Surabaya Gourmet: La Rucola

Tagliata ristretto Chianti with spinach and mashed potatoes

Unlike the Italian economy and Italian politics, Italian food has not lost any popularity in recent years. Quite the contrary, Italian food seems to be defending successfully its title as the most popular and universally liked food in the world (even though competition is tough – e.g. sushi, dim sum, etc. …Indonesian food would probably also be in this list if it had better marketing). In Surabaya, the number one (authentic) address to get your pizza & pasta fix has long been La Rucola. Today there are a few more options (like Antica Osteria) but we think that La Rucola is still one of the best places to enjoy Italian food in a dolce vita atmosphere (there are some things to consider though – read on). The restaurant itself is a nice place with a warm, Italian inspired interior. It is recommended to bring a dictionary for the menu. The names of most dishes are in Italian and there are not many explanations.

Unfortunately, the service has gotten worse recently. There have been rumors that new places like Domicile and 1903 hired good staff from La Rucola. We waited comparatively long until the waiter took our order and probably 45 minutes again until our main dishes arrived. But thanks to the free grissini (bread sticks) and pesto, we didn’t have to starve. And waiting is part of the Italian lifestyle anyway. When Italians need to get personal administrative stuff done (like getting a new passport), they get a day off at work because Italian bureaucracy is so chaotic and slow and they have to wait in line for almost forever. Sounds familiar? :-D

At La Rucola we ate Tagliata ristretto Chianti (around 130k), Duo di tagliate ristretto Barolo, Pizza Margherita (40k), Beef Stroganoff (170k) and salad with smoked salmon (no, we didn’t eat all this by ourselves…we came with friends). Both the tagliate Chianti & Barolo were delicious. The sauces are special and probably something you haven’t tried before. Chianti and Barolo are both Italian red wines. We don’t really drink wine (me because I don’t like the taste and Carlo because wine is too expensive in Indonesia), but the wine taste is not strong (alcohol evaporates when being cooked) and the sauces as well as the sides are very delicious! The salad with smoked salmon was nice, we were not very happy with the pizza margherita though. It had too little tomato sauce and was too white. The beef stroganoff was not really good either. It looked (and to some extent also tasted) like Chinese food. We still haven’t found any good combination of Chinese and Italian food. So if you eat meat at La Rucola, better order tagliata (filet) just to make sure ;-) .

We also spoke with the owner of the restaurant. He’s a nice guy and makes a lot of effort to satisfy his customers. We are wondering if he is really Italian because he spoke German (my native language) like a native. But the Italian names of the dishes in the menu are correct so at least he speaks Italian well. He gave us another portion of free grissini because we had to wait so long for our meals. He also gave us free mozzarella cheese, the real one (this may have positively influenced our review :D ). We have been trying to find real mozzarella (the white one, swimming in liquid) in supermarkets in Surabaya but there is no. Maybe in Bali :-)

Conclusion: Still one of the best authentic Italian restaurants in Surabaya. Just make sure to stay away from any diced meat or meat cut in small pieces because there is a chance that it will be like Chinese food. And bring some patience.