- Hi, so check it out, it's Trevor James.
I just got in to Medan, Indonesia and I'm so pumped
because today, we're going to go for a full on
street food tour.
I can't wait.
(upbeat music)
This is Medan, a food hotspot in northern Sumatra
that you're going to fall in love with
right when you arrive.
You'll be surprised by the sheer variety of street food
right there for you to try around every corner.
There's tons of classic dishes to be tried
and a large amount of Chinese influenced dishes as well.
We found nine different amazing street foods
that you're going to love, so stick around
until the end to enjoy them all.
We're deep in the morning market here.
(speaks foreign language) in Medan.
Let's see what we can find.
After a quick walk through the morning market,
we found a hawker stall selling a ton
of different specialties.
But one thing that captures your eye right away
as you walk up is the famous Nasi Lemak.
This dish is famous all throughout Indonesia
and Malaysia with slight variations wherever you go,
but one thing that is certain is the rice is cooked
in a rich coconut milk and you can choose
some super spicy and flavorful side dishes.
Oh wow, look at this, guys.
We're going to get a Nasi Lemak in a banana leaf.
Rice on the banana leaf.
Oh yeah, some crisps.
Oh, fried shallots.
- Rendang, rendang. - Rendang.
(upbeat music)
- [Trevor] Oh, rendang.
Oh, look at that.
That just looks amazing.
So we just got the Nasi (speaks foreign language),
Nasi Lemak.
Doesn't that look amazing?
I got a ton of beef rendang sauce
over rice, all of these fried.
I think this is fried galangal.
Here's cucumber.
Oh yeah, there's, oh yeah,
lots of different spicy sambos in there.
There's crisps, oh yeah.
And I'm just going to get a nice big bite
full of that rendang sauce with a big piece
of that beef rendang.
Mm!
Wow, that beef flavor.
That rendang spice, it's so thick.
It's ultra, ultra rich.
That rendang is so thick and rich.
It's quite spicy, earthy.
Oh, and that rice mixed with all the little bits
of sambal, fried galangal.
Oh, that is just a powerful start to the day.
Next up, we made our way down the street
to another morning market in search of more street food
and found an iconic dish in Medan,
the Kuay Teow.
As soon as we walked up and found this Kuay Teow
noodle stall, we knew that it had to be eaten.
This must be the famous Kuay Teow.
Oh, duck and Kuay Teow!
Just walking through a morning market here
and there's so much goodies to find.
So fried Kuay Teow, which are like fat, wide rice noodles
and she's going to put duck egg in there and shrimp
and rice cake and sweet sausage, Chinese sausage.
(Trevor and woman speak foreign language)
Oh, this is just going to be a marvelous dish.
(speaks foreign language)
Kuay Teow for life.
Oh, there's the duck egg.
(cook speaks foreign language)
(Trevor and woman converse in foreign language)
Wow, look at this guys.
Oh, she's just putting a little lagau in there,
oh, just a little touch.
Oh, you can really smell the flavor of the wok
going into those noodles.
(Trevor and woman speak foreign language)
Oh yeah, right on the banana leaf.
Wow, right on the banana leaf there.
That just looks so flavorful.
(Trevor and woman speak foreign language)
This is famous in Medan.
Oh, it's hot and fresh.
Look at that, guys, all those Kuay Teow noodles
packed with fish ball, shrimp,
oh, there's duck egg in there and the Kuay Teow,
you can really smell the banana leaf fragrance
because it's warm.
The banana leaf is just emitting an amazing fragrance.
Wow.
(Trevor and woman speak foreign language)
(Trevor and woman laugh)
Wow, that flavor is incredibly fragrant.
(man speaks foreign language)
That is ultra flavor.
The Kuay Teow mixed with the shrimp,
mixed with the fish ball and that slightly sweet
Chinese sausage.
The wok definitely gives it a bunch of flavor.
Slightly smoky, slightly peppery.
Mm, mm,
oh yeah, a touch of spice.
Next up, we went to go try one of the most famous
street noodles in Medan, the Duck Bihun.
Here, you get nice huge chunks of duck meat,
Bihun noodles, garlic, and greens
all combined with the richest duck broth
that's been simmering for hours.
This is one of the best broths you'll ever taste.
- Good morning. - Morning.
Oh, good.
How are you.
Oh, the Bihun Bebek. - Yes.
(man speaks foreign language)
The best in the world. - The best in the world?
Really?
Okay.
- Big one. - Yeah, big one please.
Okay, big one (speaks foreign language).
- This looks so good.
That duck broth is just like, in the air.
You can smell it, it's strong.
(Trevor and woman foreign language)
This just looks amazing.
Look at this, guys.
Starting the day of right here in Medan.
We have the Bihun Bebek.
Look at all of these nice, tender looking
slices of duck with rice noodle, tons of garlic,
greens, oh yeah, green onions.
And then the real magic, the duck broth
and some chili paste.
First thing I'm going to do is just add a couple spoons
of that garlic.
Oh yeah, get a little more.
Wow!
And then add their specialty duck broth.
That is thick!
Look at that, guys.
Oh, wow.
That is going to be a beautiful start to the day.
And then just a touch.
Don't want to overpower.
Just a touch of chili to start it off.
Oh yeah.
oh, that's ultra flavor.
(speaks foreign language)
- All around the world. - Around the world.
- Peking, Shanghai. - Really?
- You cannot. - Cannot get that flavor?
- You can't. - Wow.
That duck broth is just so flavorful
with ll the garlic in there, that is so powerfully smooth
and the duck meat, it is so tender.
Next up, we went to one of the oldest restaurants
in Medan, trying a famous coconut milk and tumeric
beef soup famous for its distinct, rich gravy
that's spiced with caraway, ginger, coriander,
and garlic.
This is a broth that keeps the locals coming back for more.
(Trevor and woman speak foreign language)
- Beef, beef. - Beef.
- [Trevor] We just got the full on morning soto
soup here.
This is made with beef and galangal, ginger,
lots of coconut milk.
Oh yeah, look at those nice beef slices.
It also comes with a shrimp cake, fried shrimp cake.
I believe these are fried potato patties.
I think there's some egg in there as well.
And rice, and this is a sambo with fried shallot.
I'm going to do that, I'm going to do that.
Oh, beautiful.
Make a soto rice concoction.
Mm.
Oh, it's so creamy from the coconut milk.
The creaminess from the coconut milk
with a hint of galangal and ginger, that tender beef.
Oh, slight curry flavor all over that rice.
Beautiful.
Next up for lunch, we made our way to Tri-Medan's
most famous curry at the Bona restaurant.
Right when you walk up and smell these huge pots
of bubbling curry, you know it's gonna be good.
(Trevor and man speak foreign language)
It's beautiful.
This curry broth is so potent and it's powerful.
You walk by, you can just smell it.
It is so strong.
It hits the nostrils and it is going to be so delicious.
Oh!
Oh yeah, we're going to get one of these.
Oh yeah, blood cubes, potato.
Rich broth, oh, that looks amazing.
We're going to order one up.
Add the curry broth, oh!
(Trevor and woman speak foreign language)
Thank you.
Oh, look at this, guys.
We have their specialty curry here.
Oh, nice big blood cubes, black pudding.
Oh yeah, slices of chicken.
Bihun, see the Bihun noodles here on the bottom.
Oh, beautiful.
Oh, and potato.
Get a nice blood cube for that first bite, the blood cube,
chicken slice.
Mm, oh!
Oh, it's so creamy from the coconut milk they put in there.
You can really taste that coconut milk.
Oh, that blood.
That blood gives it a nice little pop of joy.
It's so milky and creamy.
It almost tastes like a laksa with the blood cubes,
the chicken, the potato.
Oh, it's a slight spice, it's just a slight spice.
(men speak foreign language)
- 80 years. - 80 years.
(Trevor and man speak foreign language)
- Bye bye.
- [Trevor] Next up for a mid-afternoon snack,
we went to go try some street side mixed chicken
and organ skewers covered in a rich and peppery gravy.
It has been a wonderful day here in Medan and we're going
to keep going.
We're going to get some sate.
Oh yeah, we're going to get it all.
Chicken, beef, organs all covered in that.
Look at this sate sauce right here.
(Trevor speaks foreign language)
Oh yeah, they're putting latang,
rice cake, covering it with a sate sauce.
Oh, look how creamy and thick that is!
Mix it up.
Look at that sauce with the fried shallots.
(speaks foreign language)
Wow, look at this, guys.
Look at that chicken sate covered in fried shallots
and their specialty sate sauce.
Look at that, right over the banana leaf.
That looks so beautiful.
Okay, we're just going to go right in for that.
Mm, oh.
That gravy they put over top.
That is a very savory gravy.
Slightly peppery, slightly peppery
with those fried shallots.
A little smoky
and a little spicy as well.
Oh, beautiful.
Mm, oh yeah.
Next up, just down the street,
we found a famous popiah joint selling these beautiful
little rice flower rolls stuffed with a sweet fruit sauce,
boiled green beans and carrots, a scoop of crab meat,
fried shallots, Chinese barbecue pork,
and boiled radish.
You can order a deep fried version as well
and you're going to fall in love with both.
Oh, popiah. - Popiah.
(Trevor and man speak foreign language)
So take a look at this.
There is two types of popiah.
Over here is the fried popiah and that's what
he is making right here, which has radish,
green bean, cha show, see that cha show barbecue pork.
The white is crab.
There's radish and it's wrapped up in a rice flour wrap
and he's just covering it in,
I think that's a bit of batter to seal it.
Oh, he's going to fry that up.
And over here, this one has tons of radish,
shallot, green bean, carrot,
and a sweet chili sauce, almost like a sweet,
fruity chili sauce.
We just got the beautiful rice flour popiah
and then we're just going to add a little bit
of a fruity sauce,
a fruity sweet sauce over it there, oh.
Mm, good.
Sweet and spicy and refreshing.
And this popiah, that is really good.
That barbecue pork, that carrot and radish
and green bean, it's all very soft.
It almost melts in your mouth
with that smooth rice flour wrapper.
There's also a bit of cha show barbecue pork
in there and then you just cover it.
And then you just cover it in that sweet chili sauce.
It's almost like a fruity, sweet chili sauce.
For our final meal before going to an insane durian
mountain, we went to have a beautiful Medan style
seafood feast.
I Medan, you can try a ton of seafood, but we came
specifically to try the amazing mud crab cooked
in padang sauce, even richer than the chili crab
you can find in many places in Southeast Asia.
The flavor comes from a spice mix using garlic,
shallot, bird's eye chili, ginger, tumeric,
candlenut, and more red chili pepper.
The sauce gets so thick when it's mixed with eggs
and it's super hot, savory, and spicy.
We also ordered a plain cooked stone crab
to dip into their signature sweet and sour
pineapple sauce.
(loud thuds)
Oh, he's just cracking that claw.
It's just spraying juice everywhere.
This is amazing!
Wow, look at that flesh.
(Trevor and woman speak foreign language)
What a feast!
Oh (laughs)!
Lots of seafood here today.
Look at this amazing selection of seafood.
We have two coconut stone crabs, one here,
look at this in the padang sauce,
which is like a chili sauce, chili crab.
Wow, and those are huge, fat claws.
Look at that claw, oh!
Look at that claw.
There's egg in there and it's just dripping
with that padang chili sauce.
That is going to be plump.
And then the other coconut stone crab over here
is just clear and boiled.
Apparently the flesh is supposed to be slightly sweet.
We have some boiled clams and these,
you dip into their pineapple sweet and sour
and spicy sauce.
You got to mix that up well.
We have some fried rice with shrimp chili sauce.
It looks like there are some shallots in that chili sauce.
There's egg in that fried rice.
It's crazy!
This is fried shrimp with the Thai stink beans,
those are going to be potent.
There's tofu puffs, there's fresh red chilis,
and that chili sauce, I just saw them put some curry paste
there in the wok.
You know what we're going to go right in for first
though, right?
Oh!
These monster, oh, look at that!
These monster claws, these coconut stone crab.
Oh, look at that.
I'm just going to go right in for that.
Wow!
(Trevor speaks foreign language)
Just dripping with that chili egg sauce.
Wow, look at that crab flesh, oh.
That is definitely slightly sweet and spicy, wow.
That is monster-sized crab flesh.
This is an insane, an insane crab spectacle.
Look at that, look at that.
This is so flavorful, so sweet and spicy
and aromatic, and the fried eggs.
Oh, that is just breathtaking.
That is a super, super flavorful, slightly sweet,
spicy sauce
and that crab meat is so, so springy.
Whoa.
We got just crab claw after crab claw here.
It's like a crab claw Popsicle.
Look at that, it's like a Popsicle.
You can just suck it right off the flesh
and then you dip it into this pineapple
sweet, spicy, and sour
homemade secret sauce.
Whoa!
It's definitely a crab claw Popsicle.
It just pops into your mouth
lik a big, juicy crab ball.
That chili sauce, it's chili pineapple sauce.
You can really taste the pineapple, that sweet,
slightly spicy pineapple, slightly sour.
Oh, amazing, amazing.
After this seafood feast of a lifetime,
we went to finish the night with the most controversial
fruit in the world, durian.
As soon as we walked up to this 24/7 durian joint
serving up some of the best local farmer's durians
from the surrounding areas, we found what looked like
thousands of durians all waiting to be ordered
with staff sorting the best fleshy durians
into takeaway boxes for customers
and the tables full of people chatting
and eating he stinky, sweet, potent
custardy and creamy fruit from heaven.
We just found the durian heaven.
Oh!
Wow.
Look at this, thousands of durian.
Oh,
it's like a mountain of durian.
You could swim in there.
It's like a mountain of durian.
So Medan is supposed to be famous for durian,
and this looks like it's going to be good.
We're going to get a big fat one.
Oh yeah, and try it out.
Durian is one of the stenchiest and most potent fruits
in the world.
You can smell it as you walk up.
It's really strong and there's a truck backing up
with durian right here.
This is crazy.
And this is just like the icing on the cake for us
and come with a durian feast at the end of the day.
Wow,
look at that.
(Trevor laughs)
Oh, you can smell it.
It's strong, it's stenchy.
It smells like, ooh!
That smells like ooh,
that smells like rotten cheese almost,
but good rotten cheese.
Oh, we found the jackpot here.
Apparently Medan has both sweet and bitter.
I'm a fiend for the sweet, so we're going to go
get some sweet ones.
Oh, huge crates of durian.
It's like a durian, there's a couple durian mountains here.
Hi. - Hello.
- You have lots of durian.
Oh, it smells good.
(men speak foreign language)
Awesome, we're going to get some nice, fat durians here.
(Trevor and man speak foreign language)
Big. - Oh fat, okay.
(Trevor and man speak foreign language)
- Oh yeah, it's like a big durian bar.
(Trevor speaks foreign language)
You sit down, you get your durian fix
and you're good to go.
So we've got two different types of durian here.
This is the bitter.
Oh, that is very potent.
It's stenchy, it almost smells like garbage.
And then over here, this is the sweet one.
This one just looks very soft.
Some people love their durian soft, some of it
more firm.
But my opinion, when it's creamy and it melts
in your mouth and that flesh is just, oh,
it's so creamy and milky, there's nothing better.
Let's try it out.
That is so, so sweet and creamy and milky.
I was honestly, when I saw this,
when I saw this durian, I wasn't expecting it
to be super delicious.
I thought it was going to be average,
but that is actually fantastic durian.
It's so sweet and butterscotch-y and milky.
Mm.
And now we're going to go for the bitter.
Oh, look at that.
It's so soft, that flesh.
That is really the joy of durian,
is sucking the flesh off there
until it melts in your mouth.
Wow.
The seeds are big, but there's also a lot of flesh on there.
The sweet was fantastic.
Mm!
It almost has a jungle-y, earthy, plant-y flavor to it.
That one is actually a little stenchy.
Oh, it tastes like, it tastes like foul onions.
It takes like sweet foul onions,
but delicious.
The best thing about durian is the variety
and how you can have different flavors like sweet,
bitter, alcoholic.
There's like, so any different textures.
Some are soft, some are a little more firm
and you can really just get into it like a wine
or a cheese.
It really is a world of its own.
For you. - No, for you.
- For me, oh (laughs). - Yes.
- Mm, oh.
(woman speaks foreign language)
Wow, it's okay.
It has been an amazing time here in Medan.
Delicious food and friendly people
and this whole month in Indonesia has been mind blowing.
I'll remind you to click that subscribe button
and little bell button behind it because we have
a ton of awesome street food tours coming up for you guys.
So much amazing food and the people here
have just been so friendly.
It's completely blowing my mind and we are definitely
coming back here.
I would love to hear from you in the comments below
about what you thought about this Medan video
and our whole Indonesia street food series.
You can check out the whole series in the playlist.
I would love to hear from you and click that like button
as well.
Thank you so much for watching, guys.