Whenever one mentions Palembang, the capital of South Sumatera Province in Indonesia, what comes to mind is pempek, just like sushi comes to mind when one talks abour Japan.

Pempek a savory delicacy, is a blend of fish, tapioca flour and eggs to be boiled in hot water or steamed until cooked. The dough can then be fried or grilled and comes in a variety of shapes, sizes and fillings. All must be served with cuko, the pempek sauce made from vinegar, sugar, garlic, and chilli pepper. Often a bowl of pempek is also served with noodles and cucumbers.

Pempek is availabe not only in the region, but also in other cities of Indonesia due to its fresh taste and popularity. Palembang, however, is not only the land of pempek, There are unique foods that can be enjoyed directly on the banks of the Musi River, the longest river on the island of Sumatrera with 750 km in length.

Last August, Arie Parikesit the CEO and Founder of Kelana Rasa took a group of foodies on a trip to Palembang.  As with any of his tour, the group was interested to know more about Palembang foods, their ingredients, recipes, and cooking methods. On the itinerary was a market tour and an elaborate home-cooked dinner.

Our first and last stop in Palembang were of course pempek eateries.  At the last count we visited five pempek stops where we tasted all kinds of fish cakes.  Amog them were kapal selam, pempek with a whole egg inside; lenjer, thin and long sausage-like pempek; lenggang, omelette with sliced pempek; adaan, pempek shaped like a ball; kulit, crunchy pempek as it is made from fish skin; and pistel, pempek filled with shredded papaya.

The fish used to make pempek varies from ikan tenggiri (mackerel), ikan gabus (snakehead) and ikan belida (knife fish) as the most expensive and rare variety. The cheapest pempek, called dos, consists mostly of flour with no or very little fish as its basic ingredient.

Pempek sellers also pack all kinds of pempek to take to far away places. They usually use flour and vacuum packing to preserve this Palembang delicacy.

After tasting the fishy, garlicky and vinegary pempek, we needed something to eliminate the after taste; hence Arie took us to Galery Asuk Koboy, a small eatery with several cowboy hats as decoration. The place also sells pempek, but we went there for its Es Asuk Koboy, a bowl of shaved ice with syrup and soft red beans. In a hot Palembang day, it was a fresh drink that quenched our thirst.

Jembatan Ampera, a bridge that has been in operation for 40 years is the city’s landmark. Impressive during the daylight, it is even more so at night. Jembatan Ampera can be viewed from simple floating restaurants abundant along the Musi River banks as well as from The Kampung Capitan, a luxurious seafood restaurant.

As expected, any Kelana Rasa Tour is not only an eating tour. We visited several interesting places such as Pulau Kemaro located in one of the Musi River’s deltas; Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Museum that showcases artifacts ranging from the legacy of the kingdom of Srivijaya to the Sultanate of Palembang. Also fascinating were Benteng Kuto Besak, a castle built in 1780 that was once the center of the Palembang sultanate; and Masjid Chengho, a colorful mosque that attracts visitors from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and even Russia.

A visit to Palembang would not be complete without a visit to Zainal Songket Shop and Museum. Here we can see a traditional way of making songket , a hand-woven colorful and textured fabric consisting of either cotton, polyester or silk as the base material with gold or silver threads as the ultimate decoration.

In addition to selling songket to wear, Zainal also has rooms to show how songket fabric is used in day-to-day life, mostly in the old royal families. Zainal has a display of centuries old songkets.

Pasar Cinde and Pasar Ilir 16 traditional markets must be on your agenda if you would like to explore the ingredients used in daily life. In a city with more than 1.5 million people, the markets enteretained through sights and sounds. Pempek and fish chips of all sizes are sold among shrimp paste, meat, fish, chicken and vegetables.

We are pretty sure that Mrs. Evie Yulianti the chair of the Association of Sumatra Catering Services, who prepared our elaborate farewell dinner went to traditional markets for fresh ingredients.

In an unforgettable dinner called badulang, food is served in one big plate consisting of nasi minyak (oil rice with raisins and salted fish) and side dishes such as sate pentul (pin satay), ayam kecap (chicken and soya sauce), semur daging (beef stew) and sayur buncis (string beans).

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Text: Amanda Niode

Images: Omar Niode Foundation