Pondok Kaki Lima – Indonesian Food Bazaar

Heidy Pork Sate is the best. Nasi Gudeg and Risoles from Kristy Cup is good. Nasi Uduk from Bali Island is good. You can meet old friend in this place.

I loved this place. Tasty and authentic Indonesian food. Super nice and helpful vendors. Prices are fair for the amount of food you get. Good quality/​super flavorful/​casual atmosphere! A must try!

Today (9÷20÷14) they are down to 3 vendors. The food is tasty, but I’ll tell you the one thing I HATE… I can’t stand… the rissole, croquette, lumpia, etc. Is all out in front uncovered and EVERYONE is talking above it. Getting their germies ALL over the food all day long. SO nasty!

I normally do not write review. But I have to say, this is soooo good! Were very satisfied and have had very friendly service from Bali! The beauty of this is that u choose whatever u want from the trays! I’m definitely coming back

Found this hidden gem courtesy of my Indonesian buddies… the history of this place was that back then it was the SECRET of duarte… til the health inspectors found out :(They closed it down til a few stalls got permits and now they are reduced to about 3 stalls (used to be 4, but one closed down due to an accident). All three stalls sell nearly the same thing, but with slightly different variations of sides and desserts. I ate at «Bali» or something like that:
Gado gado: Indonesian «salad». It was veggies with peanut sauce and assorted chips (looks like shrimp chips)…very refreshing and the peanut sauce is just delish!
Penang beef: Melts in your mouth… slightly sweet and very juicy. Nom.
Spicy shrimp: Okay, not really spicy, just a bit of a kick. Shrimp was not that nasty «cooked while frozen» texture… crisp, light, and delicious with the yellow rice.
Curry tendon: Nom nom nom! Not much more I can say, really.
Tempeh: Sweet and yum… but avoid if you’re allergic to gluten (I learned it the hard way, but worth it).
Dried anchovies and peanuts: Mixed into the rice, it is a salty-​sweet explosion! Yummeh, but not if you don’t like fishies!
Steamed rice flour balls: I really don’t know how else to call it, but they were lightly sweetened and a good ending to my enormous meal.
Steamed cassava: This had a gummy texture that reminded me of eating a sweet potato… flavor was good though, and my friends LOVE this one!
Green balls with palm sugar: They’re like little gushers with palm sugar in the center… very yum!
Okay so after I went to get more dessert from another stall:
Avocado-​jackfruit drink: Creamy and sweet from avocado… holy omgoshness I am getting this again.
Sweet potato cakes (steamed): Coconut milk on top, sweet potato cake on bottom… a great eat on the way back home!
So maybe it’s because I’m not Indonesian, but to me, everything was an eye opener and OH SO GOOD! I’ll be back. Next Saturday… it’s going to be my new Saturday lunch tradition!
PS: Parking is surprisingly do-able…I thought it’d be crazy in a small parking lot, but nope! Also parking in the main plaza if you don’t mind walking a teensy bit further.

Located in the parking lot behind Duarte Inn, every Saturday 10am-​2pm rain or shine. The three regular food booths are Chicky BBQ, Satay Lenny and Bali Island. All three booths offer similar food items and only accept cash.
I’m biased to Bali Island since they have a wonderful coconut rice topped with thin slices of egg and wrapped in banana leaf. You can get a combo with your choice of rice with three items for a mere $ 8.00! Their beef rendang is creamy, aromatic and full of coconut flavor. The pork and chicken satays are tender, flavorful with a great peanut sauce. They also have several vegetable options like kankung, tofu, and green beans with tempeh.
You can get a Durian shake here (forgot which booth), a pulpy Southeastern Asian fruit with a strong unpleasant odor. For those who are not familiar this is certainly an acquired taste.
When you want to experience authentic Indonesian food definitely try one or all of the food booths here!

oops pondok kaki lima has close? why ?
i love indonesian food.
if iam homesick, i go there,
looking indonesian people, hear sing a song indonesian music,
hear speak indonesia. and specially indonesian food.
my hubby like drive almost 8 hour from arizona .
please bring back pondok kaki lima. hik…hik…hik…
i want to hear indonesian sing a song too.
love you all.

Food: They have many different types of food, including deserts and pastries. I will be bias since I have experience Indo food as a kid so I have no complaints here.
Price: I think the pricing is 1+ more than I would expect it to be.
Overall: It’s nice to get Indo food once in a while, there arent many restaurants in the SGV. I would come back.

Not too bad, There are many different food vendors here. My favorite is the sate babi vendor. You can basically find anything here. appetizer, dessert, snack. etc etc.

When I heard that they had klepon at this «food fair», I knew I had to get over there. I originally heard from my Mom, who heard from one of our relatives. Thus began my search online. Every Saturday. Now THAT is exciting. I can get my Indonesian fix every Saturday.
It’s not big — half a dozen vendors, AND karaōke. Food AND entertainment.
I found the klepon at the far end — bright green pandan flavored mochi-​like rice flour doughy goodness filled with liquified brown sugar, rolled in fresh grated coconut. The women at the stand were very sweet. I asked if they had a store or restaurant in the area, and they told me that they just do this every Saturday. I love it. The klepon was good. I’ve had better in Indonesia, but I have NOT had better here. She gave me her card and told me that if I wanted something in particular and I was going to come late, to let them know and they would save it for me. Soooo nice. And we had just met. Aww.
I also got other snacks, and then went onto pick some Es Cendol (green tapioca like wormy things in liquid brown sugar and coconut milk combo over ice — a snack/​beverage of sorts), and a yellow rice plate that was placed in a styrofoam container for me on top of a circle of banana leaf (which made for very nice presentation — especially once I got it home and transferred it straight onto a plate). I got the sauteed collard greens, tempeh, tofu/​green beans, a hard boiled egg that had been fried and cooked in some kind of red yummyness and a pork satay. If you’ve never tried Indonesian satay, you really should. I have to say it’s my favorite. And each one is different — the chicken, pork and beef have different seasonings that they use that really compliment that particular meat.
The rice plate stand also had these fried battered & sesame’d banana strips that were so good.
Oh yes, I will be back, and with reinforcements.

The sate kambing is to die for. I can never forget the taste because it’s so similar to indo. My dad took me here awhile back and I absolutely love it! I hope it’s still around. I’m thinking of coming again with my friend next week :)

Thank you Unilocalers and all the web reviewers for revealing this hidden gem, yes it is so hidden, I would have never found it had I read it here. I finally made it, 5 mins before the stoves were turned off, we discovered little indonesia in the parking lot of duarte inn. We hustled ourselves and screened all the food stalls before they packed up and got two lunch boxes of delicious real deal Indonesian food. I had my doubts of whether if this was opened because I remember someone said it was closed and the last review was in 2009. But hey guess what everyone, it’s still happening and it is so worth it! Go and give some support to these people!!!

I used to come at least twice a year, but it’s been a few years since I’ve been. I remember one restaurant used to set up a tent, Bali something. They had the BEST sapi rendang (beef coconut curry), Nasi Uduk (steamed rice with coconut milk) and tahu isi (fried tofu stuffed with veggies).
I had a SERIOUS craving for this all over again and made the trek all the way to lil ol Duarte.
Arrive at about 12:15 and what did I find?
Two or three vendors, which had already been picked thru. To try and salvage the trip, I ordered risol (one of the fried snacks in the pics) But it was REALLY doughy and flavorless.
Trip was a bust.
BUT while I was leaving, I noticed that we had arrived the same day that the Indonesian festival in DT LA was taking place and tried to comfort myself with the thought… oh! That’s where all the vendors are!
~i hope~

A group of half a dozen Indonesian food stalls serving restaurant-​quality food in the back parking lot of the Duarte Inn on Saturday mornings. Since it reopened, I’ve visited twice. Try each stall’s take on native specialties for $ 7 – 10. Lots of people go early to take home towers of yum-​filled containers for their families. It’s wise to get there before they begin running out of selections. Sate, beef rendang, coconut rice, veggie dishes, they’re ALL good. It is in a parking lot instead of a restaurant where you can sit indoors, but you benefit from the boisterous street-​food setting by spying on what fellow shoppers buy, and which vendors they tend to favor. If you’re unfamiliar, I found them to be very patient with questions. The pork bbq is SO good.
Food can be spicy so if you’re a wimp like me, beware!

I first visited this outdoor flair almost 3 years ago and I just recently revisited. Reason for the 3-​year hiatus? Well the driving distance.
I recall, that first visit, there were vendors filling up most of the parking lot. It was buzzing with customers and the undeniable smell of satays.
However this recent visit is a different story. There were only 4 vendors and out of those, 2 were serving serious luncheons. One other vendor just serve satays and the remaining serves mostly desserts. It wasn’t even that crowded even by mid noon.
I really like the idea of an outdoor lunch. It feels like eating at a hawker center again. But this doesn’t mean the food has to be sub-​par. One vendor probably prepared her beef rendang that morning since the meat is still tough and not very flavorful. The other vendor had goreng pisang that tasted cold and way too chewy.
What’s happening here?

Reviews for the Indonesian outdoor BBQ are here:
They have re-​opened. Very much to my relief.

Indonesian food is rare in SoCal since there isn’t a large Indonesian community in the LA area. So the last place one would expect to find authentic Indonesian food would be in the parking lot of the Duarte Inn of all places. However, that’s exactly the place to go, because every Saturday, the Inn graciously hosts a small food fair, officially called Pondok Kaki Lima, that offers a tantalizing variety of food for everyone interested in such cuisine.
I heard about this food fair from fellow Unilocaler Abby, who happens to live in Duarte. The Indonesian Food Fair got its start because the owners of the Inn are Indonesian and they happened to know friends that at one point or another ran an Indonesian restaurant. For one reason or another, they no longer have their own restaurants but they spirit of their establishments live on through the food stalls that they run.
When I arrived a few weeks ago, it was one of those rare, cold, gloomy and slightly rainy days in SoCal, and yet the moment I stepped into the parking lot, you could feel the spirit and energy that comes with a food fair. It wasn’t large — there were only 4 or 5 food stalls, but that was more than enough food to sample.
Seating was a little more tight, but some in my group arrived earlier and managed to save a table with a tent to shelter us from the rain. I inspected every stall to see what dishes they offered. I am not familiar at all with Indonesian food, but I noticed that it had many similarities to both Thai and Filipino cuisines. Which makes sense since geographically, Indonesia is between both countries.
It was great trying out the fair for the first time as part of a group, because we were able to sample a wide variety of dishes. I couldn’t even begin to remember what the various names of the dishes were, but luckily I didn’t have to since one person in our group was of Indonesian descent and she was gracious enough to name the dishes and let us know what the basic ingredients for each dish we ate were. I posted several pics of the dishes along with their names.
The water spinach dish was okay. It wasn’t much different compared to how they prepare it at Chinese restaurants — a little over cooked and stringy in texture. The caramelized tempeh — interesting crunchy texture, but the flavor just didn’t do anything for me. There was also a dish that was fish covered in sticky rice and wrapped in banana leaves like a tamale. It didn’t do anything for me.
I really enjoyed the chicken barbecue. Its very similar to Filipino barbecue in preparation, but you dip it in a peanut sauce like the Thais do. Most of the fritters and empanada like dishes were also good. They even had their own version of lumpia which wasn’t that much different from the Filipino version.
My favorite dishes had to be the desserts. They had a jello pandan drink that again reminded me of a Filipino dessert. Then there was this cupcake that was flavored with pandan and rose water. It is a little similar to a Filipino dessert but the Indonesian version was much better. the texture was soft, moist and fluffy. There was another dessert that contained coconut and molasses wrapped in a green sponge like dough that I enjoyed. I liked how the sponginess of the dough contrasted with the crunchiness of the toasted coconut. There were several other desserts I had and most of them I enjoyed enough that I bought more to take back home to share with my family.
There were several more food items that I tried, but this being my first time sampling all those dishes, its become sort of a blur. I’ll need to more visits to better familiarize myself with the names and ingredients of the dishes. Overall, I liked the quality of the food and the prices were very reasonable. I had a very positive experience and plan to do future visits.
I’ve heard the place can get packed around noon or so, so arrive by 11 AM to get decent seating. There is parking available at the fron of the Inn. There’s also a street parking available. Get there early if you want good seating.

This place is just awesome… I cannot believe they’re closed at the moment. I really hope that they’ll take care of the «political» issues…
When I come here, I like to stop by the sate stalls for their pork sate… it is soo good. Just like they have it in Indonesia. I also always stop by another stall to buy about a dozen to bacang ayam to keep in my freezer so that when I want one, I don’t have to drive out here to get it…

This review is for what happens on Saturdays at this Duarte Inn. This review is not for the hotel.
So you ask what happens on Saturdays? If you’re hungry and in the mood for good Indonesian food, you MUST visit Duarte Inn on Saturday. There are quite a few vendors stationed at the parking lot selling wonderful Indo food.
One vendor in particular, Kristy’s Kup, which no longer has a restaurant in West Covina, still serves their famous bakmi ayam (a la bakmi gajah mada) or chicken noodles, ayam goreng kalasan (fried chicken), lontong cap go meh (rice cakes with other stuff), nasi gudeg (rice with young jackfruit) and sambal goreng kreceh (you will have to try it to find out what it is). Since they no longer have the restaurant, people have now flocked over to Duarte Inn just to get an Indo food fix satiated. For those who truly enjoy Indo food, this is the place to be. I have also heard that if you need an Indo food fix, you would have to ask Ibu Lilian for a special order during the weekdays of the above dishes.
They also have other vendors like Satay Man, who serves delicious pork kabobs with peanut dressing and others who serve wonderful tropical drinks.
I have not been there in a while due to where I live now. However, I have heard of people who have traveled from San Diego just to have a taste of the Indo food served there.

After discovering there’s a weekly outdoor Indonesian BBQ, I dragged a foodie buddy of mine over. We ordered from each of the four stalls. I got an hardboiled egg at one, three fried things at another, a complete meal at the third stall and a drink at the last one.
The hardboiled egg was also lightly fried in a really delicious sauce. It became our go to sauce for anything we thought needed a kick.
Of all the three fried things (egg roll, tofu and some sort of tuber), I liked the eggroll best even if it wasn’t crispy anymore. I thought it was really neat they used egg in it making it a true «egg» roll. The tofu was good with a bit of taro incorporated into it. She got some stewed greens in a coconut curry where I got my egg. And she also got a banana leaf stuffed with sticky rice and pork.
I enjoyed the stewed greens but thought the sticky rice was too greasy and gave up on it after two bites.
The meal I got came with rice so I chose coconut rice which was really aromatic and lovely. I thought the strips of egg was good on top but didn’t think much of the fried garlic as it interfered with the sweet aroma of the coconut. I got a chicken satay with it which was dredged in the most flavorful peanut sauce. It wasn’t too goopy and it went really well with the coconut rice. I also got some braised beef in a great curry but the fried fish was too full of bones for me to really enjoy. It was a bit dried out as well. We also got an Indonesian snack of fried fish and peanuts here which we liked very much and pronounced it «Indonesian bar food.»
My friend got a complete meal at the other stall. It came with rice cakes. She chose a satay (we had to do it for comparison’s sake), some potato and cubed meat thing and chicken. The satay was good but I liked the chicken I got from my stall better. The potato and cubed meat (which turned out to be an organ meat that I think was kidney) was really quite good. The chicken was… chicken. It was fine and the mild coconut curry was good but after having all these wonderful flavors, it seemed like a let-​down.
I got a coconut and avocado drink here. The coconut and avocado was good but what we really enjoyed was the drink itself. We would sip and then try to analyze the spices and flavors. We finally decided it tasted mostly of the coconut but there was some melon juice in it (maybe mango which was sprinkled on top but more like honeydew). Also, there was a quality like cinnamon but it wasn’t cinnamon. I racked my brain for what spice it was but couldn’t come up with it.
I’m sure we surprised our table mates by the amount of food we got (probably close to $ 40) and for the most part, did fairly well. I did take home the «bar food» and my friend took home all the starches and the greens.
Our table mates did tell us that it happened weekly but on their anniversary is the best time to come because that’s when they have live music and tons of other stuff. Hmm, now to figure out when that anniversary is!
Overall, I thought Indonesian food was very good. The flavors were unlike Malaysian or Singaporean food I’ve had in the past. It was very unique to me. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was all that grease. I probably have to do 10 hours of cardio to burn all the saturated fat I had consumed.