Pondok Sari Wangi: What’s the story?

Pondok Sari Wangi has been serving authentic Indonesian cuisine in Brunei since 1990. For over 20 years, the restaurant has enjoyed an endearing reputation for serving up authentic Indonesian food from Java, Padang and Sulawesi. They had been famous for sparking the Ayam Penyet trend in Brunei, being the first restaurant to introduce the scrumptious ‘smashed’ fried chicken – crispy skin and tender flesh, served with a rich blend of sambal chili. This dish was such a big hit that numerous restaurants jumped on the bandwagon and started introducing their own versions of Ayam Penyet but none came close to the original. The restaurant is also the only restaurant in Brunei to be awarded the New Millennium award in the Year 2002 by the International Award for Tourist, Hotel and Catering Industry, Madrid, Spain.

Owner, Mijanti Della Rahardja, or Mrs Ho by the locals, has experience managing restaurants in Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia but finally moved to Brunei to be closer the her two sons, who were doing business in Brunei. She started Pondok Sari Wangi, a small Indonesian fast food restaurant in Brunei in 1990. Today, the restaurant has mushroomed into 7 outlets in Brunei! The main branch in Gadong itself seats up to a 100 and VIP rooms which seats up to 40. The main branch focuses on Javanese, Betawi and Sudanese food, combined with a mixture of other classic Asian cuisines.

Currently, the manager, Mijanti’s son Pak Ridwan, is overseeing the updating and modernizing Indonesian cuisine. He has vast experience in the food industry, ranging from Hong Kong, Indonesia and Brunei, has great passion for food and conjures up creative delicious dishes from his home as well. The recent additions to the menu had attracted a cult following in Brunei and I myself am a fan of these dishes especially the Iga Penyet, thinly sliced beef ribs which are marinated with a special blend of spices, grilled and served with kremes (a crispy topping made from mixing the marinade with eggs and flour, then deep fried to give a fragrant crunch to the dish).

Pondok Sari Wangi’s Gado Gado Lontong, which is an Indonesian salad, consisting of vegetables, rice cakes, eggs, tempeh goreng and served with a hot spicy peanut sauce is only available during lunch time. Unlike others’ Gado Gado, they insist of making Gado Gado Uleg and not Gado Gado Siram, which will make the gado gado more evenly tasteful. They also have a range of lunch sets, which are quick and affordable yet delicious! I especially like their Nasi Timbul, which is a set consisting of rice wrapped in banana leaf, served with beef or chicken, with sambal, tempeh goreng and soup sayur asam as sides.

Other than that I absolutely love their beef satays, which makes use of high quality beef, marinated with fragrant spices and grilled to produce one of the most tender and juicy satays you can imagine. Their Beef Rendang deserves a mention as well as they use a lot of ingredients to make! Pak Ridwan is proud to say that for every 1kg of beef, they can use up to 1.5kg in the ingredients to cook their Beef Rendang! Their Tauhu Telor is also a masterpiece; tofu that is dipped in eggs and deep fried till crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, is served with peanut and soy sauce! If seafood is your thing, they also have live mud crabs at the restaurant! I especially like their Claypot Crab Rice Vermicelli and their Fried Crabs in Padang Sauce is a must try!

Pondok Sari Wangi has several signature drinks to offer. Their durian juice is more like a durian smoothie for me and packs a real durian punch! I also recommend their Avocado juice which has a slight hint of coffee! They also make very good in house Cendol, which is served with Gula Melaka and coconut milk!

I personally list Pondok Sari Wangi as the restaurant one must dine in when visiting Brunei. I had brought several friends from overseas and they all had an enjoyable gastronomic experience! Be sure to include this restaurant in your itinerary when you’re stopping by Brunei.

Note: This article has also appeared in the November Edition of Breeze Magazine Sabah!

Places to buy ‘exotic’ ingredients in Brunei

For Bruneian foodies who love to cook - finding ingredients is the first obstacle of many asprising home chefs. Luckily for us - there are some good shops in Brunei where one can shop for ingredients that are usually not easy to find.  Le Apple is a good place to search for baking ingredients and tools while many will turn to Supasave for their ingredient hunt - which is a good place to find exotic ingredients - but tends to be costly. Supasave however, is the best place for different types of cheeses for me - especially blue cheese. Guan Hock Lee at Batu Bersurat also stocks some cheese at expensive prices too but offers us choices for cheeses. They also offer a lot of Japanese and Korean ingredients - and stocks a good frozen foods section - notably their frozen bagels - for those who have cravings for those. 

MC Maju - for all your fresh salmon and oyster needs~
Another one of my favourite is MC Maju - It's located at Serusop - same row as IDEAL and Teguh Raya Super Market.

Fresh live oysters! These would be good with just a squeeze of lemon!
From time to time, they sell fresh oysters, fresh live mussels, air flown pacific trout and salmon - sashimi grade~~ and they actually can fillet and sashimi it for you.

Sashimi grade salmon and trout~~ they will slice and fillet for you ~
Just check out their FB fan page or ask to be added to their whatsapp and email list - they will send announcements of when their air flown stock has arrived! 

Good grade Wagyu and Black Angus Beef ~ hmm.. steaks anyone?
They also sell a variety of wagyu and black angus beef, quality cheeses (mozarella, cheddar and parmesan) for good prices! 

MC Maju offers quite a good price for their cheddar cheese block!
Another good place for exotic ingredients is The German Shop. Located along Jalan Muara (look out for Pizza hut signboard) - there's a good shop for quality imported ingredients - mostly products from Germany and Arab. For foodies, it's a really a good place to shop for ingredients you normally don't find elsewhere. Be sure to pay this place a visit - they stock new items from time to time as well! 


Welcome to the German Shop - located along Jalan Muara - entrance is when you see Pizza Hut. Forgive me for these images as I did not keep high res copies. Hope the blurry images don't drive you nuts!


You can find exotic items like Fig Jam and other jams like the 75% fruit jams and mango-strawberry jams!

Check out their wide range of exotic spices!

Their diverse range of German and Arab cookies and chocolates are yummy!

For bakers - I think they got a good price for vanilla pods!! Be sure to check them out!

There's jars of pickled chilies, garlic, roasted peppers and olives too!

Ooo my pistachio halwas~~

Are those honeycombs?! Omg! *YUMMY*

Vine leaves ~~ hmm ... good for wrapping stuffing~ Greek cuisine anyone?

It's funny to see French and Russian sausages for sale in the German Shop ~~

Healthy High Fibre Bulghur wheat! Cook it like cooking cous cous~

They even got catfood!

So that rounds up my favourite places to shop for ingredients. I hope this post was useful and shared good places for you~~ if you know any good places like the ones I mentioned - please share and I will check it out.