[BGC EATS] Indonesian Food at Bakmi Nyonya – Eden Food Hall

Indonesia, its culture, and especially its food will always hold a special place in our hearts. If you remember EATS Jakarta, that was us. That was us almost 4 years ago. It’s been a little over two years now since we left Jakarta, and there are still days when we would miss having Indonesian food. Sate Ayam, Bakmi Goreng, Nasi Goreng, Beef Rendang, and so much more. And it is kind of hard to find something authentic here in Manila, as it is really not that common and accepted yet. In this edition of EATSplorations, we will be sharing about an Indonesian food stall that we have come to love, as it kind of made us miss Indonesia less because of its legit Indonesian food. Join us as we EATSperience and share with you more about Indonesian Food at Bakmi Nyonya in Eden Food Hall. Enjoy!

Bakmi Nyonya at Eden Food Hall in BGC!

In our first year back home, we discovered Bakmi Nyonya (which means noodle lady) by chance when we visited the famed Mercato Centrale in BGC. We remember clearly that we tried their Bakmi Goreng (Indonesian stir-fried noodles) first and loved it since then because it reminded us of our second home. We did not only love the food but we also became friends with the husband (Filipino) and wife (Indonesian) tandem behind this famous Indonesian food stall. Their inspiring story of determination, patience and hard work has brought them real success. From joining Mercato’s search for a new food stall, to expanding and having a couple of branches, Bakmi Nyonya indeed has come a long way.

Speaking of expansion, Bakmi Nyonya now has 4 branches. Mercato in BGC, Buendia Food by The Court in Makati, Pioneer Street Market in Mandaluyong, and their newest addition, is at the newly opened Eden Food Hall in BGC.

What to expect at Bakmi Nyonya? Well, they have a variety of Indonesian dishes from street food favorites to comfort food. Bakmi Nyonya is like a one-stop shop for everything good about Indonesian food and in this EATSperience you will find out what we’re talking about.

Authentic Indonesian EATS at Bakmi Nyonya!

Now time to EATSperience and satisfy our Indonesian cravings! We were surprised with the number of dishes that was prepared for us, as it can feed at least 10 people or even more. The owner, who happens to be the woman behind these delicious dishes, got really excited to prepare this feast. She told us that this doesn’t happen very often, but since we are familiar with Indonesian food, she made sure that we were given the best. That’s why we were served an army of amazing Indonesian dishes. We had sate, bakmi goreng, bakmi ayam, gado gado, ayam goreng, ayam bakar, nasi kuning, batagor, beef rendang, ikan bakar, and cumi rica. Now, that’s a lot of food!

Their Gado Gado is one of our favorites! It is an Indonesian vegetable dish served with peanut sauce in the middle. The key to EATSperiencing this great dish, is to mix everything together. We loved the variety of vegetables that they put in this dish together with the sweet and creamy peanut sauce.

Batagor stands for BAkso, TAhu, GOReng. Basically it is fried tofu meatballs. Served with potatoes and egg on a bed of their delectable homemade peanut sauce. The great balance of crunchy and chewy texture together with the creamy peanut sauce makes it an amazing appetizer or even snack.

Bakmi Goreng or stir-fried noodles, used to be one of our comfort food when we were living in Indonesia. And when Bakmi Nyonya served this, we devoured it right away. Really tasty dish with lots of chicken, shrimps and vegetables. We also loved that the noodles are homemade. 

Cumi Rica was something new for us. It is baby squid cooked with lemongrass and Indonesian spices. It was a bit spicy for us but we loved the refreshing flavor from the lemongrass and the cook on the baby squid, really tender and easy to eat.

The Beef Rendang that we were used to was dried, chewy, almost rubbery beef slices in a really thick and spicy sauce. But the Beef Rendang served by Bakmi Nyonya was different because it was more on the sweeter side of things, and again something new for us. Beef cooked in rich coconut milk and 12 Indonesian spices. Cooked for 8 hours, the pieces of beef were really tender and juicy. We enjoyed this Javanese version of Beef Rendang, and of course, this made us eat lots of rice.

Ayam Goreng or fried chicken made flavorful by turmeric and other spices. The chicken absorbed the marinade really well which made every bite full of flavor. This is perfect to have with their turmeric rice and lots of sambal (Indonesian chili sauce).

Ayam Bakar or grilled chicken is like Indonesia’s chicken barbecue. Sweet and savory marinade from their famous condiment, kecap manis (thick and sweet soy sauce), together with other spices. This will surely make anyone lick the sauce off their fingers!

Ikan Bakar or Indonesian grilled fish topped with chopped tomatoes. This is very similar with our inihaw na isda but of course, this is paired with sambal and kecap manis.

Of course, Indonesian food will not be complete without their famous Sate Ayam or their version of skewered chicken. We loved that Bakmi Nyonya uses chicken breast fillet for their sate. Make sure to dip it over and over again in the extremely tasty peanut sauce!

They also have Indonesian-style pork barbecue or Sate Babi! This has kecap manis written all over it and we loved it. Sweet, smoky, and really tender pork. Extra rice, please!

Nasi Tumpeng, or a mountain of turmeric rice! Don’t expect your rice at Bakmi Nyonya to be this big all the time as this is only done for special occasions. If you want to celebrate like a boodle fight kind of meal, Indonesians usually surround this mountain of rice with lots of different dishes for everyone to EATSperience. Make sure to ask them about their Nasi Tumpeng packages and make your next celebration extra special.

Es Teler is Indonesia version of shaved ice dessert or treat with lots of langka, coconut, avocado, and many other toppings. It’s very colorful, sweet, and refreshing!

Huge thanks to Bakmi Nyonya’s owners, Gerswhin and Lucy, for treating us to a trip around Indonesia with this amazing EATSperience. Our homesickness has been cured because of all the delicious food that they served us. Thanks for bringing Indonesia closer to us, Filipinos. We really enjoyed seeing them at work and hearing stories about how they started and still doing it for the love of introducing Indonesian food here in the Philippines. If you haven’t tried it yet and you’d been wanting to, make sure to visit any of the 4 Bakmi Nyonya branches around Metro Manila. You will surely love it! That’s it for this very special edition of EATSplorations, ’till next time!

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Bakmi Nyonya

Eden Food Hall, Second Floor, 32nd and Fifth Building, 32nd Street Corner 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

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Budget: 500 php for two