Tio Ciu 78

my parents are food lover.. I think that explains the reason of my love for food haha.. since they were still dating, which was around like 30 years ago, they used to go to this small restaurant serving Chinese food, specifically from Teochew area.. in Indonesian terms, the term Teochew was translated to Tio Ciu, similar pronunciation, only different in spelling (CMIIW).. so after they got married and have two lovely children, the four of us became regular visitors.. even after my dad became sick, we still spent some of our Sunday lunch there..

the restaurant itself was named Tio Ciu 78, located in Mangga Besar area.. a few years ago, the restaurant had no air conditioner, rather dirty since there were lots of used tissues and thrown-away garbage on the floor, but somehow still very crowded during dining time.. now, it has evolved itself with new flooring, air conditioner and much cleaner place which makes us more comfortable while dining.. my mom still recognized the chef, whom she knew since he was still very young.. such a place full with memories for our family, indeed.. 

to be honest, our menu had not changed much since I remembered.. it's the same old menu that my father introduced to us.. as for me, I can have diet and prevent myself from eating too much rice, but here, I just lost all control haha.. all the food are my favorite..

for our appetizer, we always picked Ngo Hiang.. it's made from minced pork meat rolled in a bean-curd skin, then deep-fried, which made the bean-curd skin very crunchy.. this dish is accompanied by sweet sauce, which I had no idea of the ingredients.. it's just really delicious and appetizing.. like welcoming you to a whole different cuisine experience.. sluuurrppp...

this dish is kinda hard for me to explain.. I always called it Bun Perut Ikan (fish belly in Teochew style).. the fish belly was stir-fried along with shrimp, fish balls and pork meat.. the sauce is quite similar to cap cay sauce.. I think this one is my favorite above all.. even when my rice was finished, I just kept putting another spoon of it to my mouth haha.. 

next came Udang Cuan Cio (shrimp in Cuan Cio sauce).. to be honest, I don't even know what is cuan cio sauce.. but it tasted very savory and perfect.. shrimps cooked with sliced onions and red chili then stir-fry with the sauces.. I'm drooling and starting to feel hungry just by looking at the picture..

lastly we had Tumis Kangkung (stir-fried water spinach).. what makes it special is the red tauco used.. the water spinach was fresh and perfect, not overcooked.. so it was a bit crunchy when I ate it.. the accompanying sauce was just amazing.. I love every bit of it.. 

see? I love all the dishes.. I'm sorry for the lack of knowledge regarding teochew cuisine that I'm unable to explain further about those dishes.. bottom line, dishes shown above are all perfect for me, fitted my tongue and taste buds.. all of the menus above plus four portions of plain rice and four glasses of iced tea was priced Rp181,000.. sorry, no details per menu since the owner just looked at our orders then calculate the total bill in his calculator, mentioned to us the total price and we paid.. it's a old-fashioned Chinese family restaurant, afterall :)

Tio Ciu 78

Jl. Mangga Besar Raya No. 78 C

West Jakarta

Ph.: 6221 626-3762