During my stay in Balikpapan, I tried some yummy snacks there. The first one was "mantau" @Depot Simpang Empat, Jl. Letjen Suprapto No. 06, Phone 62-542-743049, Balikpapan, near the popular traditional market "Kebun Sayur". I really love the crispy mantau, inside is very soft while the skin is crispy, it's rather sweet. It could be eaten with beef black pepper, as I don't like spicy food, we ordered butter fried chicken. There were 2 types of mantau, steam and fried, we preferred the fried one as we tried the steam one was not warmed first by them, so it's not nice. They cut the mantau into 4 pieces, so you don't need to worry it's too big for you. It cost IDR 4.000,-/piece, it would be better to eat while it's hot, I could finish the whole 2 fried mantau by myself :-). Beside Mantau we also ordered "Mie siram" (noodle doused with thick vegetable soup). The Chinese food restaurant was not too big and it's very simple with some table and wood benches. The chef cooked at the front near the entrance, no air conditioning, just fan, but the food was delicious, and so many guests visited the restaurant. If you would like to take away mantau for your family at home, you could order the steam one, they have a box to keep it, you could put in the fridge in 2 weeks then frying it when you would like to eat.
In the morning near our hotel there was a row of small shop, people called it "ruko-rumah toko" (usually for home on the 2nd and 3rd floor while the store on the 1st floor) which sold many kind of food. We stopped by to buy the famous yellow rice, you could select the side dish whether chicken, beef or fish. When going to the cashier, I saw some fried snacks, I selected the fried banana and megali?. I don't know the name, it's made from green bean. I never ate it before, but I like the taste, it's nicer to eat while it's still warm. My friend bought many kinds of bakpau, similar to mantau filling with chicken, pork, green bean or others.
Seafood, especially crab is one of the most popular menu in Balikpapan, you could not miss it. We had lunch at Dandito Restaurant, Jl. Iswahyudi 72, phone 62-542-764367 ordering their soft shell crab as we didn't like to have difficulty peeling the crab's skin while ordering the popular crab with sweet and sour sauce. We also ordered sauted kale, anchovy bean sprout and fuyunghai (vegie mixed with egg smothered in sweet sauce). You also could take away the sauce crab, they have prepared the special box which is safe to bring to other city by flight. Actually there are another popular restaurant for crab, called "Kepiting Kenari" restaurant, Jl. Iswahyudi 4, phone 62-542-764018 just across Dandito, unfortunately there is no soft shell crab, so we didn't go there.
After shopping some traditional accessories made of beautiful stone in Kebun Sayur, we went to small restaurants provided seafood inside the market area. We stopped by at one of them, ordered the grilled fish, unfortunately it's finished, so we had to move to the other one beside it. We could select directly for the raw fish, then they grilled for us. While waiting for the fish, the waitress automatically provided the vegetable soup and a plate of white rice. The fish was very fresh, provided with the chili if you like spicy food.
Just a few metres from Kebun Sayur, there was a stall which sold the traditional snack from East Kalimantan, called "Pisang Gapit". They grilled the bananas, pressed it within a pair of wooden bar, slice it, then giving palm sugar mixed with coconut milk including slices of fresh jack fruit. It's very yummy, but it's also made my stomach full as the portion was quite big. That's the original taste of Pisang Gapit, some seller would provide more combination for topping, such as chocolate, cheese and peanut. I still prefer the original one with many jack fruit pieces for topping.
Anyway if you like to eat in the fancy restaurant, you could go to Open House café and restaurant, at Jl. Markoni Atas 88 located at hilly, higher than Balikpapan city, so you could enjoy the sunset. It's very huge complex surrounded by tropical greenery gardening different decoration style for each building, full of antique collection items. I really like the decoration, it had multiple levels of the rooms that's connected with beautiful stairs made of mozaic ceramic. It is absolutely stunning - beautifully furnished, lots of pools for fish and swimming, also great views to the city and sea.
The higher level and different seat location had a minimum amount to be spent for food & beverage. Anyway they didn't prohibit us to take pictures from the place. Even the owner put a bathtub next to the bar table, while at the other side you could see a piano as the center of point interest. After taking some pictures, we started to select table to seat, we preferred to seat without any precondition terms. It still looked nice anyway, the table made of the cutting wood with its cambium exposed. The food presentation was very nice, the taste was also delicious. I love the yummy apple pie with ice cream as the dessert. It's worthy to visit, the ambience was so nice especially if you like photography, anyway the food price was a little bit higher than common restaurant.
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