Tasty Tender Deer Steak in Pakanbaru

Visit Pekanbaru as the capital city of Riau, in Sumatra last Oct 2010, we were welcome by the drizzle. The driver informed that in Riau the weather changed within hours, from very shiny day to heavily raining. The Sultan Syarif Kasim II international airport also serves flights to and from neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Maybe some of you has heard about Pekanbaru, because the city regular suffered from smoke due to forest fires during dry season that impacted to Malaysia and Singapore too. Some modern building were spread out in the city, such as library building built similar to an open book.



We stopped by for lunch in a restaurant called “Pondok Patin Haji Yunus”. They provided traditional Sumatra food from Pekanbaru such as Ikan Patin (catfish), the soft fish cooking with curry. The restaurant environment was nice, it’s a traditional house on the fish pond. A live music, simple band with a singer accompanied guests having lunch. Most of the food was spicy and hot, but they also provided fried chicken for anybody who didn’t like spicy food. The beverage name was very creative and funny, such as “es airmata pengantin” (bride’s tears ice), “es laksamana mengamuk” (admiral’s furious ice), etc. It’s raining hard when we were eating, but it’s only for a while.


The Great Mosque of An-Nur was one of places that we’d visited. It’s raining hard when we stopped at the front of the mosque, so we had to run to avoid getting wet. The Mosque was beautiful and big, we had to put off our shoes to enter the mosque hall on the second floor. A colorful Al Qur’an (the moslem bible) was provided for the guest. Arabic calligraph was carved with golden color on the pillar in the mosque. After satisfying enjoy the interior, we went down the stairs.


At the back of the mosque, there’s a traditional wedding party, it’s very colorful and cheerful. Lucky for our friend from Lausanne, because it’s a new thing for him to see the bride and bridegroom wearing the traditional Minangkabau wedding clothes. We peeped from the front door to see the party inside. Then we continue the journey to “Pasar Bawah”, a very crowded traditional market that you could find souvenirs, accessories, toys, snacks, etc. It’s very hot and stuffy, difficult to walk and shop, so we only stayed there less than an hour.


My friend and I stayed in the Labersa Grand Hotel and Convention, the garden was very beautiful with a group of elephants on the pool with fountain and small bridge. There was a restaurant with a huge aquarium up to the wall in the middle of the restaurant. The lobby was also nice at night with its lighting. On the top floor, there was a leisure place with coaches and also a bar with many gorgeous paintings on the wall. It’s a pity it’s so quiet, nobody visited or served the floor.


On the next day my friend from Pekanbaru offered us to taste deer meat, it’s quite far and going through some small roads, I don’t think I could find it by myself. Reaching the Kayu Manis Garden Resto and Gallery, we had to climb some stairs. We selected the place on the terrace, it’s bright and you could enjoy the scenery. For the menu he recommended to select deer steak served on the hot plate. It took quite a long time to cook it (around 30 minutes), so while waiting for it, I took some pictures to record the beautiful scenery. Some bungalows were provided with different name for guests who want privacy with their group. Different interior and design were applied for each room and bungalow. Indoor room was decorated with some paintings, ceramics, antiques, etc.


I ordered Martabe, traditional juice mixture of passion fruit and Dutch eggplant. When the meal was ready, it's looked very attempting and smelled good. My friend’s recommendation was 100% correct, the deer steak’s very delicious and tender, although it’s rather too spicy for me. It’s the first time for me to eat deer, definitely I want it again sometime. Don’t forget to visit this restaurant if you want to try the unique food.

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