Bandung Review : The Frizzy Sweetheart of Bandung (BETA VERSION)

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The Frizzy Sweetheart of Bandung

On a Saturday night, Kabayan goes on a date with the lovely Nyi Iteung. They are planning to watch a new box office movie at the local cinema. The movie will be playing for like three straight hours and Nyi Iteung thinks that a great snack should come along. Her eyes stopped at the snack corner on the cinema, where people stop by to buy pop corns. “That will be a yum yum,” she said to his witty boyfriend. Kabayan smiled and suddenly he pulls something out from his postman bag. “Relax, darling. I’ve brought something more awesome than that. This is a real deal from our beloved city, Bandung. It fits more to our Indonesian taste than those yankee snacks.” Hmm.. What on earth that Kabayan bring to his date?

Well, he brought another creative delicacy of Bandung. It is a different version of pop corn, simply call it, borondong. Coming from Majalaya (an area in Eastern Bandung), the snack is not entirely a copycat of pop corn since it can be made from rice, beside corns. It is covered with caramel and really crunchy. The shapes are unique, not like the ordinary pop corn. You may find a round borondong which looks like a tennis ball, or even slices like chocolate bars. Meanwhile, rice borondong has a form of rice grains sticking to each other, made a certain round, bars or a thin shape. You may choose between the white or chocolate borondong to enjoy.

The price is also really friendly. A small pack of borondong only costs you Rp. 500 and a bigger pack (consist of 10 small packs) can be bought with just Rp. 4.000. Even the prices are very cheap, it doesn’t mean the quality is a poor one. Borondong is still made based on traditional recipes, which preserved the real taste of it from time to time. If you come to Majalaya, you will noticed that borondong is practically everywhere. It is sold from stores to street vendors along the way. In Bandung, you can catch borondong in leading snack stores, but the price is more expensive than those in Majalaya. An interesting trivia, borondong’s popularity even inspired a Sundanese artist to write a song about this particular snack. The song is called “Borondong Garing” and it is a perfect soundtrack for your borondong-munching session.

So, ready to follow Kabayan dating style? Inviting a local “celebrity” of Bandung to tone up our leisure time? The frizzy sweetheart is ready at your service! (FA/RA)

Indonesian Version