Eric @ericfoodreview

Nasi Padang Berjama'ah. First impression, it's not huge. It's HUGEEEE. They said it's a package for 6 persons. I gotta say it's huge enough to be eaten for a whole village. Yeah, it's too much but you get my point right? Swipe, I put hands as comparison. 

The rice was good. They said it's nasi kebuli. For me, it had similar taste, not 100% there. Imagine you mix nasi kebuli and lamb fried rice, then you got this. Oh, and generous amount of lamb. 

The lamb was tender and had no gamey taste at all. Great. 

The fried chicken was also good. For me, it's still tender eventhough it'd been sitting like 30mins. Not their fault, I took the picture too damn long. The flavor was infused to the meat. Don't you hate it when you get a super flavorful chicken skin but the meat is bland? 

The crispy dendeng was too crunchy for me. I felt like eating cracker with bomb of flavor. I do prefer my dendeng to be more chewy. To give some texture to bite. Well, it's my preference though. 

Their egg was dense and so herby. Too herby and salty for my taste bud. You might like it. The taste just didn't work on me. 

The star for me was easily the kacamata petai. OMG. First look and my mind went like "look like they sliced the stink beans with the skin and deep fried the whole thing. Silly me, no one would do that." After that, the chef himself confirmed that it's sliced fried stink beans with the skin. It blew my mind. Not too stink, but it still had that distinctive aroma. Then the skin had a slightly greasy and crunchy texture. Superb. It might be a simple trick for the chef, but for me it's a huge leap of Indonesian culinary. 

They also served it with red and green chilli, melinjo cracker and the iconic pink padangnese cracker which I love so much. Light, crispy, and had little tasty flavor. 

This is their new special ramadhan menu. Not sure how long they'll keep this. So don't wait. Call your companion and try this. A great way to BukBer.

Mushroom Cream Soup. First thing first, the thickness of the soup was ridiculous. It's more like a thick sauce rather than soup. The flavor was way too creamy and thick. I took 5 spoons and that's it, couldn't take anymore. Left it like 30secs and a layer of fat jelly thingy came out on the surface and it made the soup less appetizing. The garlic crouton, it's no longer crisp and tasted like it's been sitting like several days. Definitely not a fresh baked one. But yeah, it had nice garlic flavor to it. Not too garlicky but I knew it's garlic one. At first my thought went like the portion was way too small, but later I felt lucky it's not that big. 

However, I do recommend this place. The place was cozy to hang with friends and affordable price obviously

Taiwanese XXL Crispy Chicken. I know, when I say taiwanese crispy chicken your mind goes to the shil*n branch. Why don't you try this one. This might change your preference. I was a bit skeptical before I tried it and end up prefer this one. The texture was well layered. Really like the texture. Crunchy and crispy batter and moist chicken meat. They fried it dry so I found no soggy batter that no one ever asked for. They did give some greenies, maybe basil leaf, not so sure. It gave earthiness and slight bitter taste to the rich chicken meat. It has every potential to be great. The price is slightly cheaper than the rest and very substantial. It's huge enough to share. I gotta say it's totally worth every money you spend on. 

Fun fact : I just got this information lately. The owner went to Taiwan only to learn how to fry the chicken to perfection and he brought the seasonings from there to be used here. Authentic taiwanese snacks? Quite close.

Australian Grilled Lamb Chops. Broccolini, tomato harissa and crispy potatoes. The main star was clearly the lamb. The potatoes tasted okey, but not fantastic. The lamb was good. It had that sweetness to it that cut the strong lamb meat smell. It's not 100% gone. Maybe around 80%. It's a good thing for me. Some people like their lamb to have no gamey or lamb distinctive flavor, some even like to have a beef kinda flavor on their lamb. For me, it's nonsense. If I want to taste beef, then I'll go for the beef. Why go for lamb which has more cholesterol to it, what a bullcrap. The portion was quite big but the meat itself wasn't that substantial. The greenies and potatoes filled 70% of that plate. 

Half Kilo of Australian Ribeye. There's no chance you'll eat this alone. It's huge and pure meat. Well, we got to share, that's why it came medium well. There's no way I'd order other than medium rare steak. It kinda surprised me that the meat wasn't tough eventhough it'd been cooked medium well. Nice quality of steak and they cooked it well. Btw, the sauce, I don't get it. Why ruin the already good piece of meat with unnecessary sauce. I'll come back for the steak next time and ask for no sauce. 

Oh one more thing. I don't know who is he but that time a man came to our table and asked whether everything was good. I told him that the taste was good but the presentation of the steak was ridiculously pathetic. Then he defended himself and saying that they want to keep it simple. Just steak and sauce. I totally agree with that statement, steak is supposed to be served as simple as possible. But this one looks kinda messy. Weird cut and way too saucey. It's my opinion, not really matter.

Tiger Prawns a la Planca. Generous amount of fillings. Prawns, mussels and broccoli in green curry. For me they did a great job on the green curry, not too rich but creamy enough. I just hate it when the broth overwhelm the main ingredients so yeah, I do give more credit on this. However, the fillings itself wasn't that great. The seafood was sweet and tender but that's it. Nothing lousy, nothing special. For me, I did more enjoy the ambiance rather than the food itself. Oh, one more thing. It served with ginger rice. To be blunt, it just tasted like hainan rice. A delish hainan rice. I think they used basmati rice and it gave nice texture. It tasted good and super fragrant. Love it.

Roasted Duck. Dry aged duck, carrots, celeriac with citrus chili sauce. 3 chunks of duck meat and 3 piles of shredded duck. The duck was quite tender with slight gamey taste. It's weird but I did prefer the shredded duck. It lost the nice tender texture but it tasted richer and homier. It had that very clean kind of sweetness. The citrus sauce was so so, to be honest it lacked of zestiness. However, still a solid plate of duck and not too mention, the plating was dope. So colorful and elegant. 

All of my friends who tried this claimed that it's the best dish of the day. Well, I do have different opinion. For me, the best dish of that day was easily the lamb chops (I've posted the review). The duck was good but not mind blowing. There's no oomph to it. It's quite tasty but that's it. Nothing special to remember. There is no right or wrong. When it comes to food, it's all about preferences. All the best I can do is giving my own opinion. You don't have to agree with me, better try it youself.

Molten Chocolate Cake. If you check my previous post, you'll see how I love their mango panna cotta. Compare to that one, this one is clearly nothing. The chocolate wasn't bitter enough (I prefer the dark bitter chocolate, it's my preference though), the texture wasn't airy enough, the vanilla ice cream wasn't creamy enough. Everything was lack of something. It tasted like mediocre molten chocolate cake. There's nothing special, nothing stand out. I've tasted a lot better chocolate cake. If you happen to come here, I suggest you to go for the mango panna cotta. Btw, it's totally edible don't get me wrong. I just expect something more for that price. 

Mango Panna Cotta. The plating was superb, it gave that satisfaction just by looking at it. Further, it made me wanna scoop that goodness. The mango panna cotta was quite strong. It tasted sweet, rich and deep at the same time. It's good but not mind blowing. The highlight for me was the texture. So soft, clean, velvety and smooth. That was my first thought. Then I tried to eat the mango panna cotta with the fresh fruit they put aside. Dang! The sourness and tanginess really boosted the mango panna cotta. It's no longer child play. It tasted so refreshing and I felt like it's hugging my soul. 

I ain't dessert kind of guy, so my opinion might miss in every aspect. But 1 thing for sure, I did enjoy this one and I'll have no complain if I've to eat this every single day.

Yeah, it's pricey. But let's not ignore the magnificent ambiance and great services, I think it's worth to try. If you have special occasions to celebrate or someone to impress, I'll recommend this one.

Sate Ayam Campur Bumbu Blora. The presentation was nice and simple. It didn't look shabby at all. They put lilttle fire to keep the heat. The chicken meat was super tender. I almost didn't need teeth to chew it. And the intestine one was also tender. It's not chewy at all. The highlight was easily the peanut sauce. Creamy, deep, rich, smooth and clean. Very nutty and it didn't make me feel thristy eventhough it's so thick. The creaminess of the peanut sauce really enhanced the satay. It's very comforting to eat tasty Indonesian food like this. They really bring Indonesian food to the next level. Not a cheap meal but totally worth it. The more you eat that satay, the more addicted you become.

Pork Ribs. 400grams grilled baby back ribs topped with homemade honey glazed and served with salad, potato wedges, creamy spinach and baked tomato. 

The baby back ribs was good and flavorful. It's fall of the bone level kind of tender. They did give plastic glove to eat the ribs with hand but I could easily eat this one with fork and knife and leaving a clean bone. The sauce was sweet but not overly sweet. The natural sweetness of the pork itself was great. It's not depending on the sauce. 

I didn't eat the salad. For me it's just greenies and greenies isn't my thing. The baked potato was edible but nothing really stand out. The creamy spinach was completely different. It's creamy, earthy and mild. I did enjoy the texture too. Soft but, mushy at all and not too wet.

Sirloin Steak. 200 grams of aussie tenderly grilled sirloin steak served with mashed potato and creamy spinach. 

Like any steak houses, you can choose the level of doneness. Me? 100% medium rare obviously. I'll be honest with yall, when the plate came I was quite disappointed. It lacked of that glaze and look super dry. I thought the kitchen messed up my order and gave me a well done steak. I was totally ready to bash the shit out this dish until I sliced the meat. Dang !!! Red to perfection. This exactly what people say don't judge book by its cover. So tender, not chewy at all and natural. Nothing fancy about this steak. No eleven herbs and spices or whatsoever. Just pure natural goodness. I gotta say the purest of the best with just a little seasoning but focusing on the ingredient. They have 4 kind of sauces. Socall homemade, bbq, blackpepper and mushroom. I tried 3 out of 4 options. Somehow I missed the mushroom one. Still, I ate the steak without any of it. I prefer to eat my steak without any sauce, not only here but everwhere. But if you insist me to choose one, I'll pick the homemade one. Savory and mild and the most important thing, it didn't ruin the natural goodness of the steak itself. 

The mashed potato, it's just not my thing. If you like milky creamy mashed potato then you might like it. But the creamy spinach was great. 

The place itself was quite comfy. Not that kind of fancy steak or ribs houses. For me it's more like homey-cafe place. So yeah, if you happen to be around pluit area and don't know what to eat, I recommend this place. 

Ps : you can ask me for the shot of that perfect redness, I know not everyone like medium rare steak. But give it a shot, you'll love it. In Germany, it's completely normal to have raw pork. In Japan, they eat raw chicken. So please stop judging me for eating medium rare steak.