A Portrait Painter

I spotted him on Jln. Gajah Mada. A portrait painter doing his work on the pedestrian walk, not paying attention to passersby who glanced at him occassionally. Portrait painters are not usually found along this street. There were only him and another a few distance away when i passed by.

Noodle Yummy

I am choosy when it comes to soup noodles. Some noodle lovers are okay with just any noodle as long as it is noodle, but for me Bakmi Abun in Gang Kelinci is THE place to eat soup noodle.  The restaurant is located at the end of a very small alley. The outside and inside appearance of the place do not improve much with years. It is just as shabby looking as it was years ago, no air-con, a battered old TV was mounted at the corner wall, supposedly as the only source of entertainment for the staff and the guests, nobody seemed to care that it needed replacement since the entire screen was green and the noise made it hard for you to hold a conversation in normal tones. But the last time I was there, the TV was not in its usual place anymore, thank god.            

As soon as you sit at a table, one of the staff will promptly approach you and ask what you would like to eat. The menus are pasted on the walls. I almost always order pork soup noodle (the rice noodle is good too). Mind you, the taste of a noodle dish greatly depends on the sort of noodle you use. If you use a different sort from the usual, eventhough the ingredients are the same, it may not taste the same. Thus each noodle restaurant usually has a dependable noodle supplier or they make their own to maintain the same specific taste of their noodle dishes.            

The soup noodle in Bakmi Abun is just perfect, both the noodle and the ingredients. You can have either chicken or pork noodle. My preference is pork, “why eat chicken when there is pork” being my motto. Well…           

There is also a choice of plain/with meatballs or fishballs/with steamed dumplings. Try each one, they are all delicious.  The staff, which are mostly females, are also a rather interesting flock. There were about 10 of them and they are noticeably of the same heights (or shall I say: shortness?) I have often wondered if it is simply a coincidence or intentional. When not taking orders from the visitors, they usually sit in a group at the back table, laughing and joking and deftly picking a pile of red and green peppers.            

Gang Kelinci itself is an interesting tiny alley with a life of its own. I will tell about it in another post, some other time.