Warung Leko,
LB-1, First Floor,
The Curve Link 2,
The Curve, Mutiara Damansara,Selangor.
Tel: 03-7733 1322
Business hours: 11.00am to 11.00pm, daily.
OVER the last few years, restaurants serving Indonesian cuisine have popped up all over Kuala Lumpur.
One that has joined the bandwagon since July is Warong Leko in The Curve, which is known for its authentic Surabaya penyet dishes.
It is the first Warong Leko in Malaysia, but the chain has 46 outlets in Indonesia.
Penyet, or flattened as the name suggests, comprises meat that is flattened and served with a special sambal on the side. Penyet restaurants are famous for their home-made sambal.
What makes Warung Leko different is the way the sambal is made.
Managing director Wiet Rasjidgandha said each of the ingredient in the sambal was crushed and not blended separately before mixing together in a clay bowl.
Appetiser: Start your main course with the special oxtail soup.
“We only prepare the sambal when it is ordered to retain the freshness.
“It takes about 15 seconds to prepare a bowl of sambal,” he said.
He added that different chefs would prepare the sambal differently, and therefore, the restaurant only entrusted one person to make the sambal.
The sambal has three levels of spiciness — non-spicy, medium and spicy. A penyet dish is best eaten with a spicy sambal mixed with sweet soy sauce.
Not being adventurous, we ordered the medium sambal, which proved to be just nice without being too overwhelming.
However, just to satisfy our curiosity, we also ordered one spicy sambal dish and it made our tongues burn.
The sambal is made from cili padi, garlic, belacan, salt, sugar and a bit of oil.
Warung Leko’s speciality dish is Iga Hotplate — ribs cooked on a hotplate with a special sauce. The result is a tender rib that practically melts in your mouth.
While most Malaysians are familiar with Ayam Penyet, Warung Leko offers something different with its Iga Penyet, which are succulent ribs flattened and served with homemade sambal.
“When people mention penyet they usually refer to chicken, but there is more to it than just poultry. The authentic penyet dish is the flattened ribs, and the dish has deep Javanese roots,” said Wiet.
Tasty treat:The Fried Tilapia is a crispy surprise.
The ribs are marinated with a special Indonesian soy sauce for about four minutes before being fried.
The result is a crispy rib that offers a balanced taste with the sambal and white rice.
The dish is finished off with cucumber, lettuce and basil leaves to tone down the spiciness.
Another must-try is the Fried Tilapia. Marinated with soy sauce and fried to perfection, the fish is so crisp that even the tail tasted like crackers. The fish is best eaten with a mixed of sambal and sweet soy sauce.
Next on the menu is the famous Ayam Penyet. Wiet said the restaurant uses ayam kampung so that the marinade will seep through to the bones. True enough, the chicken is sweet and goes well with the spiciness of the sambal.
After eating too much sambal, we washed down the food with Jeruk Degan, a coconut and orange concoction that is refreshing and helps take the spiciness away.
The prices range from RM4.50 to RM14.50. They also have lunch sets starting at RM12 from 12pm to 3pm, from Monday to Friday except public holidays.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
