Susan Wachob

I'm going to be in Amsterdam again and I really want to try the
rijstafel that everyone raves about. Other times I've been there- or
other places around the world, I've always felt so stupid not knowing
that I just didn't ask.

I know it has to do with little plates of this and that that you combine
by choice- but what kind of this and that? How do you order it? How do
you kow which to order? or which to choose if they bring you a set
selection? How do you eat them- separately or mushed together?

How do they charge for these items? Is there some special etiquette?

I may be making too big a deal about it- but since I don't know, I guess
I've made up all these problems in my head. Any help would be
appreciated.

Thanks-

Susan

Philip George

In article ,
Susan Wachob wrote:
    >I'm going to be in Amsterdam again and I really want to try the
    >rijstafel that everyone raves about. Other times I've been there- or
    >other places around the world, I've always felt so stupid not knowing
    >that I just didn't ask.
    >I know it has to do with little plates of this and that that you combine
    >by choice- but what kind of this and that? How do you order it? How do
    >you kow which to order? or which to choose if they bring you a set
    >selection? How do you eat them- separately or mushed together?

Rijstaffel are set menus consisting of little portions of different Indonesian
dishes. Restaurants often have several different ones, some emphasising
meat, some fish, some vegetarian. There are also small menus and large ones.

The idea is you pick the one that suits your tastes/budget and hope for the
best! Usually there'll be a mix of hot and mild, sweet and salty food.
Very rarely do you get just hot food, or just mild food. It's a mixture....
that is the whole point.

Generally you put different dishes together on the big plate they give you, and
try the combination of flavours.

    >How do they charge for these items? Is there some special etiquette?

It says on the menus. You pay 1 price for the whole rijstaffel (per person).
Seems to vary from about $20 to $50+ depending on exactly what you're eating,
the type of restaurant etc. Usually there has to be at least 2 of you in
the party to order a rijstaffel. If travelling alone you'll often have to
put up with a-la-carte.

phil

What Do You Have To Say

Try the Rijsttafel in an authentic indonesian restaurant not Chinese
Indonesian restaurant cos you will get a totally different flavor of
Indonesian dishes.Being half indo myself I prefer the authentic one .
There are infact plenty of Indonesian restaurant around Amsterdam. . My
personal fav is Selecta Rest - nice ambiance & reasonable price with good
quality food..just a few streets away from the "Jolly" Carlton hotel &
flower market or along flower market there are few Indonesian restaurants as
well..
Well enjoy!

SQ

"Philip George" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > In article ,
    > Susan Wachob wrote:
    > >I'm going to be in Amsterdam again and I really want to try the
    > >rijstafel that everyone raves about. Other times I've been there- or
    > >other places around the world, I've always felt so stupid not knowing
    > >that I just didn't ask.
    > >I know it has to do with little plates of this and that that you combine
    > >by choice- but what kind of this and that? How do you order it? How do
    > >you kow which to order? or which to choose if they bring you a set
    > >selection? How do you eat them- separately or mushed together?
    > Rijstaffel are set menus consisting of little portions of different
Indonesian
    > dishes. Restaurants often have several different ones, some emphasising
    > meat, some fish, some vegetarian. There are also small menus and large
ones.
    > The idea is you pick the one that suits your tastes/budget and hope for
the
    > best! Usually there'll be a mix of hot and mild, sweet and salty food.
    > Very rarely do you get just hot food, or just mild food. It's a
mixture....
    > that is the whole point.
    > Generally you put different dishes together on the big plate they give
you, and
    > try the combination of flavours.
    > >How do they charge for these items? Is there some special etiquette?
    > It says on the menus. You pay 1 price for the whole rijstaffel (per
person).
    > Seems to vary from about $20 to $50+ depending on exactly what you're
eating,
    > the type of restaurant etc. Usually there has to be at least 2 of you in
    > the party to order a rijstaffel. If travelling alone you'll often have
to
    > put up with a-la-carte.
    > phil

Mike O'Sullivan

"what do you have to say" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Try the Rijsttafel in an authentic indonesian restaurant not Chinese
    > Indonesian restaurant cos you will get a totally different flavor of
    > Indonesian dishes.Being half indo myself I prefer the authentic one .
    > There are infact plenty of Indonesian restaurant around Amsterdam. . My
    > personal fav is Selecta Rest

I recommend the Tempoe Doloe

Miguel Cruz

Susan Wachob wrote:
    > I'm going to be in Amsterdam again and I really want to try the rijstafel
    > that everyone raves about. Other times I've been there- or other places
    > around the world, I've always felt so stupid not knowing that I just
    > didn't ask.

It's sort of a Dutchified version of Indonesian Padang eating houses. Like
you intuit, you get a bunch of mini-portions and some rice.

I've had a hard time finding any authentic Indonesian food anywhere near
touristy areas of Amsterdam (having failed yet again with another dud a
couple months ago) but others seem to report better results.

    > I know it has to do with little plates of this and that that you combine
    > by choice- but what kind of this and that? How do you order it? How do you
    > kow which to order? or which to choose if they bring you a set selection?

In Indonesia normally they bring a bunch of little plates out and you pick
what you want and scoop it into your own plate to eat it. When you're done,
they use some arcane process to tally up a price (the process defying
analysis; I've gone so far as to eat identical portions twice at the same
restaurant and still got different bills). Then they take the leftover food
from the little plates and put it back on the big plates in the window.

Obviously this doesn't pass muster with Dutch health authorities, so instead
you pay a flat fee and they bring you out a bunch of selections, which
either go in your stomach or in the garbage.

Until you know what you like, you might as well just order a medium-sized
selection and ask the waiter for the names of the things you enjoy. Then
next time you can optimize your strategy.

    > How do you eat them- separately or mushed together?

That's up to you. Some things mix well, others definitely don't.

    > How do they charge for these items? Is there some special etiquette?

The more plates in the package you order, the higher the price. Just check
the menu - it'll be something like 8 items for 20 euros, 12 items for 25
euros, etc.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

Derek McBryde

On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 17:41:19 GMT, Susan Wachob
wrote:

    >I'm going to be in Amsterdam again and I really want to try the
    >rijstafel that everyone raves about. Other times I've been there- or
    >other places around the world, I've always felt so stupid not knowing
    >that I just didn't ask.
    >I know it has to do with little plates of this and that that you combine
    >by choice- but what kind of this and that? How do you order it? How do
    >you kow which to order? or which to choose if they bring you a set
    >selection? How do you eat them- separately or mushed together?
    >How do they charge for these items? Is there some special etiquette?
    >I may be making too big a deal about it- but since I don't know, I guess
    >I've made up all these problems in my head. Any help would be
    >appreciated.
Rijstafel is a set menu of little dishes. They are a combination of
meat and vegetable dishes varying from mild to (very) hot. There are
different rijstafels so you can choose more meat, or vegetarian etc.
The number and sizes of the dishes can be varied depending on the
number of people at your table. Everyone gets rice and you share
the contents from the dishes. They are usually arranged in
sequence from mild to explosive so you don't have to kill your taste
buds on the first mouthful . The advertised rijstafel can be a bit
too large for a single person unless they are quite hungry. I have
on occasions been able to negotiate a reduced selection of "dishes" on
a single plate at an appropriate price. The restaurant will be able
to advise.

I tend to go to the Tempoe Doloe restaurant in Utrechtsstraat because
I love the atmosphere, the food is delicious and you can discuss your
preferences with them beforehand. It was here that I was taught to
use coconut instead of a liquid when my mouth went on fire. I had
expressed a desire to try hotter than I normally have (well if you
never try it you'll never know). Fantastic but boy did I need that
coconut - and it really works.

Tempoe Doloe are not the cheapest restaurant and if I knew more about
Amsterdam there might be cheaper or more "authentic" restaurants
available. I have never managed to get in on spec so I always go a
day or more in advance and book and have always been able to get a
table. It has been a couple of years since I last visited Amsterdam
so I don't know if Tempoe Doloe is still rated as a very good
restaurant.

I am always keen to try alternatives so if anyone can advise
alternatives I would appreciate it ( I'm not into too authentic and
it's useful to have somewhere that has some english speaking clients -
they provide distraction for the single person alone at the next
table).

Derek.

Miss L.Toe

It was here that I was taught to
    > use coconut instead of a liquid when my mouth went on fire. I had
    > expressed a desire to try hotter than I normally have (well if you
    > never try it you'll never know). Fantastic but boy did I need that
    > coconut - and it really works.

Dry bread also works better than liquids - and may be easier to find than
coconut.
And a liberal helping of salt on the food before the next mouthful (if you
dare) will help (with obvious dangers of excess salt in the diet for some)

Ellie

Miss L.Toe wrote:
    > It was here that I was taught to
    >
    >>use coconut instead of a liquid when my mouth went on fire. I had
    >>expressed a desire to try hotter than I normally have (well if you
    >>never try it you'll never know). Fantastic but boy did I need that
    >>coconut - and it really works.
    >
    >
    > Dry bread also works better than liquids - and may be easier to find than
    > coconut.
    > And a liberal helping of salt on the food before the next mouthful (if you
    > dare) will help (with obvious dangers of excess salt in the diet for some)
    >
    >

Sugar also works very well.

Ringolevio

"Miguel Cruz" wrote in message
news:Z%[email protected]...
    > Susan Wachob wrote:
...(cut)...
    > In Indonesia normally they bring a bunch of little plates out and you pick
    > what you want and scoop it into your own plate to eat it. When you're
done,
    > they use some arcane process to tally up a price (the process defying
    > analysis; I've gone so far as to eat identical portions twice at the same
    > restaurant and still got different bills). Then they take the leftover
food
    > from the little plates and put it back on the big plates in the window.
Strictly they charge you for any plate you have taken any food from, even a
little bit.
So just multiply the used plates by their respective costs, not too
arcane... and it's all on the bill in Padangese scribble.
Not that it is easy for them to tell I suppose if you just dip a spoon in
the sauce for a taste, though I have not seen people doing that..

Then the plates that are untouched go back on display, and I think any
leftover food on the others should be thrown away.
I guess small amounts are chucked out, but maybe larger undamaged bits go
back on display too, e.g. if there are 2 chicken wings on a plate and you
eat just one.
I do sometimes wonder how many times a dish can go back and fore, and for
how long... but I try not to think about it.
Do they start with fresh food each morning?
The shrivelled burnt lungs dish usually goes back immediately when I see it,
likewise the slimey brain stew.

I have checked the bills a couple of times and they always seem to be
correct as far as I can tell, but I have never tried taking the same dishes
another day and comparing.

Anyway I love the stuff, hygeine and cholesterol notwithstanding, and
usually rush off for one whan I get into Jakarta.
And as far as I know I have never been sick from it.
Standards and service are perhaps higher than normal as traditionally these
places are owned by the staff collectively.
I (and Indonesian friends) only go to places with high turnover, e.g.
Natrabu and Sari Bundo

The Dutch one seemed to me to be a bland imitation, but I probably ate it in
Chinese Indon restaurants not Pribumi ones.

Getting hungry now
Roger