Steamed rice with hot-fried duck….

I ate a portion of steamed rice with hot-fried duck yesterday in a small-shabby stall by a narrow-busy street. It was a heaven in itself! The fried duck was served in a hot chilly gravy, so hot and tasty that some clients asked for more portion AND asked the Ibu (an old lady who run the “restaurant”) to wrap even more to go.

Before you wonder further of how good it is, let me try to describe it with my limited words. The meal includes steamed rice (bad quality, it was a bit hard as if it is steamed with not enough water), chunks of fried duck (pre-seasoned with “secret” spices) -- very-very tasty and heavenly -- and sambal (very hot traditional sauce, made of mashed raw chilly); the sambal is prepared literally on the spot, I saw it when some of restaurant’s staff mashed raw chilly (they look not fresh, I mean the chilly) in front of the kiosk, by a narrow busy street, flanked by service stations and tools monger.

Once we got to the stall, Ibu will ask us the not-so-patient-hungry customer to wait for her to check whether there are empty seats (plastic stools that move when big guy sits on it). If we are lucky, there will be enough space for us, and we can go straight to her and tell her the number of portion we want. Sit for a few minutes and that steamy meal will be ready. Some eat them with raw cucumber (like me, to tame the hot sambal) and/or rice crackers.

Hard steamed rice, duck chunks, sauce made of not so fresh chilly, cucumber, plastic stools, shabby stall, hot sunny day; if one mention them as separate entity I believe nobody would even want to hear, but as a one “occasion” it is such a Perfect combination (the capital P is deliberately put).

Perfect combination, got it?