Balin Pilih

When the night falls, the main street in Krui turns dark, of course. But thank to the street lights, the darkness is not so prevalent in the town center. Plus, the lights from the traffic make ornament to this small town, and even more lights. Though it’s not as simmering as in big cities, the light in Krui is enough to indicate that the life in this town goes on into the night. But the older the night is, the quieter the street. There is hardly any local traffic in the middle of the night but the long way Lorries and buses.

And when the night falls, verandahs of stores in the main street turns into a parade like  food stalls. Along the main street, in the town center, you can find many food stalls that sell many kind of food like bakso (meat balls or fish balls), nasi goreng (fried rice), soto (soup with rice), sate (grilled sticks), pecel lele (fried catfish with chili and vegetables), and many things.

The one that I frequently visit is located by the bridge, near the mosque, in the town center. This food stall occupy the front verandah of what in the day time is an electronic store. This stall which names Balin Pilih sells many fried things like fried chicken, fried cat fish, fried tempe, etc.

The Fried Lele that served with a bowl of soup and some ground chili with various vegetable, raw and boiled, is called ‘pecel lele’. This menu is popular all over Indonesia. And uniquely, this pecel lele is only sold in street vendor like this. If you happen to visit a street food stall, you have to try this.

I like the food they sell in Balin Pilih because they taste special, different from the other vendor nearby. And if you have tried some pecel lele before at other food stalls and you found them no good, then you have to try this one.