TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A parquet floor with wooden motive is stretched in front of Demenu, an Indonesian food restaurant located on the 3A floor of East Mall of Grand Indonesia, Jakarta. The alternately vertical-horizontal arranged bricks on the facade of the restaurant matches the floor’s pattern.
The restaurant also has 12 windows with glass panels that have black frames. The glasses are decorated with writings such as "The Speciality of the House”, “Authentic”, “Bistro”, “Original Indonesian Recipe”, and other pictures such as old telephone and kitchen wares. These 1.2x0.5-meters glass panels were meant to cover the kitchen located in the most frontpart of the restaurant.
The main dining room inside is smaller than the one outside.
“It is smaller because it is a smoking area,” said Bahar, the waiter in the Demenu.
The restaurant was not too crowded that day. There were around eight guests in the smoke-free room. Mostly were just middle-aged women and young executives who seemed to have a meeting. Inside, there were four visitors finishing their lunch in a hurry.
“The peak hours are at lunch times and Friday nights,” said Bahar.
The inner room can accommodate around 30 to 35 persons whereas the outer part can accommodate around 40 to 45 persons. Because of its spacious place, the restaurant often used for meetings or reunions of a big family.
Guests can try the social gathering package (arisan) for Rp75,000 per person. The price is much lower than if taking a la carte orders at around Rp30,000 to Rp100,000 per person.
“The arisan package can be ordered by a group of fifteen members,” said Bahar.
Various Indonesian cow ribs cooking become Demenu’s signature dish. However, there are also other options such as fried rice and Padang Martabak. The latter is a right choice of appetizer. The beef was savory and tender because it was mixed with spices usually used in Padang foods. Although it came in a small portion of three pieces of martabak for Rp22,000, the taste really worth the price.
The beef packed up the crisp wrapper with meat. The rendang seasoning used to stick the beef was well-absorbed and perfectly combined with martabak broth.
The broth was made of garlic, vinegar, palm sugar, and Javan tamarind juice. There were slices of onions and chili swimming in the broth, that added savoriness. It also left a bit of sweet taste on the tongue. Three pieces of such delicious martabak was just not enough.
Other appetizer that was offered by Demenu is the unique and Betawi-Arabic distinctive Lacy Bread with Curry Broth. Like typical lacy breads, the dish includes cardamom as one of the spices. Demenu handled the strong aromatic cardamom by mixing it with chicken broth. The result was savory at the beginning, but turned to sour when the bread was munched.
The texture of the lacey bread was unusually sticky similar to an egg roll. Making such kind of texture is no easy work. The liquid dough have to be poured little by little on a not-too-hot pan until it dried, then make the other pour in a crossing pattern.
For the main dish, Konro Soup and Pindang can be an option. Both menu include ribs. The taste of the Konro Soup was plain common. The broth was too soupy, sweet, and watery. The ribs were still hard to chew.
However, the dish came in with a large portion that at least three people needed to finish it. The soup that is priced at Rp68,000 has three thickgiant ribs in one bowl. There were also salted egg and crackers served as the side dish that for me it was not the right match. The dish tasted better after the green sambal added into the broth.
The Pindang Iga presented a unique flavor. Unlike typical fish dishes, the dish left an excessive sweet flavor once the meat was swallowed. Fortunately, the soup had lemon basils and chili to keep the pindang fish flavor in its place.
As a desert, I ordered Jejongkong Kelapa Muda, which is a type of porridge served with sugar palm, pandan leaves water, and young coconut. The pandan aroma plus the tender texture of the porridge was a mouth-watering combination. At least, the desert could erase my disappointment of the earlier konro soup that tasted like rawon.
CHETA NILAWATY