Indonesia and World Tourism News

From the outside, Jakarta Indonesian Restaurant looks just like any other eating place squeezed between two other bistros in New Farm’s trendy Brunswick Street.

But once inside this casual dining mecca, with its traditional Indonesian décor, I couldn’t help feeling that I was on holiday in Indonesia. The rich smell of herbs and spices permeated the restaurant and the Indonesian music in the background added to the relaxed ambience of the evening.

The restaurant was bustling with activity catering for the usual Friday crowd. Some diners were enjoying a drink or two of bintang , an Indonesian beer, and others were happily digging into a mixed entrée of lumpia (spring rolls), pangsit goreng (minced chicken and prawn wrapped in thin pastry, served with sweet and sour sauce), bakwan udang (vegetable and prawn fritters in peanut sauce) and perkedel kentang (potato and corned beef fritters).

Jakarta Indonesian Restaurant offers a diverse range of authentic Indonesian cuisine featuring popular dishes from Bali, Java, Sunda, Pandang and other provinces in Indonesia.

While the menu is written in Indonesian, each of the dishes is described in English to ensure easy selection from the à la carte menu or the banquet  which is a popular choice for groups. Otherwise, the staff are more than happy to explain the dishes and help you with your selection.

For entrées, we ordered the popular pangsit goreng  a combination of chicken and prawn shaped into a dumpling  and sayur asam , a traditional spicy and sour vegetable soup. The entrée portions were just enough to whet our tastebuds before our main meals.

For mains, we chose the Nasi Goreng istimewa (a sumptuous rice dish topped with prawns, two skewers of chicken satay and a sunny side-up egg) and Ayam Bumbu Bali , a rice dish from the province of Bali made with spicy chicken and fresh vegetables. The meals were served on petite plates, but were deceivingly substantial and rich with flavour that is distinctly Indonesian.

Overall, our dining experience was excellent and the service was good. With dishes priced between $3 and $17, this is one restaurant that definitely won’t break the budget.

Jakarta Indonesian Restaurant is at 2/702 Brunswick Street, New Farm and is open for dinners only from Tuesday to Sunday from 5.30pm. It is licensed (BYO wine only) with a seating capacity of 100 indoor and outdoor. There is a small undercover car park, otherwise street parking is an alternative.

For reservations, call (07) 3358 5716 , or visit www.jakarta.com.au for more details.