Welcome!

Thank you for visiting Hardena Website and checking out my blog!

If you had the chance to visit our restaurant, congratulations! You have experienced a glimpse into Indonesian cuisine. :D Here I would like to try to write more in depth about Indonesian cuisine, its spices, ingredients, regions, culture, history and its people.

Indonesia is not very well known to most people but to those who are familiar, it is an anthropologists dream come true. In addition to Indonesias indigenous culture, foods, beliefs (and even genetics!) you can find elements from four distinctive cultures that influenced Indonesias culture and food scene today making it a beautifully vibrant and melodious harmony of those cultures. The four major cultures that have contributed and influenced Indonesia are India, China, Arab and Dutch and from these assimilations produced a culture so similar to the four but uniquely and distinctively Indonesian.

Lets start off with a little bit about Indonesia before we get into the nitty gritty.

Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world! Consisting of about 17,000 islands and is longer than the size of Canada!

Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world with 240 million people. China, India, & USA being the first three. There are over 300 ethnic groups and well over 700 languages throughout the islands.

Damn...! Thats a lot of languages. But have no fear! If you were planning a visit, Indonesians are usually Bi/Trilingual and can speak the official language of Indonesia which is....

wait for it.....

Indonesian :p

so no need to learn 12418094809358 languages when you go.

Indonesia has about 36 provinces and each province has their own unique style, culture, language, specialties and foods. So I will try my best to display and describe the unique beauty of each.

On that note, let me know what you will love to learn about in the comment section below!

Till next time :*