Sunshine-yellow walls,colourful fruit drinks,and ’90s Indonesian pop mirror the eclectic menu served at this small shophouse. There are well-known staples such as satay and gado gado,but specialties from Manado and Java are the scene stealers.

Fried plantain,eaten across most of Indonesia as a sweet snack,is served Manadonese-style. Dip each brittle shard in dabu-dabu bakasang,the spicy sambal laced with sour calamansi and fermented fish paste. The Javanese dish ayam goreng kremes is fried chicken with a blanket of coriander-spiced crumbs. Manado’s colonial history is captured in a bowl of sup breine bonen,the hearty Dutch-influenced soup of beef and kidney beans perfumed with nutmeg and cloves.

Textbook-thick toast with pandan-flavoured kaya veers from cloud like to crunchy,sometimes in one bite. With so many choices,bring a group – or come back soon.

Also in the CBD at Emporium Melbourne.

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Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs

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