Pagi Sore @ Far East Square 🇮🇩 Authentic Indonesian Bento Box Sets

Pagi_Sore_Indonesian_Restaurant_Far_East_Square

I miss the flavourful food of Indonesia, the proverbial spice islands that made brave men crossed oceans from China and Europe in millenniums past. Fortunately, even in these days of Covid-19 Heightened Alert, authentic Indonesian flavours by Pagi Sore comes to our doorstep with just mouse clicks, handphone swipes or a telephone call away.

Restaurant name: Pagi Sore

Address: 88 Telok Ayer Street, Singapore 048470 (Far East Square)

Tek: 6225 6002

Hours: 11:00am - 3:00pm | 6:00pm - 10:00pm

I realised that under present Heightened Alert conditions, the easiest arrangement is to simply order Pagi Sore's bento sets and dabao (self pick up) from their shop at Far East Square.

They do have delivery service via website but the bento sets are not in the delivery menu yet. You can also call Annie ☎ 6225 6002, their helpful restaurant manager to order and arrange delivery. Minimum order $50, $5 delivery fee within 5km and $8 fee beyond i.e. reasonable.

I like the cute design of Pagi Sore's bento box 😄

Bento set K - ikan balado, udang mentega, kacang panjang belacan, terung tao chio, nasi. Price $18+.

Bento set L - ikan balado, tahu telor, rendang sapi, kacang panjang belacan, nasi. Price $18+.

So much to choose from, I zoomed in on the ikan balado first.

The fish is lightly battered and deep fried till golden brown outside. The deep fried fish is served separate from the fiery looking sambal which is a good idea, so we can adjust the level of spicy heat as we wish. I also like it this way as it allows me to taste the fresh fish flavour in the quite firm fish meat.

The kacang panjang (long bean) belacan is deep fried before it is stir fried with spices and sambal belacan. I like it that the long beans were crunchy, juicy and slightly chewy. The long bean's sweetness is complemented by the umami-savouriness of the mildly spicy sambal belacan.

The prawn in the udang mentega was barely visible, buried under a blanket of aromatic fried curry leaf and spices. The prawns weren't shelled but fresh enough - they have a slight crunch and some prawn sweetness.

Likewise, the egg plant in the terung tao chio was invisible, buried under the fermented soy bean paste and sambal sauce. The egg plant, juicy and soft was well infused with savoury mildly spicy flavours from the tao chio and sambal. Very nice.

Where's the beef in the rendang sapi? Yeah...., it's under that mound of rich fried spices with coconut milk.

The rendang beef was a little firm, chewy and only slightly moist. This is the type of rendang texture I get in Indonesia from Batam to Jakarta to Lombok. (In Singapore and Malaysia, there are rendang with softer, juicier meat.)

The jerky-like beef was well infused with rich coconut milk and spice flavours and aroma. It's as nice as any that I have tasted in Indonesia.

The deep fried tofu skin of the tahu telor (tofu egg) was soft-rough while inside it was soft-smooth. It tasted mainly sweet with complementary savouriness and nuttiness.

Sup buntut, Indonesian style oxtail soup to wash everything down. The mildly spicy soup, slightly greasy, was savoury with herb and spice flavours. The oxtail meat was tender-chewy with nice beefy taste. Must order!

If you can't go to Indonesia for now, Pagi Sore can give you a good fix of full flavoured, aromatic Indonesian cuisine delivered to your doorstep. The spices flavours were quite robust but well balanced in the Indonesian way no different from what I tasted in Indonesia through the years from Medan through Pekanbaru to Batam, Bintan, Jakarta and Bali.

By the way, Pagi Sore (pronounced pug-ghee saw-rae) means "morning afternoon" in Indonesian.

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