Craving for Good Food in Lombok Street, Semarang
8:00 PM
If you have been to Semarang and are of Chinese-descent, chances are you already know about Lombok Street. Located along the Kali Semarang - the Semarang River - near Klenteng Tay Kak Sie, Lombok Street is famous for awesome street food and is home to some of the best Chinese-style food stalls in Semarang: Lumpia Semarang, Mie Siang Kie, and also Es Gang Lombok. Read on to find out more about these three!
LUMPIA SEMARANG GANG LOMBOK
Lumpia Semarang Gang Lombok is located in House number 11. It has been around for three generations - and it remains the best lumpia in Semarang! Lumpia Semarang itself consists of stirred bamboo sprouts with eggs, chicken meat, and ebi (small prawns, fried without oil), all wrapped inside a wrapping skin. It kinda looks like a Vietnamese Spring Rolls, but the taste is quite different. Lumpia Semarang generally has a very strong smell and taste of bamboo sprouts - in fact the one in Gang Lombok is the least bamboo sprout-y Lumpia Semarang compared to other brands - and the size is huge compared to Vietnamese Spring Rolls.
The stall opens every day from 08:00 AM to 05:00 PM. But it always closes sooner whenever their lumpia is finished; it usually happens during long holidays. It sells two types of lumpia: lumpia basah, which has not been fried, and lumpia goreng, which has been fried. When you plan to bring them back home to another city, buy the fried one. The price is all the same, IDR 12k each.
MIE SIANG KIE a.k.a MIE SINGAPORE
Mie Siang Kie was established around the time the Dutch came to Indonesia, hundreds of years ago. The stall opens from 08:30 AM to 03.30 PM, but most of the times it closes sooner than that. Similar to the previous stall, this one also tends to run out of noodle before closing time, say, around 02:00 PM. The menu is various but typical of a noodle stall: Mie Ayam, Mie Siomay, Mie Pangsit, Mie Keykian, Mie Tahubak, Mie Goreng, etc. It also offers Pangsit Goreng and Pangsit Rebus - both are delicious!
Mie Ayam or Chicken Noodle (IDR 20k), is boiled noodle presented with fried egg, chicken, and vegetable. Does it make any sense when I say that this noodle is so yummy, crunchy yet soft at the same time? It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that the noodle and the dumplings are homemade.
Pangsit Goreng or Fried Dumplings (IDR 25k), is chicken meat wrapped with a dumpling skin (can someone please tell me whether there are any specific names for these or not…), then fried. The skin is very thin, so when it becomes crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside after frying.
Pangsit Rebus or Boiled Dumplings (IDR 25k), is the same with Pangsit Goreng, but it is boiled inside chicken broth instead of fried.
ES GANG LOMBOK
This ice stall also has the same age with the other two stalls. The most popular menu is Es Campur (IDR 20k), which consists of black grass jelly (cincau), young coconut meat (kelapa muda), candied mango (manisan mangga), papaya, pineapple, and kolang kaling. It is refreshing and has that sweet and sour balance right. Perfect for a hot day!
The next time you go to Semarang, don’t forget to come to Gang Lombok and sample these three! It is indeed quite hard to find a stall that doesn’t sell pork dishes at all, so when in doubt, just visit the ice stall! :)
Gang Lombok, Semarang
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