Quick Reviews - By the Docks (crab cakes) and Margaret Kuo (Chinese food)

I've been wanting to write up reviews for some the restaurants we went to while I was in US, but I'm lazy to write up full articles. Instead I'll just write a few short blurbs.

Ma, Ba, and I went to an outlet mall in Lancaster, PA to do some shopping, and for dinner they decided to drive all the way down to Baltimore, MD for crab cakes. Ba took us to one in Aberdeen a few years back which was pretty good, but fairly recently his colleagues recommend this place By the Dock Restaurant and Lounge (3321 Eastern Blvd, Middle River, Maryland 21220). This place was packed with people even around five in the afternoon. This place is famous for their crab cakes so we ordered two single crab cake dinner (one fried and one baked) and crab stuffed with shrimp platter. The waitress even suggested that I order the baked one for extra crab flavor (more crab meat and less filling) The dish came with baked potato, a gigantic crab cake, and salad. The portion was huuuuuuuuge! Even though we skipped lunch, we still couldn't finish all the crab cakes. The crab cakes were very flavorful and choke full of real, fresh crab meat. At around $16 per plate, it was a very good deal. I also ordered the French onion soup which was very hardy and very, very tasty, full of beefy, oniony, cheesy flavor. Definitely the best crab cakes in MD, and I loved it even though I'm generally not a fan of crabs.

My sister took us to Margaret Kuo's (175 E. Lancaster Ave. Wayne, PA), a very fancy Chinese restaurant, to celebrate her promotion at work. We ordered a bunch of dimsum and other Chinese snacks and well as sukiyaki from their upstairs Japanese section (The Akari Room). All the dishes were very well made and tasted very fresh. The dishes are like the refined version of snacks found in other Chinese restaurants. The sukiyaki consisted of lots of veggies, noodles, tofu, and thinly sliced Kobe beef. I noticed the cooking sauce was different compared to the ones I had before, and the waiter said the broth they used for the sauce is vegetable broth instead of bonito broth. All this tastiness came at a very high price, but it was well worth it considering the ambiance, the service, and the food were all top notch. I think we were treated extra well because we spoke Chinese. Haha. I was amused by a couple things in the restaurant. The gong was sounded to announce the arrival of Peking duck and the waiter carved the duck in front of the table who order the dish. We also had a very friendly chat with the manager (who is also a Taiwanese?) of the restaurant. She recommended the turnip cake, and when she found out my mom can make Chinese snacks (particularly the turnip cake), she asked for the recipe.

Too bad Wid missed both the awesome crab cakes and the Kobe beef sukiyaki because he had to go back to Bali early.

Review - Cafe Marzano

Out of curiosity Wid and I checked out Cafe Marzano (Jl. Kunli No. 7, Seminyak, Kuta) about a week ago and we went back again just a few days ago. The inside reminded us of Cafe Felix in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Most of the clients were Italians or foreigners, and we kept seeing boxes of pizza ordered for delivery or to go, which looked like a good sign.

The first time we ordered pizza, seafood pasta, bruschetta, fresh apple juice, and coke. Out of all the Italian places we tried in Bali, this place has the best pizza. The thin-crust pizza is crispy (well, first one the crust was a bit wet probably because it was baked first before the pasta was done) and loaded with generous amount of cheese, sauce, and toppings. The flavor reminded me of pizzas from family pizzerias in US. What makes this pizza better than the rest is the quantity and quality of the cheese. According to Wid's brother, the cheese and Italian meats (pepperoni and ham) are imported from Italy. Unlike the other pizza here, it's rich and a bit oily but not greasy.

The seafood pasta was excellent also. This is the first time in Bali I had pasta that's actually cooked perfectly al dente. The seafood sauce was fresh and bright. We're really impressed by the fact that the food is not complicated or overly fancy yet very flavorful. As for the bruschetta, I really like the home made bread they used, but the sauce was a bit on the dry side. I think this was the weakest dish we tried out so far.

The pizza was so good that we went back a few days later and ordered another pizza. This time paired with the house white wine, it was made the pizza better. The white wine (I guess it was pinot grigio) really enhanced the flavor of the pizza, especially the cheese and green and red pepper, by adding a note of fruit flavor. Plus the wine help cut through the oily taste of the pizza. For dessert we ordered a small nutella pizza which did not disappoint us. Again, the crust was thin and crispy and it's loaded with lots of nutella, fresh whipped cream, and chocolate sprinkles.

Depending on what you ordered, the food is a tad more expensive than places like Warung Italia or Massimo, but the price is still very reasonable. Appetizers are between 25,000 rp to 40,000 rp. Pasta and other main courses run from around 20,000 to 42,000 rp. Pizza from 25,000 rp to 60,000 rp. Overall, we are very impressed by the pizza and pasta and I hope to check out other items on their menu soon.

Fresh - Review

We checked out yet another Japanese (well, Japanese-fusion) restaurant a week back. This time it's Fresh in Kerobokan. According to some site, the restaurant is owned by the manager of the now defunct Wasabi. Most of the menu items were rolls so we ordered a bunch of rolls. Sadly, I have to say the Fresh isn't so fresh because the fish in the sushi tasted a bit fishy and mushy. Our friend, who is a big fan of sushi, was not too impressed with the craftmanship either because grains of rice were exposed at the edges where the nori comes together. Wid was not too impressed with the sushi rice. Wid did like the sauce they used to make the spicy tuna. The only roll that I really liked and thought was very interesting was the mushroom and eggplant one. Maybe the reason is it did not contain fish. Price was a bit pricey but not too horribly over priced like certain places in that area.

Of all the Japanese restaurants we've tried so far in Bali, here is a list of our favorites. Right now the best fusion style sushi is found at Lanai's fairly new sushi bar. Supposedly the chef who used to be at Wasabi is currently working there. Best traditional sushi with excellent sushi rice and fresh fish is still Hana. Our Japanese friend approved of this place, and he said it is the best place for sushi. Last but not least, place with best value sushi (good combination of taste and price) is still Ryoshi.

The ambiance was quite nice and the waiters were quite helpful and friendly. The parking lot, which can only accommodate two cars if they pulled out the flag poles, is too small.

Gonta (restaurant review)

Last night Wid and I checked out a new restaurant that we heard from one of Wid's distant relations. We actually wanted to try it out last week but we were in the mood for something lighter, like sushi. Gonta is located right next to Hardy's Sanur. It was about a five minute walk from Ryoshi, but unlike Ryoshi, Gonta served mostly noodle dishes. The main selling point of the restaurant was, according to the glossy brouschure, “Real Japanese cuisine, by real Japanese.”

The place was tiny but tastefully decorated and uncluttered. The place reminded me of being at someone’s house except there’s a tiny counter/bar. All the cooking was done behind the counter and since we were sitting at the counter, it was really interesting to see the cook at work. I was amazed by the big pots of broth, and I liked the idea of having a faucet right where the pot for cooking noodles was located. The man cooking was an old Japanese guy, and he was very efficient and seemed friendly enough. We couldn’t communicate with him since he only knew Japanese and maybe a tiny bit of Indonesian. The head waitress did most of the translation for him and chatted with us. She asked me where I was from and stuff. Hehe.

We ordered shoyu ramen, shio ramen, and gyoza because they looked like the shop’s signature dishes. Wid asked for agadashi tofu, but they didn’t have that dish. Instead the cook recommended cold tofu salad (hiyayakko?) which consisted of a block of tofu with grated ginger, scallion, and soy sauce. The tofu salad was similar to the version that I learned to make from my mom, and even though this dish had fewer ingredients, it was surprisingly tasty. Wid really liked the slightly bouncy and porous texture of the tofu, which is different from most of the tofu found here. The taste of the tofu with the toppings was quite good.

The dishes were prepared and served very quickly. The ramen dishes were surprisingly light yet full of flavor. Compared to the Ippin Nyukkon ramen, the flavor was different and lighter, but from the taste and the consistency of the soup, you could still tell the broth isn’t just dashi stock plus soy sauce. Both dishes had half a soft boiled egg, a sheet of nori, scallion, wakame, bamboo slices, and a piece of boiled pork. The noodles themselves were very fresh and flavorful. One interesting thing to note was they seasoned the dish with generous amount of cracked black pepper, something not seen at Ippin Nyukkon. The ramen was very filling, and it was very nice to wash down the rich broth with some hot green tea. We also had the gyoza which was full of vegetable and pork.

The service was excellent. Everyone working in the restaurant was very friendly and attentive. Food was prepared and served really fast and we didn’t wait long to get our check either. With the two of us, the bill came to around 120,000 Rp. I guess not a bad price considering we had two bowls of ramen, a plate of gyoza, green tea, and tofu salad. Unfortunately, they didn’t have dessert (maybe I should sell them my Japanese cheesecake, hahah) but they had a nice variety of booze, which we didn't partake.

The ramen dishes we tried are on par with the Ippin Nyukkon ramen, and both these restaurants are clearly superior to the Ida Bagus ramen place. The price is decent and I wouldn’t mind going back there again.

Review - Blossom in Seminyak

This weekend the four of us checked out a new Thai (more like Thai-fusion) restaurant called Blossom, located in Villas Sentosa in Seminyak. I predicted that we would have an expensive night and I was proven correctly. The restaurant was nicely decorated with lots of wood, stone, concrete, and bird cage lamps. My friends who own a light shop were jokingly saying that they spent all the money on the wooden ceiling that they can't afford to get expensive lamps. The seats were quite comfortable. Overall the style of the restaurant (and I'm assuming the rest of the villa complex) was modern and posh looking. Most of the clients were white people except for us and a couple of Asians here and there. We wondered if the people are the restaurant were all guests of the villa.

For drinks we had lemon-orange squash, beer, and pineapple and apple drink. The drinks were nice. For food we ordered five things: a beef salad, crispy Szechwan chicken, black pepper beef with snow pea, green beans, shiitaki mushroom, onions, and pepper, pad thai, and stir-fry squid dish. Rice didn't come with the dishes so we ordered those separately (3). I don't know why but the waitress brought out the rice when she served the salad even though we wanted everything to come out at once since we were eating family-style. She said something about how rice would get cold on the plate, which is odd considering we all know how to keep rice warm.

All the dishes were surprisingly good and spicy. Bonus points for keeping the raw bean sprouts on the side for the pad thai because two of our group can't eat raw sprouts. Pad thai tasted appropriately pad thai with good amount of meat, tofu, and sauce. The squid was surprisingly soft and you can break apart the meat with a slight stroke of the fork. The crispy chicken with a bit of the dipping salt was excellent. Most of the chicken was juicy and the skin crispy. The beef dish would have been better if they actually had more beef. We had trouble finding the beef among all the vegetables. The menu advertised the dish as having shiitaki mushroom but the actual dish didn't have shiitaki; instead, it was "wooden ear." At least the change in mushroom didn't make the dish taste bad or anything. The very dim candle light did not help our cause either. The taste of the dish was spicy and delicious. The beef was surprisingly tender and juicy, but minus points for not having enough beef.

Overall we were quite surprised by the quality of the food, but we had a huge sticker shock when the bill arrived. 840,000 Rp for four of us and only five relatively small dishes (four dishes and one salad). Just as shocking was the 15,000 Rp/rice. Rice should NOT cost that much in Bali. Beef, chicken, and the squid were all around 120,000 to 150,000 each, and the beef dish was definitely not worth that much considering how little beef was there. The drinks were around 30,000 to 50,000 Rp each. With that kind of price, I rather go to Warisan.

I liked the food, but the price is a big turn off. I don't know how they justify the price because most ingredients for Thai food shouldn't be super expensive. I can see the beef being expensive especially if it's imported, but as I said many times already, there wasn't enough beef in the dishes to justify the price of the dish. The service was all right but nothing spectacular. Compound that with seeing the chef or manager fawning over the next table over the entire time while ignoring rest of the guests, it just didn't seem very cool.

As I have said in the past, I don't mind spending money on good food, but the value seemed lacking in this case. A common symptom I see with many of the new restaurants in the Seminyak area.

Kowloon (Review)

Last night we checked out the new Cantonese-style seafood restaurant Kowloon (Jl. Raya Puputan Renon, Duta Wijaya No. 15-19 in Denpasar) which is partially owned by the cook who formerly worked at Bandar Seafood. Our friend Lexo is a friend of the cook Mr. Yip so we received a special invite for food tasting. I do not know if the menu we had was a special menu or the dishes are part of the normal menu, but it was fantastic. The starter was seafood and tofu soup and while I'm not a fan of squids and similar seafood, the soup was great. It was light yet full of flavors and the seafood and the tofu were perfectly cooked. The seafood remained tender while the tofu kept its form. Wid said that you're not a Hong Kong chef if you can't cook tofu. Hehe.

I also liked the addition of nori seaweed which gave the soup an extra flavor dimension. First surprise of the night was green bean. It wasn't any ordinary green bean. It was coated with deep-fried, spiced flour coating and mixed with cabbage and other things. It was spicy but not hot. The black pepper beef was good but not spectacular like the rest of the menu. Fish in a sweet and sour sauce was nice. The fish was tender and juicy. The stuffed chicken (with mushroom, carrots, etc.)with steamed broccoli was excellent. The crayfish deep-fried had a good flavor but the cray fish was tiny so it was hard to pick out all the meats. A turtle dish was also on the menu, but I didn't have any of it since I feel bad for the turtle.

The bit surprise of the night for me (and probably no one else) was the last vegetable dish. When it first came out, I thought it looked very familiar and I had a feeling that it was my favorite vegetable in the whole wide world. I have given up looking for it here. When I tasted the dish, I immediately knew I was right--it was 絲瓜 (loofah). Honey said that she's found the gourd in the local supermarket Tiara so now I'll be hunting this vegetable down. Now I just need to find its Indonesian name. The 絲瓜 was stir-fried with soy sauce and garlic, and it just tasted heavenly.

The service was quite good, and the food came out surprisingly fast. I think we spent more time waiting for our friends to show up than eating. I was surprised that the food didn't taste anything like the menu at Bandar Seafood, but it really shows Mr. Yip's versatility. This is definitely the best Cantonese food in Bali, and I have a feeling we'll be frequenting this place very regularly.

Perth Highlights

Feeling rather lazy with posting here so I'll just write about the culinary highlights of our Perth trip. We actually didn't get to try as many things as we wanted because of time constraint. Also, having a father in law who's not keen on walking or taking a taxi and staying in a city that shuts down at 5:30 PM rather limited our choices.

My friend Maru was a student in Perth and she gave us some really awesome suggestions. We were able to check out two of the places. First is the Korean BBQ place Arirang at 91-93 Barrack Street in CBD. Wid and I went there two nights straight. First time we tried the kalbi with sliced onions that came on one of those sizzling hot plates as well as chapchi. Chapchi had nice mushroomy, meaty flavor and the noodles were cooked to perfection. The kalbi had good flavor, but it was too oily and some of the meat was still uncooked. Later in our trip we returned and decided to order enough meats so we can use the bbq. That turned out to be an excellent decision. We were able to cook it to the way we liked. The kalbi was fantastic and so was the bulgogi. The sets came with ample vegetable dishes as well as rice and soup. We also tried the chocolate fondue. The dessert tasted good but I was hoping the chocolate was less watery.

We also checked out Saigon Cafe and Noodle Restaurant on 101 James Street in Northbridge. The setting reminded me of Pho Pasteur in Boston Chinatown, but the food was just as lovely. We both ordered the vermicelli with grilled meat and spring roll. The dish was really fresh and refreshing. While it's not as awesome as vermicelli from Pho Pasteur, it's still much better than anything we can ever find in Bali. Next day for lunch we brought Wid's parents and Wid's mom's distant relatives to the place. Unfortunately the relatives aren't much of food lovers but we managed to enjoy ourselves. The stir-fried dishes (fried rice and peppered beef) reminded me more of Chinese food, but it tasted pretty good. The pho was lovely. I love the mung bean milkshake. I think it has a hint of coconut, but it wasn't too much to be too distracting. The owner or manager came over and talked with us. He invited us to come to the restaurant again and he'll cook Indonesian specials. Haha. We didn't have a change to try out another Korean restaurant that my friend recommended. It was Seoul on Williams Street. Maybe next time if we ever go back again.

There were tons of Korean and Vietnamese restaurants and some of them were super packed every night. One we checked out was Little Seoul at 536 Hay Street. We ordered a bibimbap for Wid's parents to take back to the hotel. I wonder what they thought of the dish.

We wanted to check out fish and chips in Freemantle but because of the really bad planning of the group, the only fish and chips I got was from some random stall in the Freemantle Market. It was nice and fresh but I wanted more tartar sauce. The deep fried shrimp fillet was awesome, according to Wid though.

The purpose of our trip was going to a distant relative's wedding. The western food wasn't bad, but the beef was too salty. The service was too slow. About one hour lapsed between starter and main course. The appetizers kind of sucked too because they tasted old. Desert (Jamaican chocolate ice cream with meringue) was nice though. Wines and beer were free flowing so that was awesome. Too bad no one at our table took advantage of it.

That night the bride's parents took the whole family to a fine dining Chinese restaurant. That was definitely one of the best and refined Chinese food I've had. Unfortunately, I forgot the name and location of the place, and I seemed to have misplaced the business card. The Peking duck wrapped in lotus leaf crepe was nice and I thought the use of a slightly sour sauce instead of hoisin sauce was interesting. The scallops were awesome. Fried shrimp was a hit. I loved the corn chowder with chicken and pork.

Hana Revisited

We and our friends went to Hana in Seminyak a few days ago. Once again this restaurant didn't disappoint us. It seems like a safe bet that their tuna dishes are excellent. Wid and Lexo ordered the sushi plate. Sulis and I both ordered the miso ramen (it looked a bit like the Ippin Nyukkon one). Lexo also ordered a bowl of tuna on rice and Wid got the tuna carpaccio. Wid and I had the sushi plate during our last visit, and it still pretty much tasted the same. The miso ramen was actually a bit disappointing because the noodle, while plenty, was the cheap, instant variety. The broth was delicious, garlicky and full body, but they really skimped on the toppings--one pice of sliced pork, one sheet of nori, and half an egg. Ippin Nyukkon still has the best ramen in town, hands down.

As I said in the previous paragraph, tuna dishes are a safe bet. Again the tuna was the best thing in the restaurant. The meat is tender yet firm and not a bit fishy. The tuna carpaccio had a very strong, tangy sauce that went well with the thinly sliced fish, and the tuna itself wasn't fishy at all, unlike the one at Ryoshi, which we liked also. The tuna in bowl was basically a big bowl of sushi, which consisted of sushi rice with minced raw tuna and chopped scallions. I still think their sushi rice is fantastic. It's flavorful yet not overwhelming.

Good to see that the restaurant has lovely food.

De Ka De Resto

A couple of days ago we tried out a new Indonesian restaurant called De Ka De Resto (Jl. Noja Saraswati No. 2D, Denpasar). The setting was surprisingly nice for a place that serves Indonesian food. The dining area consisted of two parts--one on the patio above the fish pond (huuuuuge kois swimming around) and the other enclosed in an air conditioned room. The food was quite nice though but I'm really not a judge of Indonesian food since I'm not a huge fan myself. The family got mostly grilled fish or various set menu. I wasn't in the mood for Indo food so Wid ordered me gado-gado, stir fried kung kong, stir fried noodle (mie Jakarta?), and rice.

The gado-gado tasted fresh, but it was drenched in sauce. I later found out that typical restaurants are very stingy with sauces so if some place serves the dish with lots of sauce, it shows the place tries to be more "luxurious." Maybe that's why Wid's mom liked my lasagna because it has lots of sauce and therefore more luxurious.

Kung kong was not bad either and they put little red beans (not azuki beans nor the red kidney beans) and chopped shrimp bits, which I thought was a bit different than the other stir fried kung kong I had before. I didn't eat much of the stir fried noodles because I'm pretty bored with mie goreng and egg noodles in general, but the others seemed to enjoyed that dish.

Portion was filling for everyone and the price was not too bad. I wouldn't mind going back to the restaurant if I'm actually in the mood for Indo food. I was definitely pleasantly surprised and impressed by the ambiance because most places that serve Indo foods are warung, shacks, or street carts with zero emphasis on the atmosphere.

Kekeluargaan (Jimbaran)

A couple of days ago Wid's parents took some guests to Jimbaran for grilled seafood. Jimbaran is known for the row of shacks selling fresh seafood on the beach. This place is quite successful because of its winning combination of beachy setting and good food. Unfortunately, Jimbaran was one of the places that was bombed in 2002 by those terrorist assholes because it is a prime tourist attraction. When we were there a few days ago, we saw a decent number of people there, which is good.

The one we frequent is the Pantai Sari Cafe, also known as Kekeluargaan ("family style"?). I'm actually not a big fan of seafood, but this is one of the few place I actually would eat a decent amount of seafood because it's so fresh and well prepared. According to Wid's parents, Taiwanese tourists like the seafood from Jimbaran, and indeed my family did like this place when we brought them there back in 2005. We ordered a nice selection of seafood: crabs (boiled and grilled), grilled white fish, fried squid in a calamari style, clams, and baby lobsters. There were shrimps available also, but I don't remember we ordering that this time. The fried squid isn't what we normally get, and Wid thinks the squid satay is better. Rice, kung kong (空心菜), and fried potato were ordered as well. The weird thing was the potato took the longest time to show up. We ended up having the mild chilli because of the guests who can't tolerate spicy food.

Wid's bro's father-in-law brought to the dinner sake and XO. It was the first time I tried XO and it was sooooo delicious and very, very smooth. It has a sweet, plum after taste, which I thought was pretty interesting.

That dinner was really nice because everyone seemed to have fun. A little band played assorted music at our request. The weather was cool and breezy.

Lanai Review 2

We finally returned to Lanai (Jalan Double Six Legian, Kuta) after many, many unforseen delays (first was CNY, then family gather, then road closed, etc.). We actually went to Lanai on the third day of its reopening back in December, but the food wasn't that great. The menu was still intact, but taste of the many of the dishes was off. For example, the salmon with risotto was so salty that even Sulis who's an Indonesian thought was salty (and Indonesians LOVE their food salty). Even the seared tuna, which I considered as one of their signature dish, wasn't perfect (too soggy). The owner apologized profusely about the food and asked for our honest opinions on the food because she cared just as much if not more about the food than us. We figured that we would give the restaurant another chance because we knew how great the food was before the accident. We thought the quality of the food was due to the new staff needing training and getting use to the kitchen/new equiptment. Since the owner is so passionate about her menu, we were sure that things will be much better.

Last night we were back at Lanai. The menu was still more or less the same, but we did notice some changes, like the salmon with risotto that we ordered the last time. It turned out the reason was that the restaurant had a hard time getting salmon. Salmon is not found in the sea surrounding Indonesia so the fish is imported... At least the seared ahi tuna was still in the starter section. We ordered a bunch of different things and shared so we could sample a bit of everything. The seared ahi tuna was of course the first thing we ordered. We also got the "killer nachoes," Philly cheesesteak sandwich, Lanai beach pizza, seefood bouillabaiss, and lasagna al forno. The service was prompt and the food came out fairly quickily.

The seard ahi tuna with green beans and wasabi was perfect again. The tuna was firm yet juicy, and the taste was just the same as pre-fire. Nachos were nice with lots of toppings (baked beans, sour cream, good salsa, cheese, etc.). The seafood pizza had good amount of toppings (like shrimp, bits of chicken, veggies), but since I'm not a big fan of seafood I'm not the person to judge that dish. It was very cheesy and the crust was nice, two things that I look for in pizza that are not found often here in Bali. Seafood bouillabaiss was tomato soup with large quantity of seafood (like shrimp and fish). The sourness of the soup complemented the seafood chunks quite nicely. The steak sandwich isn't genuine Philly cheesesteak, but, hey, I know what a good cheesesteak tastes like. The meat, cheese, and onion filling was not bad, but Lexo didn't like the bread the sandwich came in. I still think the best cheesesteak hoagie (not Philly though) is still at Broadway Cafe in Ann Arbor, but that's because the meat is bugulgi. Lasagna was cheesy and meaty and seemed to have bachmael sauce as base. It had a good flavor, but I like my own lasagna. Wid thinks that my lasagna is better than all the restaurants here. Hehehe.

For dessert we got white chocolate mousse, tiramisu slice, and creme brulee. Wid loved the white chocolate mousse and I think it tasted the same as pre-accident Lanai. Sulis thought the tiramisu tasted just like the one she got at another place in Bali. She thought it had more cream than she liked, and I guess the best tiramisu she's had is still in Australia. I guess the search goes on for her. My creme brulee was green and the flavor was different from the usual creme brulee because of some sort of sugar they used as flavoring? Even though it's different from my favorite creme brulee (creme brulee topped with fresh fruits from La Dolce Vita in Ann Arbor), the taste is still quite nice and I do like the creamy texture. Plus they did a good job caramelizing the sugar.

In the end the whole meal for the four of us cost 404,800 rp including the 10% tax and service (not making up this number). I thought the price is quite reasonable considering how much food we ordered for the four of us. I think we will finally be able to bring Wid's parents to here. Let's just hope nothing diasterous will happen to the place.

Only thing bad with last night (and it's no fault of the restaurant in anyway) was being accosted by a bum/old man thug pretending to be parking attendant. He tried to get us to give him money, but like a scrawny old man ripping our parking stub and rambling incoherently is going to intimidate us.

Warisan

Last night to celebrate my birthday, Wid took me to Kafe Warisan a French Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. We've been wanting to try this place out for months, but for various reasons we never made it there. The place is on Jl. Raya Kerobokan in Kuta. The ambiance was quite romantic and pretty, like we were in a antique store surrounded by rice paddies. There were a bit of a mosquitoe problem, but they provide some Off mosquitoe repellent for their clients.

The restaurant had an extensive wine list, but we only ordered water and a margarita. Wid liked the margarita from Bubba Gump's more because it's more slushy. For dinner Wid ordered their special of the day, which is toro tuna with fois gras and asparagus, while I ordered the duck leg confit, sauté potatoes, caramelized shallots, honey and balsamic garlic sauce as well as garlic soup with coutons and Swiss cheese and country bread. The garlic soup was surprisingly mild but still tasted of garlic. The lightness of the soup reminded me of the mushroom room recipe I got from Pepin's Fast Food My Way. The country bread was warm with crunchy crust and soft inside. The duck was crispy (skin) yet moist and tender (meat). It's a bit saltier than I liked, but it paired wonderfully with the sweetness of the sauce and the slight bitterness of the greens. Wid really enjoyed his tuna as well. The tuna was much lighter than my duck with a hint of Asian flavor.

For dessert we decided to try the sampler, which ended up a very good decision because everything was very delicious and filling. The sampler consisted of millefeuille (puff pastry with vanilla cream), crème bruleé, chocolate profiteroles (I think?), and lemon meringue tart. There were little cream puffs filled with ice cream also. Wid said the creme brulee is the first he had in Bali that actually tasted like creme brulee. I still like the one from La Dolche Vita better, but this one was very good also. I also really liked the puff pastry and the lemon tart also.

In the end the price is close to that of Ku De Ta, but we think it's worth it considering Warisan used ingredients not easily found in Bali and the dishes are actually something interesting and not commonly found in other restaurants. For the two of us, the meal was around 600,000 rp with drinks, dessert, soup, and two entrees.

For lunch I had noodles with eggs and veggies, a standard dish on birthdays for Chinese. :D

Pelangi Bali Bistrol (Review)

A few days ago for arisan we checked out the restaurant Pelangi Bali Bistro near Sunset Road. We've heard about the woes of the place, but Wid and I have never been to the restaurant. To tell the truth, we were expecting terrible food, but we were pleasantly surprised. Apparently, the original restaurant concept was European-style food, but for various reasons, they could not attract customers so they added Indonesian dishes to the menu. The restaurant seems to be suffering an identity crisis, but the food itself is actually good so it's something else that's driving the customers away.

Almost everyone got the beef strips in brown sauce with slices of herbed potato. It had some sort of German name, but its name escapes me right now. The beef used was imported beef, and the dish tasted exactly what it was supposed to be. The only complaint was the portion was too small, but at 50,000 rp per plate for imported beef, it was not too bad. I had the pork chop with fetticcini in mushroom sauce. The pork was tender (a smidge dry but still tasted good). The mushroom sauce was rich and creamy, full of flavor, and the pasta was cooked al dente. I thought my dish was quite generous in portion because I was very full in the end. The pork ribs cost around 42,000 rp. Other people got ribs and rump steak, but they didn't seem so keen on those dishes. The Indonesian dishes were quite good, according to others; I think they usually pick selections from the Indonesian part of the menu in previous visits to the place. I think the Indo dishes are much cheaper than the western dishes (6000 rp and up).

For dessert Wid and I tried the brownie sundae for 18,000 rp. The brownie seemed a bit stale because it was quite dry, but it actually tasted like a brownie, unlike the poor excuses of brownies that I've seen here so far.

Wid commented that if the atmophere was better, they could attract more people because the food is much better than some of the restaurants we tried recently (the ones I ranted about in a previous post).

Ippin Nyukon

Yesterday, while everyone else went fishing, for lunch Wid and I went to Ippin Nyukon in Kuta because I've been craving ramen (been watching too many Japanese shows on Asian Food Channel). The funny thing about Ippin Nyukon is the sign says "Chinese restaurant" but it's more like a Japanese's take on Chinese food so it doesn't taste like the Chinese food that I grew up with. Our fellow food lover friends brought us here for the first time months ago, and they were introduced to the place by their Japanese expat friend. When we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by the waitresses and the person we assumed to be the chef/owner, who reminds me of Inoue Takehiko because of the bandana and the beard.

Instead of sticking to our plan of sharing a bowl of ramen and some appetizer (the pan fried gyoza with red vinegar is really, really good), Wid was intrigued by the mapo tofu so we ended up getting the mapo tofu lunch set and a bowl of noodles with slices of roasted pork (叉燒麵). It ended up being a very delicious yet very filling decision since the meals are unusually generous in portion.

The noodle soup was excellent as usual with its very thick, flavorful broth, juicy chunks of roasted pork, seaweed, seasame, chopped scallions, and an soft boiled egg. What was surprising was the mapo tofu. The taste is very different from the mapo tofu that Wid makes, yet it was very delicious. The hint of sweetness is one of the distinctive features. The dish consisted of rice (which soaked up the sauce nicely), tofu, minced meat, white pepper, and chopped scallions. I wondered if it's only sugar that made the dish sweet or it's something else, like tian mian jian, because the sweetness is pretty complex.

We were so full that we couldn't eat dinner though it was well worth it. The noodles and the mapo tofu were soooo good.

Massimo and the Ravioli

Last night the entire family invited our doctor friend and his family to dinner at the Italian restaurant Massimo in Sanur. We've gone there quite a few times in the past few months already because the food is just as good, if not better, than the more expensive The Village, which is just down the street from this restaurant. Apparently, Massimo, the chef and owner of the restaurant, was the chef of The Village before he took all of his recipes and opened his own place. This restaurant has very good value because the price is very, very reasonable and the food is very good. Oh, the complementary fried dough and super thin bread sticks are always good and fun!

Last night we ordered tons and tons of food (from appetizer all the way to gelato). Many were very good, but I'll just mention what I ordered instead to save some space in the blog. For appetizer we shared salmon on toast (I think they were calling that bruscetta but it's not really), pizza, caesar salad, and sausage with blobs of ricotta on toast. Wid and I had the salmon on toast before and it was really fresh and full of salmon flavor. Caesar salad was surprisingly light because it's not drenched in dressing. My favorite part of the salad was actually the thin slices of parmacean cheese. The sausage and ricotta on toast wasn't that awesome because they kind of skimp on the sausage. I'm not a big fan of ricotta anyway. The pizza was good, and we expected to be good because when I saw the cooks making the pizza at the front of the restaurant, they put generous portion of quality cheese on top. This is something you don't very often in Indo. Most of the cheese sold here are tasteless, smelly (in a bad way) crap.

For entree, I ordered the spinach and ricotta filled ravioli in tomato sauce. I was pleasantly surprised by the dish because the huge amount of spinach stuffed in each of the ravioli. Each bite was so full of spinach flavor that I think they made the mixture and stuffed the ravioli right before cooking it. I would definitely get this dish again.

For dessert I got the strawberry gelato. It was almost like a sorbet. The taste was decent, but it had a strange after taste. I think the other flavor I tried in a previous time was much better (chocolate kiss).

Overall we all ate way too much but everyone seemed to have a good time.

DC Eats

Wid and I just returned from our trip Washington, D.C. The main purpose of our trip was to visit bro and his gf and our buddy Andy, but we did get a chance to check out a bunch of Smithsonian museums that we missed the last time we were in town.

Wid went all gaga over the new Air and Space Museum (Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center), but it was quite the trek getting over to Dulles Airport and then to the museum because the Smithsonian no longer offer shutters between the two museums (due to lack of money?). Still, the long trip to and back from the Center was worth it, and we thoroughly enjoyed the free (2-hours!) tour. We learned a great deal and I'm curious to learn more about some of the planes. We also managed to catch a free tour at the Freer Gallery (lots of really cool Asian arts and the famous Peacock Room) and heard the sad story of why the gallery no longer have locks on their lockers (Damn homeless bums taking advantage of the "free" storage and then the staff have to break off to lock to open the door. Now they don't have any money to get new lockers). We also checked out the National Portrait Gallery as well as their special conservation center.

Something semi-related to food... While waiting for the shuttle to the museum, Wid and I grabbed some food at the Dulles airport. While enjoying our chowders, we saw a police with a huge ass German Shepard. The dog was sitting like a good boy, but with his ears perked up his attention was focused on the counter as if he's anticipating something. Next minute waitress came from behind the counter to meet the dude and the dog and in her hands was a sub. She broke up the sandwich into large chunks, and the dog, eagerly jumping on his hind legs, snatched up the food. It's kind of cool that this German Shepard is a well-behaved, working dog, yet he's still a dog, happy to get a meaty treat.

We checked out some notable restaurants during our trip. We took the Chinatown bus to DC on Wednesday, and after we checked in with bro's gf, we headed back to Chinatown for some good, cheap eats. Bro's gf recommended Full Kee on 509 H St., NW, which turned out to be a Cantonese style restaurant. There were lots of customers even at around 1 PM. The ambiance is typical small Chinese restaurant, but we were not there for the ambiance. I got porridge with lean pork and thousand year old eggs while Wid got beef brisket with vegetables on rice. We also got wonton soup and hot and sour soup. The soups weren't very impressive but the main dishes were very good. The portion was very generous and the price was very, very affordable ($4.50/plate). We were so stuffed by the time we finished lunch. We were amazed by how fast the waitresses worked from table to table.

We had a bit of a misadventure finding the place where bro and his gf were staying currently, but eventually we found the apartment. For dinner, they took us to a Greek restaurant that was highly recommended by their food-lover friend. Our friend Andy joined us for dinner. Taverna Cretekou at 818 King Street in Alexandria, VA, located in a charming brick building, had a very cute ambiance with reproduction of Minoan frescos (like the ones you seen in Crete and Thera). We went out to the garden because the night was cool. Four of us ordered the "Taverna Cretekou Special" which is "a Combination of Traditional Greek Dishes Including Moussaka, Pastitsio, Dolmades, Soudsoukakia and Spanakopita. My favorites were the spanakopita and the pastitsio. Soudsoukakia was basically a slightly sour meatball. Dolmades had too much rice for my taste, but it was ok. Bro's gf got a chicken dish which looked delicious with the very fresh, colorful vegetables. For dessert, I had the Crema Lemoniou Me Stafili Glyko which was Lemon Cream Flan Topped with Grape Preserves. Supposedly it's from their "ancient Greek menu" and it was very light and flavorful, like a light version of a lemon cheesecake. Andy had the creme caramel, and bro and his gf got the baklava. The dishes were fairly price at around $20 per plate, but the food was so good that I think it's worth it. Food, service, and ambiance were all excellent.

It was really nice to hear Greek again, and I have to say the food was the most authentic Greek food I've had outside of Greece. I do have a very high expectation when it comes to Greek food because when I worked as an archaeologist, we had nothing but homecooked meals by the local women, and then when we were traveling most of the taverna served wonderful and fresh dishes.

More on other DC eats for another day...

Palo Alto Eats

Wid and I arrived in US last Friday after a hellish long trip. We were in the Palo Alto area for a few days to attend our friends' wedding. It was awesome seeing a bunch of my old friends, and it was like a mini MIT/Ashdown reunion. The food at the reception was some of the best food I had at a wedding. Wid and I had the beef which was way too big to finish, but it was nice that they provided a nice, hardy portion so no one would go home hungry. The wedding cake was great, and according to someone, it was from some Chinese bakery. The light spongy white cake topped with whipped cream frosting went well with the chocolate covered strawberries.

While we were at PA, we got our fill of food that we missed being away from US. One surprising good restaurant was the hotel's Pool Side Grill, which served "California cuisine." We checked out the restaurant the night we arrived because we were super jet lagged. Wid had the crab cake, which by itself was ok, but when combined with the sauce (some sort of tangy tomato sauce?), the crab cake because something extraordinary. I had the onion soup, which, while different from the usual French onion soup (one of my fav soups), was a bit tangy yet quite delicious with the large chunk of soggy french bread and the Gruyère cheese. I also ordered the chicken quesadilla with generous amount of salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. I really forgot how big American portion is, but I shared the main entree with Wid so we managed to finish it. Hahaha. The best part was the dessert. We saw the guys next table over with large blob of something in little glass cups. We asked the waiter wht it was and he said lemon sorbet. We were so intrigued by it, we decided to order two portions. The container that held the sorbet was actually a big hollowed out lemon, and the entire concoction was frozen before served to the customer. We marveled at the size of the lemon ("how the hell did they find lemons that big" was a question on everyone's mind, including our friends), but the sorbet itself was light yet very flavorful. In some ways it was like eating frozen lemonade but smoother.

Saturday we found ourselves in the middle of the Art and Wine (where's the wine?!) Festival on University Ave. For breakfast we grabbed some bagels and soups. I missed the good old bagels from Collegetown Bagels at Cornell.... My favorite combo was a toasted sesame bagel with copious amount of cream cheese and a hot chocolate made with steamed milk and topped with whipped cream. No such luck at this bagel place because they didn't serve any hot drinks except coffee. The place was packed and it took us 15 minutes of wait to get our 2 cups of soup and a toasted bagel with cheese. Needless to say, I wasn't super impressed by the service (they need better organization/assembly line). We checked out the fair and then we went to the Palo Alto Shopping Center where tons of posh stores were located. We finally found an outlet adapter after 2 days of search, and we got a bit of a lunch at a packed restaurant (Palo Alto Creamery?) where I got a cranberry salad (spring mix with dried cranberries, blue cheese, and sweetly roasted walnuts) and Wid got a hot dog and fries. We were very unimpressed by the "healthy" french fries. French fries should be fried, not oven baked. The texture was all mealy and there's no favor. The milkshakes were great though--full of fresh flavor, creamy, and thick.

After roaming a bit, we crashed back at the hotel. Closer to dinner time, our friends Andy and Quentin came to pick us up and we headed to our friends' pre-wedding BBQ. Met Anne and Joe's families, ate lots of food, caught up with some old frends, and overall had a good time. The best food was the super fresh, very sweet, white corns. We told Andy and Quentin about the lemon sorbet and they were so tempted that we went back to the hotel to get some of that dessert. We also tried the orange sorbet (also in a large hollowed out orange), but I think the lemon one is still better.

Sunday we met up with another MIT alum who's living in the SF area. We were supposed to meet Vince in SF, but Vince talked us out of it, warning us of traffic congestions and all. It was a very wise decision because by the time we met up with Vince and Andy's two non-MIT friends, it was already about 3 hours before the wedding. We jokingly said that we couldn't be late for the wedding or else the bride will kill us. Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Good stuff as always but the waiter messed up all our orders. Boo. I wanted an eggs florentine but instead I got eggs benedict with just bacon. At least Wid got his Kobe burger, which was mighty tasty...

I mentioned about the food at the reception so I'm not going to repeat myself.

Looks like this entry is too long already so my report on food in Pennsylvania will have to be written later.

Ma Jolie in Kuta

Sunday night we met up with Sulis and Lexo for dinner. Because of them we have been introduced to new eateries. This time we tried Ma Jolie, which is supposed to be a French restaurant, situated right on the beach in Kuta. The place looks like the typical villa/international restaurant that are popping up everywhere, and the price is a bit below Ku De Ta in Nusa Dua (i.e. expensive by local standard). We had the very nice seating right next to the beach, but since we were there for dinner, we did not have the chance to see the ocean view. The cool breeze was refreshing though.

The menu consisted of French (supposedly) as well as Italian dishes, with focus on seafood and lamb. I ordered the fettuccini with smoked salmon and capers in cream sauce. Wid got the three fish dish with a bit of pasta in cream sauce and steamed vegetables. Sulis had the seafood pasta in red sauce. Lexo ordered the lamb, but since I didn't get a good look at his dish, I can't give a full description here. I was actually interested in the beef roll, but since I wanted to try the dessert also, I opted to get the fettuccini instead (cheaper and hopefully less rich). We received complementary mini apeptizer in forms of bite size pizza and clam cooked in some sort of vegetable red sauce (one piece/one clam per person). Soft, fresh buns and slices of bread with butter were served while we waited for our entry. Wid really enjoyed his three fish dish, but he liked my pasta even more. The sauce was surprisingly light for a cream sauce with good flavor. The caper and smoked salmon might have been a bit too overwhelming in saltiness, but they do compliment the sauce pretty well. The portion for the pasta dishes was perfect for me and Sulis, but the portion of the meat dishes was a bit much for the guys. Still, overall, the portion at this restaurant is about the same as most restaurants that serve this kind of food. For dessert I ordered cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with melted chocolate. The size of the dessert was surprisingly large so Wid and I shared the dessert.

The bill came to around 160k Rp per person, including the service charge , and most of the cost did come from the entry. Pasta dishes cost about 60-70k Rp each while the price of the meat dishes ranged from 100k to 180k Rp. I did not check the price of apepetizers but I expected that the cost is about the same as the desserts (around 40k). The food was quite satisfying and delicious, but, like I said before, the place is more expensive than what locals usually go for. Overall, the view is good, the restaurant is clean, the staff is friendly and fast, and the food is quite good even if it's expensive. Not a bad place for a romantic dinner.

One final note: While the dishes we tried that night were delicious, it might not mean all the dishes are good. The last time Wid came to this restaurant, he did not like the dish at all so there might be differences in quality from dish to dish.

Ox Tail Soup

Last night while Wid's mom had her arisan (gathering of her housewive friends) at the house, we ran off to the local restaurant near our house for some yummy ox tail soup. When we asked Wid's dad if he wanted any of the soup, he thought for a second and replied yes even though he already had his dinner. The first time I had Indonesian ox tail soup or sop buntu was here a couple years ago during my first visit to Bali. To this day the soup from this small restaurant is still my favorite. The soup has been slow cooked with chopped up ox tail, various spices coloring the soup orange, shallots, and some sort of green leaves (mint or celantro?). It's been cooked for so long that the soup is actually thickened and the meat falls off the bones so easily. To eat the dish, you squeeze a bit of lime juice and add a bit of chili sambal, and then spoon some of the soup over a bowl of rice. Normally we also get the Indonesian salad called gado-gado, but since I'm not very hungry, Wid just ordered a side of fried tofu. Each of us also ordered a nice glass of hot red tea to warm the throat and wash down the food. It's not as awesome as the Kintamani wood stove tea, but it was still nice.

In the end we saved the bones for the doggies (and take a new order of the soup home for Wid's dad). :3

Hana in Seminyak

We tried Hana (花) in Seminyak last night. Our friends recommended this Japanese restaurant with the note that their sushi is quite good. Apparently the tonkatsu is good too, but we didn't order it this time. The place is two-storey. The place is tiny and tastfully decorated with flowers and flower motifs to reflect the name of the place. The waitresses were wearing traditional Indonesian dress.

For appetizer, we had gyoza filled with pork and leek, slices of seared tuna with scallots, lemon, and celantro, goma-ai (spinach with sesame dressing) and pan fried egg plant in sauce. Gyoza itself was not bad but the dipping sauce was too salty for my taste. The seared tuna was quite good but it's really not Japanese; more like fusion food with the addition of scallots and celantro. The taste is light and not fishy. The sesame dressing is too sweet for our taste (like eating dessert instead of salad), but we liked the idea of it being chilled. The egg plant has a hint a sweetness with complemented with the sauce (looked and tasted like dipping sauce for tempura or agadashi tofu except with addition of chopped scallions and ginger) nicely.

Dinner consisted of sushi plate with extra orders of tamago, tuna, and siro (white marlin), some sort of stirred fried pork, and tempura udon. The pork didn't have as much flavor as I hoped. The tempura udon tasted like the usual dish that we get at the other places. I noticed the tempura batter is too brittle. I think the restaurant uses all corn starch instead of soft flour or tempura flour. The best part of the dinner is the sushi. The plate has a nice selection of sushi like shrimp, tuna, siro, tamago, squid (?), and another white fish, but for the four of us, it was definitely a good idea that we ordered the extra sushi. The best one was the tuna and in the end I ordered another 2 portions (4 pieces total). The fish itself didn't taste or smell fishy at all, and I can easily bite into the fish. The rice has a hint of sweetness that complemented the fish. The sushi is smaller than most restaurants' but it looked well crafted and quite tasty.

In the end the price came to around 100,000 rupiah per person, more pricey than our favorite Japanese restaurant. I would go there again for the sushi which is definitely a step better than most places. As for other dishes, I think other places has about the same quality food at a cheaper price. The menu is smaller than most places. I was surprised that they didn't even have croquettes. At least there are a few more unusual dishes along with the rather standard affair.