Nasi Krawu Buk Tiban

Banyak yang bilang kalau nasi krawu asli Gresik tidak sama rasanya dengan nasi krawu yang dijual di seputaran Surabaya. Dan dulu sekali memang saya pernah mencoba nasi krawu yang katanya khas Gresik yang isi dan citarasanya berbeda dengan yang biasa saya beli di Surabaya.

Nah, pagi ini saya sengaja lewat daerah Kayon karena ingin menikmati nasi krawu khas Gresik yaitu Nasi Krawu Buk Tiban yang buka 24 jam di Sentra Kuliner Kayon, lokasinya cukup jelas, ada di depan, sebelah kiri jalan, hampir di belokan, dengan papan berwarna biru muda dengan tulisan yang cukup gede. 

Kali ini nasi krawunya saya bungkus untuk disantap di tempat kerja. Harganya menurut Mbak yang menjaga adalah Rp. 20.000,- Valid atau tidak ? Saya tidak tahu, karena tidak kelihatan ada daftar menu di dinding atau di mana pun, jadi ya percaya saja dengan Mbak. Hanya saja mengenai harga ini, kok saya juga tidak menemukan info yang pas saat berusaha mencari via online yah ? 

Begini penampakan bungkusan Nasi Krawu Buk Tiban.

Dan ini penampakannya setelah dibuka. Membukanya cukup mudah dan bungkusnya tidak berantakan. Suka dengan cara bungkus yang memudahkan orang saat membuka.

Sekilas pandang, agak berbeda dengan nasi krawu di Surabaya, terkesan banyak bahan yang berwarna kehitaman. Ada sambal yang cenderung berwarna hitam daripada merah (di pojok kiri atas tuh, tidak tampak seperti sambal kan?), ada babat dan jeroan kecil-kecil yang bercampur dengan suwiran daging di sebelah kanan, ada mangut yang bentuknya mirip srundeng tapi kehitaman karena konon diberi kluwek, dan yang berwarna agak cerah adalah srundeng merah dan kuning.

Setelah dicoba, memang secara citarasa berbeda. Yang di Surabaya overall terasa agak manis, sedangkan versi yang ini, walau masih ada rasa manis, tetapi berpadu dengan rasa asin dan rempah yang kuat. Rasanya sangat nendang meledak di mulut, mungkin karena rempah-rempahnya banyak macamnya, sangat enak, sambalnya termasuk kuat dan pedas. Makanan dengan citarasa yang kuat adalah sesuatu yang khas Indonesia. Maka lidah selalu kesulitan dengan citarasa yang hambar, karena dari lahir sudah dilatih menghirup aroma dan rasa yang kuat.

Akhirnya, nasi krawu saya habis, biasanya saya selalu kesulitan menghabiskan lauk dari nasi krawu, tapi kali ini semua lauk dan nasi habis, hanya sambal yang pedas yang tersisa. Sayang saya lupa memotret daun yang sudah kosong itu. Seandainya nasi putih yang diberikan masih ada, saya tidak akan ragu melahap nasi putih dengan lauk sambal saja. Menurut saya nasi putihnya dapat ditambah lebih banyak lagi, tapi yah saya termasuk penggemar nasi dan dapat makan nasi dalam jumlah banyak. Mungkin bagi orang kebanyakan, jumlah yang sekarang sudah cukup.

Overall :
Rasa : Kuat, citarasa asin, manis, pedas dan berempah
Porsi : Sedang, dengan lauk yang mendominasi
Harga : Agak mahal
Akan didatangi lagi : Ya

Modern traditional food

Cincau is considered a kind of traditional drink. It made from some kind of green "jelly" (not taste like jelly though) which is put inside cold coconut milk and flavoured/sweetened with coconut sugar. Refreshing traditional drink which barely found in a modern place like a shopping mall previously. However, this stand sells a variety of this previously traditional drink in a creative and interesting way. They have cincau with syrup, cincau with honey, cincau with tea, cincau with soybean milk, etc. And it comes with a nice package as well. So when you shop at Pasar Atom and feel thirsty, just try to find this stand at the second floor of the old building.

Jeans cutter

For a short person like me, I always have a problem when i own new trousers. They are always too long. So since I bought my own trousers which I can't remember when, I always find it very handy to have a place like the image below. There are some men who works as the jeans cutter. Look at the pile of jeans next to them.

There are many places like this in Pasar Atom, but as I remember this place is the beginning of this kind of business there. The price for cutting is considered very cheap, that is seven thousand and five hundred rupiah or less than one USD or approximately one AUD. So I just go there bringing my jeans, fit it in their fitting room (yes, they have a fitting room :D) and then let them put a mark on my jeans, wait for an hour while doing some shopping and then pick up my jeans. Pretty easy, huh ?

Is it a market or is it a mall ???

I found this sign during my shopping time at Pasar Atom. Pasar Atom was built in 1972. The word "pasar" shows that this place should be a market. However, the whole atmosphere of this place is very much different with the atmosphere of any other traditional market in Surabaya.





First of all this place is not dirty like just like the other market, and hmmm, you can feel the cool air from the air con which hardly found in any other market. And lastly, there are some expensive boutiques and barbershops inside which are impossible to be found in ordinary market.


Considering the fact that people are look at this market more like a mall, the owner then built a new mall right next to the old market. And to show that this new mall is connected with the old famous Pasar Atom, then he named this mall "Pasar Atom Mall", a name that sounds pretty ambiguous.

Fifteen thousand to fifteen million

This was, as I remember, the oldest shopping mall in this city. It was started with just "Tunjungan Plaza" or "TP", and then it was extended with a new building called "TP 2" that made people called the older building "TP 1". Then it was extended again with "TP 3". The last extension of this plaza is called "TP 4". The only identity which I could recognize about these four buildings is that TP 4 consist of expensive boutique. That's it. And as I remember, the owner once said at the opening of TP 4 that now TP is available for shopper who bring only fifteen thousand rupiah or fifteen million rupiah.

Green campus

This is the "greeny look" (pardon for my non English slang :p) inside the second campus (from 3 location overall) of Surabaya University (Universitas Surabaya) at Jalan Raya Kalirungkut. I was studied there before, and believe me, green and pretty are not the words that I would used to describe my university at that time; friendly maybe, but not pretty.

But now, look at these spots, they seems a bit ordinary actually, but pretty, the lamp, the leaves, the building, the stones ; and green .... Two thumbs up for the people works behind those changes !