insidesumatera.com | tourism & lifestyle magazine

Nusa Indah, a patriotic name. As we know, the owner was a veteran from Chinese ethnic. During revolutionary time, he was assigned to drive the police truck from Aceh to Medan. Afterward, Edy, the old revolutionary man, lost his job. The peaceful time in the country was giving him a new challenge. In the past time, they kept defending not to die, but now he keeps defending to live. In 1978, Edy, the veteran began to operate a small restaurant located right in front of Casino Danau Toba Hotel Medan. He was selling a various food like lontong (steamed rice in banana leaf), nasi gurih (rice steamed in coconut milk), and nasi sayur (rice with vegetables). The customers who bought the food were from casino player who were hungry. Then, Edy brought his family from Aceh to Medan to try his luck. Fortunately, his wife was born from a mixed blood of Aceh and Padang, who was very good at cooking. Finally, they decided to run a restaurant for breakfast. Unluckily, one year ago, Edy had passed away. We were late to talk and get information from the first hand. Nowadays, Nusa Indah Restaurant is operated by David Edy junior. David told us that in the beginning, the Nusa Indah was roofless restaurant, and its customers were very few people. Step by step the restaurant was growing and then his late father moved its restaurant to Jalan Mesjid, an area where offices and bank were established. The customers were growing more and more, although the restaurant place sharing with the coffee shop. The specific taste of the breakfast menu was so special and very tempting. The gravy of lontong, and its fried chicken is typical and incomparable to other food of the same kind. No wonder, if this restaurant has loyal customer not only from local people and even until abroad. One thing about the Nusa Indah that hasn’t changed a bit; the performance of restaurant is just simple as it is. 1984, the veteran Edy was able to buy a shop house at Jalan Palang Merah. In this place, the family keep the business running until the second generation. The restaurant is still looked very simple but its customers are not that simple. Many of them are not reluctant to bring nasi gurih from Nusa Indah to Jakarta and abroad. “Just now, there is customer going to Malaysia and he has just bought nasi gurih to bring for his family as they requested. There are also some packs to be brought to Jakarta and Singapore by other customers,” David said proudly. In fact, the veteran fighter is also successful to be a breakfast fighter in the peaceful time. He got appreciation from the people for the food image of his small restaurant, and he was also appreciated by government as a loyal veteran. He received appreciation from Governor Raja Inal Siregar and President Suharto. The certificate is still being shown on the wall of its restaurant. This year, Bung Edy could not join us to celebrate the day of independence on august 17, but we could still enjoy the specific taste of menu from your struggle in the old and simple shop house at Jalan Palang Merah. Freedom!