Tambo Ciek – meaning, ‘can I get one more?’
Tambo Ciek is a newly opened Indonesian restaurant and mini-market, nestled away in Coburg’s Walkers Arcade. The restaurant serves Nasi Kapau – a Padang-style dish consisting of rice topped with a mix of curries and other dishes of the customers choice.
On arrival, we were warmly greeted by a person behind the bain-marie, as soft jazz permeated the bright room. The walls show beautiful hand paintings depicting the idea behind the food being offered; you select from a range of enticing dishes that have been prepared that day.
One wall of the restaurant displays a modest selection of packaged Indonesian snacks, such as tapioca crackers, fish ball crackers, squid crackers, nuts and dried banana chips. A fridge stores fresh cheese and cake based desserts.
We opted for one vegetarian Nasi Kapau ($17) and one standard Nasi Kapau ($18.50), served up from the bain-marie.
The options for both meals remain consistent throughout the week, but Saturday visitors will encounter the Saturday special – a meal we are yet to experience (please write in).
For the vegetarian plate, we opted for a fried onion fritter, stir fry tempeh and beans, stir fry spicy potatoes and cassava leaf curry. The fried onion fritter had a mild flavour of onion and carrot and was not too oily. The tempeh dish was packed with flavour and the beans were only lightly cooked, giving the portion a satisfying snap. The ‘spicy potato’ dish lived up to its name; a punchy meal with large cubes of potato that managed to remain soft inside despite a crispy exterior. Finally, the cassava leaf curry was a nicely dense curry, giving you the sense that you’ve well and truly had your government recommended serve of vegetables for the day.
For the plate with meat, we chose beef rendang, jackfruit curry, a potato cake and spicy eggplant. The beef rendang was lightly charcoaled with a distinctly smokey, spicy flavour. It was a stand out dish, with hints of anise and black cardamom. The jackfruit curry had a noticeable heat from its spice, but didn’t overpower the jackfruit’s natural sweetness. The eggplant was slightly oily, but it was well cooked through, and the potato cake was curiously ‘meaty’.
Overall, the dishes are eclectic (sharing is recommended), but the curries are united by their strong spices and coconut milk.
Tambo Ciek is an exciting new addition to the culinary options in Coburg, which has not had many dedicated Indonesian options available.
These reviewers say: not just one more, we’d like many more.
Tambo Ciek
4/471-474 Sydney Rd
Inside Walkers Arcade
Coburg Open Tues-Saturday 11.30-6pm
By Pandora and Anon
The Coburg Meddler 