Losari Beach Grill · Flattened Banana Snack
Pisang Epe
Photo: Astari28 / Wikimedia Commons · CC0
'Epe' is Makassar language for 'pressing flat' — vendors grill unripe kepok bananas over coals, then literally press them flat with a wooden clamp before finishing with palm sugar syrup, a snack believed to have once been enjoyed by Gowa-Tallo nobility.
A banana is grilled over open coals, pressed flat with a wooden press, then drizzled with a sauce of melted palm sugar, sometimes with durian or cheese added on top. Vendor carts line Makassar's Losari Beach promenade every evening, smoke rising as the sun sets over the water.
Why it's made this way: The snack's roots reach back to the Gowa-Tallo Sultanate era, and after becoming commercially popular in the 1970s it has since become the defining after-dark street food of Makassar's Losari Beach waterfront.
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