Summary:

• Business Name: Warung Nasi Ampera, a chain of Indonesian Food restaurants.
• Category: Indonesian Sundanese Food Restaurant.
• Reviewed  restaurant address: Jalan Raya Sindangkasih No.90.
• Review date: September 21, 2016.
• Location: Cikoneng, West Java, Indonesia.
• Google coordinates: -7.299424, 108.236199
• Quality /price: good.
• Approximate spending /person: USD 5 and higher.

Recommendation: place to dine in while en route through the Trans Java South Line (known as Jalur Selatan), West Java. A traditional, large restaurant. Plenty of space to move around.

Recommended transportation to get here: rental car (preferably as a place to stop by during a trip through the Jalur Selatan).

Other entertainment /facility: none.

Description and Location

Warung Nasi Ampera (“warung nasi” literally means “cooked rice meal food stall”) is a chain of restaurants serving Indonesian food and drinks, with impression on Sundanese dishes and service style. They have their headquarter in the city of Bandung. They have restaurant outlets in many places around the island of Java, most mainly located on the western side of the Island.

The restaurant in this article is the one located at the region named Cikoneng, on the South Line (Jalur Selatan) of the Java Island.

Detailed location of the restaurant we visited for the review is as follows:

• Reviewed store street address: Jalan Raya Sindangkasih No.90, Sindangkasih Cikoneng, Ciamis, West Java.
• Google coordinates: -7.299424, 108.236199
• Recommended transportation to get there: rental car, possibly when traveling through the South Line.

 

What’s available

This restaurant provides wide variety of local Sundanese dishes. They serve the dishes as a complement to cooked rice, the staple food of most areas in Indonesia. And only Indonesian food is available.

There are quite a variety of dishes, such as fried fish (gouramis, goldfish, and others), fried cow’s lung. There is beef dish called empal (sweet and spicy fried beef ), fried anchovy fish with stink bean and chili (very delicious, if it agrees to visitor’s taste).

There are  some sorts of vegetables, such as sayur asem ( peanuts, young jackfruit, young leaves and unpeeled seeds of melinjo, bilimbi, chayote, long beans, all cooked in tamarind-based soups), sayur lodeh ( young unripe jackfruit, eggplant, chayote, melinjo beans and leaves, long beans, green chili pepper, tofu and tempeh, cooked in coconut milk), and some others. There is also karedok ( raw vegetable salad in peanut sauce) which sauce is quite spicy.

Many of the dishes are supposed to be consumed with chili sauce. A table with three selections of chili sauce and lalapan (raw vegetable) is provided in the restaurant. The sauces are:

• sambal bajak (chili (or another kind of red pepper) fried with oil, shallot, garlic, terasi, candlenuts, palm sugar and other condiments), this is the hottest of the three;
•  sambal manga (freshly ground sambal terasi with shredded young unripe mango)
• sambal terasi (red and green peppers, terasi, sugar, salt, lemon or lime juice ), tangy and strong.

Serving is made with food displayed on a long buffet, where visitors determine how many portions of rice are required, make selection of dishes, let the restaurant cook them, and then go to their table to wait for the dishes to be ready.

As the visitors sit down, hot plain tea will be served. Visitors may opt to pick up the selections sambal (chili sauce) and the lalapan (raw vegetable) to take to their table

Our experience:

We visited the restaurant while we were on a trip through the Southern Line. It was not a holiday season, so the route was not crowded. The vast parking area was mostly vacant, there were only few visitors, maybe because it was at 11.00 am, not even lunch time yet.

The place was clean, there were not many visitors, and there were abundance of dishes. The place was just like other Ampera’s branches we have visited. It was a nice, cozy place, which was very comfortable to bring the family with.

The history of Warung Nasi Ampera was posted on the restaurant’s wall, that reads as follows  (translation below).

 

English translation:

Brief History:

With the blessing of the Almighty God

Starting at a minuscule place which wasn’t representative at all near Bandung Kebon Kelapa Terminal (then the public transport facility terminal of Bandung City), now ITC Kebon Kelapa (a shopping complex), our parents, the late H. Tatang Sujani S.Sos and Hj.St.E. Rochaety started the Sundanese unique meal stall.

Our majority of customers were the city public minibus drivers and bus drivers who stopped by for lunch. Using the Geksor* model, the customers could enjoy a warm, more friendly atmosphere.

With the Kebon Kelapa terminal getting more crowded year after year, our visitors also increased, and then they came from various social classes. There were still those who just stopped by on their way or from the Bandung residents who came for meals. The small place soon reached its maximum service capacity. In the middle of year 1984 we opened up the first branch at Jalan Astana Anyar Bandung, approximately 1 km from the Kebon Kelapa terminal.

In the beginning of year 1994, Warung Nasi Ampera started to show an astonishing progress and tended to be prospective. With the ups and downs we went through since year 1963, it was only appropriate that we developed Ampera meal restaurant seriously and professionally.

More than 50 branches of Warung Nasi Ampera are now scattered in West Java, DKI Jakarta, and recently, in Yogyakarta. Implementing a simple management, we started to expand without compromising quality and the Sunda unique taste which is also the recipe of Sundanese ancestors.

Welcome to the Sunda region.

*Geksor comes from the word gek (a seated position) and sor (serving drink). This type of service means visitors will be served free plain hot tea as they take their seats. It is common to most traditional restaurants in Indonesia.

 

Service was prompt, there was no fuss. As we finished with dish selection, we took our seats, picked up the sauces and lalapan,  tea was served, and within less than ten minutes, our dishes came out.

Most of the dishes were prepared by frying. So it was almost fried-anything dining. The food tasted quite good. While not being excellent, the hot sauce did help improving the taste.

The price was very light for a family meal, and the service was good.

Conclusion:

Warung Nasi Ampera could be an easy choice to get Indonesian cooked rice meals when traveling with a family on routes in the western part of Java Island. The chain restaurants are easy to find, the food is good and service is nice. And on the Java main routes, they are usually open 24 hours.

Tips:

• This chain of restaurants serves only Indonesian /Sundanese cooked rice meal. Make sure it is what a visitor is looking for.
• The sauces are hot, some are really hot. Visitors who have sensitive stomach may want to be very careful.
• It takes about 4 hours from Jakarta to the restaurant’s location. Tourists leaving from Jakarta at 08.00 a.m. will pass through the location at approximately lunch time.

Booking.com

Summary:

Category: Local  Food Store /Restaurant

• Business Name: Pempek Beringin, a chain of unique local food stores.
• Reviewed  store address: Jalan Radial No 2890
• Review date: September 16, 2017
• Location: Palembang City, Province of South Sumatra, Indonesia
• Quality /price: good
• Approximate purchase /person: USD 6 and higher

Recommendation: place to buy for local traditional food of South Sumatra, preferable as take-away gift (see tips at end of article). Has seating as a restaurant, albeit limited.

Recommended transportation to get here: rental car

 Description and Location

Beringin (the store name) is a food store chain specializing in South Sumatra unique food. It has several stores in the city. This review is on the store located at Jalan Radial.  It is a local food store that includes a restaurant. The space /seat capacity as a restaurant is quite limited. Nevertheless, restaurant service is available. It is inclined more as a take-away local food store instead of being a restaurant.

All Beringin stores /restaurants are located in the city of Palembang. They do not have stores in other areas. Detailed information about Beringin Pempek is as follows:

• Reviewed store street address: Jalan Radial No 2890 Palembang
• Google coordinates: -2.982210, 104.748977
• Contact number: mobile +62 822 8238 8000
• Recommended transportation to get there: rental car, click here for someone who can help.
• website (online store, see description): pempek-beringin.com
• Location of other stores (according to Pempek Beringin website):
  • Jalan Radial No 2890 Palembang
  • Jalan Rawajali No 14 Palembang
  • Bandara SMB II Lantai II Ruang Tunggu Domestik
  • Jalan Lingkaran 1 No 20/B 9 Ilir Palembang
  • Jalan Lingkaran 1 No 785 Palembang
  • Jalan Kapt. Anwar Sastro No 1128 Rt 002 Rw 007
  • Ruko Ptc, JL. R Sukamto Palembang
  • Arena Snack Corner Carrefour Palembang Squere Mall Lantai 2 Palembang
  • Lobby Hotel Amaris, Jalan Demang Lebar Daun No. 1836 Kelurahan Ilir Timur 1 Palembang
  • Lobby Hotel Aryaduta, Komplek Palembang Square Mall Palembang

 

This store provides wide variety of local South Sumatra food, and some souvenirs. It’s most prominent Food is pempek.

According to Wikipedia, pempek history is as follows:

Pempek is the best-known of Palembang’s dishes.^[2] Its origin is undoubtedly Palembang. However, the history behind the creation of this savoury dish is unclear. According to local tradition, around the 16th century there was an old Chinese immigrant who lived near the Musi river. He noticed an abundance of fish caught by the local fishermen. In the Sumatran tropical climate, before the invention of refrigerationtechnology, most of these unsold leftover fish decayed and were wasted. The indigenous people, however had limited knowledge and techniques for processing fish. During that period, most of the indigenous people simply grilled, fried or boiled their fish instead of adding other ingredients to make new dishes. The old Chinese man mixed in some tapioca and other spices, which he then sold around the village on his cart. The people referred to this old man as ‘pek-apek, where apek is a Chinese slang word to call an old man. The food is known today as empek-empek or pempek.

The pempek history is also posted on the wall of Pempek Beringin store wall

 

What’s available

Pempek is the most prominent food sold by Pempek Beringin. There are variations of pempek s well, such as Lenjer, Kapal Selam (literally means: submarine). Most of the variations are available at Pempek Beringin. Pempek is served with rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuko (which means vinegar sauce). Be warned though, as this sauce is spicy hot. A lot of drinking water should be prepared during consumption.

And there are crackers made of tapioca and shrimp that are really tasty and crispy. A unique cracker is called kemplang, a cracker roasted, that also comes with hot chili sauce.

Pempek Beringin also provides various local cakes, such as maksuba and other varieties. Many of the cakes are moist variety of cakes. The store also sells souvenirs placed on a small container near the entry door. The souvenirs were limited though, but it presented a way for a quick grab should time is limited to get souvenirs somewhere else. For a more extensive experience for clothing souvenir from South Sumatra, visitors may want to visit Fikri Koleksi store. Click here to see the review.

 

Website(s)

Pempek Beringin has several websites, with pempek-beringin.com seems to be the most dependable This site has the most distinct sales instruction for buying pempek remotely. For the purchase, Pempek are sold in packages, ranging from USD 7 to  USD 42.

 

Our experience:

We visited the store on Saturday afternoon, which was busy hours for a food store. Parking was packed, and the store was quite crowded. Even though it was already afternoon, Pempek Beringin still had a full supply of variety of cakes, pempek, crackers, and other products. We did not dine in. Instead, we made purchases to take with us.

Conclusion:

While taste of the pempek may not be the most delicious compared to other renowned pempek brands, the other products tasted quite satisfactorily. Overall, this place can serve as a single quick grab of food for gift or consumption. Since the seating is limited (and will be very crowded on weekends), children or visitors with numerous companies may be less comfortable to eat in house. It is recommended to make purchase and eat at your own place.

Summary:

• Category: Traditional Cloth Souvenir Store (unique local clothing)
• Business Name: Fikri Koleksi
• Review date: September 16, 2017
• Location: Palembang City, Province of South Sumatra, Indonesia
• Souvenir quality /price: good
• Prices: USD 8 (polyester shirt) and higher
• Recommendation: recommended place to look for local unique clothing gifts /souvenirs
• Recommended transportation to get here: rental car

 

Description and Location

Fikri Koleksi is a souvenir store specializing in South Sumatra unique fabrics. It is a simple traditional store, which does not look big from the outside, even though it has tremendous space inside. The store is located near the Musi River with its address /contact number as follows:

• Street address: Jalan Ki Rangga Wirasantika No.500, 30 Ilir, Ilir Barat II, Palembang, South Sumatra
• Google coordinates: -2.997544, 104.749714
• Contact number: Land Iine  +62 711 310554
• Recommended transportation: rental car, click here for people who can help.

 

General information

This store provides various collections of local unique cloth, both in ready-to-wear, and raw materials for custom tailoring. As with many other Indonesian ethnics, South Sumatra has its own unique woven motifs. It is best known as songket, a hand-woven fabric, usually made of silk or cotton, with gold or silver threads embroidered in.

Songket itself used to be a luxury product (it is still now, depending on its complexity), which apparel made of it usually worn or just wrapped around a shoulder on ceremonial occasions. There are many categories and variety of the cloth. A songket cloth with more complex and intricate the pattern usually has higher price tags. The higher end may cost consumers over USD 100.

The store also provides local batik unique to the Palembang area (many parts of Indonesia have their own unique batik cloths). And there are also cloth called jumputan (tie dye), also with unique South Sumatra motifs.

Also available is kain tajung, which is usually intended to be made men’s cloth such as shirts. This usually comes in bright colors in rectangular motifs, which looks like motifs of sarong, common attire in Indonesia .

Fikri Koleksi has its own production facility, where workers make the fabric. Their collection is vast, from shirts to just any other possible clothing made of the cloth material. The products are available from very affordable shirts up to raw songket and batik which prices are much higher. The fabric materials vary. Some are silk, cotton, and there are also polyester (which makes the cheap shirts). Even the cheap shirts are very attractive.

Our experience

Parking space is limited, especially during high season. We took advantage of a rented car (see here if you need one) so we didn’t have to worry about it. Guests were marked with stickers (a bit annoying, probably marking for who-gets-commission for the purchase).

Buying experience: selection was abundance! Even the cheap shirts were very enticing. There were so many closets full of cloth materials which would satisfy any visitor’s appetite, at least to feast our eyes on. The servants were nice and not pushing, and there were enough of them to serve the visitors. And they were not reluctant to answer questions or unfold the products on the floor for the visitors to get a feel of. It was a comfortable purchase experience.

the colorful shirts in more details

Conclusion: This single place can satisfy visitor’s inquiry on local Palembang /South Sumatra clothing with various affordable to lavish collections of clothing materials. One can spend a significant amount of fund here and come home satisfied with the purchases. Service is good and the people are quite nice. Overall, a souvenir store a visitor should not miss.

 

 

 

 

 

Summary:

• Name: Emilia Hotel
• Review date: September 16, 2017
• Location: Palembang City, Province of South Sumatra, Indonesia
• Rating: 3 star
• Amenities /service quality: fair /good
• Recommendation: recommended for business visit
• Recommended transportation: taxi /rented cars
• Swimming pool: no
• Concierge service: yes
• Children playground: no

 

Location

Emilia Hotel is a three-star hotel located in the city of Palembang, South Sumatra province, Indonesia. It is conveniently located in a business and shopping area, in a shopping center complex (Palembang Indah Mall). Google map location is -2.984661, 104.754779. Official contact information for the hotel is as follows:

• Street address: Jl. Letkol. Iskandar No.18
• Contact number: Land Iine  +62 711 5630 099
• Mobile number +62 812 9052 0999
• Fax number: +62 711 563 0088
• phone: +62 711 5630099
• website: www.emilia-hotel.com

Access to the hotel from the airport is approximately 17 km (10 miles). During busy traffic hours, a taxi ride (recommended) will take about 1 hour, which will cost about Rp 100.000,- (USD 7.5).

The hotel itself comprises 2 separate buildings. Building architecture indicated that the buildings were designed for business office before used as hotel buildings. However, the atmosphere was still comfortable for staying.

Published room rate is from approximately USD 34 to USD 128. The hotel can be booked from many online booking agents such as agoda at low prices.

Hotel room rates in Palembang tend to be on the lower end compared to large cities. Thus guests can benefit from the rates and make spending on other valuables.

 

Amenities

Hotel features /amenities are fair. It has no swimming pool, no bath tub (at least in the executive suite room we stayed in). There isn’t any playground for children. However there is a safe deposit box in the closet.

The hotel’s restaurant is not too large, but during our stay, it was never crowded. Ample selection of food is available, including some South Sumatra unique delicacies.

Wifi is available at the hotel.

Parking space is ample. There is sufficient parking in the vicinity of the hotel lobby. And more spaces are available within the shopping center complex.

 

Our experience:

We arrived late in the afternoon. The receptionist handled our check-in swiftly. It took only minutes to confirm our booking and the bell boy helped with our suitcases to the other building. The service was prompt, swift, helpful and friendly. We got complimentary room upgrade due to busy weekend visits. The executive suite room was quite spacious, approximately 7 m (22 ft) x 5 m (16 ft), such ample space we couldn’t even make use of.

There was wifi with good signal strength in the room. It could be used for work, but seemed inadequate for streaming videos. There was this useful long bar table (which I used for work). There was a wooden table with two facing wooden benches in front of the TV, which my son and I used to play chess.

 

Hotel amenities included slippers, soaps, shampoos, toothbrush and paste, and towels.

There was a very functional kettle to boil water. It heated up water almost immediately, thus it took only less than a minute to prepare one or two cups of hot tea. Instant coffee was actually instant then. Such a relief for time-constraint work!

Everything (well, almost everything) worked seamlessly. The electronic safe deposit box opened, closed, and locked appropriately.

Some minor discomforts: The shower tap which was marked blue turned to be the hot one, and the TV remote worked erratically. TV reception was only adequate. The cappuccino we ordered was not appropriately prepared (not by a barista).

The elevator on the building was on the smaller side. But it was never busy, because it only served several rooms.

 

Breakfast

Breakfast is served at 06.00-10.00 am. The place was cozy, although not quite generous for space. There were quite a lot of food selection, and local food, such as mie celor, pempek, and local pastries were provided. The taste was good if not great. Overall, the breakfast time was not disappointing at all.

 

Conclusion: We were quite satisfied with our stay at Emilia Hotel. It is suitable for visitors who visit Palembang for business purpose. It is located not far from the famous Ampera Bridge and the Benteng Kuto Besak (previously a fortress of a kingdom). The nearby shopping center can help guests who have to deal with teenager’s or children’s boredom, as a substitute of  playground and swimming pool. Considering the price (which was very affordable), the service was superior. There was no major inconvenience. Everyone was nice and helpful. It is a nice place to stay in Palembang.

 

Tips:

As with any hotel, it is better to test the safe deposit box empty before putting valuables in.

To get around, there are bentors (motor rickshaw) which fare is upon negotiation. For hassle free, transportation, it is recommended to use rented car or metered taxi. The hotel can help with this, or ask the following people to help (see their numbers here).

Palembang is a city with hot climate.  This should be taken as consideration should a visitor decides to take a walk of considerable distance.

There is a small grocery store (an Alfamart chainstore) at the left parking exit of the hotel (to the left when facing the hotel entry door), which should come handy for buying small things, such as snacks or bottled water.