If you’ve lived in the Greater Madison area for a couple of months, you’ve already started figuring out your favorite places to eat. But even after living here for 20 years, you’re still discovering new favorites and rediscovering old ones. Bandung has been around 23 years, and whether it’s their almost-invisible location at the west end of Willy Street or just a lapse in routine from the pandemic, you’re missing out if they’re not currently on your radar.

But that’s okay with co-owner Julie Adriansjach. She’s been educating the public on everything offered at her and her husband’s Indonesian restaurant since they opened. Sure, in the beginning, questions centered more on geography and culture, but with humanity embracing its sideways evolution into becoming ever-connected androids, the questions now focus on intricate details about the food.

To better understand Indonesian food, you have to know who was living on each island of the archipelago. There are Chinese influences, Japanese influences, Indian influences, and even Dutch influences. Being that Bandung City’s people are mostly of aboriginal Sundanese descent, it might be surprising that Dutch influences are present in their food along with the hallmark sweet and spicy flavors, a result of the oft-used palm sugar and sambal.

Julie notes the distinct use of potatoes in Indonesian dishes is a result of Dutch colonization, but goes on to say the food-culture exchange wasn’t one sided. “The Dutch colonized Indonesia for about 300 years, so if you go to Amsterdam, you’ll find what’s called rijsttafel, meaning rice table, and tons of Indonesian cuisine with the Dutch cuisine.”

Speaking of, if it’s your first time visiting Bandung (the restaurant), you should go with the mini rijsttafel for two. You’ll get your choice of three entrées, including some gluten-free and vegan options. To name a few, there’s the spicy Daging Rendang, featuring beef, potato, Indonesian spices, and lemongrass; the smooth Opor Ayam, featuring marinated stripped chicken, potato, bamboo shoots, and lemongrass in a velvety coconut broth; and a variety of tempeh-focused dishes. Since everything is cooked fresh to order, you can ask for no spice, mild, medium, hot, or extra hot. And if you want to take a trip to your ethereal hell, there’s spice for that too.

As with Japan’s miso and China’s tofu, tempeh is Indonesia’s take on soy. Whole beans go through a cooking process, drying process, and fermentation process. Out the other end is something like a granola bar with a smokey, nutty flavor and a meaty texture. Julie and Pram, husband and co-owner, actually wholesale their tempeh, and why wouldn’t they? It’s not easy to make, and they’ve perfected it. You won’t just find their product at local co-ops, but in dishes at local mainstays, including Monty’s Blue Plate and Green Owl.

Pram’s cooking knowledge comes from what he learned from his mother, and his skills are so integral to the restaurant’s success that when there was a family wedding in Indonesia, he couldn’t justify leaving Wisconsin. Julie remembers the situation as the first time she visited Indonesia. “I went right after September 11 in 2001. … ‘You need to be a family representative.’ So I’d never been out of the country before in my life. I was so excited because I was going to meet this part of the family I’ve never met before.” Julie fell further in love with the culture and people, and today, the walls of the restaurant are adorned with authentic Indonesian pieces amassed over the years.

Random question/awkward transition: how many Indonesian restaurants do you think there are in Wisconsin? I don’t know either, but Julie says you could count them all on one finger. When Julie and Pram decided to open an Indonesian restaurant, they were going where no Southeast Asian restaurant in the area had. The space they bought belonged to a relatively new Thai restaurant whose owners just couldn’t fit the undertaking into their lives.

“When we took over the restaurant way back when,” says Julie, “the woman was very concerned with her customers, so she taught my husband how to make those dishes. She wanted to make sure her customers were okay, which was super sweet. [Pram] might’ve changed things a little bit. Our Pad Thai is a lot different than others, but it’s one of our number-one sellers.” Pad Thai isn’t Indonesian, but Pram is quite adept at the fusion aspect of the menu. With a few alterations, like subbing out the fish sauce and cilantro, Pad Thai fits well into the menu and gives customers an entry point into Indonesian cuisine.

There’s something in the sauces at Bandung that you won’t find in most other Southeast Asian restaurants. “We use candlenut,” says Julie. “It’s something very specific in Indonesian cooking. It’s called kemiri nut. It’s in the macadamia nut family. It’s crucial in Indonesian cooking. It’s used more as an aromatic agent, so it’s ground up finely in some of the sauces. That’s what makes our fried rice that Indonesian fried rice.”

Another Indonesian staple is lontong. Think of it as a rice cake…because that’s what it is. “We take a botan rice, so a stickier rice, then we half cook it and wrap it up in a banana leaf.” In Indonesia, you’ll typically find blocks of lontong stacked on one another, but Pram’s presentation is much more elegant.

And that’s the magic of Bandung: Pram’s expert culinary abilities and Julie’s eagerness to educate. I initially imagined this article being about Pram and Julie’s lives from the moment they met in college. How Pram worked in the food industry since high school. But it just seemed more appropriate to share Julie’s energy through her enriching spirit.

If this is the first you’ve heard of Bandung, Julie says you “shouldn’t care that we’ve been here for 23 years and this is your first time in the door. For me, you’re in the door. Our food is going to prove itself, and you’re going to want to come back.” There’s a lot more Bandung has to offer, and Julie and her staff are ready to share.

Kyle Jacobson is a writer who likes second chances so much he goes out of his way to screw things up the first time.
Photos by Eric Tadsen.