There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in
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Ikan Tude Manado, Blora

A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.
~ Winston Churchill

 Located just off Jakarta’s main thoroughfare of Jalan Sudirman lies one of the city’s most bizarre streets: Jalan Blora. The street is not particularly long and has a scuzzy, down-to-earth feel about it, a bit like either Jalan Jaksa – which is known for its budget hotels – or Jalan Falatehan - which is known for its girly bars.

Jalan Blora’s claim to fame – if you can call it that – are a couple of distinctly dodgy dangdut discos which provide lowbrow entertainment for (mostly) Indonesian men who still haven’t come to terms with the fact that we are no longer living in the 1970’s.

However, on one corner of the street lies one of Jakarta’s epicurean gems: the excellent Ikan Tude Manado.

 The restaurant’s décor is unassuming and very much in traditional canteen-style with old fashioned metal chairs, simple wooden tables and large spinning fans. Marvelous.

 As for the food, well it’s quite simply superb, and more than a match for the tasteless crap that is so often served up in the fancy restaurants located in the humongous shopping malls just around the corner. Tasting both sour and spicy, the food really is a treat for the taste buds. Not to be missed are the grilled tude fish or the spicy ikan woku (fish soup). Prices are very reasonable. Open 24 hours, so drop by anytime. And if you come late at night, you can also visit the nearby discos afterwards!

I've got no pictures of the ikan tude but here's one of the fried squid...

Ikan Tude Manado

Ikan Tude Manado,
Jalan Blora No. 29,
Central Jakarta

Sadly, this place is now CLOSED!

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