Indonesian ex-pat chef brings Asian sweets and snacks to Emeryville
Indonesian restaurants are few and far between in the Bay Area. So it’s fortuitous that a new one is arriving, the Nusa bakeshop, bearing an armada of traditional treats like thousand-layer cake and pineapple tartlets.
Nusa is the project of chef Jennifer Huang, who grew up in Sumatra. The bakery has existed for more than a decade in pop-up and online-retail forms. Now, it’s officially part of the dining hall at the Public Market in Emeryville — specifically the kiosk of La Cocina, a food-industry incubator for women, immigrants and people of color.
Huang started Nusa as a way to replicate the food she grew up eating. The bakeshop has a focus on sweets, such as pandan chiffon cake with coconut cream and that toothsome thousand-layer cake (spekkoek), which combines European butter and the warm spices of clove, nutmeg and cinnamon into a painting-worthy dessert slab.
The kitchen is also preparing savory snacks such as a mochi chicken roll with coconut and lemongrass and chicken and pork satay skewers with rice cakes and pickles. For larger appetites, there is caramelized spiced-beef rendang with seasonal vegetables and shrimp chips, coriander-braised tofu and tempeh with sambal and tapioca and Indonesian fried rice with a fried egg and crispy onions.
The short but intriguing beverage menu includes cold Java jasmine tea, red-ginger tea and fruit juices in flavors of soursop, passion fruit and dragon fruit.
“Indonesian food is uniquely diverse as it is a fusion of traditions and cooking methods native to the indigenous people and cultures spread across the archipelago,” Nusa’s website states. “There are significant influences from Chinese, Indian, Dutch, Portuguese and Middle Eastern cultures. Our menu is rooted in the diversity and richness of ingredients, flavors, culture and history of the 17,000+ islands that make up Indonesia.”
Nusa is having a soft opening right now with a limited lunch menu (see below) and plans to celebrate its grand opening on May 15, when it will add dinner service.
Details: Currently open 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at 5959 Shellmound St., Emeryville. Beginning May 15, hours will be 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m; nusasf.square.site and instagram.com/nusa.sf.