I am hosting an Indonesian dinner on 3/31 Saturday - POLL

We have a date!!! Saturday 3/31 7pm
The party room at my condo bldg is not huge, i can probably put 20 something ppl for sit down dinner and 40 something ppl if i only get cocktail tables.

Does someone have a suggestion to host it somewhere else to accomodate more people?

Agnes
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Hi all,

I have been reading all the posts on Indonesian food in Chicago (or should I say the lack there of??) on the site for quite a while and decided that its time to do something about it.

My mom was born in Indonesia (she is Chinese though) and was raised there until she went to college in Hong Kong. Her family (a huge one) still resides in Indonesia so I had the chance to travel there many times and sampled the lovely food the country has to offer.

I contacted the Indonesia Consulate here and was given a couple's name who cook for their events.

Last night I met this lovely couple and let them know that I want to host a Indonesia dinner for the LTH forum. They said its no problem but wanted to know what dishes we will be interested in.

I told them some of the dishes i remembered from Indonesia but I need your input!!!


Some of the dishes i recommended were:

1. Soto Ayam
2. Sate
3. Gado Gado
4. Nasi Goreng
5. Kalasan Deep fried chicken
6. Padang Chicken
7. Padang Beef
8. Pegedel
9. Assorted Vegetables with Lodeh
10. Sambal eggs
11. Laksa Noodles
12. Lempeye
13. Lemper
14. Lapis
15. Cendol
16. Otak


If you have any ideas, please send them to me and i'll talk to them and see what we can do here.

I have mentioned that the party most likely will be in early March. Right now I am planning to have it at the party room of my condo building (west loop) which probably can fit around 30 something people. If there are more people interested in it, then maybe we can move that somewhere else??


Any suggestions??

I must say i am very excited about the prospect of having Indonesian food soon as i do miss it terribly.


Agnes

p.s. It was nice meeting some of you at Tac Quick several months ago. Not sure if you guys remember me, but Mike offfered some whiskey to me and my boyfriend that night and recommended the crispy Ong Choi to us, thanks again!

HI,

I am good for two. I will likely bring my friend Helen who is from the Philippines. We went to an Indonesian fundraiser after the Tsunami, she recognized a lot of food from her background.

I have some pictures from this event, though I really don't know the names of the food. I will put them together for you to check out.

Regards,

What a great idea! Count me in, although I don't know enough to even begin to suggest what we should have. But I look forward to all of it.

Count me in as well. Agnes, are you the Agnes that I know via Alphawood?

Dimitra

i'm there plus one. i was @ tac that evening as well. i believe my girlfrend and i were sitting just north of you. gary offered us some of the whiskey also. we had lunch there the day before and returned for more of the ong choy, which @ last visit, was still there.

Hellodali,

Alphawood foundation? probably not, but i can't wait to meet everyone at the dinner!!

Agnes

HI,

I don't know if it is appropriate for this occasion, I'd be very curious to try Rijstafel.

Regards,

that would be most excellent. haven't had a good one since amsterdam in the 70's.

O. M. G. I'm sooo inviting myself to this party

Anywayz, some other classic dishes include tempe goreng, tahu goreng, perkedel, kerupuk udang, ayam bakar/goreng, bakwan, sop buntut, bolu kukus and pisang goreng.

I have the mix/recipe for pandan chiffon cake, bolu kukus and kerupuk udang, and can cook them and bring them in if there isn't enough food.

Count me in too...

Depending on the date, I may be able to make this, and am quite interested in doing so.

Depending on the date, I'd say absolutely positively definitely and most assuredly one and maybe even two.

Thanks for thinking of us!

Sounds great! I would definitely let anyone else be responsible for the ordering, though. The extent of my experience with Indonesian food is the tineka sandwich from Lula Cafe, and that years ago when they were still a cafe and not a full-on restaurant.

Depending on the date, I'd love to come.

Only thoughts on the menu are that soto ayam is sort of a meal in itself, and might not be good as part of a meal. Gado gado is pretty much the national salad, so it probably must be on the menu. I haven't had cendol in 20 years, and I love it, but with the shaved ice, it's probably better in warm weather -- or at least make sur the heat is turned up in the party room.

Nasi goreng seems inevitable, given that rice makes up the main part of the diet. Mie goreng (fried noodles) is ubiquitous in Indonesia, so it seems like a natural, as well.

I like otak otak, rendang, a lamb with coconut dish for which I don't remember the name, and ayam goreng. However, any combination of fish, lamb, beef, and chicken would give us enough variety to be interesting. Padang dishes tend to be spice, so balance piquancy options, as well.

I really don't think we can go wrong with anything on the list, actually. I've never had a bad Indonesian meal.

As for those requesting rijstaffel, that's just a buffet (rice table), so it's pretty much what we'll be getting if we get lots of dishes.

I hope this is on a date I can attend.

agnesfong,

Choose the date that works for you, and then the rest of us will look at our calendars.

Oh please yes!

Oh yes, I'm interested! I've only had Indonesian food once, and I got a sampling platter so I had no idea what each item was called.

I travel a ton for work, but if the date works, I will be there.

asami

This is such a great opportunity, as I often wish we had more of a chance to eat this kind of food here in Chicago.

I love lapis cake so much that I've tried to find a source of fresh ones here in the US.

Isn't Nasi Lemak an Indonesian item?

I think hubby and I would be very interested in attending this event.

Hi,

I just did a rough count to find we are at 20. OP asked us to help identify a location if this goes above 30, which it is likely to do.

Regards,

I am also interested, depending on the date, of course

Sharona

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I just did a rough count to find we are at 20. OP asked us to help identify a location if this goes above 30, which it is likely to do.

Regards,

I do think that setting a date will help us figure out how many are really "in." I know I'm not alone in having my commitment be date dependent.

And if we can't find an alternate place that is reasonably priced, could we consider just doing this twice? That might accommodate not only those who have not yet responded but also those who will drop out if the date decided doesn't work.

Well, let me first explain why i have not set the date
the couple who is cooking, they have regular jobs, their catering has been really restricted to friends (and friends at the consulate) and therefore i have to see which weekend is good for them

Also, they want to see how many people approximately we are talking about and i want to see what the interest level is

I am closed to setting a date with her, and i'll post it here as soon as possible.

Thanks for all the ideas!!! Let me know if you think about possible dishes!!

Agnes

If you're doing a "how many people are interested" survey, as opposed to a menu item survey (about which I know nothing), then count me in.

I would bet on about 2/3 of those who show interest being able to make any given date, fyi. That's just how it works, and it's okay.

I'm interested.

I have been craving Indonesian food with no luck of course. Thank you for this generous offer.
I am definitely in - any of the dishes you listed are fine, but rendang is one of my favorites so I hope it makes the final list.

Hi agnesfong

I'm totally in for at least one for 3/31 Indon dinner party (the boyfriend might come along, but he's not an adventurous eater). My offer to bring something (if you want) still stands. Thanks again for organizing this event! I would love to host one myself if I didn't live in a one-bedroom hole that's within my student stipend budget.

Agnes,

What a terrific idea, count me in for two.

Enjoy,
Gary

I'd like to attend. Great idea, thanks for setting it up.

March 31 works for me, I'm happy to say. I have it on my calendar.