Makanan Indonesia

Love this place.
My dining partner and I had both visited Indonesia so we were pretty excited to try what Makanan had on offer. After entering we were immediate greeted by the sweetest older guy and seated.
For Entrée we had Bakwan Sayur which were fresh and delicious and for main I had Nasi Goreng with Chicken which brought me back to ’05.
They also have an extensive drinks menu with many hot and cold options to choose from!

I really wanted to like this place but the vego laksa was not exciting (1 piece of tofu no veg) a seafood omelette was street food style but also meh… Maybe we didn’t get the best dishes but I prob won’t be Viacom. The place seems like it should be ok… Idk

This is a real shame :(I love indo food and when I visit Bali I always choose the street stalls for Indo’s true cuisine foods!
But Makanan was a real disappointment last night. First it took the waitress 15 min to take our order — oh and of course taking another tables order that had sat down AFTER us.
2ndly — we ordered the marinated fried ½ chicken, nasi goreng and veg spring rolls– however the chicken was STONE COLD in the middle. It had been cooked, but it was cold. Like when you go to coles and buy a chook, take it home and pop it in your fridge for a few days — THAT kind of cold.
3rdly — ok so the waitress/​manager was really sweet and said she’d bring out another one for us. I tell you what, this place — I’m thinking on a good night, their food has the potential to be amazing — but we just copped a bad night!
The 2^nd chicken was almost black, we started eating it… and BAM UNCOOKED in the centre, AGAIN! We couldn’t say anything, we were too embarrassed.
We are lucky we didn’t eat it all, as I am sure we would’ve gotten sick.
Such a shame :(I’m still on the search for great indo food in Brissy!

I’m of a mixed opinion about this place. I heard nothing but rave reviews about their food so at the first opportunity I dragged a group of friends to this casual Indonesian diner at West End.
First of all, the set up is nothing to get excited about. The two seater/​four seater table arrangement gives the restaurant a simple diner lay out. It would be better if they didn’t clutter the walls with Indonesian paraphernalia — paintings, masks, puppets, a message board with postcards and letters. Cluttered restaurants feel dirty which doesn’t reflect well on their food.
Aaahhh –the food. This is where my friends and I totally disagree. I ordered the nasi campur Ayam Goreng — half a marinated fried chicken with rice, chilli egg and beans. It was the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. Seriously, the chicken skin had been roasted to almost crackling standard and the flesh was juicy and tender. Plus, the meal was huge. There was no need to put half a chicken on to that dish.
In contrast, for the same price my husband and another friend ordered the Nasi Campur kari — beef curry with chilli egg, beans, rice dried anchovies with peanuts. Both complained that there wasn’t enough meat in the dish. In fact, my friend counted only four medium sized slices. We also ordered the satay beef sticks to share as an entrée. I love Indonesian satay — it’s flavour is distinctly different from any other type of satay.
Despite our mixed opinions, I still vouch that this is an excellent restaurant. Indonesian restaurants are far and few between in Brisbane so I’ll definitely be coming back to this one soon.

Being novices to Makanan
me and my dining companions were a bit reluctant to cross this sequinned threshold.
Thankfully a quick look at the dishes being bought out and hearing owners amazing
ocker accent had us all clambering to our seats in no time.
This place had the most amazing Indo-​Malay food around.
I really recommend trying the heavenly vegetarian laksa, steamed dim-​sims
or the delectable ikan kari (Fish curry)
(also REALLY specify if you can not handle your chilli,
as the dishes here can get spicy for wet blankets like me.)
Friendly, relaxed atmosphere, incredibly good service
AND a kick ass keyboardist playing star wars.
Makanan is a definite must-​do in Brisbane.

I can’t help but think that beyond this daggy exterior of an old room looking out onto the street, this place may possibly serve the most authentic Indo Malay food around Brisbane. I was right, I got my hopes up and the questions were answered. Ignoring the vinyl table cloth and the really old man sitting out the front. My order was taken very quickly and the food came out very efficiently as well.
The chicken satay sticks this seemingly really old lady served me up were scrumptious and I rarely use this word. The sauce was as authentic as it could get with nuts you could taste, a hint of coconut and it was thick. Not the fake watery sauce that drips right off the chicken.
Plus, live music! A total bonus. With the authentic looks of a typical warang, this place gets my saliva flowing. Try the Ikan Curry (Fish Curry) and the Nasi Goreng for sure.

Vegetarian laksa! The holy grail. You might think that vegetarian laksa is easy to come by, after all it’s on a lot of menus at a lot of restaurants. But when you ask the burning question ‘Is your vegetarian laksa made on vegetable stock?’, you will usually be disappointed to find that most restaurants make their laksas solely on chicken or seafood stock.
When Makanan opened a few years ago, I asked that question with a heavy heart, assuming I’d get the usual answer. I couldn’t get my order in fast enough when I was told that they’d be happy to make my vegetarian laksa on vegetable stock. And this laksa was the real deal. Rich, creamy, spicy, and full of delicious noodles. You’ll be dying to finish the massive bowl, but you won’t be able to.
After taking advantage of the vegetarian laksa on numerous occasions, I decided to try a few of the other dishes. My favourites are the gado-​gado and the beans with chilli sauce.
Makanan is a family-​run restaurant and all the staff are so lovely. The service is quick and friendly, the food is ridiculously cheap, and the atmosphere is enhanced by a hilarious Indonesian singer called Mono on electric keyboard one night a week.
I don’t know of any other solely Indonesian restaurants in Brisbane, but with Makanan here who needs another one?

For a most devout lover of Indonesian cuisine to suddenly, at the age of 25, become allergic to seafood, is a sure sign from the gods that I’ve committed some unforgivable cosmic crime.
I didn’t take news of my new culinary limitations too kindly. I refused to accept that I couldn’t eat Indonesian anymore. I mustered up the courage to go to my local Indonesian haunt, Makanan Indonesia, and be a total pain in the arse and ask annoying questions about ingredients and such.
When I got there, the lady at the counter had her head down playing a game on her phone. Despite my efforts to grab her attention, she just ignored me. Just as I went to leave she jumped back, with heart on her chest, and put her hand out to my arm to stop me. Through a laughing mouth she explained that she just wasn’t with it that day.
I’d like to disagree. Despite this initial stumble, this lady turned out to be one of the most helpful people I’ve met in a hospitality setting to this day. I explained my sea-​tardation, and asked her if she could point out foods that wouldn’t render me ill.
There was a lot of umm-​ing and ahh-​ing, laughing, and then a «I’ll be back». She took a menu and went to talk to one of the chefs. It came back with three options. She’d crossed out Beef Rendang (even though I can usually eat it) because she didn’t know who’d made the batch for that night, and she didn’t want to take chances. I appreciated her caution.
I casually asked her if I could go to Indonesia and not risk my life by the simple act of eating. «No.» She then asked me specific questions about my allergy and wrote in Bahasa Indonesian something that essentially read «I cannot eat any seafood at all. No fish sauce and no shrimp sauce please». She gave this to me and hoped it would help keep me out of trouble if ever I decided to go there.
I can’t really put a price on the warmth of the service the lady gave me that night. The food is delicious and well priced. I’d suggest dining in too. The place has something of an odd eighties, kooky, tropical paradise vibe, and there’s a man who plays songs on his old school casio keyboard while you feast.