Terang Boelan

Tiny Jordaan counter, grandma-grade Indonesian takeaway, sells out most evenings.

A takeaway counter the size of a wardrobe on a Jordaan side street, run by an older couple who cook like your Indonesian grandmother, if you were lucky enough to have one. Terang Boelan opens at half past two, and the smart money is there early, because when the rendang is gone it is gone and the door closes whenever the trays empty. Order the rames: rice buried under a chicken dish, a beef dish, vegetables, egg in sambal and two satay skewers, all for around eleven euros. The beef rendang is dark, slow and properly spiced, none of the sweetened polder version. There is no seating, no concept, no music. You take your box to a bench on the Lindengracht, open the lid, and understand exactly why the neighbourhood has kept this place a working secret for decades.

Rames compleet with daging rendang and sambal goreng telor, extra satay

Photo: Terang Boelan via InTravel