Medan Ciak Indonesian Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

Bucking the trend towards fancy designer fit-outs and prices to match in Surry Hills, you’ll find the surprisingly honest and well-priced Medan Ciak in the entranceway to a dated, blonde brick apartment block. It’s set back from the road, but easy enough to spot because of their trademark bright orange signage, which continues into the cafeteria-style dining room. The cuisine is Indonesian, but being from Medan, the capital of North Sumatra on the northeastern coast of the island of Sumatra, there’s a sizeable Chinese population. It’s also very ethnically diverse – while Muslim people make up the bulk of the population, Christianity doesn’t lag too far behind.

On the plate that means you can eat pig – and you should – as Sui Bak Pui/Nasi Babi Panggang ($14), the most expensive dish on the illustrated picture menu. Arranged around a generous mound of rice you’ll find sweet pieces of caramelised pork and beautifully rendered cubes of compressed roast pork belly drizzled with sweet sauce. There is also water spinach, a soy sauce-soaked boiled egg, and a little dish of sambal with raw chilli, garlic and red onion. The sambal is quite spicy, though I find forays into the little bowl of clear chicken soup that arrives with it enough to sooth my lips.

While everything at Medan Ciak is a whole, balanced meal, there are some cool add-ons like blackened pieces of Tempeh Goreng ($2.50). The compressed soybean cake is firm and tasty, and eats particularly well with a good splatter of sambal. If you haven't had enough protein, or crave more of the hot stuff than a little dish of sambal can provide, the Telor Balado ($2) or chilli egg is another good add-on.

Mie Pangsit Medan ($12) is another Hokkien Chinese influenced dish, where seasoned yellow wheat noodles are turned into meat noodles using caramelised pork and fried pork fat (crackling). It’s rounded out with soy sauce eggs, fried shallots, water spinach and sambal, with a bowl of wonton chicken soup passed separately.

On weekends Medan Ciak assemble a full range of takeaway Indonesian desserts and pastries in plastic containers on the counter, which increases their popularity. On the quieter weekdays (they're closed on Mondays) for a sweet fix, you can make do with poppers of jasmine tea. The oldest brand is Tehbotol Sosro ($1.50) who first began brewing jasmine tea in 1940. Their tea blends green tea, jasmine flowers and jasmine gambier (an astringent extract from the leaves) that gives it a floral, sweet, tannic flavour. Teh Kotak ($1.50) is pretty much the same deal, just enriched with vitamin C.

Sampling their rendang is...

I wouldn’t recommend because one of the staff was very rude to me. I don’t usually write a 3-4 paragraph long review but I need to this time.

One of the female staff was very rude and don’t even have any courtesy to explain us what food they got in the display when we asked. She just stared at me like I am such an idiot for asking though we asked politely and not being fussy. She asked me to sit and read the menu by myself.

It was early and the restaurant wasn’t even crowded. It was my first time eating there and not everyone knows what to order, what’s in there. But she just wanted to take my order quickly and didnt care at all. Her face expression is so annoying.

Then I just ordered nasi kapau rendang because I was not in the mood anymore. I wanted to order things from the display but that female staff was so grumpy and not helpful that I didnt want and didnt dare to ask..

She then asked if I want to pay now or later. I said later but then her face changed again like saying why didn’t you just pay now?! I am together with my boyfriend and she also said no split bill after that out of blue. I’m like?!?! Nobody asks if it is possible to split bill and I dont even want to split bill.. she just assumed it herself and I felt so insulted.. I dont even say anything about split bill?!?!

I don’t know what problem she had at home but she shouldn’t be that rude to other people and if you are not able to function politely then just take a day off. She must be really fun at parties 🙄

She is the shortest one in terms of height at that day and talks with a heavy Medan dialect.

The food is not worth it.. just spicy, very oily and the flavour is so one dimensional not worth your mood being destroyed like that.. never have i ever been to Indonesian restaurant with staff that rude.

I will not visit this restaurant again in my life. I wish you good luck with the service if you want to visit...

This small restaurant doesn't have enough kitchen cook staff but they prefer to hired many waiters (trying to be Hooters Restaurant ??), all the waiters end up just chit chatting, walking around and playing handphones only while the hungry customer keeps waiting, angry, not happy and disappointed.

The food we ordered took more than 30mins wait time, the restaurant discouraged customers from paying using a card by charging extra fees but offered a 10% discount if we paid "cash", if we knew the ridiculous wait time, we would walk away if they didn't ask us to pay. Imagine this happened to you or your family if it is dining in on weekend / public holiday, it will be a nightmare.

The surprising situation is when the food finally arrived they only give us 10mins to eat, the waiter kept coming to our table rushing us and wanting to take our plate away, the waiter 1st took the cup as we haven't finish eating, we have to swallow our food without even chewing our food, the worst part is the even took the tissue away, when nothing left except our daughter plate, the waiter standing and stressing her to eat faster, all the want is our money?? and don't give us time to eat ? after we paid ??? seriously ??

Our daughter ended having visit the doctor due stomach bloated after we left the restaurant =/

Suggestion, just hire more kitchen cook staff, we or other customer don't have to wait, just call the order number, we can serve service and grab our own food. To be realistic customer is at your restaurant for your food cook by your kitchen staff not for the...