Tag Archives: Sun Plaza

Medan, Must Visit Places, Shopping

Sun Plaza Medan

I was told that when I am in Medan, Sun Plaza is the mall that I should visit at least once. It was opened in the year 2004 and it is still the largest and most luxurious mall in Medan. I took a cab to this mall from my hotel and arrived at about 10 a.m. Surprisingly many shops were not even opened yet at this hour. So I took the opportunity to browse around the empty shops, noting that the walkaway was spacious. Sogo is the anchor tenant for this shopping mall. You can enter into Sogo department store from almost any level in this shopping mall. The other anchor tenant is Hypermarket which is a well known supermarket chain in Indonesia.

Sun Plaza Medan is currently the most upmarket shopping mall in Medan.

It seems that there are an abundant of food outlets in Sun Plaza. There is the food court, A&W, KFC, Pizza Hut, Nelayan, Ayam Penyet Ria ( one of my favorite), Es Teler 77 ( delicious noodles), Red Mango frozen yogurt ( nice but too expensive) and many coffee joints. I liked the food court because it is spacious and clean. Food variety are plentiful because there are many individual food stalls operating there. The best way to enjoy is to buy one small portion of food from different food stalls and try it out. During lunch hour, the food court was crowded; as many office workers would be here to take their lunch.

Most shops in Sun Plaza are opened at about 11.00 a.m. local time.

 

Sogo at Sun Plaza occupies the most retail space in the Sun Plaza Mall. In fact, Sogo is located almost on every floor and it provides a one stop shopping concept for the whole family (except food items ).  But I find the the prices of certain clothes and shoes in Sogo were rather steep as compared to similar merchandise that I can buy in Singapore. Many of the branded products that I saw in Sogo, I can find it too in Singapore and Malaysia – and they are less expensive in these 2 countries. So hopefully Sogo could readjust its pricing policy on the products, if they are keen in attracting more tourists here for shopping in their store.

The mall appears empty because this photo is taken on a weekday morning. The best time to go is after 11.00 a.m.

The Hypermarket is located in the upper floor of Sun Plaza and it is a nice supermarket. However the size of this supermarket is smaller than their other branches in other parts of Indonesia where I have been. The selection and variety of food and sundry items here are sufficient to satisfy the average household family. One thing I noticed was that certain areas in this supermarket was rather warm – so was the air -conditioning faulty or was it not turn on? I came to this supermarket twice during my stay in Medan and I felt warm and stuffy in some areas of this store. This is a good place to stock up on your food, drink, toiletries if you are staying in Medan for a few days.

Kids can take a ride the mall in this train.

For those who are seeking some entertainment, there is a cinema, Time Zone and Himalayan games centers for young adults and kids. There is also a popular book store called Gramedia, where you can buy books, computer accessories, stationery, gifts, etc. One of the nice feature about this shopping mall is that there are benches located on every floor for the shoppers to sit and rest their feet. The Sun Plaza is a spacious mall and you could easily spend half a day here without feeling bore or hungry.

I read some comments in the travel forums that there is no taxi stand in this mall. This is not correct. There is in fact a taxi stand right outside the main entrance of this mall. Just outside the glass door of the main entrance, there is a small signage for Taxi and you can see a guy standing there with a walkie-talkie ( handheld transceiver) who can help you in getting a cab. The condition is that once the booking is made for a cab, the minimum charge would be Rp25,000 irregardless of the distance. For example, if the meter in the taxi states Rp15,000 upon arrival at my hotel, I still have to pay the drive Rp25,000. But if the meter states Rp50,000, then of course I have to pay the cab driver Rp50,000. I would also normally tip the taxi drivers because most of them are helpful and courteous. My view is that if I am going for holiday, I am not going to fuss or waste my time hunting for a cab outside the mall just to save a couple of dollars – whatever it is, it is an individual choice; as there is no right or wrong way on how you want to spend your money.

Sun Plaza is a very spacious mall. You can spend the whole day in this mall with many things to do and eat.

Do visit Sun Plaza Mall when you are in Medan. It is a refreshing change after visiting so many old malls and old buildings around this city. It is also a good place to recharge and get away from the smoke, dust and congested roads. Most of the shops should be opened by 11.00 a.m and it is a good place to get a sumptuous lunch – the variety and choices of food here is really amazing.

I will be adding more photos of Sun Plaza Medan in the Image Gallery of my website at – Indonesiapics.com

Food, Medan

Ayam Penyet Ria in Medan

While I was shopping with my friend at Sun Plaza. we decided to try out the Ayam Penyet Ria  restaurant at LT4 ( which is Level 4 ). There were numerous food outlets in this shopping mall and it would take me days if I wanted to try them all. The Ayam Penyet Ria has a few restaurants located in Singapore and many of my friends are crazy over this food. Personally, I am not so keen on deep fried food, be it chicken, beef or seafood. But my friend had never eaten Ayam Penyet or smashed fried chicken before, so I decided to let her have a go on this food. By the way, Sun Plaza is the most modern and popular shopping mall in Medan. If you are a food lover or enjoy shopping, this is the place to visit while you are in Medan. I will be writing a blog on this shopping mall later on.

Ayam Penyet is deep fried smashed chicken.

My order for that day was 2 Ayam Penyet – Rp29,000/2 sets, 2 Nasi putih ( white rice ) –  Rp13.636/2 sets, 2 Teh Botol ( Indonesia No. 1 Ice Tea ) Rp10,908 for 2 bottles and lastly one bowl of  Soto Ayam Ria – Rp 13.636 So the total cost of this meal for 2 persons inclusive of tax was Rp68,999 or US$7.80 which was reasonable. The same meal if you ordered it in Singapore would definitely cost much more. The food arrived at our table in about 10 minutes and the restaurant was not crowded at that time. The staff were courteous and efficient and overall the restaurant was clean and spacious.

The ayam penyet is delicious and a must try Indonesian food.

The ayam penyet was placed on a round bowl on top of a banana leaf. Included was a slice of deep fried beancurd ( tahu goreng ) and fermented beancurd ( tempeh ) raw peppermint leaves, a slice of cucumber, small portion of boiled cabbage and not forgetting the blacan chilli. There is also a small serving of a slice of lemon with another type of strong, pungent spicy chilli. The ayam penyet was covered with layers of fried batter bits which actually taste good.

Soto Ayam.

The chicken was non oily and slightly dry and it was a small chicken drumstick/ thigh. The chicken serving was rather small as compared to the chicken portion in KFC. Separating the meat from the bones was an easy task and when I dipped the chicken meat onto the blacan chilli, it was a mouth watering sensation – delicious. The other chilli that was served with a slice of lemon was really too strong for me – it had a very strong spicy, tangy and bitter flavor. The soto ayam was good – it consists of vermicelli, eggs, vegetables and thin slices of chicken. The gravy of this soto ayam was not too sweet, not oily and not so spicy; and it goes well with the white rice.

Teh Botol from Sosro

On my next try to Medan, I will come back Ayam Penyet Ria restaurant again to try their gado gado and oxtail soup as well. As for the ayam penyet – smash fried chicken, it was delicious but the chicken portion was rather small. Well, there are many other food in the menu that I can order if I am still hungry. To be fair, for the price of less than Rp15,000 for a set of ayam penyet, the serving was reasonable.

Strong spicy chilli

 

white rice.