Another busy day that requires quick, proper lunch in the hustle bustle city of Surabaya. The car's MID showed that it's 34 Degree Celsius outside, so the idea of having lunch at @gotri.id and their shaved ice got me excited for this short break.
I ordered Nasi Bakar Ayam Pete, the one on special on that day, and Es Nona. They have 5 options of this ice bowl, and all of them are equally good. I was simply trying each and every one of them every time I came to have my meal at Gotri, and to this day I haven't been able to try all of them (I lost count tbh, couldn't take a proper note on what i've tried 😂)
The Nasi Bakar is actually a portion of fried rice wrapped in banana leaves and got grilled on the spot to infuse those natural banana leaf fragrance to the fried rice. As a result, you have a dish that tastes like no other, unique to this restaurant. The fried rice itself tastes nice, grains of charred stir-fried rice, not clumpy, tossed with pieces of chicken and pete (stink beans/sator beans). Served with pieces of fried tofu, tempeh, and crackers to complete your meal.
Now the Es Nona. What I love about those ice bowls/bingsoo in this place is their colourful jelly on top of their shaved ice. It's just so appealing and looks good, enticing me to keep on ordering one of them everytime I dropped by to visit. The price tag was appealing too so I have no reason to skip them. Es Nona comes loaded with those colourful jelly, palmfruit pieces (kolang-kaling) --> good for your digestion, pineapple pieces for that refreshing zing, and syrup + condensed milk above the shaved ice. What I don't like is the shaved ice isn't actually well-shaved, it's more like crushed ice. Took a while for it to melt down, and for me who can turn impatient sometimes, this is annoying.
Nevertheless, it doesn't affect my enjoyment of this Ice Bowls, love the combination of sweet and refreshing flavours. Would have them anytime to complete my meal, no questions asked.