Food Good Indonesia

This new restaurant has the X factor. When you enter, you feel class ooze out of its multi-faceted walls. Surrounding you are sculptures, carvings, and paintings that hang from the extremely high ceilings facing down on you. There’s a lot to keep your eyes busy in Negev, including the large attention-grabbing wall carving behind the long bar titled ‘Evolution’. But don’t be put off by its grand designs – Negev is a casual dining restaurant and gallery bar with warm hospitality, spicing up the culinary area of Kuningan in Jakarta.

Negev is still a new kid on the block, opening only 6 months ago and is one with ‘The Harvest’ cake shops where I believe the best cheesecake in Jakarta comes from. Food and Beverage Director, Eric Gouteyron created the desserts at Negev as he does at The Harvest. Hailing from France, Eric has been a pastry chef his whole life, working at the River Cafe in New York for 17 years and was based in Dubai before he moved to Indonesia one year ago. “I worked with many Indonesians in Dubai. They’re very nice people and that was the best team I had actually,” he tells us, partly why he made the move to Jakarta.

In Dubai, Eric worked with Chef Chandra who coincidentally is Negev’s Executive Chef. “Dubai in 2007 was fun and full of competition,” says Chef Chandra. He moved from Dubai to a five star hotel in Jakarta, rejoining hands with Chef Eric at Negev again by accident and without forethought. Kismet? Well the proof is in the taste and tasty it sure is.

The menu is East meets West and presentation is inventive. We sampled a juicy Salmon from the Grill, served with a Papaya Barbeque sauce, followed by Spring Baby Chicken, Beef Ravioli and an incredibly rich and moreish Mushroom Risotto. Thumbs up to Chef Chandra. Try the Mushroom Soup which wins the best looking dish prize.

Then came the moment I’d been waiting for… desserts. Chef Eric proudly brings forth a warm Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce and Vanilla Cream which made me want to wrap a blanket around me and snuggle up in front of an open fire, followed by the beautiful Negev Chocolate Bar, a name that doesn’t do this dessert justice – Dark Chocolate Sebayon Mousse, layered Crunchy Praline with Coffee Ice Cream, caramelized Pine Nuts and Nougatine with homemade Marshmallow. Presented so inspiringly and with so much care, this dessert is a must try and make sure to take the perfect bite, loading your spoon with a bit of each segment to truly appreciate all the flavours that make up this masterpiece. Felicitations Chef Eric.

The Negev is a desert in Israel and this Negev is an oasis in Jakarta. A great place to entertain with impressive lavish interiors and equally delicious cuisine and a place which will have you coming back for more.

Negev
City Plaza Building – Ground Floor
Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 42
T: +62 21 52971333
www.negevresto.com
Closed on Sundays

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SLAM Sky Bar

Sky Lounge at Mercure, S.L.A.M, is on the 19th floor of the newly opened Mercure Simatupang.  Slam is in a roof top lounge bar that has an open-air section as well as an air-conditioned room. The open air section has a mix of styles which translates to funky and modern. Comfy contemporary rattan chairs juxtaposed with mood lighting, graffiti panels on the top of two side walls connected by one wall made of window panes and a traditional dark wooden bar gives the outdoor area a hip, youthful and funky vibe. Behind the bar is the air-conditioned salon, reminiscent of a cigar room, the furniture is classy with a statement one-seater made of denim in the corner nestled in between the view of suburban Jakarta.  A keen eye for detail and a passion for fashion and design can be felt from Slam. I adore the Slam uniforms: a black fedora, beige skinny slacks, thick braces and a black short sleeved collared shirt which makes me think of Clockwork Orange meets the prohibition era meets skinny jeans. The staff are very friendly, speak English perfectly and are happy to chat or give their two cents if you are a bit lost of direction. To summarize Slam in three words: eclectic, funky and friendly.

Crusted Salmon

Slam offers the same menu as the downstairs Grafitti restaurant, international cuisine, healthy options and Asian selections, though it is served as the room service version to keep the food unaffected by the shuttle up 19 floors. If you are looking for a bar experience and don’t want a full meal, they also offer bar nibbles. We sat in the salon to have our dinner and ordered mocktails to begin, Sunset and I am Joker. The Sunset is made of fresh passion fruit, passion fruit syrup, orange juice and topped with soda water, and the I am Joker is made of fresh chopped apples, muddled kiwi, kiwi syrup and again topped with soda water. The mocktails were fresh and fruity and presumably two of your five a day. We then had the Crusted Salmon, accompanied by white wine sauce, thin fries and vegetables. I could see why the Crusted Salmon is a popular dish. The salmon was well cooked, fresh basil mixed with the breadcrumbs gave the crust a fresh taste and a hint of green that looked lovely against the orange salmon. The vegetables, cauliflower, carrots, green beans and baby corn, tasted like they were blanched then tossed in garlic infused oil. The white wine sauce was great, I could have had it as a soup. It was creamy and full flavoured with fresh hints of lemon, a really wonderful sauce. Next we had a few of the nibbles – Fish Balls, Chicken wings and Maki roll. The Fish Balls are homemade and battered. The Chicken wings had fresh rosemary as opposed to dried rosemary which gives a more intense flavour, a nice little gourmet touch to bar snacks. The Maki roll had vegetables, namely red pepper with a dusting of tobiko on the outside.

Mexican Dragon

For our after dinner drink we moved from the salon to the outdoor area. Fed, full and free, I got a cheap thrill from watching the traffic riddled roads crawl and enjoying myself, waiting upon our cocktails, instead of being one of the victims of that traffic jam. We had decided on a J-tini and Mexican Dragon. The J-tini is a mix of Jack Daniels and Sweet and Sour. The Mexican Dragon is made from Tequila, red dragon fruit and Cointreau. The J-tini was tart and fresh, garnished with a young sprig of mint. The Mexican Dragon was sweet and slightly tart. I would have loved to try more cocktails but drinking on a school night is usually not the best idea.

Jakarta is rather pricey for going out with the alcohol tax and for hotels, they have 21% added on top of that. Slam is not cheap nor expensive but as hotel prices go, very reasonable with cocktails starting from around Rp.80,000. Slam holds special promotions regularly – the next one in the third week of March entitles you to a shot of tequila for only Rp.25,000 nett, which will be a night to remember and a morning to forget. To find out more on events and promotions you can sign up to their newsletter by emailing Mercure Simatupang at H6680-RE@accor.com, or give them a call.

Mercure Jakarta Simatupang
Jl. R.A. Kartini No 18
Lebak Bulus
12440 – SOUTH JAKARTA

Contacts
Tel : (+62)21/75999777
Fax : (+62)21/75999798
Mail : H6680-RE@accor.com

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Every time I pass Jalan Batubelig I am drawn to a place called Bow. This two-story building with garden wall has no way of telling what kind of place it is; all I can see is their sign (written as 3OW) – a big smiling emoticon on its glass door. But as I enter the smiling door, the tempting aroma of foods from its open kitchen invites you to go further in…

Young smiley staff greet you by bowing, and I am surprised to see radiant green paddy fields from its windows — a little secret that is well kept behind this restaurant. Decorated with a Mediterranean touch, big Arabian lamps, chalk boards, mosaic tiles on the walls, and warm lighting, I feel like I am in someone’s dining room in the Middle East.

The first floor is air-conditioned, furnished with rattan chairs and comfy couches. It is also completed with a fake chimney to make you feel cosy and warm, despite the fact that it’s boiling outside. Upstairs, the restaurant’s ambiance is completely different. It has a real Bali atmosphere where guests can enjoy a balcony overlooking the rice fields with volcanoes visible as a backdrop when the sky is clear.

During the day, this space is perfect for a nap after lunch, especially when the breeze blows slowly. The owner told me that many of his guests feel this restaurant is like home; many have fallen asleep on the couches because it’s so comfortable.

The idea behind Bow is to give something to accommodate everyone — air-conditioned spaces, outdoor areas, big screen TVs displaying cartoons and toys for children. And this doesn’t end at their settings as the menu provides choices of foods that also reflect this flexibility and creativity.

Open for 12 hours, from 11am to 11pm, Bow caters for all day dining from brunch to dinner. The menu is inspired by the owner’s travel tales and experiences of living abroad, with foods from several countries that bend the ordinary dining concept of serving foods based on a certain cuisine. From Brazil’s Fejioada to Haiti’s Grillot Pork and the Mediterranean’s Mezze, you could travel the world at Bow in one day. Bow is also a haven for brunch hunters. When many restaurants in Bali only provide brunch on the weekends, at Bow every day is Sunday.

Fresh fruits or vegetable salads, choices of eggs from Mexico’s Huevos Rancheros to Eggs Benedict, everything comes fresh and in a generous portion. They also serve fresh homemade breads and bagels served with selections of salmon salsa and asparagus or roasted veggies, and pita breads.

For vegetarians or those who prefer healthy-eating, a choice like grilled eggplants mixed with vegetables and topped with melted cheese in coconut soup and spinach, is very tempting. Rich in creamy flavours and vitamins, not only did this dish please my taste buds, it also made me feel good. For carnivores, the Hungarian’s pride Goulash made from Australian prime beef in thick stew can be a good choice for dinner, especially if you pair it with a glass of Pinot Noir that would only set you back Rp.75,000 a glass.

Seafood lovers will be pleased with calamari stuffed with oats and rice in rich tomato sauce. And its perfect match is Bow Mary, Bow’s version of the bloody mary made from tomato and celery juice, garnished with peppers, prawn and cherry tomato on a stick, priced at Rp.75,000 only.

The best thing about Bow is the price — everything costs less than Rp.100,000. Some foods also have two options of prices where customers can opt for a smaller portion with a cheaper price, so no food will be left behind. They also have promo menu available with special prices.

With such affordable pricing, it’s quite surprising that Bow can serve food of such a high standard. I asked the owner about this, and he answered that he only takes a small profit and wants to make this restaurant accessible for all types of customers, from teenagers to families, from staff to ambassadors. Everything is fresh and the ingredients are wellsourced. It’s a place to relax and meet friends over good food, and to celebrate the fact that every day is Sunday in Bali.

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Would I summon the nerve to barge uninvited into the Soviet Embassy, to plead – not for asylum – but for rye bread? The plan was to walk into the Russian Embassy and ask whether any of the diplomats’ wives made heavy bread, and if so, whether I could plead with them to sell me an extra loaf. Having arrived here in 1988, I pursued my first order of survival: Locate. Black. Bread.

For without my vollkornbrot, pumpernickel, kraftkorn, dark rye or nine-grain bread I knew I would pine away, miserable and forlorn. The country’s simple explanation is that food – and bread specifically – is a very serious business.

I decided against approaching the Russians.

I had already experienced one ‘false dawn’ when I first spotted Holland Bakery – the one with the kitsch windmill turning lazily on the roof. Five hundred varieties of white flour, sugary, gooshy and mostly tasteless buns, loaves, rolls and cakes, and not a sign of anything natural. A colossal disappointment.

Kem Chicks

Jl. Kemang Raya no. 3-5, Jakarta. Tel. (021) 71790065

Also a branch in the basement of Pacific Place (Sudirman Central Business District, just off Semanggi cloverleaf).

Eventually I discovered Vineth Bakery breads, sold along with other bakery items in Kem Chicks, Jakarta’s oldest expatriate-oriented market. Most were tasteless white-flour numbers, but there was a handsome Pain de Campagne, an acceptable sourdough and what then was the best kraftkorn in Jakarta. “No!” I commanded the daffy young thing heading for the slicer, “Please don’t cut up that nice loaf!” Where I come from we break bread.

Kem Chicks, along with Grand Lucky, also sells Lees Bakery products, including a lovely packet of raisin rye slices which would complement a kaffeeklatsch; their other breads, including kraftkorn and multi-grain bread, are also reasonably wholesome.

Vineth Bakery

Jl. Panglima Polim Raya No. 63-65, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta.

You’ll note from the website photo of its near-empty shelves that Vineth, located in a rundown building at the corner of Jl. Barito, is quite popular, so get there early to buy bread.

CONSUMER ALERT: There are also occasions when certain bakeries and supermarkets try to palm off day-old bread as ‘fresh’, but a true bread-lover will demur. Does the loaf have that fresh aroma? What if I give it a gentle squeeze (which of course you cannot do if the bread is hiding on a shelf behind a bored-looking girl)?

Home again. I park the motorcycle in front of Blacky’s Image Lounge and prepare to have a sesame butter, avocado and honey kraftkorn spread. My local friends peer doubtfully at its rough texture and dark colour – they’re always curious about my strange foods.

“Oh, can I try a little?”

Reluctantly, I slice off a thin bit of kraftkorn and pass it to Budi.

Budi makes a face. “It’s hard.”

Rudi tries a bite.

“It’s not even sweet. Tasteless.”

“Yes,” I nod vigorously, anxious to add to their dismay. “I told you, you wouldn’t like it. It’s European punishment food. From the war, you know.”

I thought I’d succeeded in discouraging them, but the next time I bring home a Rp.50,000 loaf they’re laying in wait for me.

“Say, this is actually pretty good, especially when you cover it up with strawberry jam.”

There goes my investment.

Animo Bread Culture

No. 69 Jl. Kemang Raya. Tel. +62 (021) 719 2681

I will open my odyssey to modern Jakarta bakeries with a spoiler: Animo is the clear winner.

This charming coffee house features a cornucopia of freshly-baked pastries, rolls and breads; celestial aromas greet you if you visit late morning, and you can enjoy hot bread, fresh from the oven.

Passion for baking is Animo’s motivation, and owners Muhammad Abgari, aka Agam, and his wife Fasty Adriani Putri founded Animo based on their love for fine bread.

I happened to show up before noon, just as loaves were issuing forth from the oven. The aroma told the tale: an aromatic almond cranberry roll, with just the right degree of crispness in the crust, a fresh French baguette, its flaked tan surface covering an airy, delicious interior, and a walnut raisin bread which is not only textured and tasty but at Rp.50,000 a loaf, one of the best bargains in Jakarta.

Outside, tables on a covered veranda are ‘smoker-friendly’.

Animo Bread Culture also features baking classes for enterprising hausfrau.

NOTE FOR BARGAIN BETTYS: Drop by Animo after 18.00 for a “buy one – get one free” deal on the day’s leftover breads, rolls and pastries.

La Boulangerie Authentique

Jl. Kemang Selatan 1, No. 2c, Jakarta. Tel. (021) 718 0011

While there are just three tables and several high stools (filled with patrons – mostly expats – during my short visit) the place offers an opulence of pastries, tarts, cakes and breads. Their busy kitchen also turns out quiches, salads, sandwiches and baguettes.

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Our expert epicure continues an undercover operation to bring you the truth about Jakarta’s dining scene. No spoon is left unturned in the quest for honest, balanced reviews, from long-established favourites to the hottest new tables in town. 

This month, a South Jakarta expat favourite, Koi Kemang.

Everyone knows Koi. It’s the easy, go-to, expat’s fail-safe. Friday night drinks, a mid-week dinner or Saturday brunch; it’s there for you, standing sentinel on Kemang Raya like a venerable old lady of the night, beckoning you inside with her somewhat dilapidated charms. With its trendy, industrial-chic interior – no doubt furnished by their gallery upstairs – and its gently thumping basslines, Koi promises a certain reliability, tinged with a hint of nonchalance. Come in, and have a decent night, it says. Or not. See if we care.

We sat in the optimistically-titled ‘non-smoking’ section, fumes drifting over from the bar, at one of the spacious wooden tables with comfortable wicker chairs. Along the wall, ranks of denim-covered sofas were full of Koi’s regular clientele. Many of the patrons here seem to have confused the restaurant with their living rooms and lounge about as though they’re wearing stretchy trousers and watching Oprah. Still, this is evidently an essential part of the laissez-faire approach to dining embraced here.

We began proceedings with a glass of Hob Nob Chardonnay, which was perfectly quaffable with our starters and cheap at Rp.85,000. The menu here is vast. Koi began life as an Asian restaurant in the 90s at its first location, Mahakam, near Blok M. When Chef Benoit Claeys joined the ranks in 1998, the menu benefitted from his Belgian influence, by way of brasserie classics.

Now, it is the Del Boy of menus – a jack of all trades; arguably gastro-master of none.

The recent addition of fresh pastas further bolsters a roster that now ranges from noodles to couscous to paella to steak. It’s a veritable smörgåsbord of choice; a death knell for indecisive dinner deliberators.

We chose a new starter, lobster croquettes, which were slightly oily from the fryer and not as hot as they should have been, but still tasted convincingly of lobster and potato. It’s probably not my top choice as a filling for a croquette – jamón or cheese is usually more successful – but this was not bad. Salmon carpaccio was decent, simply served with slices of radish, and accompanied by a nice, homemade garlicky-herby cheese. At Rp.70,000 and 75,000 respectively, there’s nothing to complain about here.

Mains were hit-and-miss. The Classic Burger with cheese (Rp.115,000) unfortunately had little flavour, and the patty was well-done instead of medium as requested. Adding a relish or mayonnaise would keep things moistly interesting here. The US Hanger steak (Rp.175,000) was quite tasty; juicy and flavoursome with a nice red wine and shallot sauce. However, we had to send it back to be cooked more as it was rare instead of medium-rare – clearly either communication had broken down between wait staff and kitchen, or the kitchen staff were doing their own thing that evening. They also forgot our mushroom sauce, which was cold when it eventually arrived. On the flip side, the chips (served with both) were well-seasoned and the side of spinach with garlic was generous and tasty.

Desserts are a strength, and it’s another big menu with lots of choice, from crêpes to waffles to apple pie. We enjoyed the Crunchy Chocolate ‘pot de crème’ with caramel mousse, served in a mason jar. This was an inventive idea, granted with room for improvement on the execution (the caramel was a bit sweet, and they could finesse the crunchy chocolate bites and the smoothness of the crème), but it was pleasing to see something different that tasted good. The monthly specials menu boasted a tiramisu, which we were encouraged to order. The sponge fingers were slightly dry, probably because they skimped slightly on the booze when soaking them, but otherwise this was decent and we had no problems cleaning the plate.

The bar area has that sort of ambient lighting more readily found at a Seminyak beach club, with sports playing on TVs above the shelves. Cocktails here are not the best in Jakarta, but they’re not bad. The wine list is long, reasonable, and split by style. We chose from the ‘Rich, Dense Reds’ list a 2011 Argentinian Alamos Malbec (Rp.600,000) which was well-kept, rounded and balanced.

Looking around, a mix of local and expat punters happily chowed down on easy crowd-pleasers like nasi campur, quesadillas and sundaes. Koi is not attempting to do haute cuisine – it simply relies on its customers’ affability in continuing to order from such a mixed-bag menu. I will always insist that whenever a chef chooses to churn out several cuisines in the kitchen, one style will always ‘win’, remaining their forte. It is not clear which one this is for Koi Kemang. What is clear is that whilst there is some room for improvement, overall they deliver value-for-money and a certain aloof dependability regulars appreciate. They’re not trying too hard – or if they are, they certainly don’t want you to know about it.

The wait staff are a young, friendly, slightly hapless bunch, who on this particular evening suffered the misfortune of having no napery to offer customers (well, after all, it was still wet from the laundry – what were they to do?) Instead, they plied us with paper napkins until dessert, when the linens deigned to show up, with precisely the insouciance this cheeky restaurant epitomises.

Cheque please!

Food: Rp.630,000

Drinks: Rp.685,000

Service: 10%

Total: Rp.1,591,150 (inc. taxes) for two

—

Koi Kemang

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The seasoned traveller and street food chef of Mama San, Sarong, Hujan Locale, and the soon-to-open Tiger Palm brings an eclectic mix of traditional and uber urban to his popular venues. He talks to us about his interest in the Asian cuisine culture inspired him to open his restaurants.

You are originally Scottish but born in Portugal. Tell me about your background.

My parents lived in Beirut before the war, where they had my brother and sister. Then they moved to Peru, then Portugal where I was born. After that, we moved to Italy. My father then moved to Spain and I moved to Scotland with mum. I was very used to the expat lifestyle; that’s why it’s never been hard for me to live in any part of the world as I do now. I left Europe when I was 21 years old and went to the US before travelling around Asia. I moved and worked in Australia for a while before coming back to Asia.

What inspired you to become a chef and subsequently a creator of unique restaurants?

I started learning cooking not because of passion; I just had to find a career, since I was not very academic. I tried cooking, and I had to prove to people than I could do it. But then, when I was travelling around Asia I fell in love with the culture, and the food. What I see in Asia’s cuisine culture is what inspired me to open my restaurants. With the collaboration between my business partners and me, we try our best to introduce Asia’s cultures through our food and venues.

Explain how street food brings us closer to the true cuisine of an area.

The streets and villages are the places where you can find authenticity. Most of these people got their recipes from their families, from generation to generation. I do add little tweaks to the dishes, especially the way we serve it, which is inevitable. However, my goal is to keep the taste authentic and introduce it to a wider audience.

Your travels have taken you all over Asia; Southeast Asia in particular. When did you decide to make Bali your home?

It was when I started Sarong eight years ago. At the time, I already had my beautiful family and Sarong completed my life.

After the success of Sarong, you opened Mama San in Bali. Can you tell us about the differences in concepts for each venue, and what influenced them?

Each of the restaurants I manage has a different concept. While Sarong is more of a fine dining restaurant highlighting Indian and Thai dishes, Mama San is a little bit more casual, highlighting Vietnamese and Chinese dishes. Hujan Locale in Ubud specializes in Indonesian dishes, and the new Tiger Palm serves Malaysian dishes: Kopitiam-style breakfast, all-day lunch, and dinner.

In your travels to Burma you wrote, “The purity of the Burmese spirit is what comes through the strongest”. Did it remind you of your early days in Bali?

When I started my life in Bali in 2006, it was a lot simpler; a lot more tranquil. Cultural activities were visible everywhere without having to look for it. But comparing it to Burma, I think Bali had been more modernized at the time already; more vibrant with a lot of western influences.

Tell us about the amazing floating gardens on Inle Lake in Burma.

I admire how the farmers there grow their vegetables. They use water hyacinth, which are secured in position using bamboo poles. Topped with mud from the bottom of the lake, the mixture becomes a fertile floating flatbed to grow tomatoes, gourds, cucumbers and other vegetables. I really hope this system survives the ‘attack’ of pesticide use, which I hear has already begun.

How does a chef’s connection to the land and the sea influence the way he approaches his work?

When a chef knows where the ingredients he uses comes from – how the farmers grow them, how the fishermen catch the fish and understand the people and their cultures – then he knows what he cooks, and how he’s supposed to cook the dishes. Food is not only about cooking and serving it on a table; it’s about heritage and culture.

Do you see the sourcing of high quality produce from local growers turning into a requisite for fine dining as well as a booming trade at all levels? How are Bali and Lombok contributing to this trend?

It is turning into a trend indeed. I really see it as a positive move and it will do nothing but help local communities in creating sustainable farming, even though I don’t see that most business practitioners actually try to do more than just use the trend as a marketing gimmick. Bali and Lombok have a lot of resources that are not yet industrialized – these places can be a good start to support the move.

In all your travels what food experiences stand out in your memory?

One of the most memorable food experiences was when I visited Manado and I ate bats and rats. It was OK, but those dishes were definitely not my favourites.

Has your stellar career made it more difficult to slow down to the simplicity you respect so much, where life is only about dealing with the necessities?

I consider myself a realistic person. By default, I do things the simplest way possible, but then ‘necessities’ change according to your roles and responsibilities. In my case, the business needs me to move fast and I follow the stream.

As a father, and with your accumulated knowledge of agriculture and aquaculture, what are your hopes for the future of foods when your children are adults?

I’d like to see food as a culture, which develops sustainability within communities through well-managed boutique farming that can empower the people and strengthen their quality of life – like what I am trying to support through my restaurants.

What cookbooks have you published?

I’ve published Sarong Inspirations, which is now going for its third print edition. Next year, the plan is to write some regionally-focused cookbooks.

What is your latest venture?

We are opening Tiger Palm at The Village in Seminyak this month. The next step is to develop cooking class programmes involving learning the Balinese cuisine culture from locals in their villages.

Thank you, Will Meyrick!

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Jakarta’s famed molecular gastronomy restaurant is a whole lot of style over substance.

Imagine if your teenaged son was gifted a large chemistry set one day, and decided after a few experiments that he wanted to open a restaurant. This is the thought that came to mind after sampling the 17-course degustation menu at Namaaz Dining. From beginning to end, I remained incredulous, and later aggrieved by the quality and value for one of Jakarta’s more expensive dining experiences. That this is Jakarta’s first molecular gastronomy restaurant is respectable, but the dining experience lacks demonstrable professionalism, substance and cohesion over the theatrics.

The mantra at Namaaz is ‘What you see is not what you get’. It was repeated several times over the evening – especially when a server either couldn’t or wouldn’t delve further into details over a dish when asked. Beyond the understanding of certain cultural and language cues, I found it rather bizarre the restaurant didn’t provide accompanying text for diners prior to the start of the meal, especially as some of the dishes had rather murky cultural references and a few of the dessert courses were obscured by audio-visual elements. I didn’t find it pleasant to ask multiple times over the speaker system blaring Justin Bieber just exactly what I was eating.

Service at Namaaz was discombobulating. The service staff seemed to be some of the same people preparing dishes in the open kitchen, and although a few extra bodies stood around to stare blankly through the dining room whilst trying to fill your water glasses for which they even struggled to maintain, they were hardly professional dining room wait staff. New cutlery was laid out before empty plates were taken away, and bits and crumbs were left glaringly out on display on the black tablecloth between each course.

Timing between courses went well overall, but when there are only three controlled seatings for a 28-head dining room each night, it should not be an issue. In a professional restaurant, the dining room could have been easily divided between two professional servers with four running staff and a couple of busboys. When a cockroach surprised us by climbing atop the table to join the meal at the beginning of the evening, one of the kitchen-service staff quickly removed it with a towel; the only problem was that after the incident, I kept wondering if she changed her gloves or towel when she served us a course.

Namaaz has one of the strangest drinks menus in town, which is to say, there isn’t one. There is not one juice or cocktail or wine or beer in sight. Seventeen courses and not a single pairing to enjoy. A corkage fee, usually reserved for restaurants as a way of discouraging diners from bringing their own wine when there is a bar or cellar full of well-paired drinks available, is collected at Namaaz. It is such a disservice to the diner when absolutely nothing is offered during a degustation menu. Some of the dishes could have benefited from beverages to counteract the intense salinity. Strong flavours do not require water to counteract; they require balance.

As for the food, out of 17 exhausting courses, there were only a few mildly pleasant dishes. That left the rest of the evening to suffer through a barrage of overambitious bites of food that was long on theatrics and very little on what really matters: whether the food tasted good. In this case, not much did.

For what some online reviews claim to be the number one restaurant in Jakarta, Namaaz is hardly a place to go for the food.

Perhaps under the pretence of theatre dining, the experience could be more forgiving. Other modernist restaurants I have had the pleasure of experiencing (one most notably, Alinea) have all the pomp and circumstance, but they are aligned with the food, and although innovative, at the core delicious. These restaurants take the diner on a celebratory experience with the basic assumption that although not all will understand it or the chef, most will appreciate eating there.

Chef Andrian Ishak does have the ambition and aptitude to work the basic techniques, but lacks the focus and detail to bring his creations to fruition. Behind all the smoke and mirrors, there are some huge, glaring cracks. Proudly self-taught, I wonder whether Chef Ishak would benefit from a stint staging at a modern dining establishment, which would hopefully elevate and open his horizons somewhat and where he can learn how these types of restaurants should operate.

A plate of what appeared to be a few slices of sukiyaki-style slices of raw beef paired with raw eggs served in their own shell, in actuality was dehydrated watermelon slices reconstituted in its own juices, served with a mango-passionfruit gelée. As one of the more playful dishes, its presentation was slightly askew as the watermelon juice seeped into an unappetizing wet puddle onto the wooden platter. A sad little lettuce leaf garnish did little to spruce up the platter.

“A plate of what appeared to be a few slices of sukiyaki-style slices of raw beef paired with raw eggs served in their own shell”

The churro version of cakwe appeared good enough, but as soon as I bit into it, the tapioca starch created an experience akin to chewing a mouthful of old bubble gum that had been stuck under a desk a little too long. The sop buntut ‘afternoon tea’ was nearly inedible, with a stale ‘éclair’ filled with braised oxtail so bland that one had to dip it into the oversalted tea consisting of a broth with reconstituted vegetable and spice ‘tea bag’ that tasted eerily similar to instant Indomie purchased for Rp.2,000 at the local convenience store.

Namaaz Dining’s Churro

Two courses that did live up to its promise were the fish cake vermicelli, and smoked cassava and dried seafood sambal. The fish cake had a lightness and delicateness that tasted reminiscent of the ubiquitous sop bihun bakso ikan. The snail race presentation was interesting, but I failed to understand how it tied into the food. It was also difficult to eat as the edible spoon kept breaking apart when I tried to lift it to take a bite. Another course, the fried fish skin and smoked cassava with dried fish or shrimp sambal was delicious and the most inspired of the evening. The soft and starchy cassava paired with the crispy fish skin highlighted by the pungent sambal displayed wonderfully dark and black as saté charcoal.

Cassava with Fish Skin

I was left with the impression that although high on creativity, Namaaz Dining is still at best an amateur’s approach to molecular gastronomy with years of development and professional restaurant mastery to attain. For the price and length of time dedicated to its 17 courses, there are much better restaurants in Jakarta to consider.

The Critic’s Verdict?

1 out of 5 stars

Namaaz Dining

Jalan Gunawarman no. 42, Jakarta 12110

Website: www.namaazdining.com

Online reservations only

Price per diner: Rp.1,250,000/prepay in full when you book your reservation

No beverages except water available, BYO with corkage fee

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