D'penyetz & D'cendol Sussex (Halal) — Restaurant in Sydney

“Hand me those plastic gloves and watch what I do with ‘em.” – this should be the slogan behind D’Penyetz & D’Cendol, an Indonesian restaurant chain known for its Indonesian cuisine centred around “Ayam” and “Ayam Penyet” a style of fried chicken that has been squeezed with a pestle to make it tender and served with sambal. and that’s kind of the running theme of here—Indonesian tapas if you will, a bunch of shared plates with either tender meat or veggies each dish absolutely maxing out on flavour. Spicy, salty, sour and sweet are very in-your-face with this localised comfort food that is accessible and easily repeatable, therefore making it possible to “chain restaurant” without losing a sense of ethnic identity and authentic flavours.

Sydney is a city that has never been short on south east Asian cuisine and in particular has a deep rooted Indonesian migrant community. However, with the lakes of franchises such as D’penyetz, accessibility and normalisation to these dishes becomes more prompted. If the explosion of kimchi and miso is anything to go by in our western gastronomic diaspora, sambal is surely not far behind. Maybe the spice level, yes, but not the sour, slightly sweet, lambast umami that comes from a combination of shallot, ginger, garlic and cooked off chilli’s with either shrimp paste or anchovies (pick your Funkmaster Flex bomb). Throw this over char roasted or fried meats, or aromatic Nasi Goreng and unfussy food that’s also all Halal and even a bit hardcore, depending on your heat tolerance.

Don’t sleep on the soups either! The backbone of any East Asian cuisine, historically is the transition of stocks and reductions into hearty broths. The beef rib for instance, comes barbecued but I’d argue the soup options are my preference. For an all time accompaniment to your dried dishes, I feel you can’t go past the veggie and tamarind soup. Any demons festering in your sinuses and soul will be immediately expelled. They have two locations in Sydney, with more coming, I feel. Remember, if you’re getting the Ayam Penyet especially, wear the...

📍 𝗗’𝗣𝗲𝗻𝘆𝗲𝘁𝘇 ⭑.ᐟ

❤︎ 𝗠𝗼𝗼𝗱-𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱: Craving real Indonesian food ❤︎ 𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵: Ayam geprek cabe ijo—juicy, fiery, and super satisfying ❤︎ 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿: Anyone needing a spicy Indo comfort meal ❤︎ 𝗩𝗶𝗯𝗲: Simple, fast, always packed during peak lunch hour

I used to go for their ayam penyet, but this time I tried the ayam geprek cabe ijo—and honestly, I think it’s even better. The chicken was way juicier and the green sambal absolutely delivered. Spicy? Oh, for sure. I had to pause between bites just to breathe, but I kept going anyway. That kind of good pain.

We also got es cendol to help cool things down, but sadly, it didn’t quite match what I expected. The flavor felt a little off, especially the brown sugar—it tasted a bit odd and not like the usual rich, caramelly kind. Thankfully, the red beans were nice and soft and helped balance the drink a little.

Also: it gets really busy around lunch, so expect a bit of a line if you go during peak hours.

Still, for the chicken alone? 100% worth the...

such a shame that this authentic indonesian restaurant with incredible taste has such an extremely poor service. the only staff with a friendly attitude that we’ve encountered was the middle-aged lady, she was the only welcoming staff. As someone who has dined in this place since they opened their branch in the city - i have to say that my dining experience in terms of the service is almost always bad, 2 female staff always so grumpy and you can clearly tell they dont want u to come 😂. dont get me wrong, i worked in hospitality and service before and i know that you have the choice whether to treat your customers bad or good, you just didn’t care. at last, i love your food, i’d come back everytime i miss my home country but with service like that, man you’re risking your own loyal customers, potential customers, and opportunities....