An authentic Sundanese invention that is addictive in all its variety is Surabi. The best way to describe it is as a small thick pancake, made of rice and corn flower. This culinary delight is then topped with either salty condiments such as cheese, egg, and sausage or sweet ingredients such as banana, chocolate and nangka (jackfruit).

The original warung that sells surabi is called Enhaii on Jalan Sethiabudi, but as so often numerous other places have emerged that jumped on the surabi bandwagon. One of them is Beta café, which is located on the same road. It is a good place to savour many other Sundanese specialties and the setting is cozy with wooden benches and bamboo lined walls. You can also choose to sit on the floor Japanese style, in a separate seating area.

Surabi is cooked in a specific clay oven where every little pancake is placed in a steaming hot gap until cooked. The toppings are cooked on top of the pancake so they blend in with the mixture and the chocolate or cheese mel ts. The taste is somewhat similar to pancakes but it's these toppings that make the difference.

Originally, surabi was flavoured with oncom (fermented beans) which makes it a spicy bite with the oncom almost resembling mince meat. Surabi has evolved and popular demand has created many new varieties. There is now pandan surabi, where the pandan leaves are mixed into the batter causing the pancakes to be of green colour. To make things interesting, creative toppings are added. Indonesian taste buds somehow categorize cheese under the ‘sweet' category and therefore cheese is often coupled with chocolate and coconut milk. To the Western palette it maybe a little strange, but Indonesians love it.

Tasty as it is, it won't cause you any financial trouble either. Surabi with oncom costs a mere Rp.1500 a piece and wilder creations with sausage, egg, cheese and homemade mayonnaise will only set you back Rp. 6000. If you're in the neighbourhood anyway, be sure to accompany your surabi introduction with a typical Sundanese drink such as bandrek, bajigur or colenak (grilled tape with sweet toppings) as a dessert.