Where to eat INDONESIA 🇮🇩 Richterswil: Dapura Mia

Dapura Mia

Chüngengass 1, Richterswil

Published December 3, 2024 · by Amanda Rivkin Häsler

What we ordered: For four people, one order of fried beef spring rolls and one order of vegetarian spring rolls to start. For entrees, one order of rendang curry with beef which came with rice and roti canai; one green Thai curry with chicken served with rice; one nasi goreng with chicken served with pickles, shrimp chips, sambal and sweet soy sauce; and one pineapple nasi goreng with chicken and shrimp served with shrimp chips in a hollowed out half pineapple. For dessert, two orders of mango sticky rice. To drink, eight Bintang Indonesian beers, two glasses of prosecco, and a one-liter bottle of sparkling water followed by a 3.3 dl bottle of sparkling water for the table.

Cost: 266 CHF / €285 / $300

Arriving in the Zürich suburb of Richterswil to eat at Dapura Mia can feel a bit like, or rather not unlike traveling up the Bosphorus in Istanbul to a secret spot along the water. We arrived at dusk by train, a mere thirty minutes from the Zürich main rail station, and were somehow transported far away, to a place where time slows down and meals can be enjoyed languidly, and with extremely friendly service – not always a guarantee in Switzerland where a culture of customer service is still wanting much of the time. While Zürich's city center was so close, it was no longer tangible as lived reality.

Dapura Mia is located by the water, a few minutes-walk from the Richterswil train station, with but a road and a rail line between the restaurant and the water. Inside is a tropical paradise, with rattan lamps, wood block print tablecloths, woven pillows and an arrangement so spacious that each table feels like a private universe. We were given an enormously roomy booth in the corner by the window overlooking the water and yet, we felt we had the whole place to ourselves even though many of the tables were occupied when we were there mid-week.

Some of the fare was classic Asian food that the Swiss would expect while eating “Asian food,” but much of it was extremely local to Indonesia and authentically so. For appetizers though, we stuck to the former category. We had egg rolls, called spring rolls in German, for the fried variety, whereas the rice paper variant unfried that we also had are known as summer rolls in German. Both were extremely tasty, though preferring less fried, I stuck to the unfried spring roll variety. It was essentially a salad wrap but enough to whet the palette and supremely tasty with the light Indonesian Bintang beer.

For the entrees, half of our table of a double date went for the classic nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice. Though I had the version with pineapple and served in a half pineapple which added depth and dimension and also came with two kinds of proteins, shrimp and chicken. I was satisfied but our friend’s partner who had the ordinary variety with chicken less so, proclaiming his dish to be something that could be made at home.

His partner had the green Thai curry and was very satisfied, said it was delicious but spicy. As she is Austrian, it is hard to get a read on whether it is genuinely spicy as experience has shown Europeans have a relatively low tolerance for spice. She loved it, though, and said it went very well with the two glasses of prosecco she ordered over the course of her meal.

She was also apologetic for ordering Thai in an Indonesian restaurant given the scope and mandate of trying new things. Alas, further reason to question what she might call spicy. We love her anyways, though, for there is an Oprah-like warmth and ability to moderate discussions while being savvy and funny there.

However, the undisputed king of ordering at Dapura Mia was Georg, also known as “Mr. Swiss Global Dining” to some of our social media followers, who had the beef rendang curry which came with roti and rice. I had a bit with the roti and one of my shrimp chips and it was a fully rich, complex curry with beef so tender it shredded with a fork’s touch. No one looked or sounded more satisfied at our table and for good reason. The roti was flaky and a bit chewy.

For dessert, half the table ordered mango sticky rice which looked a bit like a white gelatin version of dulce de leche accompanied by bits of mango in syrup. That went quick and for the most part the half the table that opted for dessert was consumed by it, eating quickly and quietly with a lot of sounds of sweetness.

When it came time to go, we all took the train back to Zürich main station and parted ways. It was more than a little late as we had dined over more than two hours and had to wait an additional ten to fifteen minutes for the train. We got home around midnight, with Georg catching some sleep on the train. It was a lovely evening and while it would be great to have such food much closer, a little adventure out into the suburbs also goes far to taking one away from the stress of the familiar.

How to get to Indonesia from Switzerland: 

Swiss Air offers a connection with Jetstar through Singapore to Jakarta. Numerous other airlines fly from Zürich to Jakarta including Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Garuda Indonesia, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai and Turkish Airlines, though there are no direct flights. Each airline requires a transfer in cities including Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Doha, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul and Singapore. The routing options are similar to Denpasar, which is near Bali, a far more popular destination for Swiss and European tourists than the hustle and bustle of Jakarta.

From Geneva, there are no direct flights to Jakarta either, but there are possibilities to fly this route with Emirates, Garuda Indonesia, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Saudia and Turkish Airlines. Connecting flights on this route are possible in Doha, Dubai, Istanbul and Jeddah. As is the case with flights from Zürich, options to Denpasar, Indonesia, which services Bali are similar minus the possibility through Jeddah on Saudia. 

How many Indonesians are in Switzerland: Over 2,000 

Distance between Bern and Jakarta: 11,215 km

Distance from Dapura Mia to Jakarta: 11,118 km

Learn how to make Indonesia's national dish, nasi goreng, and about its origins.

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