REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIJING -- Indonesia is set to open restaurants in South Korea, Japan and Australia as part of efforts to introduce its traditional cuisine to the international community, a tourism official said.

"In Seoul, South Korea, the Bandung city government plans to set up a Sundanese traditional restaurant," Director of Meeting Incentive Convention Exhibition and Special Interest Promotion of the Tourism Ministry Rizki Handayani said here on Saturday.

The Indonesian restaurants in Australia and Japan will offer a wide range of traditional dishes from various regions in Indonesia, she added.

Handayani stated that the Indonesian restaurants in Australia will be set up in Melbourne and Sydney.

"We, the government, highly support the plan to open Indonesian restaurants abroad, now that the culinary field contributes the most to the gross domestic product from the creative economy sector," she explained.

Handayani admitted that the number of Indonesian restaurants abroad was relatively small as compared to those of other countries, including Thailand. "As a matter of fact, Indonesia has a variety of culinary icons that are not inferior to those of other countries," she remarked.

In this regard, she noted that the Tourism Ministry has distributed a book on 30 Indonesian traditional culinary icons to all Indonesian representatives abroad.

"Each Indonesian representative abroad must present Indonesian dishes at every routine event, particularly at state events. By doing so, the international community will be increasingly acquainted with Indonesia and its cuisine," she pointed out.

In China, Indonesian restaurants are found in Beijing, Guang Zhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong. A number of Indonesian culinary icons such as rendang, fried rice, and baked fish are also served at several Thai, Malaysian and Singaporean restaurants in Beijing.

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