Samara Kitchen

An authentic slice of Indonesia in Mississauga

Why are so many good food places located in desolate industrial areas? Probably low rents. And less incentive to invest in interiors. Samara Kitchen is a classic example of tasty eateries in obscure locations. They can be confident that customers will detour to this sprawling industrial district behind Pearson airport. After all, there aren’t many Indonesian restaurants in the region. The hefty portions, large menu, and authenticity make this the top Indonesian food destination in the region.

Exterior of Samara Kitchen
Samara Kitchen

The food

Let’s start with the national dish/salad, gado-gado. Despite being easy to make, it’s a mystery why few Indonesian restaurants here serve it. The only ingredients that need to be prepared ahead of time are the peanut sauce and lontong (compressed rice cakes). Chefs have a wide latitude with the rest of the ingredients but it usually includes blanched vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, cubes of tahu goreng (deep-fried tofu), and kerupuk (crackers). Like any good salad, the idea is to have a mix of textures and flavours.

Gado-gado literally means mix-mix. It’s perfect for a take-home meal kit. To prepare it, just dump everything together. Taste and texture don’t suffer as long as the sauce and crispy ingredients are packed separately.

Gado gado set from Samara Kitchen
Gado-gado with kerupuk

Samara Kitchen’s gado-gado was a whopper. With the sauce, it weighed more than a kilogram. Vegetables included cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, bean spouts, and long beans. It also came with kerupuk udang (shrimp crackers).

Gado gado pack from Samara Kitchen
Gado-gado with peanut sauce in a bag, chilli sauce, fried tofu cubes, hard-boiled egg, lontong, bean sprouts, cabbage, and cucumbers.

The shrimp crackers were Indonesian style—small and light.

Kerupuk from Samara Kitchen
Kerupuk

The one element that makes or breaks gado-gado is the peanut sauce. It’s the culinary glue for the melange of ingredients. Samara Kitchen had a textbook version that brought me back to Indonesia. It was a brown slurry, thickened with sweet potatoes and some ground peanuts for texture. The shrimp paste provided a backdrop of umami.

If you’ve never had lontong before, imagine squishing rice into a rectangular block, then wrapping it with coconut or banana leaves. It’s customarily paired with peanut sauce. The lontong here were fragrant. As for the vegetables and tofu, they were simply chopped and blanched. 8/10.

Gado gado from Samara Kitchen
Gado-gado

It wasn’t spicy but there’s a container of chilli sauce to remedy that. It was homemade and rather sharp from citrus or tamarind. It’s a sauce I associate with grilled foods, not gado-gado. A coconut or shrimp-based sambal would have worked better.

A rare treat at Samara Kitchen is pepes ayam. It’s marinated chicken, wrapped with banana leaves, and then grilled. I don’t see this dish outside Java often. Samara Kitchen also prepares shrimp in the same style (pepes udang); same goes for fish (pepes ikan). Jasmine rice included.

Pepes ayam set from Samara Kitchen
Pepes ayam with rice

The package bore the unmistakable scent of grilled banana leaves. If you aren’t familiar with that smell, it’s like lightly-burnt pine wood. It’s been a long time since I had it this strong in Toronto. Even the chicken skin was infused with the aroma.

Pepes ayam top from Samara Kitchen
Pepes ayam

The skin was oddly devoid of spices. All the spices were lying underneath it. Sadly, the taste wasn’t as tantalizing as the smell. It would have helped if the whole chicken was marinated instead of relying on diffusion from the bottom. The dish wasn’t bad though. The turmeric, lemongrass, onion, ginger, and chillies did their job. But the spice mix also had fibrous herbs in it, so it wasn’t easy to eat. 7.5/10.

Pepes ayam bottom from Samara Kitchen
Pepes ayam spices

The place

Although there is a small alcove for seating, this is really a takeout place. It has the ambience of a cupboard.

Grocery section from Samara Kitchen
Grocery corner

There is a tiny grocery section for Indonesian condiments and snacks, especially kerupuk.

Snacks from Samara Kitchen
Processed snacks

Verdict

Extremely authentic Indonesian restaurant with the widest selection in the Toronto region. 8/10.

Practical information

Name
Samara Kitchen
Rating
8/10
Recommended dishes
Gado-gado
Prices
Gado-gado: $13.56 ($12.00 excluding tax)
Pepes ayam: $12.43 ($11.00 excluding tax)
Address
6033 Shawson Drive, Unit 13, Mississauga
Hours
Wednesday to Sunday 1200h – 1900h
Date of visit
June 2021