Savoring authentic German cuisine in Bandung

October is a month full of celebrations.

Across the globe, festivals are being held, from the Ghadames Date Festival in Libya, Diwali in India and Jidai Matsuri in Japan to one of the largest folk festivals in the world, Germany’s Oktoberfest.

The annual festival began in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of Bavaria's Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. As a tribute to the princess, the festival site, located in the heart of Bavarian capital Munich, was named Theresienweisse, or the fields of Therese.

Joining in the party, Trans Luxury Hotel Bandung on Jl. Gatot Subroto is hosting Oktoberfest in their third floor restaurant, simply named The Restaurant, piloted by executive chef Michael Deutsch, who, as his name might suggest, is of German descent.

An array of Bavarian beers and delicacies, such as white fish poached with Riesling butter sauce, beefsauerbraten, kummel kops and kohlrouladen can be enjoyed in an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner, says the hotel's F&B marketing & promotion manager Melody Siagian.

When I met Chef Deutsch himself last week, he talked about the dishes served at Oktoberfest.

"It's all about comfort food to accompany the overflowing beer. Nothing complicated, really," he said during dinner.

But some dishes, he added, despite the simplicity of the method, took a longer time to prepare.

Take sauerbraten, for example. It takes around two to three days just to marinate the beef alone before cooking.

The end result, I must say, was really worth the time. The thinly sliced roasted beef was so tender and tasty. The marinated sauce covering the beef also tasted subtle, yet juicy.

I also sampled the restaurant's chicken dish, which was equally delicious, as well as a German-style potato salad, pickled asparagus, potato rosti, braised red cabbage, an array of salads and the sour cabbage dish sauerkraut.

"Most of the dishes have a hint of sourness due to the addition of vinegar. In the old days, before the invention of the refrigerator, vinegar was used to preserve the food," explained Chef Deutsch.

The chef added that he stuck to the dishes' original traditional recipes rather than trying to customize them for the Indonesian palate.

"I only added chilli to my asparagus pickle because I know you guys love spicy food. I know I do," he laughed.

The joy of savoring authentic German dishes was capped with delicious German desserts such as traditional cakeklugehopf, a sweet cake with sweet white icing.

Oktoberfest at The Restaurant at Trans Luxury Hotel is available throughout October on Thursday to Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Tastemarket Bandung: A feast of unique and innovative cuisines

Upon entering the venue of Tastemarket Bandung at Paris Van Java Mall in Bandung, one will immediately feel refreshed by its all-natural, mostly wood, decorations. There was even an inviting green artificial grass laid in one corner, transforming the area into a lush meadow -- suitable for the event's theme: “Picnic in the greens.”

This second installment of Tastemarket's three-day culinary festival, starting Aug. 29, was initiated by Trademark, the organizer of the annual fashion event Trademark Market.

Trademark Market basically gathered young and innovative local designers and fashion entrepreneurs to sell and introduce their products to an equally young market.

According to Tastemarket spokespers

on Decil Prapanca Ikranegara, Tastemarket is the culinary version of Trademark Market.

"This year's Tastemarket offers a total of 104 exhibitors; only around 40 of them are from outside Bandung," said Decil.

"This is where young ‘foodpreneurs’, who mostly don't yet own a store, usually introduce their products to segmented larger markets and gain more popularity through social media like Instagram."

In addition to the market, live music and DJ performances also enlivened Tastemarket with today's entertaining indie music.

"Tastemarket is such a young, unique and innovative event: a must visit!" said foodie Nurul Wachdiyyah, who attended the entire three-day event.

Nurul got to watch the performance of Mustache and Beard, which played romantic folk tunes, and commented that the band had indeed instilled a romantic mood in the air.

She also found enjoyment in many of Tastemarket's food stalls that offered unique and delightful dishes.

She mentioned Teppanice as one of her favorites: a unique ice cream vendor from Bandung with a display that allowed visitors to watch how the dessert was “cooked” at the ice cream grilling station, starting from the original milky dough.

"It was fascinating to see ice cream prepared in the Japanese teppanyaki-style. It successfully made the stall really popular and caused a long queue," said Nurul.

Fatbites, another stall from Bandung, also stole Nurul's heart because of its refreshing Summer Fling, a beverage consisting of milk, yogurt, dragon fruit and a large chunk of mango.

Other food stalls that attracted long lines included Greenlab (a smoothie stall selling healthy fresh juice from fruits, vegetables, cereal and honey), Dr. Freeze (a stall selling ice cream made with liquid nitrogen), Karokun (a delicious sate stall that sold wagyu beef skewers), Ima Mobs Kitchen (a stall operated by a young male crew that offered infused vodka and a Dutch menu item called Blinde Vinken that tasted amazing) and Jago Warung (a stall that offered chic and well-designed food packages as souvenirs).

Other than being the most “happening” event last weekend in the West Java's capital city, Tastemarket also had its flaws.

According to one of the tenants Royal Stag Bistro Citra Sadiqah, although the culinary festival successfully featured a merry and joyful atmosphere and indeed offered a great way to boost its brand awareness, the venue was rather small and thus was quite uncomfortable to visit, especially during peak hours.

On Saturday night, for example, Tastemarket reached its peak with more than 10,000 visitors attending, making the place too crowded and too hot to stroll around in comfortably.

The lack of signage placed around the Paris Van Java Mall was also an issue upon which many visitors commented. The mall is famous for its hard-to-reach location and is surrounded by congested streets, especially during weekends.

However, all agreed that Tastemarket was a unique and attractive event and must be repeated annually to help boost the city's creative industries and its young food entrepreneurs.