Punchy aromatics escape through the pyramid of banana leaves and paper, held together by a rubber band. Unfurling the parcel is akin to unwrapping a gift: the excited anticipation is almost too much. This is the joy of nasi bungkus, Indonesian wrapped rice that’s customised to your liking with curries and sambals.

Over the past few years, the hearty dish – eaten by all socioeconomic classes in Indonesia – has gained popularity in Sydney, along with other Indo dishes like geprek (smashed fried chicken).

Not unlike those at typical food-court Chinese takeaway joints, the bain-maries at these Indonesian restaurants hold a dizzying array of proteins, vegetables and curries, ready for you to choose your own nasi-bungkus adventure. Plated, your mix of dishes with rice is nasi campur (or nasi padang or nasi kapau in Sumatra). When wrapped up in banana leaves, it’s nasi bungkus.

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Here are three places to try Indonesian wrapped rice in Sydney.

Garam Merica, CBD

Opened in the heart of the CBD in 2023, Garam Merica is owned by first-time restaurateurs Sugiarto Wijono and Antonius Auwyang. The brief is nasi bungkus 101.

The choice of filling spans the Indonesian archipelago and everything is made from scratch daily. The goal is to spread Indonesian culture and make it accessible for everyone. “What’s famous in Japan? Sushi, ramen. Thailand? Pad thai, tom yum. What about Indonesia? We want people to say nasi bungkus,” Auwyang tells Broadsheet.

At Garam Merica, the default spice level has been adjusted for the Australian palate. You drive the dish from there. Ask for less (or no) rice, then pick less, no or extra chilli. Continue with a four-part combo of meat and veggies (but no more than two meat items without paying more). Finish with the amount of gravy you want and your nasi bungkus is done.

A Broadsheet recommended order? Rendang daging (beef stewed in coconut milk), gulai ayam ala padang (chicken curry), terong sambal teri asin medan (eggplant sambal with salted anchovies) and telor dadar berbumbu ala warteg (spiced omelette). We go for extra gravy, cos we like our rice saucy.

Medan Ciak, CBD

Medan Ciak debuted nasi kapau (a West Sumatran iteration of the dish) on its regular menu in 2019. Little did chef-owner Harjo know how popular it would be. Here the dish contains rice, vegetable curry, cassava leaves, cucumber, carrot, red and green sambal, and your choice of protein. Today, he prepares 400 kilograms of beef a week just because beef rendang is such a popular choice.

Medan Ciak’s following comes down to Harjo’s unwillingness to compromise on flavour and authenticity: 80 per cent of the spices and herbs used for his nasi kapau are imported from West Sumatra and if he can’t find the right ingredients for a particular dish, he won’t make it.

Dishes are prepared using the typical chilli levels found in Indonesia. “If the customer wants it spicier, we can do it, but we won’t do less,” Harjo says. “If a customer says they can’t eat spicy food, we’ll put the chilli on the side or remove it.” That means you can have it full heat, more heat or no heat.

Warung Pojok, CBD

Husband-wife owners Petrus Kurniawan and Lilyana Cong opened their Haymarket eatery in 2018 as the next evolution of selling their homemade Borneo-style noodles. Admittedly an afterthought, Borneo-style nasi bungkus (aka nasi padang) was added to the menu with beef rendang as the only protein. Nowadays it’s the bestseller – and the options have expanded tenfold.

Kurniawan and Cong serve the rice with an over-eight-hour slow-cooked bone marrow curry. Thick, robust in flavour and chock-full of spices from Indonesia, it’s got a salty, super savoury profile that marries well with the house-made sambal. “Everyone has a different palate, we can’t satisfy everyone,” Cong says. “We [just] try to serve as authentically as possible.”

The pair sell two winning versions of nasi padang, each with rice, curry sauce, cassava leaves, a corn fritter and green and red sambal. One comes with curry chicken and a salted egg, while the other has fried chicken – then you get to pick another protein.