Manado Trip 2013 - Day Three

On our last night in Manado, we stayed at Sintesa Peninsula Hotel. The hotel was very nice, located up on the hill so we can see the Manado city view beautifully from up above. I forgot to take picture of our room, but it's very spacious and comfortable. One little thing, the hotel is a 5 star hotel, but it was originally a hospital, and that fact made me a little scary. But thankfully nothing weird happened during our stay.

Manado city view at the morning. The mountain at the back is Mt. Lokon.

And here's the night's city lights.

Our third day in Manado was basically a culinary day. I forgot to take picture of the hotel's breakfast because we were in rush, but the breakfast were good. It offered various kind of food, from traditional breakfast such as tinutuan to western style breakfast.

Our first stop is the traditional cake hunting at Lililoyor Market. It was previously a street full of shops before, but now there's only a few shops selling traditional cakes, due to the government rule. But it still got wide selection of traditional cakes and cookies. It only opens in the morning, and closed as soon as they ran out of cakes, so the earlier the better.

For lunch we went to city extra. I've written a review for this place before (read it here), so I won't be long. But it seems like I've found a new favourite, the Squid Ink Woku! Yap it's the black one at the center.

Afternoon view from City Extra

My personal favourite daydreaming spot

After lunch we went to Rumah Kopi Bintang Wayang (Bintang Wayang Coffee House) which (I just found out) actually share the same ownership with Rumah Kopi Gembira at Kawangkoan, which I also have reviewed last year (read here). It's very exciting to be able to get my favourite pork bun here in Manado, especially when we weren't make it to Kawangkoan the day before.

The heavenly pork bun

And the coffee milk, made by the owner herself. The blurry face behind is the owner, who actually happened to be a friend of my mother, and has ran this coffee house for more than twenty years.

After the heavenly pork bun, pleasant coffee, and long chitchat, it's time for another round of dessert. Here's es kacang from Nyiur restaurant (read previous review here), perfect closing for the 2013 Manado trip.

Pasar Lililoyor (Lililoyor Market)

Jl. Sudirman 4

Manado, Indonesia

City Extra
Jl. Raya Tanawangko, Desa Kalasey
Manado, Indonesia
0431-826017/826018

RM Bintang Wayang

Jl. Wayang

Manado, Indonesia

Nyiur RestaurantJl. Piere Tendean Boulevard, ManadoPhone: (0431) 857-700

Manado Trip 2013 - Day Two

Moving on to the second day, first thing in the morning we picked up some relatives and headed straight to Danau Linow (Linow Lake) at Tomohon. It's about two hours drive from Manado, but it was two hours well spent catching up with my grandmother and my cousin in the car.

Danau Linow is famous for it's water could change color, because of the high sulfur content in the water. When we visited that morning, the color is kinda green. Located up in the mountain, the weather was breezy even though the sun was shining brightly.

The entrance ticket fee is IDR 25.000 per person, including first drink (coffee or tea) and a piece of bangket cookie, manadonese traditional cookie which uses walnut as the main ingredient. They also sell some snacks, so we ordered a portion of banana fritters with bakasang.

And that's how we spent our morning, sitting in a peaceful natural place, chatting with family and relatives, accompanied by great snack. Priceless!

Afternoon arrived, and so did hunger. We had lunch at RM Tinoor Jaya, still at Tomohon, which serves traditional Minahasa food, including Paniki (Bat Meats), RW (Dog Meats), and Boar Meats. I've tried all of them on my previous visit, but none of them meet my tastebud (and I feel like crying when I eat the dog meat), so this time I just eat something ordinary like chicken and pork.

The eating system here is similar to Padang Restaurant. The food is all served on the table. You touch the bowl, you pay for the whole bowl. If you're not interested, just stay away from it.

Continuing our journey, we went to Bukit Doa (The Hill of Prayer). The place is beautiful, they've got a Maria Cave, Stations of the Cross, chapel, and outdoor amphitheater. Too bad that time the Stations of the Cross was hit by the landslide earlier (you must have heard of the huge flood and landslides at February on TV), so it's not available.

Beautiful chapel at the Hill of Prayer

After the long hours of sitting in the car, we finally got back to Manado and had our dinner at Rajawali restaurant. Here's my favourite, Crisp Fried Carp Fish. In Jakarta, people usually avoid carp fish because they've got a lot of tiny spines, making it hard to separate the meat and the spines. But in Manado, people love it. I personally prefer the carp fish to be fried until crispy so I can just eat the spines along without separating them.

Having enough adventure for the day, we headed back to the hotel and had rest to face the third and also our last day in Manado.

Danau Linow

Jl. Tomohon - Kawangkoan

Minahasa, North Sulawesi

Indonesia

RM Tinoor Jaya

Jl. Raya Tomohon 

Minahasa, North Sulawesi

Indonesia

Bukit Doa

Jl. Lingkar Timur no. 99

Kakaskasen 2, Tomohon

Minahasa, North Sulawesi

Indonesia

RM Rajawali

Jl. Sudirman No. 18

Manado, North Sulawesi

Indonesia

Manado Trip 2013 - Day One

Last month, me and my family went to Manado again to celebrate Cap Go Meh. It's always fun to celebrate Cap Go Meh in Manado, since the town celebrated it with a huge parade. And it's always fun to catch up with some relatives :)

Anyway, here's the highlight of my 2013's Manado trip.

People said that you know you're in Manado when you see coconut trees all around you. They're just everywhere!

What greets us as soon as we landed: Nasi Kuning Kampung Kodo (Manado style turmeric rice served with beef, cakalang fish, potatoes, and boiled egg)

After lunch, we immediately went to my relative's house to help the parade preparation. Spotted this cute girl just got her hair done and playing cheerfully with her new long braids.

The Cap Go Meh Parade started at 3 PM until the evening. All people from Manado and the town nearby gathered near the Ban Hin Kiong Temple, the main temple in Manado. The parade participants are mostly children under 12 years old, dressed as the Chinese historical character.

Opening the parade at the very front row is the king. Isn't he a little too cute to be a king? 

Right behind the king are his warriors. Now this is fierce.

And followed by the carnaval cars called "pikulan" The car is decorated beautifully to support the chinese dressed kids on it.

The cutie before has became a beautiful chinese warrior

At night, the pikulan is equipped with festive lights

Tan Chi is another interesting thing to watch. It is said that Tan Chi's body is possessed by the God's spirit. He's hurting the body by slicing his back with sword and stabbing his cheek with the wire to redeem the sins of mankind. But amazingly, the body is not bleeding at all.

The super crowded spectactors

Me taking picture with one of the crew

*Nasi Kuning Kampung Kodo

Rumah Makan Selamat Pagi

Jl. Sudirman

Manado, Sulawesi Utara

Indonesia

[Manado] Rumah Kopi Gembira

After the great meal we had in Tondano, we still had one more food destination: Rumah Kopi Gembira at Kawangkoan. Kawangkoan is another sub-district, it's about 30 minutes more ride from Tondano. On the way to Kawangkoan, we passed by the famous Tondano Lake. It is the second biggest lake in Indonesia, after the Toba Lake.

Then we arrived at Rumah Kopi Gembira. It is crowded, as usual. It's always crowded, especially on weekends. Manado's citizen just love to ride 2,5 hours to this coffeehouse, having coffee/tea, some breads, and nuts, and go straight home. Yeah, that's how this coffeeshop worth it, 2,5 hours ride. Amazing, isn't it?

So these are what we ordered there:

Bakpao Babi (Biapong Ba in Manadonese, Pork Bun(?) in English)

I am a big fan of Manado's Pork Bun. There are a lot of Pork Bun makers and sellers in Manado, but for me, this is the best pork bun ever. This is the reason I always asked my parents to go here everytime we go to Manado. The bun is soft and the pork inside had the best taste. I've tasted numbers of various pork buns in Manado, but nothing can be compared with this one. By the way, Manado's pork bun is different with chasiu pao. It used not the red meat, and it always had a piece of egg inside. Some use lard inside, some don't. I prefer no lard.

Kaya Toast

My mom doesn't like pork, so she ordered this. I think their kaya toast is very traditional. They made the bread and the kaya jam themself. The bread was rough, like the old time bread, and the kaya jam feels pure. Personally, I don't like rough bread, but my mom likes it.

Coffee Milk 

This is a nice company. It warmth our body in the middle of the cold weather in Kawangkoan. (Yes, Tondano and Kawangkoan is located in the mountain, so it's cold)

After satisfying our belly with such a nice snack, we went home. On our way home, we passed Tondano again, and my grandma would like to buy some flowers. Tondano's cold weather makes it a perfect place to grow flowers, so there are some flower kiosk just on the side of the road. Here are the pictures. Enjoy :)

[Manado] Tondano Boulevard

From Ananas Cafe, we picked up my grandma and uncle at my grandma's house and went straight to Tondano. What we seek is not fancy lakefront restaurant, but the small restaurants in Tondano Boulevard.

Tondano Boulevard Street

The ricefield view from the restaurants

Tondano Boulevard is a small and long street splitting a huge ricefield into two parts. The street is filled with lots of small restaurants in both sides. But all the restaurants have the same signature dish: Sate Kolombi.

Kolombi is a snail that lives in the ricefields. It's maybe kinda like escargot. lol. You know, our family usually don't like to eat unusual animals, but it's different with kolombi. Even my lil sis, who doesn't like most of Manado's food, likes this.

So meet the famous Sate Kolombi Bakar Rica (Kolombi Satay). It's hot, it's chewy, and it's addictive. A must try food when you come to Manado.

Beside Sate Kolombi, there are other dishes too. These are what we ordered that day. The Grilled Tilapia Fish (Mujair Bakar Rica) is my second favourite dish.

Grilled Corn

Again, Perkedel Nike

Kolombi Woku, not as delicious as the satay

Grilled Tilapia Fish (Mujair Bakar Rica) 

[Manado] Ananas Cafe

It was our second day in Manado and we planned to go to Tondano. Tondano is a small town located in the south of Manado. It's famous for the huge tondano lake and of course, the food! 

It's two hours ride from Manado to Tondano, so we decided to grab some breakfast in Manado. There was a new popular cafe in town, called Ananas, so we went to try their food. It's not that new actually. It was already there when I went to Manado last year, but it's not that popular back then. 

When you talk about Cafe in Manado, you won't find coffee or tea or muffins or croissant. What you'll find is a huge selections of Manado's traditional cakes, like panada, lalampa, cucur, klapertaart, and a lot more. For the beverages, they usually have Es Kacang.

That morning, my father had tinutuan for breakfast, and my mom picked lalampa and lumpia, while I chose banana fritters and nike, and my sister, who doesn't really like Manado's food, chose fried noodles. Yeah, I know you guys doesn't get any ideas about what I talk about other than banana fritters and fried noodles, so here are the picture.

Tinutuan

Tinutuan is a vegetable porridge, in simple words. It is a combination of corn, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach and water spinach, and a lot more ingredients that I don't know, but it's all vegetables. Yeah it looks scary, but I think it tasted quite delicious. It is a very healthy Manado's traditional breakfast. Usually people eat it with Cakalang Fish (I think it's kinda like tuna), Nike, and Manado's traditional chilli sauce, Bakasang.

Lumpia and Lalampa

The lumpia was filled with carrots and beans, eggs, and peanuts. And the lalampa is a sticky ricecake filled with spicy cakalang. I personally doesn't like lalampa, but lumpia is okay for me.

Perkedel Nike

Perkedel Nike is somehow like anchovy fritters, but it's not anchovies, it's nike. This is one of my favourite Manado's food, and Ananas' nike was delicious. Behind the nike is the bakasang sauce, which I can't handle the spiciness.

Banana Fritters

What's the different between Manado's banana fritters with the others? The different is, you eat it with bakasang. My friend once said that Manado people are so wierd to eat banana fritters with chilli, but after she tasted it, she's addicted to it and asked me to bring it to Jakarta the next time I went to Manado. lol. But because I don't like bakasang, I just ate the fritters.

Fried Noodles

What should I said about this? It's just ordinary fried noodles. You don't have to go to Manado for this. Haha

That's a little information about Manado's breakfast, but I think Ananas' food was just ordinary, the Nike is the only above average food in my opinion. I don't understand why it's so popular. Maybe because their various selections, or their classic modern interior (which is not really good imo, but Manado doesn't have many fancy restaurants or cafe, so maybe that works).

Ananas Cafe and Resto

Jl. B.W. Lapian no. 34, Manado

[Manado] City Extra

I haven't finished my manado food adventure since January, so here it is!

City Extra is our favourite seafood restaurant in Manado. Manado is a seafront city, so there are tons of seafood restaurants, but everytime we go to Manado, we just have to have dinner at City Extra, at least once. (We went twice this time)

The restaurant's located just on the edge of the sea, so we could see the Celebes Sea and The Manado Tua island from right where we eat, if we go there in the afternoon. But we were having dinner that time, so the view is the city lights across the bay.

So me and my sister's favourite is the Sweet and Sour Crab (Kepiting Asam Manis). Their sweet and sour sauce is the best I've ever tasted, just thinking about it right now making me droll.

Meanwhile, my mom and dad's favourite is the Grilled Snapper Fish Head (Kepala Kakap Bakar Rica). The fish head was huge, the fish meat was perfectly grilled, and the Rica (chilli) seasoning is what made Manado famous for. I kinda like it, although I usually don't like spicy food.

The Grouper Fish Salad (It's Goropa Saladu in Manadonese, and Salad Ikan Kerapu in Indonesian) is another Manado's specialty. Almost every seafood restaurant in Manado have this in their menu. But in my opinion, City Extra's saladu is just average. The appearance is too pale, not appealing. But the taste was just okay.

Woku Fish is Manado's, again, specialty. The grouper saladu is a modern fusion, while the woku is a traditional seasoning since a long long ago, so not only the modern seafood restaurant have it on their menu, almost all manadonese restaurant do. But for me, it's too spicy, I can't handle it.

That was what we had for our first dinner. Several days after, we got back there for dinner, again, and ordered the Sweet and Sour Crab and the Grilled Snapper Head, again. But we also ordered some different things.

This is Fried Calamari. Not  my favourite. The squid were too thick and it's not crunchy. Unfortunately, the portion was so BIG that we have to take it home.

Chicken Satay. This one was great, we ordered it several times before, and everybody likes it.

And the last, Grilled Prawn. This was also delicious. As a seafront seafood restaurant, of course the prawns were fresh and juicy. But it comes in small portion, only four prawns in a plate. To compare it with the calamari, it's just not fair!

So if you ever go to Manado someday, don't forget to try the seafood. This one is my recommendation! :)

Note: One thing I have to remind you, these seafood restaurants in Manado took so long for their cooking time, so it's better if you order by phone first

City Extra
Jl. Raya Tanawangko, Desa Kalasey
Manado, Indonesia
0431-826017/826018