Travelholic: Makassar | Terung Market/Pasar Terung Field Day

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Makassar | Terung Market/Pasar Terung Field Day

When Farah approached me and ask “Nak gi pasar tak/Would you like to go to the (wet) market?”. Knowing very well I won’t say no. That was the beginning of our secret trip (so Edgar say).

Pasar Terung is the local (wet) market situated 10-15mins drive from our hotel; Aston Hotel. I was slightly worried as we only have approximately 2 hours window to visit the market and have to pack and bring my luggage down at 5am, just in case we came back late. This I figure will minimize me rushing to pack and check-out. Smart move as we got back ngam-ngam….

Not many travelers include market as one of their must visit places during a trip, but for avid travelers, this is rather common and perhaps mandatory as street photography is best done at these type of places. And we nail it. Well, kinda.

Few major things I want to highlight here that is the :

Chilis – as you can see in the photos below

Ketupat (rice cake wrapped in palm leaf) – also as you see in the photos below

Gula merah/kabung (brown sugar/palm sugar) – yah yah…. Photos below

Coto Makassar (beef soup with rice cake) – Enough said

I am going to take you through these food, fruit (yes, chili is a fruit so the Google say) and delicacies.

Rawit Cabe or Chili

Do you that rawit chili is one of the hottest and spiciest chili in Indonesia. When we visited the market, I realized they have more than 3 types chilis sold here, hence I start to ask the type and the hot/spicy level and they say it’s the famous rawit, and the best thing is that the local eat it raw. Yup! You heard me right al right. I tried eating it in my coto, I ordered another glass of Teh Botol.

Ketupat (rice cake wrapped in palm leaf)

I have been wanting to write on types of ketupats in Malaysia but kept postponing it due to…. Me being lazy. But guess what, I bumped into a few types of ketupat here in Pasar Terung and it certainly made my day. The Makassareses are spoilt for choice, they have Lontong, Songkolo Ipit, Buras, Ketupat Besar and Ketupat Kecil, but they don’t have our lemang buluh, ketupat daun palas, ketupat periuk kera nor kelupis. And yah, I bought the interesting looking ones to try – Songkolo Ipit (the purple ones).

Gula merah/kabung (brown sugar/palm sugar)

I only know of gula merah, gula Melaka or/and gula kabung of which some say they are all the same i.e. made of palm sugar, the only different is the packaging and the state/province of origin. Little did I know, in Makassar, things get a little more ‘fanciful, shapeful (#eh) colourful and wonderful’. I didn’t manage to ask them (I still don’t know how and why I failed to ask, perhaps I was so excited on the xxx-ful that I forgot. Perhaps) but if I manage to get any advice from my readers, I will update this post yah.

Coto Makassar at Coto Nusantara (beef soup with rice cake)

The name says it all, what makes it yummeh is the rawit chili with the beef soup. Good gracious great ball of spicy hot fire! Trust me, the taste is better than its looks – I take lousy photos when it comes to food. Yes, I admit.

#TravelTips

#TravelTips 1 : Go early in the morning, as early as 6-7am. Not to worry, it is very bright with sun shining and all, Sulawesi is very far east so the sun rises earlier here.

#TravelTips 2 : Take your time, strike a conversation, take plenty of photos and sample the local delicacies. Makassareses are very friendly people.

#TravelTips 3 : Even if you are Asian or from South East Asia, don’t assume you’ve seen all the fruits, plants or vegetables because we saw a few that we stared and stared and stared which kinda make the locals laugh.