Rumah Makan Handayani Paiton

On the way to Ijen, Banyuwangi, we stopped by this extremely traditional looking Indonesian restaurant for lunch.

The restaurant was pretty empty so we though it will be another uneventful lunch again.

The entire place is made housed under a traditional bamboo rattan kind of roof with multiple bamboo pillars across the building.

From the restaurant, you can see little huts on top of the ponds which I assume can be used for fishing.

There are also bigger huts where you have your meal in private right above the pond. This is a very interesting experience as you will take out your shoes and while you sit the floor, your feet will dangle above the pond beneath the tables. The only point to note which is why we chose to eat in the restaurant is there are many bugs near the hut and we saw lizards as well. So try the hut if you are fearless.

The menu is thick with many traditional Indonesian delicacy.

We had the sour soup which is chocked with vegetables and tomatoes. The soup is really very appetizing with the tinge of sour after taste whetting your appetite for the food on the table.

I am a huge lover of sambal belachan so I had to order their special tomato fried belacham sambal which was extremely fragrant and bursting with light shrimp flavours

The satay was juicy with a very light a watery peanut sauce

The tahu talur is still very different from the ones we have in Singapore. It is more like fried egg.

This is the best dish we had which is the deep fried fish. The fish meat is nicely sliced from the bones and fried so the fish looks like it has wings. The meat was tender but the skin and bones were perfectly fried to a crunchy crisp.

We ordered a fried morning glory but the order was forgotten. We were told it’s really good and famous so its a pity we did not get to try it.