tokyo food file

Warung Bintang — from the back streets of Bali to backstreet Shibuya

Even though I put up a major post about Warung Bintang back in November, soon after it first opened, at that point I wasn't totally convinced by it. I wanted to like this friendly little canteen and the people running it, but something about it didn't quite add up.

The idea was fantastic — the Bali street stall decor to go with the basic street stall food — but it was still early days. The staff were still finding their feet, and somehow the look felt a bit contrived. Now, 4 or 5 months later, it's really starting to come together, accruing its own patina and personality.

In my recent Japan Times column, the photos focused on the food. Here are a few more showing the interior, and how Warung Bintang has evolved over the last half year.

 

The decor and layout have been rearranged. It's just as quirky, maybe more so, but it has been lightened up and the seating arrangements have been rethought.

 

Just about everything in the entire premises has been shipped in from Indonesia: the plastic stools, tabletops and colourful tablecloths; the posters decorating the wall...

 

...the packages of snack foods, noodles, instant coffee and cigarettes that fill the window separating the dining room from the kitchen… 

 

…even the air freshener in the restroom…

 

 

Did I mention the posters on the wall? This one's my favourite...

 

Quirkiest of all are the hand-made wooden scale models of the gerobak street carts (also brought in from Bali). Cute, yes, but also a measure of how much the folks at Warung Bintang are putting their own personality into the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was playing around with the idea of a "street cart named desire" headline for the JT column (I'm glad now we didn't go down that avenue). However, I've got to say, these little models are definitely desirable...

 

UPDATE: Waung Bintang is now closed.

a new addition outside Shibuya's Warung Bintang

Maybe it's because I don't usually go along this street at lunch time, but I've just noticed that Warung Bintang now has a cute little hawker's street cart outside.

 

It's advertising the daily set lunch menu, which apparently includes a couple of cans of beer...

 

These photos were taken just after lunchtime, which is why the sign says "Tutup", which of course means "closed" — from the bahasa pronunciation of "Shut Up" (yes, lame joke...)

 

UPDATE: Warung Bintang is now closed

warung — truckstop Indonesian in backstreet Shibuya

 

I was wandering along one of my regular routes that meanders through the backstreets of nether Shibuya when I spotted this sign. What used to be a casual Japanese fish restaurant has now metamorphosed into an even more casual Indonesian eatery.

Warung — in Japanese it appears to be called ワルンビンタン (Warung Bintang) — is one of those labours of love that pop up here in Tokyo every so often. The owners have obviously been over in Java, loved the culture of the street-stall food there, and decided that this is exactly what Tokyo needs.

Inside, all the fittings and decor are exactly what you'd find in some Indonesian truckstop cafe. The tables are basic formica, and you sit on plastic stools. The plastic tablecloths advertise Coke in bahasa Indonesia, as do the lurid red ashtrays and chopstick/napkin holders. And Indonesian TV chat shows beamed from Jakarta flicker on the set in one corner of the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the most important detail is that there are two Indonesian chefs in the kitchen. One is from Java, the other from Bali. One cooks the beef; the other the pork (you can work out for yourself which does what); and they share duties with the chicken and all the rest.

I've dropped in a couple of evenings already. The first time it was so new and empty and hesitant, I didn't really enjoy it. But the word's starting to get out and there are more customers now, and the food seems to be picking up too.

It's certainly down-home authentic. Besides the standard krupuk that come with any and every nasi campur in town, they also offer emping, similar puffed-up deep-fried crackers made with seeds of belinjo (also called melinjo; genetum gnemon; padi oats). They have a light nutty taste that went just fine with my Bintang — especially with the dip of fiery sambal — while waiting for the rest of my meal to arrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other day I had the mixed sate plate — 2 sticks each of chicken, mutton and beef, except I asked them to substitute tempeh for one of the sticks of lamb — with a serving of rice on the side, which came with just a small garnish of gado-gado.

It was all pretty good and satisfying, albeit the sate sauce was typically sweet (out of the jar, I guess; the gadogado sauce too).

In fact the tempeh was the best part of the meal, though I knew that already, having ordered a serving the previous time. I'm a major fan of tempeh — let's hear it for mould-cultured soybeans!

 

The first time I ate at Warung I ordered the nasi campur mixed plate — as you do, if you want a balanced meal with a bit of this, that and t'other. This is how it's served, on green 'banana-leaf-look' plastic...

 

Some stewed beef; a chicken sate; some gado-gado greens; two halves of a boiled egg with a sauce of diced tomato/cucumber; one krupuk — plus rice, of course. And this is the main grumble I have about Warung (apart from the cigarette smoke): the rice is sticky Japanese-style gohan — and this kind of food really does need to be served with Indonesian long-grain rice.

 

But we have so few Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo — and none I'm aware of that specialise in simple street food — that I'm just really pleased to have discovered Warung. I'm even more pleased that it's in a part of town I pass through regularly. I know I'll be back there plenty.

Here's a map link...

and more info (in Japanese) on their own blog here...

They're open for lunch now too — latest opening hours here...

Update: Since spring of 2022, there has only been one chef, the Javanese (so, no pork now).

UPDATE: Warung Bintang is now closed