TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Looking at the portion of grilled ribs at the HolyRibs will distract us from the beef rare availability currently hitting the country. The beef in one portion is extra royal. Backribs, for example, weighs up to 1 kilograms with bone:meat ratio 50:50. It means that we can eat half kilogram of beef in one serving.
Wagyu Shortribs is another example that weighs 900 gram per portion. The rib is made of meat from near the chest cavity where meat-bone proportion is up to 80:20. So, there is around 720 grams of meat on the wide plate.
Jumbo size is indeed become a mainstay at the HolyCow chain restaurant that was opened on July this year. It is located on JL. Panglima Polim V, South Jakarta.
“We are aiming for men market,” said Afit Dwi Purwanto, the owner of the business group as written by Koran Tempo on September 6.
“That’s why it is large portions.”
Around 20 minutes after we ordered, my 900-gram Wagyu Shortribs landed on the table. The thick shiny meat wrapped 30-cm rib bone. I did not use the available knife because the meat was easily scraped using fork. Cool people call it ‘fork tender’.
The ribs’ tenderness is resulted from slow cooking for 10 to 12 hours.
“The beef that we serve today was cooked since last night,” Afit revealed the secret.
That is why all cooks season ribs before it is grilled. Every night, HolyRibs kitchen braises more than 20 kilograms of ribs up to 20 hours.
"So that the seasonings only half left."
"This slow cooking makes the beef fall off the bone."
The cheapest main menu available at HolyRibs is 450-gram Prime Backribs (Rp85,000) and the most expensive is the 900-gram Wagyu Shortribs (Rp335,000). All prices are subjected to 10 percent sale tax and 2.5 percent service fee.
With such price range, HolyRibs determines itself as an economy-class restaurant in Jakarta. There are other restaurants that sell ribs above and below the price range offered by HolyRibs.
Because of its young age, HolyRibs only open starting from 17:00 to 22:00 on weekdays and until 23:00 on weekends. The restaurant, however, is looking to open earlier at lunch soon.
REZA MAULANA