Market in Sumbawa Besar
I think I can safely say that yesterday we officially had the worst meal in the world! After a trip by bus and local ferry we arrived on the island of Sumbawa. The island here is much drier then Lombok and tourism is sort of not really existing, so that always tends to create problems for our spoilt western stomachs…:) we are staying in the only hotel that is available here and even we are the only guests here. (In case you didn’t know, we are travelling in a group of 17 people). We are in cute little cottages by the seaside, so when I look out of my window I see the sea.. We have a little veranda and while it is very basic (no hot water but we do have an airco here) it is really gorgeous here. We have an entire family of ants living in the bathroom. Everytime you take a shower I think some of the water leaks into their nest. They have chosen to nestle in the wood that is the bathroom, so while you shower you see ants running around like crazy and carrying all the eggs from the danger area to drier grounds where they then all sit together in ever bigger numbers… 
. It makes for an interesting entertainment when showering.. Lol. But on to the food. Because they are the only restaurant in a wide area here they do have a monopoly position and they don’t care about the food at all. We had been warned not to take any western food on the menu so we all chose typical Indonesian food and simple dishes. Most of us picked nasi goreng to be safe and that came with a stick of sate ajam. I started with the sate but o my god, how can you possibly make something so simple as a satay so horribly wrong. The meat was supposed to be chicken but must have been 200 years old. It took me about ten minutes to chew through the one piece and then I left the rest of it in peace. The satay sauce was – if possible – even worse. It was brownish, but that was the only resemblance to peanut sauce there was. Disgusting. The nasi itself was bland and tasteless, so of this memorable meal the only thing that tasted good was the beer… Tonight we’re going to eat some other place in Sumbawa Besar which apparently is better although still not great. But first we go to the market!! —
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
If in doubt just eat plain rice!
That is to bad!! I will keep my fingers crossed!
That shower sounds… picturesque.
LOL the shower!! Good luck with the food.. does not sound exciting at all!
hi ..
i am indonesian and i did visited sumbawa years ago. i can exactly imagine what you ve been thru. hehehe. i found myself felt thay way too. imho, sumbawa is beautiful but no facilities to enjoy the beautiful nature. i did backpacking to visit sumbawa ( i was young at that time). i wish i could go there someday with my son. i can’t wait to see the pictures
happy travelling,
novia
by the way i used to have a best friend that lived in sumbawa. but i can’t find him- lost of contact. are you going to visit komodo island? by the end of ramadhan, where will you be?
For some reason, I missed the reason you are there (I know vacation), but who picked the places? I feel bad for you. Drinks lots of bottled water.
I hope your having a good time anyways!!
Too bad the food isn’t as good as the view! Good luck finding better meals!
the sate ayam must be from an old layer chicken.Lol !