Indonesian Food Festival Beijing; Nasi Goreng becomes a Favorite

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Visitors are flocking to taste Indonesian fried rice (nasi goreng) and fried noodles (mi goreng) at an Indonesian Food Festival in Beijing, China. The event, dubbed 'Beijing Meets Bali' is being held there from September 12 to 20 September 2015.

"Visitors' favorites are nasi goring and mi goring," siad Indonesian chef Puguh Setyabudi as quoted by Antara on Monday, September 14, 2015.

Puguh and two other chefs, I Made Semawan and I Komang Agus Surya, came to Beijing from Bali's international hotels network to coo a variety of Indonesian culinary delights, particularly Balinese food.

Every day of the festival, Puguh said, the chefs dished out some 50 menus including desserts and a variety of fresh fruit.

Executive chef Yanick Erkhsam said that this is the second time the organizers held an Indonesian themed cuisine festival. "The people of Beijing like Indonesian food, especially those that are not too spicy such as fried noodles and fried rice."

Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia Soegeng Rahardjo said when opening the event that culinary is a means to promote tourism.  

"'Beijing Meets Bali' has its significance [to the tourism industry] considering that Bali has always been a favorite destination among most Chinese, including the people of Beijing," he said.

"Everybody knows about Bali, but not everyone knows about the culinary diversity of Indonesia, including Bali. With this festival, we hope that the Chinese people, especially in Beijing, can have a better knowledge about Indonesian dishes."

According to the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism, the number of Chinese tourists that traveled to Indonesia in 2014 amounted to 959,231 people, an increase of 28.25 percent compared to the year before. The government hopes that this year the number of Chinese tourist arrivals could reach 1.3 to 2.0 million.

ANTARA | RR