Rujak Petis & Cingur Ahmad Jais - Surabaya

Rujaknya Sultan

Rujak Cingur Ahmad Jais - Surabaya

Surabaya, kota yang penduduknya kalau beli apapun ditawar, sempat trending dengan tagar / hashtag #CrazyRichSurabaya.
Saya kalau ingat tabiat orang sekeliling sih nahan geli sendiri, karena berapapun kayanya, acapkali perhitungan bingit, makanya kalau ada promo J-CO dan kawannya pasti buanyaaak yang antri, dari semua strata sosial.
Nah ada satu contoh yang valid dikasih tagar crazy rich beneran di Surabaya, Rujak Ahmad Jais 🤩

Surabaya, my beloved city with abundance of frugal people, have been in the lime light a few months back, with the hashtag #CrazyRichSurabaya.

That being said, almost all people I know, spend money like uncle scrooge, despite how much their income is.

Now there's one genuine place that deserve the Crazy Rich hashtag, this Rujak Cingur in Ahmad Jais Street.🤩

Rujak is basically and Indonesian version of salad consisting of vegetable and fruits. The Singaporean called this dish Rojak. There's 2 main version, one with sweet sauce, no meat, and the other with savory one, complete with protein (Cow's Nose), tofu, and tempeh.

Rujak Cingur Ahmad Jais

Rujak ini disinggahi banyak orang terkenal (mungkin) karena saya baru aware adanya dinding penuh foto ini saat proses editing hasil jepretan saya. Saat itu kita sudah keburu konsen ke makanan, dan tempatnya penuh sesak dengan teman-teman satu gang di acara Traveloka Eats, jadi foto ini kelewatan dari perhatian saya.

This place is frequented by famous people, I don't know who, but they gotta be famous to get their mugshot plastered on this eatery walls.

Rujak Cingur Ahmad Jais

Rujak Cingur Ahmad Jais

Rujak Cingur Ahmad Jais

Rujak Cingur Ahmad Jais

Tadi saya tulis kalau tempat ini bener bener Crazy Rich, alasannya?

untuk 1 porsi rujak cingur yang biasanya dijual dari kisaran Rp 15.000 - 30.000, tergantung tempat makannya.

nah di sini, tempat makannya tanpa AC, di gang, dan  harganya per porsi Rp 70.000.

Saya tidak tahu pasti porsinya segede apa, karena pertama kali makan di sini saat diajak Traveloka Eats.

Foto di atas ini saya yang bikin porsi sendiri, setelah bancakan bareng teman teman di satu tempeh besar rujak.

I mentioned that this is Crazy Rich's Rujak, know why?

This dish usually costs around IDR 15k to 30k, excluding those crazy 5 star hotel prices

Now this place here, doesn't have Air Conditioning AFAIK, located inside a small alley, and it costs a whopping IDR 70k per plate.
I'm not sure how big would the portion size be, since on this trip we had the Rujak in one big plate, buffet style.

Jadi kenapa rujak ini mahal buanget?

Salah satunya karena penggunaan mente dalam saus (konon legendanya begitu)

Saya tidak terlalu merasakan rasa mente, tapi tekstur sausnya beda memang, ditambah lagi rasa petis yang biasanya nyenggrak, tidak terlalu dominan di Rujak ini

Mente mungkin lebih berfungsi menambah minyak dalam saus, serta mengurangi aroma petisnya.

So what makes this Rujak so expensive?

Some say they use cashew in the sauce, which I don't really taste. I do notice the difference in texture and the shrimp paste fishy taste was more mellow compared to what I usually encounter in this kind of Rujak.

I think the cashew if there's really any, works as an oilier version of nuts, making the sauce creamy, and somewhat cutting back on the fishy / gamy taste.

Alasan kedua, yang ini dari pengamatan saya sendiri, Cingurnya yang dipakai memang kualitas super... ada yang nyeletuk, irunge nganggo Wagyu 🤑

Kalau biasanya ada bagian-bagian yang agak keras dari Cingur, di sini rasanya lembut.... melt in your mouth kalau kata abang bule.

Now for the second reason, and this is from my own observation, the meat used here is superb

Cow's Nose usually have those little cartilage bones, serving as extra texture for those who like it, but for me just plain unpleasant.
This one, be it from the cooking technique, or the superior products, have a very mild flavor and tenderness.

Very different from the Rujak you see on typical street food vendor.

Kalau ada yang minat arisan / hajatan / buat snack massal, bisa pesan satu tempeh besar Rujak ini, dengan porsi 15
Harganya? Rp 1.050.000 

Pembaca pasti penasaran, sebetulnya enaknya seberapa sih rujak ini.
Kalau merujuk google review, ada yang bilang biasa saja, ada yang suka banget.
Menurut saya, Rujak versi ini lebih cocok untuk saya yang awalnya tidak terlalu demen Rujak Cingur,karena untuk lidah saya agak over amisnya.
Mirip sama kasusnya Kopi Luwak
Kalau yang gila kopi seperti saya, malah kadang kerasa kurang mantab, tapi untuk kalangan penikmat kopi lain, rasa mildnya yang bikin nagih dan rela bayar mahal.

If you'd like to order this gigantic plate of Rujak, it costs Rp 1.050.000 and you'd get the equivalent of 15 portions.

You might be curious, is the price worth it?

Well it depends.. if you never had Rujak before, and you have a western palate, this would be a better choice of Rujak to try.

On the other hand, for locals that likes Rujak the way the street vendor does, this one might not be to your liking.
You might know Kopi Luwak, which is a milder and more expensive kind of coffee, it's the same situation.
Taste-wise, this Rujak is creamy and mild, would certainly be more palatable for westerners or tourists from abroad. I certainly like this Rujak, and I think that's mainly because I'm not a big fan of Petis, the Shrimp Paste which is the main ingredient for this Rujak's sauce.