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Best Pempek in London

“Fish and tapioca fishcake served with sweet-sour vinegar sauce—balanced with noodles, cucumber, and heat.”

Pempek

What the real thing tastes like

Pempek, mpek-mpek, or, colloquially, empek-empek, is a savory Indonesian fishcake, made of fish and tapioca, from Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Pempek is served with a rich sweet and sour sauce called kuah cuka or kuah cuko (lit. 'vinegar sauce'), or just "cuko". Sometimes local people also eat the dish with yellow noodles and diced cucumber to balance out the vinegar's sourness, or adding chili powder to give the vinegar spiciness.

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Pempek is a savory fishcake born in Palembang, South Sumatra—a humble bundle of fish and tapioca that finds its purpose when dunked into kuah cuko, a vinegar sauce that's equal parts sweet and sour. The locals know the trick: yellow noodles and cucumber soften the vinegar's punch, while chili powder can sharpen it back up. It's a dish built on balance, where one ingredient answers another.

Order it here when it has

  • versatile condiment approach
  • balancing flavors
  • regional depth

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