Kenangan Is Dishing Up Family-Style Indonesian Specialties With Five Spicy Sambals

You'll find more than familiar Balinese favourites at Kenangan’s new Indonesian restaurant on Little Bourke Street. At this 64-seat spot, dishes with Bogorian, Sundanese, Javanese and Indonesian-Chinese roots also hit the table in a tour of regional flavours and childhood memories.

Kenangan is the former lockdown project of family team Giovanni Sutjiutama, Grace Liu, Alexander Liu, Hana Mahatmayanti and Nicholas Liu. The stylish, Indonesian-designed fitout on Little Bourke Street is a step up from their fast-casual spot near Queen Vic Market.

You could swing by for Josper-grilled sate skewers and some Bintangs (or their weekday mixed rice "midday plates"), but these tables are intended for makan tengah, the Indonesian tradition of shared, family-style dishes. 

Bring the crew and load up with generous serves of iga bakar (braised, grilled and glazed Angus prime beef ribs), tahu telur (a crispy-edged tofu omelette with sweet soy and peanut sauce) and ayam goreng kalasan (Javanese-style lightly fried coconut-braised chicken).

It wouldn't be family-style dining without family recipes. Iga semur, a spiced beef stew, is one of Sutjiutama’s favourites.

“It's a home-cooked food that I don't find anywhere in Melbourne,” he says. “It's what I used to have back when I was a kid. It doesn't look pretty, but it tastes so good.”

You've got five sambals for pairing, from a spicy red chilli sambal from West Sumatra to a rich, aromatic cooked chilli and prawn sambal. Or go for the lot, but you might need a lychee ice tea or a sweet cream soda gembira to cool off. 

To finish, Paris-trained pastry chef Mahatmayanti’s twist on the street food treat roti bakar, with toasted house-made brioche filled with melty chocolate, hazelnut and cheese. Or satisfy that sweet tooth with es alpukat, a chocolate avocado smoothie.

Image credtit: Kenangan | Kimmy Liew