Indonesian Food Festival - Chatswood, Sydney

One of the many events that celebrated Indonesia's Independence day (17th August) was held at the Dougherty Community Centre; a small and well-suited location which housed a never-ending sate (grilled skewers) queue that stretched to both ends of the centre, entertainment quarters for the kids (the amount of space to move was cramp enough - it was a huge relief to not see any children amongst the amoeba-like bunching of adults) and overall a great cultural experience for passer-byers.

The so-said line that stretched the length of the complex! I regrettably did not tag onto the end as due to the limited time I was able to stay here; I was only here to peruse very quickly on what was being offered.

The reward for reaching the front of the line: food...glorious..food; which tastes even better after the wait and anticipation.


The Indonesian method to get 'that' unique flavour: fanning the charcoal grill with your skewers lined up and occasionally coated with sauce.

My photo-ninja-esque snaps didn't go unnoticed for long - one of the grillers happily posed for a photo.


The pempek vendor: as my Indonesian counterparty had ventured off to explore further I was entertain them with my continuous questions that centred around what various types of foods were in each dish.

I'll have to sadly quote from wikipedia: "Pempek or Empek-Empek is a delicacy from Palembang which is made of fish and sago. Pempek is eaten together with a dark sauce called cuka or cuko (in bahasa Palembang). Cuko is produced from adding brown sugar, chili pepper, garlic, vinegar, and salt into hot boiling water."

Here's some lumpia goreng (spring roll) happily getting deep fried away.


The entertainment quarter! Providing a Wii for the kids was such a great initiative.

One of the many dogs that we passed on the way that had obviously been drawn to the lingering scent of the food...


Indonesian Food Festival
Held on Sunday 17th August 2008
12:30pm - 4pm
Dougherty Community Centre
7 Victor St, Chatswood