Bandung, Paris van Java

During a business trip last Jun 2010 I visited Bandung, where people from Jakarta like to spend their weekend to enjoy shopping, dining and leisure. It’s quite crowded at that time, because it’s school holiday, so many domestic tourists came from other cities made Bandung full of cars and people. I’ve got a chance to enjoy lunch in Ampera restaurant, a traditional Sunda restaurant with beautiful view such as in the village with fish pool, coconut tree and some personal huts which could create more privacy room for any group who wants to gather with friends, relatives, etc.


It’s suggested by our driver to have lunch there, because the location (at Raya Rancabolang 1, Bandung, phone: 62-22-7510000) was near our office and they served traditional food. It’s really a great choice, I love the environment. When we entered the restaurant, we would be directed to go to a row contained of various food that we could select whatever we like to put in a plate. Some of them still needed to be fried, just pay right after finishing your selection, then the waiters would bring it to your table after frying. If you like chili, many kind of crush red pepper and dish of raw vegetables were available for free. You could select the seat location based on your preference, indoor or outdoor. The outdoor view was awesome, it seemed like in a village with some beautiful huts surrounding with fish pool. A big gazebo in the middle of the huts where you could sit on the chairs, sometimes a live music would entertain you while enjoying your meal.

From facebook I found an old friend from my hometown, she’s quite success as a branch manager of a foreign bank. We agreed to meet in Paskal - Hyper Square, Pasir Kaliki 25-27, Bandung. It’s a shopping area where you could find a factory outlet, some restaurants, cafes, and also a food market/court where Bandung people hangout. A daughter of my mom’s friend also met me at the same time. I was glad that we could met after a long time never contacted each other.

The foodcourt ambience was quite fun, so may stalls providing from light snack till heavy meal. One of my colleagues from Bandung’s office accompanied me that night.
I walked from start to end of all stalls to select foods that I like to order. The stand would give a coupon contained your order, you had to collect it and paid together in the cashier. The food would send to your table after you paid. I love light snack, so I ordered quite many kinds of food such as moon cake, fried banana, fried cassava, curry chicken prata, and the traditional mix ice which contains many kind of ingredient such as coconut, jelly, fermented cassava, pineapple served with syrup and coconut milk. If you like heavy meal, don't worry about it, so many variety food from Indonesian, Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamnesse, Western, and others were available there.

At that night world football tournament was happened, they provided some giant screens for the visitors to see the match with their friends. The weather was quite comfortable, it's colder at night time, no mosquito :-), so the open air environment foodcourt was quite suitable for Bandung. I was interested in the lovely environment, so many young people enjoy the night, they went with their group, even brought a computer. I brought my new camera, I was attempted to take some pictures of the shiny night at Paskal foodcourt.

My friend and I were chatted about many interesting topics, until we didn't realize that the place was closed. The tenant had turned off all the lights around 24:00 o’clock, so it’s time for us to go home. At the gate of the foodcourt there was a garden with water fountain as my beautiful background picture to end the amusing night.

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