As authentic as the pundits claim it to be, cow’s feet—Madura-style or otherwise—has never been high on my list.
Even though a bowl of kikil often reminds me of my somewhat culinarily precocious childhood, I don’t find it an attractive dish; besides, anything that requires reaching deeply into a hole in a piece of bone for the pleasure of noshing on a gooey, fatty substance that would instantly send your cholesterol level through the roof isn’t my idea of a gustatorily sound adventure. Nor, for that matter, a hygienic one, given how many flies our kikil kokot attract in this curiously nameless roadside warung.
To be fair, the bowl in question isn’t totally without charm: the addition of kacang hijau (smashed mung bean) is a welcome twist, and I would be only too happy to recommend the dish to anyone—just not the place.
