Bowl and saucer

Chinese-Indonesian restaurants often receive orders for soup as a starter. At De Chinese Pagode, soups are popular, especially tomato soup and chicken soup. Other options are suan la tang and wan tan soup, or the variety of non-soup dishes such as fried spring rolls.

The bowls in which the soups and starters are served breathe the atmosphere of a Chinese-Indonesian restaurant. Though there are no Chinese characters , the flowery design and colors add to the Chinese atmosphere of the restaurant. Chinese-Indonesian restaurants were the first restaurants in the Netherlands to sell ‘exotic’ foodSee Benton & Pieke 2016, p 131, and a certain image was thus created with it. Porcelain and fine china became popular in the Netherlands in the 17th century when they were brought back by the Dutch East India Company’s ships.