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| Gamelan player, Central Musuem, Jakarta, from a photo by Michael Oppersdorf |
Geri Trotta was at first dismayed with Jakarta, with its European hotels and Continental food. At first it seemed too European, too modern, so she immersed the reader in the history of Indonesia; its combination of land and sea, its Hindu roots, the arrival of Islamic and Christian traders, especially the Dutch East India Company. At the Wayang Museum, she found “a world within a world of puppets from the various islands.” In two paragraphs she summarized the world of puppetry, so crucial to Indonesian society. She also told the story of another pillar of Indonesian culture, Iwan Tirta, who revived the craft of batik. She ended her piece by repeating her observation that Jakarta was a disquieting city, where luxury and squalor co-existed, giving a “raw vitality resulting from the collision of cultures, East and West.”
The establishment of diplomatic relations with China expanded tourism. Jay Jacobs spent three weeks in the People’s Republic of China, where he “stuffed his face continuously.” He realized that the dishes he ate in China were simpler and more clearly defined than what he’d eaten in American Chinese restaurants. Returning to Manhattan, he found the cooking at David K’s Cantonese Kitchen more like the dishes he ate in China. David Keh was said to have changed the image of Chinese food in America. In New York he brought introducing Sechuan food uptown. (You may remember that David Keh was the owner of Uncle Tai’s. Eventually, Uncle Tai’s closed because David Keh didn’t approve of unionized labor.)
In 1982, according to Caroline Bates, the customers at Chef Monkgorn Kaiswai’s Thai Gourmet were more familiar with Chinese food than Thai. The restaurant featured unusual dishes from Thailands northeastern area. The customers were drawn from the neighborhood.
Bates observed the changing demographics of Asian population. In San Francisco and Los Angeles, Asian communities formed outside of the central Chinatown or Japantown. Small gems of restaurants like Thai Gourmet were to be found just off the freeway and off the tourist's map.
Bates reviewed Mango Bay in San Francisco. In 1982 it opened at 298 Gough Street. The original founders of Mango Bay felt that previous restaurants featuring the islands cuisine were “too ethnic and too limited.” Bates opines that “only a homesick Filipino” was likely to lament the changes they made. Lumpia, Philippine egg rolls, reflect a cuisine that's basically Malaysian, with influences from the Asian mainland and Spain. Actually, there were a lot of homesick Filipinos. The Filipino community in San Francisco had become more visible because of the fight to preserve the International Hotel, home to many aging Filipino veterans of World War II.
I didn't take myself to any of these places, but that year I met my own version of Nicholas Hel, a tall thin engineer who liked to cook Peking Duck and lobster. Having attended M.I.T., Legal Seafood was a favorite. The best night out, however, was Maison Robert. For dinner, the women dressed in silks and the men in tweed and suede. We were seated at the round table in the center of the room. We consumed the French influenced food and wine, and the group decided to share one of each of the desserts. "Take a bite, and pass to your right." Then there was the contest to see who could hold a spoon on their nose. No effortless control for me.
New York:
David K’s Cantonese at 1395 Second Avenue is Szechuan Chalet. David Keh died in 2003.
Los Angeles:
Thai Gourmet at 8650 Reseda Boulevard, Northridge
San Francisco:
Mango Bay at 298 Gough Street is gone. After a stint in the International Food Court at Yerba Buena Gardens, Mango Bay migrated down the Peninsula to Redwood Shores, along with the growing Filipino community.
Maison Robert, in Boston's Old City Hall, closed in 2004.
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