Our story
Siu Chen
The woman at the stove
She opened the shop in July 2020, at seventy‑five, in the middle of a pandemic. She is eighty‑one now, and she is still the one at the range when the pots go on.
01
It started as cooking for friends.
Siu Chen cooked for her church community out of her own kitchen first. People asked for more than she could make, and word moved through the Indonesian community in the San Gabriel Valley the way it always does — one family telling another.
Then the pandemic closed the gatherings she had been cooking for. Most people would have taken that as the end of it. In July 2020, at seventy‑five, she signed a lease on Valley Boulevard instead and opened a shop that was part kitchen, part deli case and part grocery aisle.
“I really love cooking, when everyone brings their friends and eats my food, and they love my food, I love that.”
Siu Chen, speaking to Foodbeast, July 2021
02
Five years apart.
The same person, the same shop, half a decade between the two photographs. Very little else has changed.
Then
Outside the shop, in front of the logo drawn in her likeness. The grandmother on the sign is Siu Chen — that was never an accident.
Now
Eighty‑one, and still lifting the pan herself. The shop is open four days a week and she is there for all four of them.
03
“Almost thirty different kinds of dishes.”
That was her own estimate, given to Foodbeast in 2021 — that in a single day she could make almost thirty different kinds of dishes, mains and sides. It sounded like a boast at the time.
The photograph beside this is one morning’s work, laid out on the counter before the doors open: Bubur Cirebon, Nasi Kapau and Nasi Padang, Bakso Campur, Bihun Goreng Seafood, Sate Ayam with peanut sauce, Sambal Belacan, Sambal Hijau Pete, and Bubur Madura for afterwards. Count the containers. She was not exaggerating.
Everything is cooked that morning and sold until it runs out. Nothing is held over to the next day.
04
It all starts hours before the door opens.
Four burners, and everything on them has to be finished by half‑past ten.
05
Ten twenty-seven.
The room, left to right, three minutes before the doors open. Everything you can see was cooked this morning.
The framed pages on the right-hand wall are the articles below.
06
What has been written
Oldest first, from the shop’s first autumn to Eater LA’s current list of the restaurants worth the drive. Most of these were found framed on the wall of the shop itself.
- Eater LA
Meet the Gutsy 75-Year-Old Opening a Restaurant During the Pandemic
The first piece anyone wrote, just under three months after the doors opened. Describes the family — two daughters, two sons-in-law, two grandchildren — taking on the old New Century Lobster space.
Cathy Chaplin, photographs by Wonho Frank Lee · 6 October 2020
- Chowyum
Medan Kitchen — Rosemead
A food blogger on the nasi bungkus, nearly eight months in.
3 March 2021
- Foodbeast
75 Year-Old Matriarch Opened An Indonesian Restaurant and Market During The Pandemic
Both of Siu Chen’s quotations on this page come from here.
Reach Guinto · 16 July 2021
- detikFood · in Indonesian
Nenek 75 Tahun Asal Medan Ini Sukses Buka Restoran Indonesia di California
Indonesian national press, in Indonesian. Siu Chen in her own language, and the piece that independently confirms the church cooking.
Andi Annisa Dwi Rahmawati · 19 July 2021
- L.A. Taco
Medan Kitchen in the S.G.V. Is the Spot for Potently Delicious Home-Style Indonesian Food, Started By a 75-Year-Old ‘Auntie’
Makes the point the menu is not only Medan food — Jakarta, Padang and Java too.
Eddie Lin · 10 December 2021
- Eater · film
How a 77-Year-Old Indonesian Chef Cooks 300 Lunches Every Day
Eater came back and filmed a morning of it two years after the profile. 4.1 million views, and the most-seen thing about the shop by a wide margin.
The Experts · 20 April 2022
- Monster Munching
Medan Kitchen — Rosemead
“Medan Kitchen is the epicenter of Indonesian food culture in Southern California right now.”
elmomonster · 14 July 2022
- Eater LA
The Best San Gabriel Valley Restaurants
Still on the list five years after the first piece — “Rosemead’s hub for Indonesian fare.”
Matthew Kang and Kristie Hang · Updated 17 July 2025
Eater also filmed a morning in the kitchen, and other people have too. Those are on their own page.
07
And what people say
“This is the most authentic Indonesian food in the San Gabriel Valley.”
Rene Yang · Local Guide · a regular for five years on Google
“The ready-made food reminds me of back home.”
Claudia Ruslan · Local Guide · 244 reviews on Google
4.7 on Google, from 468 reviews. 4.6 on Yelp, from 276 reviews.
Thursday to Sunday, 10:30 am to 4:00 pm. 8518 Valley Blvd, Ste 102, Inside New Valley Plaza. She is usually there.