Medan Town: The First Ever Medanese Restaurant in Singapore

About Medan Town

When you think of Indonesia you tend to think places like Jakarta and Bandung. Seldom does Medan spring to mind so its no surprise that you don’t see Medanese food in Singapore. That’s exactly what owner, Harianto Teh found when he came to Singapore. He wanted to bring Medanese food to our shores and so he started Medan Town in 2012, Singapore’s first and only Medanese restaurant.

The restaurant’s exterior is pretty unassuming, and the same can be said about the interior. Being a 50 seater restaurant, its cozy and looks like a nice spot to chill after school, considering its close proximity to a lot of schools. Harianto and his wife run the restaurant, so its very much a family affair.

The Food at Medan Town

Although we’ve no stranger to Indoensia food, it was our first time experience Medanese cuisine. We tried dishes like the Dry Bihun Bebek, Soto Medan, Ayam Rendang, Medanese Curry, Hepiah, Sam Chan Bak, Tahu Goreng, Klepon, Es Campur Medan, and Es Sekoteng. Here are some of the highlights.

Their signature dish here is the Dry Bihun Bebek ($6.80), which is an Indonesia Style Beehoon topped with slow cooked Duck, served with a side of herbal soup. The noodles used are specially imported from Medan and they had a really nice and springy texture.

The soup tasted like Bak Kut Teh and we all enjoyed it. The noodles itself received mixed reviews from us. Some of us felt it was a bit too plain but Bryan, however thought the noodles done in this lightly seasoned style was a breath of fresh air.

The other signature dish is the Soto Medan but we didn’t find it was anything to rave about.

The crowd favourite was the Sam Chan Bak ($4.80), which is a deep fried marinated pork belly, much like the hokkien dish. In fact, Medanese food is largely influenced by Chinese food seeing as Medan has a large population of Chinese people. This dish was marinated to perfection and packed the right amount of flavour and crisp.

The Klepon ($2.50) was another favourite. I’m a big fan of Ondeh Ondeh and this is essentially the same thing, rice cake stuffed with gula melaka and served with grated coconut. The skin was of perfect thickness so that when you bite into it, the gula melaka bursts out and engulfs your mouth with a delightful sweetness. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Of the desserts we tried, we enjoyed the Es Campur Medan ($3.50), which was much like the local Chendol but with added Fermented Tapioca. According to Harianto, many people find the fermented tapioca a bit strange but we found that once mixed in with the rest of the ingredients, it added a nice tartness to the overall sweet dish.

Alongside all these dishes, we were served their signature drink, Kietna ($2.50), which is a traditional Medanese Herbal Drink. I found it was to be really lovely and cooling and would be the perfect companion if you were eating spicy food. The preserved calamansi rind at the bottom of the drink was my favourite part though as it balanced out the sweetness with a tiny bit of bitterness.

The Verdict

As you can tell from the low low prices, I think this spot is perfect if you’re looking for food with great value for money and for something new to try. Medan is the forth biggest city in Indonesia but surprisingly you simply can’t find Medanese food any where else on the island. The side dishes we tried were great and of the mains, we recommend their signature Bihun or the Medanese Curry.

The desserts are also popular and according to the owner, some people visit Medan Town just for them. And have we mentioned yet that they do not charge GST or service charges? Quite incredible.