a similar (likely larger) dish at a full sit down restaurant like Simpang Asia. However, this is very authentic, and very tasty. Lots of crabs though, which we did our best to mostly avoid.