Kingwilly's guide to great eating places in Jakarta & Bali

[kingwilly]

Here is a much more comprehensive listing than KW could ever come up with.... Jakarta Restaurant - Spa Jakarta Detox Health Beauty, Bars Clubs Jakarta and Hotels Jakarta Java - Listing

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Din Tai Fung

Cuisine:
Chinese, dim sum

Address:
Plaza Senayan Arcadia, Ground Floor X 101-103 Jl. New Delhi # 9 Senayan, Jakarta Selatan
Seneyan

Tel. (62-21) 5790 1278, 5790 1288
Fax. -
http://www.dintaifung.com.tw

This chinese restaurant is located in the trendy arcadia plaza, home of the famous vodka bar red square. So it makes a good place to eat a late dinner then pop across for some late night dancing if you are so inclined.

Anyway, the ambiance of this place is a natural-style setting with bamboo walls etc. A little pricey, but considered to be very good. The dish of choice is the famous Xiao Long Bao. It's a kind of dim sum with filling of meat and warm liquid broth.

There is a special way of eating this dish and the procedures are explained in drawing available in every tables. And if that's not enough, a waiter will happily guide you through it. Or you could also enjoy it as is; swallow the whole thing, bite it in half and let the juices explode inside your mouth.

Oh, and this place was once listed in the New York Times' 10 Best Restaurants in the world (for what that's worth!)


$ Price : $$$ (out of 5)

Good points : Classy place, good food, nice location for clubbing or shopping afterwards.

Bad points : the food is Halal (perhaps a good point for our muslim friends)

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Amigos.


Cuisine:
Tex-Mex

Address:
Jl. Kemang I
Kemang

Tel. (62-21) 719 2584, 7179 1665
Fax. -

Think wood, lots of wood, a stage with a live band most nights of the week, and a mezzanine floor. Sounds kitchy? It is. But a fun night out here, and you are in the heart of Kemang (otherwise known as Kampung Bule or white man's village) - plenty of shops, clubs and pubs around these parts.

The food is typically what you'd expect, Fajitas, Tacos, Enchiladas, Burritos etc but quite decent sized portions (which for me means too much!) They also do delivery and party services as well.

$ Price : $$$ (out of 5)

Good points : Fun, good western food, they serve Corona, Kemang is a handy place to start an evening.

Bad points : can get noisy with large groups of expat women out on the lash, look out for the studid conga lines etc.

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SushiGroove

Cuisine:
Japanese Fusion


SushiGroove Pondok Indah Mall II
Pondok Indah Mall II
South Jakarta
++ many more including Bandung & KL, Malaysia

A funky sort of place that looks more like a bar than a restaurant with lots of green lighting and low long wooden tables. The menu consists of plenty of maki, noodles, soups and of course Sushi and Sashimi. Quite a few dishes had mayo or cheese options too, which sounds kind of weird but actually tasted very good, The service was lighting fast and the prices pretty reasonable.

$ Price : $$ (out of 5)

Good points : Fast service, good background music (provided you like Trance/House) good food tastes

Bad points : A serious lover of Japanese food might be horrified. The long tables can get crowded with strangers.

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Mbah Jingkrak

Cuisine:
Javanese / Indonesian


Warung Mbah Jingkrak
Jl. Bulungan 26 Kebayoran, Tel 722 0891

A traditional Javanese wooden house open to the front, step inside and you are greeted by a large table with about 30 different dishes and 17 serving staff. One points are the various sambals (indonesia chilli) and dishes and have them brought to your table.

The name literally means dancing grandmother (but its that cat on a hot tin roof sort of dancing) because the food is reputed to be the hottest in Indonesia. (at first the staff were reluctant to serve me, being a bule or westerner)

$ Price : $ (out of 5)

Good points : Fast service, traditional foods, music on weekends

Bad points : can get busy, no beer.

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il Mare

Cuisine:
Italian and international cuisine

General Enquiries
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 62-21-574-7777
Fax: 62-21-574-7888

Hotel Mulia Senayan
Jl Asia Afrika Senayan
Jakarta 10270
Indonesia

$ Price : $$$$ (out of 5)

Good points : Quality

Bad points :

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[sabang]

Good mate. Have you checked out Cafe Batavia recently?

[kingwilly]

^ last time i went was during the post-Ramadan break (Indul Fitri) and it was bloody well closed!

But I'll definately head back there very soon (perhaps next weekend) for a TD review!

[Marmite the Dog]

Where did you copy this from?

[kingwilly]

Where did you copy this from?

what the style and idea of a food thread? from your brit bars in bangkok thread of course.

If you mean the the actual content, its bladdy well mine!

anyway more to come.

There's a great satay place that does a boat of 32 different styles of satay (including a hoi satay), but I cannot remember the name of it just yet.

the Bagdad cafe, i think i already mentioned it in another thread somewhere.

plus more, part of the hassle is that i live so far away from these places; i dont exactly go out everynight of the week.

[Marmite the Dog]

^ I have a hard enough time keeping my pub thread up to date. I think there's a couple places missing too.

At least there's a new one opening up next to my office soon, so I won't have far to go.

[kingwilly]

Are there only 2 decent restaurants in JK?

and i wont be putting that cheap steak place near my house into this thread either!

[Jet Gorgon]

I think every good review should have an extra value point question:
Did you throw up after you ate there?

[kingwilly]

Pics of Sushigroove.

[Jet Gorgon]

Call me a seven-timer you fraud, you!

Makes me dizzy just looking at the decor pics.
That salmon sashimi looks OK. How much, la? I can buy a big hunk of lightly smoked salmon for about Bt150 at my Korean market.
What's the bottom one? Salmon roe and ? Looks like melted cheddar. Lousy presentation, too -- fekin boat made of aluminiun foil. That's fake Japanese owners!

[kingwilly]

How much, la?

erm, we had 2 servings of salmon, the rolls with mayo/cheese/chilli and fish roe, some dumpling things, some misp soup, she a lime drink and me a beer.

total cost about 150,000 rups (400 baht) i think.

[Marmite the Dog]

Nice photos.

[kingwilly]

top photo was just a cut and paste from their website....

Groovy Sushi - Groovy Food - Groovy Price - Groovy Place

[Marmite the Dog]

top photo was just a cut and paste from their website....

Jing lor?!

[kingwilly]

here's a rather crap pic of the front sign.



the table to choose your foods,



our selection of food, which included, chilli devil hair, fire chicken, crunchy anchovie fish, and some curry stuff, tasted pretty good!

[kingwilly]

Brunch at the Mulia hotel, its about 400,000 rupiah each ($40) and includes all you can eat buffett, freeflow champagne, beer and chocolate martini's.....

First course, the Mulia is famous for the size and quality of their Oysters, fecking monsters these things were, needed a fork and knife to chop them, but pretty darn tasty!



2nd course, oops, I forgot to tell the missus that the trick to eating at these 5 star hotel brunches is to take a tiny amount of food for each course! She stacked the plate with salmon sushimi, this pic is already after she ate about 7 slices. No thought about presentation either!



Now being the fat bastard I am, you can rest assured I ate about 17 more courses of food, they had dim sum, and pasta and mashed potato and indonesian foods and roast lamb, chicken and beef - in fact had 2 plates of beef, the chef cut it particularly thick, think doorstop and it was loverly and red and juicy!

Buuuuuut, no pics, cos I think I got distracted by these.....



Of course MrsKW wanted deserts....... horrible sweet things, I ate them to be polite!

[kingwilly]

Holy crap, I was just checking out their website and discovered this ...

Join us each Sunday for our spectacular Champagne Brunch, that serves dazzling Italian and international cuisine, from cheese and cold cuts, roast beef carvings, to delicacies of goose liver prepared right before your very eyes. Enjoy all this with free flow of champagne or freshly squeezed juices, admist the intimate accompaniment of piano, bass and violin.
Opening hours:
Sunday Brunch: 1100hrs – 1430hrs
Lunch (Mon – Sat): 1200hrs – 1430hrs
Dinner: 1800hrs - 2230hrs

I MISSED THE FOIE GRAS!

[kingwilly]

quite a famous and groovy place to eat relax in Bali is Ku De ta. Its in Seminyak, which is not far from Kuta, on the beach. it serves as a music lounge and restaurant. A little pricey compared to the rest of Bali, but not over the top, this meal came to about $300 for 4 people including cigars and drinks.

good music, good service, the food and drinks were great, worth visiting again, plenty of customers, all dressed nicely.

NY times review.

Ku De Ta

Address Jalan Oberoi 9, Kuta Location Seminyak Phone 361/736969 Web Site
Welcome to KU DE TA Restaurant
Cuisine Eclectic Price Main courses Rp140,000-Rp330,000 (US$15-US$33/£8.55-£20)
Reader Rating
(4 stars, 1 vote)


Frommer's Review
This is Kuta's "Europe meets Asia" international bistro, aimed at an upscale clientele. It's also one of the town's hippest catwalks. The best time to go is at sunset, for the ocean views and lounge-worthy patio. Though the daytime ambience is dominated by the nearby beach, at night it's all about romantic lighting in the restaurant's open-air, minimalist rotunda. Add an elegant bar and a cigar lounge -- complete with putting green -- and you've got an all-purpose evening out. Happily, what comes out of the kitchen makes you want to stay: Try the signature dish of slow-roasted, yellow-curry duck or the chile-and-sea-salted squid with a mango/papaya marmalade. The cigar lounge is open from 6pm until late. The place roars with the carefree laughter of the ridiculously rich.

to Welcome to KU DE TA Restaurant

we arrived at sunset, started with Martini cocktails...



MrsKW tried the fish.



I had the steak....

[kingwilly]

Korean BBQ resto,

food was good, prices a little high, the complimentary wine was awful!







yummy yummy

[Jet Gorgon]

Great snaps and the food loods fab. So, that chick with the rubbed out face sure don't look muslim...Anyway, I'd green ya, but I gave you too many reds lately. Sorry. I promise next time.

[momo8]

we arrived at sunset, started with Martini cocktails... MrsKW tried the fish.

Food looks fantsmagorical yum.

Change your bloody avatar KingWilly you're a wanted man.(by certain delusional members that is, CB)

Would give girls many more fantasies than the poor doggie and Jet hates it.

....and please explain if that blob what the blob on the right is.

[britmaveric]

Looks good, only eaten indonesian once in Amsterdam and it was delicious. Twas a chicken dish, with tomato base sauce spicy, but not hot. Came with rice ect. Very good food and I was much impressed.

[Propagator]

Only time I have had Indonesian was again in Amsterdam. We had the full Rijsttafel (Rice Table) between three of us. It was superb and have never found anything like it since. However looking it up on the net it appears that this is not served in Indonesia.

[kingwilly]

So, that chick with the rubbed out face sure don't look muslim...

that aint mrsKW, and the grey haired bloke aint KW either.
just some randoms.

[MeMock]

so why block out one face and not the other?