Ria Ayam Penyet — Restaurant in Adelaide

Let me just get this straight, this opinion is meant for the average Aussies and NOT the Indonesians. I am fully aware that Indonesian taste buds are very different as one of my good mates who is an Indonesian eats raw chilli on a daily basis to go with his daily serving of rice. He also seems to love eating meat drier than kangaroo jerky. If you are Indonesian, skip this wall of text as it's not meant for you.

Anyways, I ordered the ais bandung, Nasi Goreng ayam, soto ayam, ayam geprek and iga baker.

The bandung was a nice drink and very sweet as is typical of Indonesian tastes. The soto ayam suffers from a lack of the signature spice of the dish, turmeric. Ended up tasting quite plain like a lightly salted chicken soup with lots of fried shallots( which is not a bad thing if u like that sort of thing).

The nasi Goreng had good seasoning but was unfortunately stir-fried with severely undercooked rice and ended up almost lodging itself in between my teeth. The ayam penyet accompanying this dish was only serviceable even though it's supposed to be the signature dish of the shop. Crispy yes but lacks flavour and juiciness, however my Indonesian friend sis mention to me before that's how ayam penyet is supposed to be, dry and crispy but not necessarily juicy.

The ayam geprek was honestly horrendous as the batter on the outside barely hung on to the dry piece of thigh and tasted floury and oily all at the same time. The only thing that saved it was the sambal or sauce accompanying the dish. The sauce had kick and would have definitely helped me polish off a full bowl of rice if I ordered one.

Lastly was the iga bakar. Basically grilled beef ribs with the signature abit of Indonesian sweet soy. Boy this dish was another let down. So salty! Masin gilerr as my indonesian friend used to say. It was not just salty either but also extremely tough to chew.

Price wise this place is not too bad, I just think it's abit much to charge 4 buck for a bowl of rice but in this economy who can blame them?

All in all service was great , atmosphere was good but the food leaves a terribly lot to be desired. It could be that the chefs are still new with this only being their 3rd day of operation and needs time to adjust for taste and all but unfortunately for me I won't be back after this. There are just way too many other places nearby offering better quality food elsewhere ,...

I really love majority of the friendly staff here, but have had one experience with staff not being on top of the ball… They were still friendly, but just forgetful and not getting to customer service duties the way they should have been. It did look like the staff were shaken by something that has happened that day though.

The authentic tasting Indonesian food is great majority of the time! That one experience where staff dropped the ball, the Gado-Gado I ordered was mostly cabbage and lettuce with only 4 tomatoes cubes, 2 pieces of tofu and 2 pieces of tempeh, which was disappointing to all the other times I had had it, where is was just amazing prior!

The food is also very reasonably priced, the staff are mainly very good at accommodating to making options vegan too. That last visit, the lady who served me had a bit of a language barrier and mentioned something about the oil they use, they use first use to fry off meat first? I am hoping we were just having a communication issue and that’s not true, so I’ll be running it past staff next time I visit.

Adelaide has needed a restaurant like this for a long time, so I am glad Ria Ayam Penyet is here now, but please do not drop the ball because you’ve had some difficult customers (I have seen some people be nasty and even aggressive because they don’t understand Indonesian food) or a big day of business. If you can’t fulfil orders efficiently, say something to the customer about changing their order and don’t serve the dish! Ria has done some fantastic service and cooking in the past, so please focus on your standards and forget the unfriendly people that visit the city.

Like I said, I’ve had great experiences when Ria first opened and so many times after, I was shocked by that last experience. I haven’t gone for a little while because of that, but I hope by the time I visit again, it’s back to...

📍𝗔𝘆𝗮𝗺 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝘆𝗲𝘁 𝗥𝗶𝗮 ⭑.ᐟ

❤︎ 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗱-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Missing home-cooked sambal magic with a crunchy twist ❤︎ 𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵: Ayam penyet with sambal ijo ❤︎ 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿: Indonesians abroad, spice lovers, or anyone who enjoys a good sambal kick ❤︎ 𝗩𝗶𝗯𝗲: Simple and straightforward, with fast service and a no-fuss eat-and-go feel

ꫂ ၴႅၴ

This was my first Indonesian meal out in Adelaide, and I knew I needed something familiar—something that tastes like home.

Ayam Penyet Ria felt like a hug in a plate. The fried chicken was crispy on the outside, juicy inside, and topped with that classic crunchy rempah. But the real star? The sambal ijo. Tangy, spicy, and just enough to awaken my palate and spark some food nostalgia. Tempenya garing, tahunya lembut, and the fresh veggies on the side helped balance out the richness.

To pair it all, I ordered an iced cincau drink—sweet, cooling, and filled with slippery grass jelly bits that were fun to chew. Honestly, that combo of spicy and cold brought a kind of harmony only Indonesian food can achieve.

I loved that the food arrived quickly even though the place was decently packed. It’s not a space to linger too long, but it’s perfect for a satisfying, flavour-packed meal that delivers on authenticity.

ⴵ 𝗪𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲: Very quick (under 10 minutes) 𐀪 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗱: Busy but still got a table with no wait ☼ 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱: Saturday evening ‎𐂐 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿: Ayam penyet (with tofu + tempe + veggies + sambal ijo), iced cincau drink

𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻? 𝗬𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘀! Especially when my heart (and stomach) needs a taste of Indo-style...