Nestled on a side street corner in Kemang, an expat residential area in Jakarta, is Pondok Nasi Goreng Candi Laras, a street food stall. It stands out among other stalls in the area as Suyatim, its owner, has worked in a number of top restaurants in Jakarta before setting up his own small business 2.5 years ago.

Candi Laras is no fancy stall, but its patrons come as far away as Pamulang, a 90-minute drive from Kemang.

We visited the street food joint, intrigued by our British friend who said that Suyatim never goes without an apron. 

Soon after we arrived, donning a black apron Suyatim began preparing his signature dish, Nasi Goreng Special, the special fried rice. Adding salt, chili powder, and other ingredients, Suyatim asked us whether we would like to have it hot and spicy or just plain nasi goreng.

He tasted the food before serving it to us, a practice that we rarely see inside street food tents. Perhaps the remaining habit from his decades of experience working in restaurants serving international cuisines.

Suyatim used to cook Pakistani, British, Indian and Chinese foods at the oldest traditional English pub in the area. Candi Laras, however does not serve fancy food. “I decided on street foods for simplicity and efficiency,” Suyatim said of his menu selections.

There are 7 choices of nasi goreng:

• Nasi goreng special plus

• Nasi goreng special

• Nasi goreng biasa (plain fried rice)

• Nasi goreng campur (mixed fried rice)

• Nasi goreng petai (stink bean fried rice)

• Nasi goreng ati ampela (liver-gizzard fried rice)

• Nasi goreng mawut

The difference of each lies in the ingredients. All order come with fried rice and eggs as the basics. Nasi goreng biasa has no vegetables but nasi goreng campur has two kinds of vegetables. An order of nasi goreng special plus come with eggs, meatballs, vegetables plus sausages. The strangest on the menu, called nasi goreng mawut (messy fried rice) is full with noodle, chicken, egg, vegetables and meatballs.

In addition to nasi goreng, Candi Laras offers fried kway teow, fried noodle, fried vermicelli, noodle soup, fried chicken and capcay (mixed vegetables).

Recently, The Jakarta Globe editorial mentioned Jakarta Street Foods and concerns of food safety. The paper even runs a series of articles on the topic.

Having worked in high-end eateries, Suyatim has a better standard of food safety and hygiene compared to his fellow street food vendors.

Asked about his unique aprons, he said that he had them custom made with special fabrics for good quality.

During the fasting month Candi Laras located in Jalan Kemang Raya 1B No. 11 operates for only 3 hours (8.00 – 11.00 PM). At other times it opens from 06.00 – 11.00 PM.

As with any street food stall, it does not cost much to eat at Candi Laras. Suyatim never charges more than Rp. 20.000 (2 US Dollars) per food item on the menu. With the recent rise in food price he had to adjust by charging one thousand rupiah to two thousand rupiahs more (10 cents to 20 cents USD). Still, on a good day he could at least sell 50 portions of fried rice.

Candi Laras, this simple street food stall in Kemang with its distinctive cook has been featured on national TV, magazine and English newspaper. “My English is mixed,” Suyatim laughed, explaining that he speaks several words of English combined with Bahasa Indonesia

To order fried rice or to just chat with Suyatim, call his cell phone at + 62 813 1866 9006

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Images: Omar Niode Foundation