Taste of Indonesia
Derrick and Linda Ghieuw of Bali Bites brought their Indonesian sauces to Vancouver Farmers Markets in 2017, starting with their peanut sauce, made with a recipe passed down from Derrick’s grandmother. Since then, they have added a spicy sambal, made by Linda. The couple have their own duties — Derrick focuses on the peanut sauce and behind the scenes business operations while Linda is out front, making sambal, selling the sauces and meeting people.
“We each have our secret, and then we combine it,” says Derick, who explains that while they know some of each other’s secrets, they can’t always duplicate the other’s techniques. Their methods aren’t written down and they go very much by taste.
After years in the restaurant business, Derrick says they wanted to spend more time together with their kids, Destyn, Damon and Devan. After shuttering the satay restaurant they owned and operated on Cambie street, some of their former customers reached out, asking them to make the sauces for home use.
The peanut sauce is vacuum sealed and is simply rehydrated with hot water. “Derrick always says if you can make hot chocolate, you can make our sauce,” Linda explains. The family uses local ingredients where possible and buys many of their peppers from market stall neighbours, including Paul’s Produce and Klippers Organics. Bali Bites has been a farmers’ market fixture since the company started selling its sauces, and it’s a big part of its business.
Linda says, “I love talking to people and I get a big high when people come back and say, ‘Your sauce is just amazing’.” She compares it to an endorphin rush, adding “instead of exercising, I just get the high from this.”
Peanut sauce is traditionally used in Indonesian cuisine as a dipping sauce. Sambal, too, is used as a condiment. But Linda says, the possibilities are endless and she encourages her customers to use it in new ways. “Call it the condiment of Canada!
“My son bakes with it,” Linda says, and proceeds to give mouthwatering details on a double chocolate spicy peanut sauce cookie. Linda has also made a spicy peanut brittle using the sambal. She’s passionate about representing Indonesian cuisine authentically, but also keen to show how the flavors can be added to “anything and everything.”
She has a real knack for talking about the sauces and the various dishes produced in the newest iteration of their business — a food truck — using comparisons to familiar items to explain some of their creations.
The food truck came along in August 2023 and Linda and Derrick now operate it with their grown sons Daymon and Devan, offering Indonesian favourites such as Nasi Goreng, Mee Goreng, Gado Gado and satays. They also offer Rendang, a traditional Indonesian curried beef brisket, which they refer to as a “dry curry” to differentiate it from saucy curries their customers may think of when they hear the word “curry.” The family uses its own homemade soy sauce, which is made from 27 ingredients. As Derrick explains, it imparts unique aromas to Bali Bites’ food. And like a sourdough, it keeps fermenting and building flavour.
Once again, it was their loyal customers who encouraged them to start the truck, urging them to bring back the dishes the family had offered in the restaurant. You’ll see the truck around town, at the Downtown and False Creek Farmers Markets and on the Emily Carr campus. On select days, you’ll also find the truck parked at The Parkside Brewery in Port Moody.
“You want a comedy show and amazing food — come to our truck,” says Linda, laughing at the lively experience that sometimes comes along with working together as a family.
For Derrick, the business is about keeping his grandmother’s recipe alive. “I just like to show people our passion and pass on my grandmother’s tradition. We don’t want it to stop [with her],” although he says his grandmother made him promise not to sell the recipe — that he could only pass it on to his sons. So, the secrets will stay in the family. But who needs to know the secret when you can just savour the results?
Bali Bites
balibites.ca | @balibitesvan
Find it: Centre for Digital Media, Downtown and False Creek Farmers’ Markets, The Parkside Brewery (Port Moody)
