Typical Manadonian taste of Beautika

IO, Jakarta – Discussing Indonesian specialties, of course, is a never-end­ing debate. As a rich cultural diversi­ty and vast archipelagic country, it is certainly blessed with the enormous food features. One of the mandatory menus is Manado delicacies from North Sulawesi, possessed with spicy flavours also dominated by herbs and spices, ingredients that will surely evoke the highest appetite.

Famous for its spicy and fragrant food menus, those impressions will remain in memory. If you want to taste the delights of Manado special­ties, no need to reach Sulawesi main­land, as you can find a lot of Manado restaurants in the capital. For par­ticular places, oftentimes they pro­vide original cooking techniques and authentic ingredients, regularly sent from Manado to maintain the prom­inent taste.

One of the most popular eateries serving typical Manadonian flavour is Beautika Restaurant. This restau­rant spoils visitors by the different approach to quick-serving food, un­like the other restaurants with lon­ger food-waiting time. At Beautika, visitors just choose the menu they want. Although this restaurant of­fers a fast-serving concept, the food is guaranteed to be fresh. All the meals available are made from the owner’s typical ingredients.

Initially, the thought never crossed Sofie Mulyapatera Eman’s mind that her cooking hobby would serve a lot of people’s appetite as well as enriching Indonesian culinary references. Sofie is the owner of Beautika Restaurant, a proper reference for Manado spe­cialty seekers. There are currently three Beautika Outlets in Jakarta, situated in Hang Lekir, Abdul Muis Tanah Abang, and Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD).

Although it was newly opened in 1997, Beautika Restaurant has a lot of regular customers, from ordinary citizens to state officials. With the growing enthusiasm of all circles, this restaurant consumes at least 100 kilograms of cayenne per day and purchase over dozens of spices that reach tens of kilograms per day. Not only that, the restaurant needs to regularly bring ten fresh fish from Sofie’s hometown in Amurang, South Minahasa, North Sulawesi.

“Apparently there are also non-na­tive Manadonians who deeply love our cuisine; it is quite an honour really. Our halal certification is also another advantage to reach all food lovers in the town,” said Sofie at her restaurant.

There are more than 70 menus offered, ranging from cookies, heavy meals, to beverage variants. Of course, customers should expect no less than a variety of spicy foods. It is easy to acknowledge fiery levels in each food menu because each is rep­resented by a chilli symbol. Two for medium level, and three chilli for the extreme spicy level.

If you are still unfamiliar with Manado specialties, you can try it by choosing Cakalang Fish menu, a typical tender-meat Sulawesi fish. Just try this one with two chilli lev­el, enough to strike your tongue with strong peppery taste spread inside the meat layers.

Another must-try menu is Chick­en Rabe with the addition of Sam­bal Dabu-Dabu. All the food here is served in large portions, normally for two to four people. However, if you are not familiar with large por­tions, you may choose half portions. In this restaurant, you can also find a variety of typical Manado street snacks, such as Red Kuekuk, On­beykuk, Nogat Beans, Bobengka, Brudel, Apang Putih, Apang Mer­ah, and many more for taking away snacks.

“What makes Beautika Restaurant attractive to visitors is probably our constant improvements to modify the menu. For example, the pork woku original menu has been replaced with chicken woku for the sake of adjust­ments over fair demands from cus­tomers who are willing to taste Ma­nadonian cuisines,” Sofie said.

The restaurant’s revenue could reach 100 million to 200 million Ru­piah per day. Sofie hopes that Mana­do cuisine will become more widely known by the citizens. That’s why she also modifies the menu with a spicy and non-spicy choice.

“We gave open choices towards customers. For those who want to fancy Manado cuisine but avoid the spicy flavour, we will prepare non-spicy one, although Manado’s cuisine is renowned for its spicy nature,” Sof­ie said.

Due to its commitment to keep­ing an authentic Manadonian taste, Beautika Restaurant received awards from DKI Jakarta Provincial Govern­ment in the category of “Traditional Indonesian Restaurant Service In­dustry”. As one of the authentic and original restaurants that serves Indo­nesian cuisines, it surely earns high recommendation from Independent Observer for Indonesian delicacy enthusiasts. (Aldo)