when soft meet stiff

When visiting Balikpapan, Indonesia there are two certain cuisines that you have to taste; Crab and Mantau. Crab, cooked in many different styles, is very famous as the city is located alongside beaches, where crab can be easily breed. But why Mantau? For those of you who aren’t familiar with mantau, mantau is a soft Chinese bun usually known with red bean paste filling. Here, you can find mantau serve in different style; served deep-fried with hot oil - producing a crispy layer outside but leaving inside of the bun soft and moist, accompanied with venison cooked with sweet and spicy seasoning. Creating a contrast between the softness of the mantau bun and the stiffness of the venison. This mixture is rarely known in outside world and become one of specialty cuisine in Balikpapan.

Balikpapan is the gate towards other cities in East Kalimantan; province which famous for its coal mining and oil and gas industries. People living here came from different ethnicity such as Java, Banjar (tribe from South Kalimantan), Bugis (tribe in South Sulawesi) and of course Chinese. In fact, Chinese is the second largest ethnic in Balikpapan after Java. Therefore it also influences the type of cuisine available in this city, including mantau. Venison itself is known in Chinese cuisine, but not serve along with mantau. The use of venison in the cuisine is supported by the society living in Balikpapan Seberang – Athwart Balikpapan (Balikpapan area is separated by Balikpapan bay in the middle) who hunt deer. The availability of venison and the creative idea of the Chinese then created this unique cuisine, which has become very popular years ago.

However as the deer has become scarcer, the availability of venison is influenced. Thus, beef is used to replace venison as the companion of the sweet bun.