Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Pempek Delivery

I might have mentioned in the past that pempek is the food that Palembang is famous for. Its a sort of fishcake that is popular with almost everybody I meet here. Whenever we meet new people and they find out that we're not from Palembang, they'll almost certainly ask if we have tried their famous pempek.

Yes, we've tried it but its not something that we like. Its a little too fishy for Richard and me. So, because we don't eat it, I haven't had any photos of it until today.

Here's a photo of our driver, Iwan, with the door to door pempek vendor. Iwan is a self proclaimed pempek addict and was literally jumping up and down with excitement when he heard the pempek guy approach the house. The vendor uses a little gong to let people know he's about as he rides around the neighborhood.



I've heard a few people say that they have bad teeth because they eat too much pempek. Its not the pempek itself that they blame but the vinegar sauce that its dipped into. You can see the little red bowl of vinegar in Iwan's left hand. He drank it all up like a soup.

Here's a close up of the pempek.



If you've ever had fishcakes at a Thai restaurant, similar. Except a lot fishier and starchier.

4 comments:

Bilbo said...

I really like fish, but not when it's too "fishy," as in too strongly flavored of fish oil. I don't think I'd like Pempek (I prefer my fish in steaks or filets), but the vinegar sauce sounds delicious. Good think I have good teeth...

Jean-Luc Picard said...

pempek...that's a new word for today.

Kellan said...

How interesting! They don't sound like something I would like. I don't like anything that tastes too fishy!

Take care, Amanada - see you - Kellan

Mike said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pempek for more than you ever wanted to know about empek-empek or pempek.