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Some moslems are very particular on what they eat. For them, halal food is a must. Example of non halal food or beverage are the ones that contain pork, blood, meat of animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but Allah, carrion, meat of carnivorous animals, khamr (all alcoholic drinks, beer, wine, gin, whisky, rum, vodka, tequila, etc.), and so on.

Flambéing or flaming food is an indicator of using alcoholic ingredient, which is non halal, in cooking

Halal certification in Indonesia is published by Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) after a comprehensive inspection of the food ingredients and processing. This certification normally must be renewed every two years.

Although some Sundanese restaurants don’t formally have halal certification, we can assume that all Sundanese food is halal. Sundanese are the original inhabitant of Pasundan (the land of Sunda) or West Java, whose capital city is Bandung. Almost 100% of Sundanese are moslem and they don’t have tradition of using non halal ingredients in their dishes. Same thing is applied to Minang/Padang food. As an illustration, it’s just like you buy Malay food in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, or Arabian food in the Middle East countries. You don’t need to ask anything. You can just convieniently eat it as you know it’s halal, even though they don’t have a formal halal certification.

You need to be aware though that many Japanese, Chinese, and Western restaurants in Bandung are using non halal ingredients.

• Japanese food: sake and mirin (categorized as khamr) are commonly used in their dishes.
• Chinese food: pork and cooking wine are commonly used here.
• Western food: meat of animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but Allah, as well as wine or any other alcoholic ingredient are commonly used.

Some of halal Chinese restaurants in Bandung are 499, Pagoda, and Atie. Halal Japanese restaurant in this city is even fewer, one of them is Gokana Teppan. Some of western fast food chains that have presence in Indonesia are halal certified, e.g. McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut. Currently there is very few detail on the halal status of western food in local restaurants and bakeries.

Even in some restaurants and bakeries that sell Indonesian food (excluding Sundanese and Minang/Padang restaurants) sometimes you need to be careful. Few of them, either consciously or not, are using cooking wine or rum in their dishes/pastries. Please be reminded that although more than 85% of Indonesians are moslem, but in general, Indonesia is a secular country (like Turkey) and there is no obligation for a restaurant to publish the halal status of their dishes.

If you are not sure and you want to know whether a restaurant serve halal food, feel free to ask the waitress or the chef of the restaurant politely. You may just walk away without ordering anything if you don’t think they serve halal food.

In this blog, you can find halal eating places in Bandung by clicking “Halal Food” tag. If we don’t provide such tag in our post, that means we are not sure. Places that are confirmed selling non halal food are tagged “Non Halal Food”.

Blue Bird Taxi in Bandung

If you don’t rent a car, the most convenient way to travel inside the city of Bandung is by taxi. This is with condition that you take the right one. Please be noticed that majority of the taxi in Bandung don’t use meter. There are only two taxi companies in Bandung that consistently use meter: Blue Bird and Gemah Ripah (GR). Therefore, if you think of using taxi to go from one shopping area to another, make sure to use one of them.

Blue Bird is the best taxi not only in Bandung but also in Indonesia. They have presence in major cities in Java and Bali islands (Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Banten, Bali, Lombok). They are quite late in penetrating Bandung market though, so currently their fleet is not so big (only about 250 cars) and sometimes it’s a bit difficult to find them on the streets. Another thing is their coverage area is sometimes only in downtown. You may find difficulties to get them to take you to the suburbs. Anyway if your mission in Bandung is only to shop til you drop, then you can forget about suburbs!

In Bandung, you can still identify Blue Bird easily by their color (light blue) and car model (Toyota Limo, the cab version of Toyota Vios). However, in other city like Jakarta, you need to be more careful as lots of small and not so good taxi company try to mimic the physical appearance of Blue Bird taxi to get more customer!

Gemah Ripah (GR) Taxi in Bandung

Gemah Ripah (GR) is a local taxi company that only have operation in Bandung. Their presence in Bandung is much longer than Blue Bird. Naturally their fleet is also bigger than Blue Bird. You can easily identify GR taxi by their blue and green color. Same as Blue Bird, majority of their fleet is Toyota Limo, which is relatively convenient.

Although GR company policy oblige their driver to use meter, you may still find maximum 5% of GR taxi driver that won’t use it, especially if they notice that you are foreigner! If that happens to you, insist to use meter and tell him that you will report him straightaway to his management otherwise.

You can’t use the above mentioned approach though, if you use any taxi other than the two. In the event that you have to take other taxi, most likely you need to bargain before you get into the car. Always ask for 50% of their offer as a start. The chance they will agree with you to use the meter is only less than 5%.

If you can plan your trip beforehand, the most convienient way is to call the taxi company to pick you up. It will take approximately half an hour for the taxi driver to reach your place. However, during weekend or public  holiday, it could be a bit longer.

Address and Contact Information

Blue Bird Taxi (Bandung)
Phone: +62 22 7561234
Website: www.bluebirdgroup.com

Gemah Ripah (GR) Taxi (Bandung)
Phone: +62 22 4217070