Warung Pojok: Indonesian Corner Cafe in Garden Grove [CLOSED]

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Indonesian Restaurant Orange County

Indonesian food is hard to find in Southern California, and Warung Pojok stands out.

Jakarta native Erisa Bong opened this Indonesian corner (pojok) café (warung) on August 1 with chef/aunt Ibu Ginting, who hails from Sumatra. The former Chinese restaurant is situated in a Garden Grove strip mall, sandwiched between a Chuck E. Cheese’s and a Latin record store. Little Saigon has dozens of interesting restaurants, but only Warung Pojok specializes in hearty Indonesian comfort food. Singularity isn’t reason enough to visit Warung Pojok, but bold flavors and remarkable value are.


Indonesian Restaurant Orange County

A handwritten overhead menu changes daily, with food housed in a bank of steam tables behind the display case.

Warung Pojok usually sells fish, beef, chicken and tofu, prepared in a variety of ways. Whatever the selection, it’s an absolute bargain: one dish for $4.50, two for $5.50 and three for $6.50. A three-dish combo is enough to feed two people.

There’s a choice of complimentary rice: coconut (yellow), fried (orange) or steamed (white). You also get a selection of shrimp paste, jalapeño sauce and/or mild chile sauce.

Indonesian Food Orange County

Coconut rice was plated with big chunks of spice-soaked beef rendang, long beans with shrimp and unusually tender green eggplant, plus bony dark meat chicken nubs and hard-boiled egg marinated in sweet soy sauce.

Indonesian Food Orange County

A supple batter-bound corn fritter ($0.75) came with spicy jalapeño sauce (green) and pungent shrimp paste (red).

To drink/for dessert, Warung Pojok sells sweet red bean and pandan jelly “drinks,” which are poured fresh with brown sugar and coconut milk. There was also a tray of sweet rice balls in syrup.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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julie and william heath

A little paradise tucked in the corner.
Love your food and the price.
My boy loves your nasi kunning (tumeric rice)
and I like everything esp the rendang and
kari ayam.

Another Indo resto, yay! Gotta try it out when I’m in the area (which is unfortunately rare) and compare it to others 🙂
The styrofoam plates remind me of Simpang Asia back in the day, before all the Zagat rating and increased prices …

A note, yellow rice is typically turmeric rice – although they might have put coconut in theirs also.

And sweet rice balls in syrup are probably “ronde”

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