Friday, September 01, 2006

Chicken floss

Two words I had never thought about putting together, since as far as I know chickens don't have teeth. But in Jakarta it describes this fuzzy stuff, which is popular on buns at the upscale bakeries that are popping up everywhere:


I don't how they turn chicken into floss. I'm not sure I want to know. It's actually rather tasty, though. This kind is called "Fire Floss," because it's hot-chili flavored.

This particular bakery is a Singaporean chain called BreadTalk, which is very trendy these days. They cleverly placed it on my route to the gym at Plaza Semanggi.

BreadTalk has done something else smart: they put the kitchen right in front, behind a glass wall, so you can see the whole thing. It's so clean and shiny it looks like you could do surgery in there. The chefs bustle around in their spotless white uniforms and everything runs like clockwork. Clean and organized: two words you don't think of very often in relation to Jakarta. So going to the bakery is like a brief vacation to a world that makes sense ... with pastry!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

regarding chicken floss, i have one thing to say: gross.

(actually when i say it in this case it's more like: Gah-Rohss!)

not that i'm being judgmental or anything.

i'd be happy to visit BreadTalk if they offered chocolate floss, or even better, boston creme pie floss. any chance you could add those to their suggestion box?

Trish said...

All I can say is, don't knock it till you've tried it. Of course I'm more of a carnivore than you, but still, it's hard to resist something so salty and obviously bad for you. PLUS, there's a layer of mayonnaise under the floss. Does that help?

As for mega-sugary, they have those too, or you can go around the corner to the insanely popular J. Co. donut place. Krispy Kreme is going to start opening here too. Soon there's going to be more donuts here than in Somerville, Mass. ... which is a scary thought.

Anonymous said...

t -
thanks for your reply on my comment, however i feel it necessary to point out the following:

1)no, a layer of mayo under the "floss" most certainly does not help.

2)krispy kreme is highly overrated in my not-so-humble opinion, and i'm sorry to hear they're invading jakarta. i think their doughnuts are approx. 79% lard.

3) there is nowhere on earth with more doughnuts per square mile than somerville, ma. and ours are available 24/7.

best,
m