RIAN FARISA

For many years Kantin Sakinah has been known for a place to seek one of the finest, most indulging dessert ever, es durian. Now that the real Kantin Sakinah no longer exists, the legend goes on and apparently this particular hawker who helped to raise the legendary stature for the canteen has moved to another place still on the same street. Upon my visit though, I can only see it as a shadow of its former self.

That day was a hot afternoon and my long ride down from Kampung Daun after lunch had been quite exhausting. Actually I drove a car but it’d be lovely to find a good place to cool down and enjoy a good, stone cold dessert! I had to thank a friend of mine who reminded me about Kantin Sakinah and immediately it became my target practice for another adventure!

Well, truth be told, I’m not an avid fan of durian. The King of Fruit has some health issues and people really have an issue about it when it comes to cravings, especially during the real season of durian bangkok – the best of its kind. A medical practitioner who I trust tells me that God creates different fruit for different season for a good reason, but human nowadays just can’t seem to get enough of certain fruits only harvested once or twice a year. Then we created any kind of agricultural innovations to get these fruits come out more often but the result for health may not be good. I heard some cases that when people combine the fruits from the wrong season with the current ones, then the result may be hazardous if consumed excessively. Well, that requires further research and fact-finding. For me, it’s about consuming it normally and naturally. It’ll be well from there.

Anyway, in Es Durian (Kantin Sakinah)’s case, the durian is available all the time and since I rarely eat the fruit, one treat or two should be okay for now. What surprised me was that the serving of es durian (durian served cold) here has many unlikely combinations. There’s one combined with condensed milk and grated cheddar cheese, avocado and coconut, plain, coconut milk and sugar, and many more.

For a starter, I decided to order the most ‘polluted’ one – es durian with condensed milk, grated cheese and chocolate sprinkles. It was quite nice as the durian was always pleasant, served cold which was wonderful, and the combination of the condiments were good. Certainly one didn’t overpower the others. It was simply pleasant, unlike the excessively seasoned instant noodles or toasts back at Madtari on Dago.

But the best one for me was actually not all about durian but it’s about the good mixture of sliced fruits, condiments, and topped with a luscious piece of The King. The sliced fruits were of good chemistry between mango, watermelon, avocado, and coconut with condiments such as condensed milk, grass jelly, and sago pearls – very refreshing, nutritious but also indulging.

I spoke a bit later with the attendant and found out that the once-so-famous stall has seen its heyday. What once good businesses of three branches have now diminished and what remains is this one only. The hawkers’ center where it resided now is actually quite pleasant and clean but that time, which was around 1 or 2 pm, I didn’t see all that camaraderie again where people queue a long line just to get these wonderful desserts.

Hopefully, everything will be well again in the future as I will be quite shocked if one day they decided to just quit. Let’s see where it goes from now but one thing for sure, I will be coming back from time to time there. Not too often, but a prudent, healthy dose of durian will do me good anytime of the year!

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Must eat: Es durian of any kind

Price: IDR 10,000

Address: Jalan Tubagus Ismail I no. 6 (inside a small hawkers center)

Opening hours: Everyday, morning to evening