Angela So and the brothers behind Tempea bring hard-to-find Indonesian pantry staples and regional sambals to East Hastings, with a self-serve noodle bar in the works.
The first time the family behind Toko Convenience tried to make rendang after moving to Vancouver, they found almost everything they needed except the candlenuts. Two decades later, that shopping trip helps explain why they opened an Indonesian grocery on East Hastings.
Ground candlenuts give spice pastes body and curries a richer texture. Fermented keluwek gives rawon, an East Javanese beef soup, its dark broth and earthy depth. Torch ginger flower and arenga palm sugar were also hard to find. “Most of the time, the only way to find certain ingredients is in the luggage of a relative or a friend that has just recently returned from Indonesia,” the founders told me by email. Now customers can tell the family what they’re looking for, and their team in Indonesia can help track it down.
Angela So runs Toko Convenience with her husband, Richard, and his brothers, Andrew and Jeffrey. The shop soft-opened November 4 in Strathcona, with representatives from the Indonesian, Thai, Philippine and Malaysian consulates in attendance. Toko Convenience is at 977 East Hastings Street and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
From fresh tempeh to a corner shop
The brothers grew up in Jakarta. Their mother, who is of Chinese heritage, comes from a small town in Sumatra. Their father is from Taiwan. The family has worked in restaurants, food manufacturing and produce retail. In Vancouver, the brothers founded Tempea Natural Foods and supplied their fresh fermented soybean cakes to places like Tractor and Field & Social. Introducing more Vancouverites to tempeh made them want to share more of the food they grew up with.
Toko means “store” in Indonesian. The family took a cue from Taiwanese convenience stores, where you can pop in for a drink and end up sitting down to a hot meal. They also had Indonesian warungs and kedai kopi in mind, the kinds of places where you stop for a snack or coffee.
What to put in your basket
Start with fresh tempeh and a bag of emping melinjo, crisp, lightly bitter crackers made from melinjo seeds. The founders suggest slicing the tempeh thin, soaking it in a coriander and garlic brine and frying it until crisp.
Kecap manis, Indonesian sweet soy sauce, gets its deep, caramel-like sweetness from palm sugar. The family likes it in a marinade for grilled seafood or straight from the bottle as a dip for their favourite chips.
Then there’s kerupuk. Think of these crackers as a second utensil. Scoop up a bite of rice or drag one through a pool of sauce. Ask which sambal goes with what you’re making. The founders have plenty of suggestions and one rule of their own. “There must always be sambal.”
What’s planned for the noodle bar and kitchen
The founders are aiming for a meal under $5 at the self-serve noodle bar. Alongside Mie Sedaap, they’re looking at Indomie flavours such as rendang, sambal rica-rica and rawon. In their November 5 update, they were targeting about two weeks after the soft opening for both the noodles and prepared foods.
The rice bowls are where the family’s idea of medok comes in. It’s the word they use for food with enough spices to give it real depth. Their plan is to cook the sauces in Indonesia, ship them frozen and finish the dishes in Richmond. That lets them season the rendang as generously as they would at home while keeping ingredient costs in check. The planned menu also includes gulai ayam (chicken curry), sambal prawns and a sambal balado egg sandwich.
Ask the founders where else to eat and they’ll send you to Bali Thai in the International Village food court for bakmi ayam, or to Bali Bites for sambal and peanut sauce. They also credit Auntie Grace, who has supplied Indonesian students and home cooks for years from a warehouse near Marine Drive. At Toko, there’s already a customer wish list. Two decades after that first pot of rendang, the family knows why people ask.
