PETALING JAYA, Dec 13 — In a span of two weeks, I have tried two versions of Indonesian bebek goreng.
It's a good sign since the deep fried duck was always the missing piece in Indonesian restaurants here.
One of the places serving bebek goreng is the newly-opened Wartek.
The eatery is the latest from the people who operate Kotak Plus in Subang SS15. They also have a slew of other brands, all selling Indonesian food like ayam geprek, bakso and more.
Located at the cluster of single-storey shop lots in Ara Damansara, it joins popular places like Restoran Dudu Yummy and Jo'Tesha Northern Colours.
The concept is like the Indonesian warteg or warung Tegal where the everyman can select from a variety of cooked dishes laid out in a spread.
Wartek jazzes up the concept a little with some modern touches. There's no basic stainless steel and glass cabinet to hold the dishes. Here it's sleek dark wood, while the food is served on large glass dishes.
There's even a small skylight, allowing in natural sunlight, that brightens up the dining space. Access to the place is also open on both sides, as the back portion is the nearest to the parking spaces.
It's an all-day dining place, hence you get breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Breakfast is lontong sayur, gado gado and fried beehoon. You can also have toast served with half boiled eggs. The counter is also filled with packets of nasi lemak and various kuih.
Lunch, which is served from 11am onwards, is an array of cooked dishes. There's soto Betawi and nasi uduk or nasi lemak with ayam madura or bebek madura.
For dinner, there's sate ayam madura with lontong and fish soup served with rice and fried fish.
Wartek's Nasi Lemak Bebek Madura is definitely the head turner here.
Who can resist crispy duck with a fork tender meat, topped with serunding. Well, I couldn't!
It's meant to be slowly relished, down to the small bones that are shatteringly crispy. You eat the meat, mixed with the fluffy fragrant rice and the two types of sambals.
There's the sambal hitam, unique to Madura, with spices. The other red sambal gives a lethal punch of chillies to the whole meal.
Wartek's version is incredibly wallet friendly, clocking in at RM16.80 for a portion of duck with rice and sambals.
The other item one must add to your meal is the Soto Betawi (RM15.80). I reckon this is the best version I have tried in the Klang Valley.
The beef soup is laced with coconut milk and filled with tender pieces of beef slices, cow's lungs, tunjang and diced potatoes. Enjoy it with rice and emping.
For something simpler, there's Nasi Uduk (RM6.80). It may look like nasi lemak as it has rice cooked with coconut milk, sambal, crunchy ikan bilis and fried peanuts. However it includes more items, like omelette strips. fried beehoon, crunchy tempe and stir fried French beans.
At the counter, there's an array of cooked dishes too. Select what you like to supplement your meal.
So far, I've tried the crunchy Tempe Goreng, Dendeng Balado, Gulai Tunjang, Daging Rendang and their Perkedel.
Their version of dendeng is a crispy one, where you get the crunch with the red chillies sambal. Gulai Tunjang is decadent with the gelatinous tendon served with a creamy gravy.
For the rendang, you get chunks of beef that may look hard but it will pull apart when you tear it with a fork. The gravy is rich with coconut milk too. Out of all the items tried, my least favourite was the Perkedel as it lacked much flavour.
Prices range from RM5 to RM9.80, depending on what you pick.
For desserts, there's Kuih Lopes (2 pieces for RM3). The dessert made with glutinous rice is a little firmer than I like though. Eat it with brown sugar syrup and grated fresh coconut.
It's also worth noting that drinks like coffee and tea start from RM4. It's a huge cup though which justifies the higher prices.
Wartek, 3, Jalan PJU1A/42A, Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Open daily: 7am to 9pm. Tel:03-78315333. Instagram: @wartek_ara
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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