Everyone probably has a restaurant that they have been familiar with for as long as their family or even older, so it can be said to be legendary. Likewise with me. There is a restaurant on the side of the road that I have often visited even before I got married, until now, it has a very different taste.

The restaurant is called Sare, which is located on the edge of Jalan Medan - Banda Aceh, in Tangkahan, Pangkalan Brandan, Langkat, North Sumatra. If you are traveling from Medan City, the capital of North Sumatra, the restaurant is on the left, across a yellow bridge. The restaurant stands neatly among the trees, and could be out of sight if you drive fast.

I can't remember since when I enjoyed various types of fish at this restaurant. One thing is certain, every time we travel overland from Aceh to Medan or vice versa, we often stop here. And I did that before 2000 or before I got married. Maybe I have been a customer at this restaurant for around 25 years, although in the last five years it has been very rare due to time problems and rarely traveling overland.

In early January 2024, our family returned from Medan and had planned to stop at the Sare restaurant. The last time we ate here, it didn't taste as good as before. There is information that this restaurant has changed ownership. But when I confirmed with the waiter, they said it was still the same.

Maybe the chef changed so the taste also changed. Even though we provide various types of dishes such as meat, our choice is still seafood, especially grilled fish with a special sauce.

There are various types of sea and freshwater fish available here, such as pomfret, rabbitfish, snapper, catfish, tilapia, gourami and grouper. We ordered snapper and grouper to be fried and cooked with sweet and sour. The rest is served with fried shrimp and meat. For those who already know the traditions of restaurants in Indonesia, this is no longer surprising. Various types of dishes will be served even if you don't order, but you only need to pay for what you eat, except for what you have specifically ordered, such as grilled fish.

The Sare restaurant looks old. In the past, I often felt there was an earthquake while I was eating, it turned out it was because people were walking which made the floorboards shake as if there was an earthquake. Now, the wooden-constructed restaurant feels more fragile.

But don't worry, visitors can enjoy seafood there without having to worry about the building collapsing. Visitors can even enjoy food while watching fish swimming underneath or listening to birds chirping and feeling the breeze.

We paid IDR 429,000 or the equivalent of 83.5 Hive at the price when this writing was written. We paid more than 60 percent of that price for fish, which reached IDR 300,000. I'm not surprised because I ordered a fairly large fish.

Every fish at the Sare restaurant is weighed and we can order according to the people who will enjoy it. However, you have to bring cash, because the Sare restaurant does not accept credit card payments, especially if you want to pay with Hive.

Like the building, payments at the Sare restaurant are still traditional.[]

Rumah Makan Legenda dengan Suasana Alam

Setiap orang mungkin memiliki rumah makan yang mereka akrabi seusia sebuah keluarga bahkan lebih, sehingga layak disebut sudah melegenda. Begitu juga dengan diriku. Ada sebuah rumah makan di pinggir jalan yang sudah sering aku singgahi bahkan sebelum aku menikah, sampai sekarang, kendali dengan cita rasa yang jauh berbeda.

Rumah makan itu bernama Sare yang terletak di pinggiran Jalan Medan – Banda Aceh, di Tangkahan, Pangkalan Brandan, Langkat, Sumatera Utara. Bila Anda melakukan perjalanan dari Kota Medan, ibu kota Sumatera Utara, rumah makan tersebut berada di sebelah kiri, melewati sebuah jembatan warna kuning. Rumah makan itu berdiri dengan rapih di antara pepohonan, dan bisa jadi lepas dari pandangan kalau Anda melaju dengan kencang.

Aku sudah tidak ingat lagi sejak kapan menikmati aneka jenis ikan di rumah makan ini. Satu hal yang pasti, setiap kami melakukan perjalanan darat dari Aceh ke Medan atau sebaliknya, kami sering singgah di sini. Dan itu sudah aku lakukan sebelum tahun 2000 atau sebelum aku menikah. Mungkin sudah sekitar 25 tahun aku menjadi pelanggan di rumah makan tersebut, meski dalam lima tahun terakhir sudah sangat jarang karena masalah waktu dan jarang melakukan perjalanan darat.

Pada awal Januari 2024 lalu, kami sekeluarga pulang dari Medan dan sudah merencanakan singgah di rumah makan Sare. Kali terakhir kami makan di sini, rasanya sudah tidak senikmat dulu. Ada informasi rumah makan ini sudah berganti kepemilikan. Tapi ketika aku konfirmasi kepada pelayannya, mereka bilang masih sama.

Mungkin juru masaknya yang berganti sehingga rasanya juga berganti. Meski menyediakan berbagai jenis masakan seperti daging, pilihan kami tetap seafood, terutama ikan bakar dengan saus yang khas.

Di sini tersedia berbagai jenis ikan laut dan air tawar seperti ikan bawal, baronang, kakap, patin, ikan nila, gurami, dan ikan kerapu. Kami memesan ikan kakap dan kerapu untuk digoreng dan masak asam manis. Selebihnya ada udang goreng dan daging yang dihidangkan.

Bagi yang sudah tahu tradisi rumah makan di Indonesia, sudah tidak heran lagi. Berbagai jenis masakan akan dihidangkan meski kamu tidak memesan, tetapi kamu hanya perlu membayar apa yang kamu makan, kecuali yang sudah dipesan secara khusus seperti ikan bakar.

Rumah makan Sare terlihat sudah renta. Dulu, aku sering merasa ada gempa ketika sedang makan, ternyata itu karena orang berjalan yang membuat lantai papan berguncang serasa ada gempa. Kini, rumah makan berkonstruksi kayu itu terasa lebih rapuh.

Tapi jangan khawatir, pengunjung bisa menikmati makanan seafood di sana tanpa perlu takut bangunannya akan rubuh. Bahkan pengujung bisa menikmati makanan sambil melihat ikan berenang di bawahnya atau mendengarkan kicauan burung dan merasakan embusan angin.

Kami membayar Rp429.000 atau setara 83,5 Hive dengan harga saat tulisan ini dibuat. Lebih dari 60 persen harga tersebut kami bayar untuk ikan yang mencapai Rp300.000. aku tidak heran karena memesan ikan yang lumayan besar.

Setiap ikan di rumah makan Sare ditimbang dan kita bisa memesan sesuai dengan orang yang akan menikmatinya. Namun, kalian harus membawa uang tunai, sebab di rumah makan Sare tidak melayani pembayaran dengan kartu kredit, apalagi jika kamu hendak membayar dengan Hive.

Seperti bangunannya, pembayaran di rumah makan Sare juga masih tradisional.[]