Author: Ardi

Bebek Bengil, Dirty Duck Diner

Rating:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price Range: Rp. 80,000++ » $9

Place: 8/10

Review:

Recommended to me as one of the best restaurants in the region, Bebek Bengil did not disappoint us for one bit. There was a complementary Valet service in front of the restaurant. It was a little dark when we walked into the restaurant and the attendant asked whether we wanted to sit on the table or lesehan (kinda like Japanese tatami seats).

On our way to the table we walked in the middle of paddy (rice)’s field. We were seated on a small hut that has two sets of table. It was quite an open space but yet feel very private because in between huts lies paddy fields. The menu book looked like a novel since it had a lot of pages with blank spaces put in generously. It was a quite unique menu with specials written inside a box.

This time we skipped on appetiser; jumped into main course and ordered the named restaurant, Bebek Bengil. It’s half a duck cooked to golden brown and really crispy and served with a bowl of rice. We were given two bowls of condiments and one bowl of vegetables. The condiments are a bowl of chopped chilli and onion and massive amount of chilli hot but with medium hotness. The duck’s crispness is the restaurant’s trademark, combined with their sauces.

For the other main course, we ordered Fresh Grilled Seafood. Presentation wise, it looked a lot more appealing than the duck. There were 4 slice s of snappers, 3 prawns, and 6 grilled calamari in the meat department and 2 slices of red, yellow, and green paprika, eggplant. There were also condiments for this dish: garlic oil and chopped chilli onion. It would easily be shared between two people!

I might say it was a mistake to order the drink: Yellow Giant Duck, because it was really giant *sigh*. However the combination between the mango and pineapple (possibly with a little bit of orange juice) was nice.

As if those dishes were not enough, we also ordered Italian tiramisu for dessert. It was quite nice – I would rate it quite better if I did not have my favourite tiramisu on my mind (Badde Manor’s of Sydney). The tiramisu was creamy and I think it would have been much better if it were softer. We were lucky enough to taste their best dessert in the restaurant: The Black Russian. The cake was quite soft and yummy with great tasting cream on top.

Did you know?

Bali… I’m sure everyone would know everything there are about Bali. I’m just gonna tell you about a little piece of Bali called Ubud, this is where bebek bengil is located. Unlike Kuta or Nusa Dua, Ubud is the place to rest your mind, body and soul (and that’s why there are hundreds of spa houses). The place is very relaxing and great for quality holiday away from crowds. We stayed in a resort called Beji Ubud Resort. It was such a fantastic new resort.

Ubud is famous for its numerous art galleries, traditional dance shows, and monkey forest.

Location:

Jalan Hanoman, Padang Tegal, UBUD, Bali, Indonesia

http://www.bebekbengil.co.id/

May 15, 2010
Fish n Co

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7.5/10

Price Range: Rp. 90,000++ » $10

Place: 7/10

Review:

The restaurant visit happened nearly a month ago and unfortunately some of the drinks name escape my mind… my apology. However, I can still describe how it tastes. There were 5 of us but we only ordered 2 appetisers and 2 main courses since the portion was massive.

Located in the newest shopping mall in Surabaya, Fish & Co (or Fish n Co) picked the prime spot of the mall, near the centre stage. It provided both good and bad for us customers. When there are events on centre stage, the place can be really crowded and noisy. Just like most of good seafood restaurants, Fish & Co is decorated with marine and harbour theme. They have wooden wall decoration and wooden fish placemats.

We ordered the most basic appetiser: Bread with Garlic Butter. As you can tell the taste was – well – garlic-y. The bread was nice and warm with a nice butter spread. For the second appetiser we had Soft Shell Crab Salad. It was pretty disappointing since there was only one TINY crab. Fortunately the salad was fresh with a nice dressing.

We also had two main courses: Seafood Platter For Two and Spaghetti with Mushroom Sauce. In our opinon, the first course was not for two, because we (5) had difficulties in finishing it. It consisted of one grilled fish, 10 tiger prawns, grilled squids, and 4 grilled mussels in a bed of fries and yellow Mexican rice. To supplement the platter we were also given tartare and sweet chilli sauce. The seafood was really nice. Our second main course was also fabulous. It was a simple presentation of spaghetti in alfredo sauce with mushrooms and cheese.

Unfortunately we could not remember the drinks name, but we remembered one was with passionfruit and the other with lychee. The drink came in a massive glass as seen in the picture. You could order the iced coffee for a much smaller glass or soft drinks.

Did you know?

As mentioned on the review, Surabaya Town Square (Sutos) is the newest shopping mall in Surabaya. If you want to go there, don’t go on weekends since there will be crazy amount of people trying to get into the mall. Traffic management has become the main cause of chaos surrounding the venue. Lack of parking space and poor parking space design has led to congestion in every entrance and exit of the mall.

Sutos is the place to be when it comes to asking your date out. It has everything you want to do, from the only 3D cinema in town, to the best Karaoke lounge. It has nice restaurants and also a pool bar.

Location:

Surabaya Town Square, Unit P.03 & P.05, Surabaya, Indonesia

http://www.fish-co.com/

May 15, 2010
American Grill

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price Range: Rp. 120,000++ » $15

Place: 8/10

Review:

After so long tinkering on what would have been my first review on Restaurants in Surabaya, the choice fell to American Grill. There are some candidates to the review that I decided to shelve until sometimes in the future. I personally think that American Grill was a nationalised version of US’s steak giant Sizzler since I don’t have any evidence on the correlation between the two. However, the restaurant’s logo and concept are strikingly similar to Sizzler.

Why American Grill? Simply because I love everything BBQ or steak. There was a steak place that we love to eat, called Pro Steak. We reckon that was the best steak place in Surabaya. Unfortunately, the place was closed down. This restaurant turned out to be one of the contenders to win our hearts in the meat department.

In American Grill, you get to eat as much as you can for its salad bar, ice cream, and other light meals on the bar for every main course you order. My choice of main course fell to the three racks of American BBQ Beef Ribs.Three gigantic beef ribs (according to Indonesian standards) were stacked on a hot plate on top of a bigger serving plate – yep, that’s a lot of plate on the table. It’s accompanied by your choice of fries and an odd complement of two slices of watermelon. I don’t understand why watermelon since it’s free to pick from the fruit bar anyway.The ribs themselves were fabulous. They were grilled up to the non-burnt limit. They could be cut off the bone really smoothly. The BBQ sauce was a little bit of a let down since they tasted like those supermarket brands.

They have quite a bit of variation with the ribs that include Steak and ribs or Boneless Ribs and Sirloin Steak. The steak was pretty bland and was not fresh. You would have to take the optional condiments for the steak to taste better.

On with the salad bar! Since I had a ‘green veggies only’ restriction, I could only show you the pic of green beans, broccoli and potato skins in white sauce. They had a full range of salad bar with four different sauces. They also served three kinds of soups.

On the fruit and desert department, they had sweet basil seed jelly, various fruits and puddings that I couldn’t take and/or finish. The night was ended with a cup of Lychee Yoghurt in Raspberry sauce. The yoghurt had a good balance of sweet and sour. Optionally, you could also have a chocolate ice cream with different kinds of lollies, peanuts and chocolates.

Did you know?

IMHO, Most of the tastiest food in Surabaya came from a small restaurant that provides a single menu. For example, Bebek (Duck) Palupi of Rungkut, Lamb Satay in Pucang or Soto (some kind of soup) Ambengan. Thus it creates a different atmosphere to a big chain restaurant. It is also pretty difficult to describe the singular food experience to be written in my blog.

My aim is to get the next two weeks of review on restaurants in Surabaya, or possibly one in Bali. We’ll see how it goes…

Location:

Tunjungan Plaza 3 Lower Ground Floor, Basuki Rahmat 8 – 12, Surabaya, Indonesia

Apr 19, 2010
Brussels Spring

Rating:

7 / 10

Taste: 7/10

Price Range: Rp. 40,000++ » $5

Place: 7.5/10

Brussels Spring Review:

From practically unheard-of to an instant favourite of mine, Brussels Spring restaurant amazed me with their cartoon-characters-filled walls, very cozy atmosphere, and fantastic meal. Cartoon characters are individually inserted into a clear cube. Several cubes were attached to a white frame. The seats were so fantastic that we wouldn’t want to leave the restaurant. However, since there weren’t that many seats available in the restaurant, I would guess this restaurant would be crazy packed on weekends.

A lot of the restaurants that paid too much attention on their interior design failed miserably on the food department. How about this one? I can confidently say no! They looked quite a bit too much doing the menu with the placement of history of waffles on the first few pages. They also had quite a few selections of Indonesian-fusion food.

I might have overlooked the appetizer menu, because my mind has been set to the Mussels menu. I ordered the Brussels Mussels in Oregano-Butter sauce. The mussels came in a pot just like how the Belgian would have served them. Unfortunately, there were only 6 of them (I wouldn’t be so surprised given the price we paid for them). The mussels were so nice and butter-y and you were also given a side of fries with the Belgian-Mayo sauce. The sauce was excellent with the thick golden brown fries.

I also managed to taste 2 of the other main dishes, Spaghetti a la Brussels Spring and Entrecote Minute Steak. The spaghetti was not too exciting, but the Steak was fabulous. I was instantly interested with the way they decorated the dish. Covered in yummy brown sauce and a sprinkler of oregano leaves, the steak was accompanied by two deep-fried beef stood atop cheesy mashed potato and a vertical onion ring.

For deserts we ordered Waffle with single ice cream and Fondue. Again, there were two side of the story here. Whilst the waffle look very ordinary, the fondue was quite interesting. Sitting atop candle-lighted cup, the dark chocolate was pretty thick and rich in flavour. Rows of strawberries, bananas, and brownies were aligned and prepared to be eaten.

Last but not least is the drink of the day, Hot Naughty Coco. The name might be a little bit too kinky but it wasn’t without a reason. The drink was served in a unique cup with the café’s logo on the handle. The chocolate would’ve been a lot nicer if it were hotter. The blend of chocolate and hazelnut was already perfect.

Did you know?

The number of people in Bandung has increased to (almost) double during weekends after the opening of the Purbaleunyi Highway. That highway cut the time of travel from Jakarta to Bandung by half.

Location:

Jalan Sumatera 30, Bandung, Indonesia

Apr 14, 2010
The Duck King

Rating:

7.5 / 10 Taste: 7.5/10

Price Range: Rp. 100,000++ » $15

Place: 8/10

Terms:

Terong Isi Hotpot: Eggplants Hotpot with Chicken meat filling and minced chicken.

Review:

We’re on for a special treat this week. Probably Bandung’s most exclusive (and definitely tastiest!!) place, The Duck King serves nothing but the best. Surprisingly enough, this restaurant is part of an Indonesian (possibly worldwide) chain. They served 2 kinds of menu, the ones on the placemat for a quick and light bite, and the menu book for a complete fine dining experience.

As the name suggested, this restaurant’s specialty is the duck, especially Peking duck. Unfortunately, our group wasn’t big enough to order that one. So, we’re settled for their finest in-house menu: Bebek Panggang (Roast Duck). We had a combination of roast duck, jellyfish, and marinaded BBQ chicken. The duck came with a dipping sauce that enhanced its flavour. The meat was so easy to chew and the texture was so tantalizing.

Next one on the table was the Udang Goreng Mayonaise (Deep-fried prawn in mayonnaise sauce). The prawns were deep-fried in light wonton till they were golden brown with a light touch of mayonnaise sauce. It gave the perfect blend of crunch and sweet.

Belut Goreng Saos (Deep-fried eel in Special Sauce)’s presentation was quite appealing however the eel was my least favourite dish of the day. Although the eel was incredibly crunchy, the sauce was too thick and bitter to my liking.

Then came the Terong Isi Hotpot. Already one of my favourite vegetables, the chefs surprised us even more with the way they handled the eggplant. They still gave the eggplant texture but cooked them till they were extra soft with less eggplant scent. The choice of spices made the extra strong flavour on the meat.

Last but not least was the only vegetable for the night, Brokoli Tumis Bawang Putih (Stir-fried Broccoli in garlic slices). Contrary to the eggplant, this dish was simple and straightforward. However, the taste was far from ordinary. Broccoli was cooked so that it’s a little softer to chew.

For drink, I ordered a pot of Chinese Green Tea (I should have ordered Chrysanthemum!!!). It was the cheapest drink on the menu, but I think it was the finest. Unlike Sydney’s good ol’ Kingsford Chinese, the tealeaves made the tea so fresh and invigorating.

Did you know?

The restaurant’s dim sum menu was actually a lot more affordable to most people than its dinner menu. The taste was also as expected for dim sum. On the other hand, its dinner menu comprised of a whole range of Chinese foods, from its duck to the elusive abalone and shark’s fin.

The mall’s name: Paris van Java (The Paris of Java) was actually Bandung’s nickname given by the European for its resemblance to the city of Paris. Some (little) parts of the city still reflect the beauty of Bandung, especially at night.

Location:

Ground Floor Unit C-18, Paris Van Java, Bandung, Indonesia

http://www.theduckking.com/

Mar 31, 2010
Fuego Barbecue

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Unfortunately, Fuego has closed its doors.

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Rating:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6/10

Price Range:Rp. 35,000 – Rp. 54,,000 » $4.2 – $6.5

Place: 7/10

Review:

When I first heard about Fuego Barbecue and Grill, curiosity sparked within me. There is a decent Brazilian/Mexican restaurant in Bandung. The restaurant is located in the mountain part of Bandung overlooking the city. Just like any other part of the city, the road leads to the restaurant is incredibly crowded, especially weekends, but the restaurant gave us a nice first impression. It is beautifully designed with wooden furniture. The grill is located in the centre where people can see the chef grilling our dinner. It gave us a cosy and spacious feeling with little noise.

For starters, we ordered Cajun Salad and Cheddar Stix. Although not decorated nicely, the salad gave us a spicy Brazilian feel to it. They even put unpeeled, grilled slices of orange. The Cheddar Stix was awesome! Deep fried into golden brown of perfection, 5 stix were laid on top of a bed of vegetables. They were accompanied by spicy (and tasty) Brazilian sauce.

They have a range of Brazilian as well as Indonesian-styled BBQ menu. Unfortunately the one that I chose (first item on the menu!), American Back Ribs, was sold out. So I ordered their Chef’s suggested Steak, Chimichurri Beef. I highly anticipated the Steak since Chimichurri is THE Brazilian sauce. However it didn’t taste or look like the Chimichurri I’ve ever had. The sauce looked like a pile of sliced chilli and garlic with some oil poured all over my steak. It was nice, garlic-y and spicy, but it was different.

I had a taste on Rosemary Beef and Honey Glazed Ribs. It took forever to prepare, the minced beef on a Rosemary stick was not to my liking. The rosemary overpowered the beef, thus it was too much fragrance. I loved its unique presentation and idea. Honey glazed ribs was by far the best meal of the night. The ribs were grilled perfectly. It had strong BBQ taste, yet the meat was still very tender and juicy.

For dessert we ordered Apple Fritters and Chocolate Pizza. The slices of Apple were deep fried with a chocolate-decorated plate and a side of whipped cream and strawberry. The apple was a bit too sour for me. The filling was nice. Layered of chocolate and fruits, topped with Parmesan cheese was beautiful to end the night with. It was only spoiled by the fact that the pizza base was undercooked. It still had the flour-y taste on it.

As with most restaurant in Bandung, they have traditional drinks on their menu. I ordered Bajigur on this occasion. Bajigur is a hot ginger drink with slices of coconut. It was the perfect drink for rainy or cold weather.

Did you know?

Just like Malang, Bandung is the place to be for Jakarta people to spend their weekend away. However, unlike Malang, the city roads were poorly maintained and traffic can get really ugly, with bikes and public transports seemingly ignoring the traffic rules. If you want to get the idea of Bandung, I would suggest you to drive around the city after 1 AM (no kidding!), or you’ll be stuck in the traffic.

Despite their traffic nightmare, the city itself gave us a glimpse of Indonesian history and the people are incredibly creative and musical. The food… Wow! Highly imaginative with combination never been seen before, but sometimes it can be devastatingly horrid.

Location:

Jl. Terusan Sersan Bajuri KM 3.8 no. 88, Bandung, Indonesia

Mar 23, 2010