"Mang Engking" Restaurant

When we were driving on the way back home from Batu we made a quick stop to eat lunch at "Mang Engking" restaurant based on our employee's suggestion. Our employee said that his son always begs him to bring him eat in this restaurant because this restaurant beside having a great food, it also fun for the family.

I think the owner of this place is smart. I believe originally he only own a fish farm, until one day maybe he had a breakthrough. He built a cheap huts all over his fish farm, right exactly on top of his fishes. Some of the huts are connected with bridges. Most of the construction are made from bamboo. Very very cheap. But he did something extra. First, he make sure that every huts have lights, then he also make sure that every huts has clean water faucets, then he put a soap inside a net and hang it near the faucet . He also install a 2 way speaker on every huts so when we want to order more food, we can place the order right away using that speaker.

So you can imagine how happy are our children. They can eat and watch the fish swim under where they sit. Amazingly I saw how the waiter clean the dishes after the customers finish. The waiter just threw the left over food into the water and the fishes just eat them like crazy! Then he wash every dishes using the clean water from the faucet and he brought his own dish washing liquid right in the hut and the water just ran straight into the fishes below. I would thought that the detergent will be poisonous for the fishes but maybe because there is a lot of water and the water is a moving water, the detergent doesn't affect the fishes that much. I don't know. All I see is that the fishes there looks healthy and fat !
The food itself is really really good. The price is expensive for a small town but it's worth it ! If you happen to drive by this area, I really suggest you to stop at this place. Order their Grilled Gurami with Sweet Soy Sauce. Then also try their Gurami in Honey Sauce . Order also their sweet and spicy deep fried squid. Their shrimp is also great. Even my picky eater daughter eat a lot of the honeyed Gurami. By they way, Gurami is a fresh water fish. This place makes me hopping that any time soon I have a reason to go there again.

For extra entertainment. The owner let loose some "Pearl Chicken", to me, they look like female turkey, but I might be wrong. Also they provide a rafter for their customer to play. The rafter made by, what else, bamboo ...




I don't have the exact address of this restaurant but this is what my employee gave me:

Rumah Makan Mang Engking on the way to Sri Prigen, Very near Bukit Doa Emanuel.
(0343) 634 - 057 / 779 - 7917

Good luck on finding this place....

PS : I found a recipe of Grill Gurami in Sweet Soy Sauce but in Indonesian Language at this website, complete with a good shot of the fish. Click here.