Two quick notes and then location pins:
-First: For anyone wondering 1) why Anca is the guest or 2) why certain foods aren't referenced or 3) anything else, watch our previous video; the one on Medan. It explains the first part in detail, and should help fill in most other blanks. Also there's a "part 3" of our series coming soon as well; on the Batak people and the Toba region. Please subscribe to the channel and check it out when that one's released.
-Second: To book a food tour with Anca, best is to reach out via my email at otrbkk@gmail.com and I will try to pass along the word.
-And Ahmad is highly recommended as a driver both within Medan (including to/from the airport) and to other destinations. Reach him on WhatsApp at +62 8126-013-9399 for booking.
Locations:
Kilat Kuphi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DYPrcibDDTVo9Gtp9
Koki Sunda: https://maps.app.goo.gl/raKhUu8xtQZCMNJF6
Mustika Rasa: https://maps.app.goo.gl/DrufpRwzY1mfarzS6
Rujak: https://maps.app.goo.gl/1kv7y9orCdezXxEU7 (this whole alley)
Nasi Padang: https://maps.app.goo.gl/E61iW268b3CMzFqH9
Tip Top: https://maps.app.goo.gl/bEJe3ojeH3kmLWMY7

As a Papuan i saw Indonesian cuisine tend to be more ‘heavy’(spices and herbs) in western part of Indonesia. The more you go east you gonna see the simplest food, somehow my mom only cook fish with salt and have ‘Sambal Lemon’ (consist of Shallots, chilli, Lemon) as the condiment. In my tribe( Mpur Tribe) we cook food in bamboo, layering all the ingredient starting with Cassava/Yam,  pork/fish and kangkung or bayam on top of that. And put them on the open fire. Often without spices and herbs.

I lived Indonesia for 9 years as a kid.  It is by far my favorite cuisine and it is always baffling how hard it is to find it in America even in major cities.  It is fun to make at home but I wish it was as available as Thai or Japanese food.

Here my take on why indonesian cuisines often overlooked:
Lack of sizeable immigrant communities overseas. It sounds simplistic and of course there are other factors, but if you see the patterns, foreign cuisines usually get introduced via local restaurants serving the immigrant communities. That why you will see the dutch is very familiar with Indonesian cuisines because we have sizeable immigrant communities there due to our colonial linkages.
The lack of immigration itself first because culture. For better or worse, Indonesians like to romanticize the idea of homeland. While a lot of Indonesians went overseas, but it is often based on an idea that they will once return to the homeland. So rarely Indonesians settle and grow the communities overseas.
Second, for years since independence, no single nationwide events that necessitate widespread migration. We're considered poor, but no famine ever took place, our politics were volatile but rarely it leads to disenfranchisement of any major groups. That is until 1998, when regime changes were violent and pushed our vibrant chinese minorities toward imigration. Some of this chinese-indonesians immigrants are now restaurant owners in their adopted countries, exposing indonesia cuisines to the wider world

I am Dutch and we cooked Indonesian food half the week. But since we are in Thailand we can not find the ingredients and also no Indonesian restaurant. It's a pity thailand doesn't know all this great food.

Being Dutch the Indonesian cuisine has always been  significant in my life. Even now nearly 30 years after emigrating to Spain it's regular appearance on my (home cooked) menu

Pausing at 3:55 to add a comment early: as an Indonesian who studied abroad in Australia, my personal theory as to why our food is so unknown overseas is because our staples are ridiculously hard to make. Me n my friends quickly realized that if we wanted to cook proper Indo food, we would basically be buying groceries worth a gourmet meal... everything from shallots, gallangher, and spring onion(?) to kunyit and gula jawa were so hard to find and it was even harder to find versions that are high quality. Finding ones that are affordable? Impossible. We literally didnt cook authentic indo food ourselves the entire year we were abroad. And all those ingredients are so common here that it's practically impossible to find a house that doesn't have those 24/7

I had promoted Indonesian cuisine in Toulouse, France back in 2010..that time social media wasn't advanced as today, but now social media really boost its popularity.. it's easier to promote Indonesian food nowadays..back then, the problem that we didn't have enough support from Indonesian government to promote the cuisine meanwhile some Thai restaurants had so much supports from their government..another thing was so hard to find Indonesian sauces and ingredients in Erurope(aside the The Netherlands) so the ingredients prices were higher than other asian spices such as Thai, Vietnamese sauces.. it's getting better this last 10 years, thanks to Indonesian active netizens who are so passionate to promote the culture

I am an Indonesian (Bali/Java halfling) who's been living in the UK for the past like 12 y, and cooking is my passion. I’m one of the cooks for the Balinese temple here, and occasionally for various community events. So you can imagine how I feel when people ask me, “What is Indonesian food?” It’s hard enough to explain the diversity of Balinese cuisine alone—let alone sum up the flavours of an entire archipelago with over 17,000 islands, hundreds of ethnic groups, and countless regional specialities. “Indonesian food” isn’t one thing. It’s thousands of stories on a plate. Well done, for your attempt! Very much appreciated 👍🏻 👍🏻 👍🏻

This one's been the most comprehensive and probably the only video that does maybe closest to justice in defining what Indonesian food is on YouTube, you're a legend. The questions you get from people who had no idea about Indonesian food overseas might render you insane, but that's just a fact of life that people like simple explanations and Indonesian food is definitely not that. I know a lot of people here would agree that it destroys your soul when you have to explain what do you eat in Indonesia, then you'd answer 'it's mostly rice' but then the follow up question will be 'with what?'. They want a simple answer because that's what they're accustomed to: a structured meal with clear definitions and names for the set. Then we'd simply say 'everything' and walk away because that is it. EVERYTHING. A UNIVERSE.

I love the fact that you are making MEDAN as a base, because it's such a gem and a place of authenticity in the sense of what raw Indonesian experience feels like without touristy curation. You're not doing fancy restaurant BS which the average Indonesian do not experience which to me is the main mistakes many food YouTubers make time and time again. Plus, it's NOT JAVA-CENTRIC which, it's just a cherry on top to the whole list of things. You are the real one.

P.S: About the Indonesian taste. I believe in the savory hot food arsenal, there are 3 types of 'Bumbu Dasar' or base that every Indonesian dish have in common: White, yellow, and red. Some say 5 including the black and orange one. But all of them are built upon 2 common ingredients: garlic and shallots. You can see different ratios of garlic and shallots across the archipelago as a differentiating characteristic of a particular area.

another suggestion: next time Bang Anca explains about food on video, he'd express way better in Bahasa Indonesia because it'll be subtitled anyway. His vast knowledge on food and great insights wasn't conveyed justly with the time constraint and English vocabulary.

Old Aussie world traveller here.
GEE ADAM... The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) should subscribe and become a SUPER Patreon.
I travelled on a motorcycle over Java and toured rural Bali in the mid-seventies and have been back to Bali seven times. The first overseas trip was the genesis of my lifelong love of street food when exploring the world.
It was an adventure in the seventies with no running water, street lighting,  or made roads in Kuta or Ubud.
I want to visit Medan and Sumatra after watching this episode. Even with a  'semi-permanent' move to The Land of Smiles, together with a remaining, large bucket list now competing for my time.
Thank you and the TEAM once again.

I’m not blind to the fact that Indonesia still has a lot of problems they are sorting out…but man I love that place. I’ve been 3 times now (only one trip included Bali) and I think about how I want to go back all the time

finally someone that tackle indonesian food but don't lazily record some random rendang and call it a day.

I was so fortunate to be a high school exchange student to Indonesia for a year, in Padang of all places. And I later returned as a university exchange student in Malang, and then lived in Jakarta for about 20 years. The most amazing, delicious food - something for everyone - and I loved nearly all of it, although I'm not a big fan of jeroan or, TBH, gudeg (the texture). And because my father was South African, and I ate curry from childhood, it was my culinary paradise found (botok in Indonesia and bobotie in South Africa share culinary ties). It needs to be better known; unfortunately, often those declaring themselves to be Indonesian culinary experts do not really understand what they are talking about. We need to have down-home home cooked Indonesian food to get the real deal.

One of my absolute favourite foods and so underrated. Fantastic people too.

Thanks for promoting Indonesian cuisine, Adam! You’re absolutely right, Indonesian is not one cuisine, but many under one flag. It’s the bold spices of Minangkabau, the aromatic roots and shrimp paste of Java, the cloves and nutmeg from Ternate, and yes, even the fermented meats of Borneo (where I’m from!).

10:40 Ugh, this list of 30 so-called “national dishes” annoys me to no end. Not a single one from Borneo. And forget about non-halal food. It’s frustrating, but honestly, when you’re from a less “mainstream” region or ethnic group, you get used to being overlooked. That’s just the reality of a country with thousands of islands and hundreds of cultures. Still, nice to see some representation there.

19:21  Sundanese food is all about freshness and simplicity: lots of raw veggies, sambal, and rustic methods of cooking. It’s not really known for seafood or curries, and unlike Sumatra’s rich, spicy offerings, Sundanese dishes tend to be straightforward.

13:02 Anca might only go by one name, but he actually has another one tucked away: his clan name. The Minangkabau people, the world’s largest matrilineal society, pass down family names through the mother’s side. But since many view attaching clan names to personal names as a “Western” thing, they rarely use them officially. Still, within their own community, these names matter as they shape how the people behave and relate to one another.

30:18 Even Anca’s statement that rice is the center of every Indonesian’s life is a bit misleading. That perspective reflects his background as a Minangkabau from western Indonesia, where rice is abundant and relatively easy to grow. But Indonesia is incredibly diverse, and in many other regions, rice isn’t the primary staple. People rely on sago, corn, cassava, or sorghum instead, whatever grows best in their local environment. So while rice is dominant in some areas, it’s far from universal across the entire archipelago.

As someone who has lived in Indonesia for 16 years, I am both amazed and deeply impressed by how OTR has managed to explore the cultural and historical roots of Indonesian food with such depth and respect. Of course, I’m not surprised, this channel has always excelled at this kind of thoughtful storytelling. In fact, you’ve set a standard that makes many local food YouTubers look uninspired by comparison. (No offense, but it’s true lol)

What fascinates me most is how Indonesia’s food culture is shaped by so many forces: geography, religion, colonial history, trade, and even politics. Every island, every region has its own distinct flavors, yet so much of this richness goes unnoticed, even by Indonesians themselves. It’s frustrating to see how little the government promotes domestic culinary tourism compared to countries like Japan, where regional specialties are celebrated and preserved with pride. Many Indonesians I know rarely travel outside their own cities and provinces (aside from Jakarta), missing out on the incredible diversity in their own backyard.

That’s why I’d love to see this become a series. There are so many hidden stories, Sumatra’s spicy, coconut-rich dishes, Sulawesi’s seafood traditions, the ancient flavors of Java, and so much more from the smaller desa and kampungs. You’ve already shown how much care and research you put into this, and I can’t think of anyone better to give these cuisines the attention they deserve. Terima kasih for this fantastic video, I hope there are many more to come!

I've been loving fast food for 15 years, last year, i managed to eat one of Indonesian dish called gulai kambing if i recall, or goat curry in English. My Indonesian friend served me two plates, lemme tell you, after eating that dish, my love for fast food disappeared, and i want more exotic dish like that from now on.

As Indonesian, I can not describe what Indonesian food is. Don't say there are differences between Sumatra and Java. Even like in Java, Central and East Java cuisine is different. They are side by side province. When a restaurant claim themself as an Indonesian restaurant, I give them standing applause. The herbs are very vast. Hope you enjoy some parts of Indonesia. 🫶✨️

i'm very grateful that you don't sugarcoat how history shaped some aspects in indonesia, and that is including the food. please do more long documentary style video like this