Eric’s noodle reviews favor the cheap and tasty over the pretentious. (Photo courtesy of Wiryanata)
Well, somebody had to do it. In a region awash with noodle offerings — by the sidewalk or within a gargantuan mall, unbelievably cheap or laughably overpriced — a blog devoted to good ol’ bakmi (wheat noodles) was bound to be written.
Eric Wiryanata does not profess to be anything more than a guy with a passion for noodles. He asserts that his blog is more of an online travel log with a gimmick than a professional culinary blog. An entertainment consultant and artist by trade, Eric’s obsession is — as his blog proudly declares — “to go around Indonesia to find the best bakmi.”
And so he does. With a job that takes him around the country — and sometimes other parts of Southeast Asia — Eric has plenty of opportunities to examine many different noodles.
“It actually started as a joke,” the 31-year-old says. “I met this rather pretentious food blogger who I wanted to make fun of by doing something like him. But doing it turned out to be fun, and I kept at it.”
What Eric discovered was a fresh way to understand and appreciate the places he was going to. The large archipelago serves a variety of noodles characteristic to each province, each city, each small town. When they weren’t brimming with uniqueness, the noodle meals were often a fusion of the modern and the locale’s own style.
(Photo courtesy of Eric Wiryanata)
“What I ended up experiencing was more than a mere noodle workout; it was a way to learn about all these different cultures in my own country that I never really paid much attention to — like most young Indonesians,” Eric says.
Eric, who is of Chinese ancestry, also says that his love of noodles is an extension of his recent interest in Chinese history. As the delicacy’s origins can be traced back to China before finding its way — through various means and shapes — into other parts of the world, Eric considers it an admirable representation of how spread out and assimilated Chinese people are in the world.
Though he is proudly Indonesian – having represented the country in many art competitions and exhibitions – Eric finds comfort in seeing the noodle’s adaptable nature as proof that Indonesian-Chinese citizens are as fully Indonesian as any other ethnicity.
“In an odd way, I see [the noodle’s global distribution] as proof that Indonesian-Chinese aren’t ‘exclusive’ like the New Order government has led many to believe,” he said.
Still, Eric wants his blog’s focus to be about the joy of noodles. And so far he counts Bakmi Lili in West Jakarta among his favorites — the others being Bakmi Anugerah and Mie Tasik in Bandung.
Like many similar bloggers, Eric has a preference for wallet-friendlier meals, which is why the majority of his posts have been reviews of cheaper noodles.
Said Eric of his preference, “They get extra points if they are relatively affordable but taste amazing. My worst experiences have been overpriced bakmi in over-luxurious malls. Just yucky.”
Visit Eric’s blog: makanbakmi.blogspot.com
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