Monday, 8th June 2009

Warung Tekko

Every-time I drove pass the Bukit Golf stretch in Pantai Indah Kapuk,

I would see a whole bunch of cars parked in front of this restaurant.

"What do they serve that makes them that crowded?" i would ask myself endlessly.

I asked around, and I found out from my sister-in-law that they are famous for their "Iga Penyet".

Sounds good! And to top it off, my sister-in-law said the food was REALLY good!!

Since it came highly recommended by my sis-in-law,

I guess it's safe to invest my time and money on this one.

So Monday night, Ddee and I decided to see for ourselves whether or not this restaurant lives up to its fame.

As expected, parking was pretty packed. I had to park quite a distance from the restaurant.

The restaurant gives you an option of sitting outdoors or indoors.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it was packed!

Everything was a mess. Waiters and waitresses were marching around carrying trays and plates.

People who weren't seated just roamed about waiting for empty tables. (kinda similar to food courts)

There was no one greeting us or telling us to wait.

So Ddee just called out to one waiter and ask him for a seat.

He told us to wait and ran inside. That's the last we saw of him.

Then one family who were seated outdoors just finished eating and left, so we quickly grabbed that table.

It took them a while to get the table cleaned.

And when they got to it, they cleaned it without any form of cleaning agents.

Just tissue paper and a few drops of leftover tea.

Hmm…

There were no flies to be seen though.

Something unexpected for an outdoor restaurant. Good!

Ddee then felt bad as we got big table, so we decided to share it with a group of three people.

Then the waiter came, he got confused as we shared the table, thus different set of orders.

The menu was simple. But the waiter kept explaining to us that to get the sambel,

we need to order food with the "penyet" word. eg. iga penyet, ayam penyet, ikan penyet.

All I can say about the service is that, they are trying hard to work as best as they can.

But they just aren't that well trained. Many looked lost that night. They just wandered around aimlessly.

Clueless of what to do next. The restaurant seemed to have hired a manager.

But all he did was serve people their food.

Well, I'm no restaurateur, but isn't a manager's job to control and manage so things go smoothly and patrons don't wait too long?

If I need someone to serve food, I'd hire more waiters, which by the way, is what the restaurant needs badly.

They were shorthanded, and many waiters/waitresses were just waiting by the kitchen for the food to be ready.

So we ordered their famous iga penyet, gurame goreng penyet, tahu kipas, and tempe goreng.

Ddee had white rice while I had the red rice.

After the waiter took the order, then came the long wait.

We waited 20 minutes until out first happy sight.

The waiter came to our table with a tray full of food.

To our disappointment, those were the food for the group of strangers sharing the table with us!

BUMMER!!

Wait a minute, I thought we ordered first? Oh well, stuffs happen.

We waited another 10 minutes for our rice to be served.

Another 5 minutes for our dishes to be served, one at a time at 5 minutes interval.

I guess they were overwhelmed by the number of orders that night.

I tried to see things positively, if they are that crowded, that means the food MUST be really good like people say.

So I started trying out the iga penyet. Contrary to what people had hyped it up to be, the iga was tough.

But as consolation, the sambel was good.

Then I tried the fried gurame. It wasn't as hot as it's supposed to be. I guess it was just at kitchen temperature. Just a little warm.

The sambel with the gurame was the same as the sambel with the iga penyet.

Then I tried the tahu kipas. It was cold, bland, and only 3 pcs?!

Then I tried the tempe goreng. It's pretty good. But also, only 3 thin slices.

The gurame is the only dish that has decent portion.

And the sambel is the only dish worth commending.

So like I said, this is all a bad hype made up by some unknown group of people.

Bad hype, bad hype, bad hype. A bad and expensive hype!

I guess it's the "IN" thing in Jakarta right now.

Another possibility is that the locals are very easily satisfied with food that are bad and expensive.

I just hope these locals can increase their standard of satisfaction.

I was disappointed!

SCORE BOARD:

Service: 5/10

Presentation: 4.5/10

Quality / freshness: 6.5/10

Taste: 5/10

Portion: 6/10

Cleanliness: 4.5/10

Price per person: $$

Friday, 5th June 2009

Depot Madiun Khas "Bu Rudy"

Jl. Dharmahusada No. 140

Surabaya

Indonesia

My third time visiting Surabaya, and it's for my friends wedding.

I arrived in the afternoon and checked in at the Java Paragon hotel around 2:45pm.

My friends and I were hungry so we were on a mission to try out the local's go-to place for a meal fix.

The Wedding Organizer's representative told us to try out this famous "Nasi Udang" nearby the hotel.

It took only about 7 minutes by cab.

Upon arrival, the very first thing that I noticed about the restaurant was the down to earth facade.

It's nothing of a sight. But then again, it's always the non flashy ones who serve the best foods.

My friends were all skeptical of the place.

But we went in nevertheless.

The interior was simple. The walls were decorated with photographs of "famous" people.

Though I don't recognize any one of them. :p

Flies seem to be permanent residents there.

The waitresses were prompt in seating us and handing out the menu.

As tourists, we were new to Nasi Udang. So naturally, we asked the waitress quiet a handful of questions.

She gave us like an impatient and irritated look after about the sixth question.

OK…we got the sign…so we ordered as quickly as possible.

I ordered the Nasi Udang with empal and telor, along with the Rawon.

For drinks, I had the Jus Sirsak.

The drinks came first. I took a short sip at the Jus Sirsak.

It tasted rather watery. So I thought i didn't sip enough of it so I took a longer sip.

It was still watery. I guess that's just the way they do it.

The foods came a few minutes later.

The Nasi Udang was served on a white plate with rice, dried shrimps, empal, and fried omelette.

No greens at all. The only source of non-meat on the plate was the sambel and rice.

I had my first bite. It was full of flavors! I just loved the fried shrimps.

Together with the empal, they created a nice texture in the mouth.

But the empal was a little tough, but most beef in indonesian restaurants are tough.

And add the rice, you'll have a great mouthful of true Surabaya cuisine.

And oh! The sambal was to die for. One of the best I ever had.

The Nasi Udang itself was already good. But they nailed it with their sambal. Bravo Bu Rudy!

Portion-wise, I guess it's a little less sufficient for my big appetite.

Soon after I started eating the Nasi Udang, my Rawon was served.

It looked, well, just like any other Rawon. Black steamy soup.

I scooped inside the bowl to see what they have underneath the black liquid.

Almost immediately, the aroma of the Rawon engulfed my sense of smell. Good, I like that.

There were lots of meat, and some other ingredients that I couldn't figure out what they were.

But boy was the Rawon delicious!

The meat was a little tough but full of flavor.

The soup was also really good.

I have to say i enjoyed the food a lot.

I just have a few complaints about the place.

And they are the flies and mosquitoes.

While I was enjoying my food on the table, my legs became the buffet for mosquitoes.

Wear long pants if you plan to visit this place.

SCORE BOARD:

Service: 4/10

Presentation: 4.5/10

Quality/freshness: 6.5/10

Taste: 7.5/10

Portion: 6/10

Cleanliness: 3.5/10

Price per person: $

Thursday, 4th June 2009

SINGAPORE Geylang Lor 9

Sapo Fresh Frog Porridge

Jl. Pluit Karang Manis XII No. 2

Jakarta Utara 14450

Indonesia

t: (021) 6660 6963

f: (021) 6660 6964

It was half past six in the evening.

Ddee and I went inside the restaurant thinking we'd order their flagship dish, the frog porridge.

But once we sat, we figured we'd order something that are less in the limelight.

Give the underdog a chance, I said to Ddee.

But before we get to the food, I want to share with you about my first impressions.

Parking was relatively easy. I parallel parked in front of the restaurant.

The waiter greeted us warmly with a smile and was prompt in seating us.

Well…there were many empty tables when we got in.

Contrary to the real Geylang frog porridge stall in Singapore, this restaurant is brightly lit.

As an additional pleasant surprise, the place was spick and span!

The clean environment boosted my appetite.

Next to the dining area, there's a bread store Sun Flour.

Service was good. The waiters were alert and they always smile whenever they acknowledge me.

Parts of the menu is a little confusing and descriptions on the food was very brief.

However, I kinda liked the cover page of the menu.

Although the typeface used could be changed for better typography,

I still appreciate the clean design of the menu.

And I also appreciate the CLEAN menu.

You know how dirty menus can get. Not to forget many smell bad.

But thumbs up to this restaurant's cleanliness.

We ordered the broccoli with garlic, fried frog with garlic, two bowls of rice, and mapo tofu.

We also ordered jasmine Chinese tea and they charge us by per person basis.

The wait for our food to be served was relatively short, + - 10 minutes.

First dish served was the garlic broccoli. I thought rice was supposed to be first?

Anyway, no big deal. The rice came together with the second within a minute.

It was the fried frog with garlic. Then came the mapo tofu.

All dishes came on really small plates and garnish isn't in one of the restaurant's priority.

The broccoli was not as great as I had hoped.

The taste was bland and the broccoli was too soft.

I prefer my broccoli to be a little crunchy.

They do look fresh though. So I guess they boiled it a little longer than they should.

The fried frog with garlic is rather alarming.

I consider myself a garlic fan. I can eat large quantities of garlic in any way it is cooked, or even raw.

But I have to say, I was a little overwhelmed by this one.

The frogs were literally buried in slices of fried garlic.

So my thoughts when they served the dish was:

"YES! GARLIC! but hey where are the frogs?"

I thought I ordered frogs WITH garlic and not the other way round?

The frogs were also bland. A little bit more salt might do the trick.

The mapo tofu disappointingly was the best dish out of the three.

The tofu were fried to perfection.

The softness of the inside and the slight chewy fried skin of the tofu provided an interesting texture.

The sauce was fragrant and had a balanced flavor of saltiness and sweetness.

It had minced chicken and prawn in the sauce which added the savory flavor.

In general, the cleanliness of the restaurant scores pretty high.

The taste of the food is in the average curve while service is above average.

The ingredients are all very fresh.

They also have delivery service within the area of Pluit, Muara Karang, and PIK.

It is however, a little pricey for this kind of restaurant.

SCORE BOARD:

Service: 6.5/10

Presentation: 6/10

Quality / freshness: 8.5/10

Taste: 6/10

Portion: 5/10

Cleanliness: 8/10

Price per person: $$