THE weather in Indonesia is no different from the Philippines. Hence, it did not surprise me that it was one humid morning when we visited the Bogor Botanical Garden in Bogor, Indonesia.
While the trees were able to give us some temporary shade from the sun and a much cooler atmosphere, it cannot be denied that it was one humid morning during our visit.
By lunchtime, we were quite tired and hungry from touring the 75.4-hectare garden. Despite how I was feeling physically, I was quite excited as to where we were having lunch.
Our host told us that we will be having lunch at the Grand Garden Café, which sits atop a small hill that overlooks a portion of the botanical garden.
The cafe was packed when we arrived. Because of how tired I was, I was not able to take a lot of photos of the cafe itself. From a distance, the cafe was designed to look like a large bungalow with elements of Indonesia architecture.
Our host told us that we can order whatever we want on the menu. For my lunch, I had the Chicken Satay and Nasi Goreng Kampung.
Nasi Goreng Kampung is traditional Indonesian fried rice with shrimp paste and chicken meat served with pickles and prawn crackers. I find the dish to be very homey. It is like something that would be served to you when you visit a friend's house in Indonesia. It was delicious. I loved that it was topped with fried garlic.
The Chicken Satay was also quite good but not the best of the satays that I had during this trip to Indonesia. The chicken meat was wonderfully cooked as it was juicy. However, I find the sauce to be too sweet.
A companion of ours also ordered Durian Ice Cream topped with cheese to fight the heat. She gave it to me to finish it. It was an odd dessert. The ice cream was pretty good but it was already quite soupy when it was served to us.
Lunch at the Grand Garden Cafe was good despite the heat. I enjoyed the food and it was a nice experience eating within the garden.
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To read more of my adventures with food, visit kapediaries.wordpress.com and follow me on Instagram @kapediaries. Cebu Pacific flies daily to Jakarta, Indonesia.