Having Lunch at Gegarang Cafe in Takengon

Gegarang is a cafe in Takengon Town, the capital of Central Aceh District. It’s located at Tansaril Village. The cafe is a floating above fish pond. It has a perfect location on the sloop of the hill and the water flow from the hill to supply the fish pond. The sound of water make us more peaceful when visiting the cafe for lunch or dinner.

A few days ago, my family and I went to Gegarang Cafe for having our lunch. It was not our first time to visit the cafe. We used to have lunch here months ago. We visited the cafe again as my kids asked for. They wanted to taste the fried rice there. In their opinion, the fried rice at Gegarang Cafe is so delicious and tasty that using local ingredients. We know that Takengon is located in Gayo Highlands, which produce various spices for cooking.

It was sunny day with breeze blew down from the hill. It delivered a bit cold air since the cafe is open without any wall.

It’s surrounded by the hill and many trees growing there as if the they are strong fence for the cafe. The building is simple, made of pine timber. They use rumbia leaves for the roof. It’s a traditional style cafe, which is trying to unite with nature.

So, as it’s floating, the fish pond surrounded the cafe. The owner is doing fish farming here to supply his own cafe.

The fish look pretty healthy and frisky. This is a good business by the owner, as he could supply the fish for his costumers, thus he will have more profit by doing this fish farming.

Upon arriving there, we had a seat a corner close to the pond. We might look at the fishes swimming and playing in the water. Our table is next to a reserved long table. It seemed it would come many guests to have lunch there as well.

After having our seat, we ordered some menus for our lunch. My kids ordered fried rice. They loved to eat special fried rice by Gegarang Cafe. They ordered the fried rice with chicken. They used to eat fried rice here, I guess have a good memory about the taste of Gegarang’s fried rice.

I ordered Gurame Asam Manis or carp fish in sweet and sour sauce. To have sweet and sour hints, pineapple is the important thing to be included in the ingredients. However, some sugar are also added to have sweet taste. Other ingredients including chili, salt, parrot, onion, garlic, and some other thing depend on the secret recipe of a restaurant.

This menu is so special, the taste is so good and delicious. The sweet and sour sauce is thick and balance taste. It was really a good day, I only spent about $11 for the menus. It’s pretty cheap.

After having lunch, we headed to Lake Laut Tawar. We would enjoy the beauty of the lake while driving around.