Sunshine-yellow walls, colourful fruit drinks, and ’90s Indonesian pop mirror the eclectic menu served at this small shophouse. There are well-known staples such as satay and gado gado, but specialties from Manado and Java are the scene stealers.

Fried plantain, eaten across most of Indonesia as a sweet snack, is served Manadonese-style. Dip each brittle shard in dabu-dabu bakasang, the spicy sambal laced with sour calamansi and fermented fish paste. The Javanese dish ayam goreng kremes is fried chicken with a blanket of coriander-spiced crumbs. Manado’s colonial history is captured in a bowl of sup breine bonen, the hearty Dutch-influenced soup of beef and kidney beans perfumed with nutmeg and cloves.

Textbook-thick toast with pandan-flavoured kaya veers from cloud like to crunchy, sometimes in one bite. With so many choices, bring a group – or come back soon.

Also in the CBD at Emporium Melbourne.

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