Ning's Culinary Sanctuary: How One Woman's Relentless Passion Brought Authentic Indonesian Flavors to Los Angeles

At one of my gamelan rehearsals at the Indonesian consulate in Los Angeles, I asked around for recommendations on where to find some good, authentic Indonesian food. Everyone I asked suggested the same restaurant: Wong Java House. I knew I had to try this place out.

Wong Java House is located in Alhambra, which is about 20 miles away from my home in LA. Since I don’t have a car, it took us a long time to get there. The restaurant has a homey feeling. The walls are decorated with wayang kulit (shadow puppet) engravings and traditional Indonesian decorations. You could tell from the decorations that this restaurant was authentically Indonesian.

An older woman was peeling chilies at another table. This is the sort of thing I’d normally see in Malaysia. I felt so nostalgic.

In Malaysia, it’s very common to see restaurant staff cutting and preparing vegetables, peppers, etc. at tables in the dining area. The older woman was the foster mother of Ning, the owner of the restaurant.

Looking at the menu, I was thrilled to find out that Wong Java House offers vegetarian substitutes for all of their popular meat dishes (unfortunately this didn’t apply to seafood), which is rare to find in Southeast Asian restaurants here and especially in Malaysia.

We started with the kangkung belacan, a spicy water spinach stir-fry with chilies and it was delicious. The waitress then recommended we try the kremas. Kremas translates to crunch, which makes sense since the dish is usually made up of fried chicken (but I had it substituted with tofu). It was perfectly crunchy, light and oily—just the way I like it.

Unfortunately, they were sold out of the rendang, a dish that’s rarely available and usually reserved for special occasions such as festivals. Rendang is a rich and spicy curry dish. It takes so long to prepare—about seven hours.

It’s a very difficult dish to prepare so oftentimes it’s not so great. But when it’s made right, it’s incredible. We definitely plan to come back to try their rendang. If it’s sold out, then it must be incredible.

Lucky for us, Ning was there during our visit. She recommended we have the nasi goreng petai, a fried rice dish. Petai means, “smelly beans” in Malay. Petai is popular in Malaysia and it’s known for its healing properties. It may be eaten raw or cooked. 

I prefer eating mine cooked with sambal because raw petai has a bitter flavor. Ning’s nasi goreng petai was incredible and flavorful. Honestly, it was one of the best fried rice dishes I’ve ever eaten.

Ning also recommended we try her karedok. As I mentioned before in my Indonesian Cuisine post,I’m not usually a fan of the Asian fruit or vegetable salad back in Malaysia because it’s quite sour and I don’t fancy sour foods. But Ning's vegetable salad was excellent. It had just the right amount of graininess and was served with a delicious peanut sauce that wasn’t too sweet. Ning explained to us that the salad is made with Thai basil, which is very difficult to find here. Fortunately for her customers, Ning managed to source the elusive herb in Anaheim.

Next came the nasi bungkus. Nasi means rice and bungkus means, “to pack”. It’s rice-based and comes with several curry dishes, tempeh, and veggies served on a banana leaf. I was amazed by how delicious the steamed white rice was. Ning told us that she has a particular method for preparing the jasmine rice for her nasi bungkus.

Ning said she won’t let anyone else cook the rice; she comes into the restaurant every day to cook it herself. The amount of water, how she stirs the rice and how long to cook it for—she’s totally perfected the method.

The rice is sticky but not like typical Japanese sticky rice, and it’s starchy enough to absorb the sauce or gravy. The fried tempeh (cut into an oval instead of the usual rectangle) was perfectly seasoned.

For dessert we had cendol, a popular drink served cold and made up of coconut milk, palm sugar, pandan leaf juice, and green jelly-like noodles. In Malaysia, cendol is often served with a lot of shaved ice, but not at the Wong Java House, which was a pleasant surprise. I’d usually ask them to remove the ice, which confuses the servers. I’m happy I didn’t need to ask this time.

The coconut milk and the palm sugar weren’t too sweet, and I liked the firmness of the noodles. The noodles used to make cendol in Malaysia are a bit softer. The cendol at Wong Java is definitely the best I’ve ever tasted. Now I know where to go when I’m craving some excellent dessert.

After our meal, Ning was kind enough to show us her kitchen. She showed us her secret chili sauces, which are handmade along with all the other sauces, foods, etc. at the Wong Java House. Ning is very careful to keep the food as authentic as possible.

Ning also showed us her traditional rice scooper, made out of a coconut shell, that she uses to make her signature rice. Then she let us watch her prepare her signature rice. I couldn’t say no to a second helping.

Even though it was a pain to get to the Wong Java House, it was definitely worth the wait. The food was incredible, and Ning is a wonderful and talented woman who I’ll never forget.

I’m coming back for sure. And when I do, I’m definitely ordering cendol.

#3rdCulture #EastMeetsWest