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  

Carpentier Kitchen

While the hipster trend seems to be less common as compared to some time ago, there are still many hipster places, even in Surabaya. One of them is Carpentier Kitchen. The café maybe not so much, but the store in front of it seems to be quite hipster (although we never fully understood what makes a place or a person truly ‘hipster’). On a quiet weekday evening we decided to go to Carpentier Kitchen for dinner and pretend to be hipsters by wearing our big glasses and bringing our books.

We didn’t really see the shop (I spent way too much money that month, so I have to stay away from any shopping opportunity). The café is behind the shop, it is a bit hidden. The way it was designed is very romantic and playful, there are vintage chairs and a lot of plants which create a cozy atmosphere and a nice background for photos (the light is not good though). Service was normal, and we liked their cute plates :-) .

For dinner, Carlo had Carpentier’s Ultimate Burger (48K) and I chose Fettuccine Cream Sauce à la Carpentier (38K, with chicken). Apart from the pancakes, there are almost no vegetarian meals. I generally don’t really like meat so I had a hard time to choose my meal until the waitress suggested replacing the meat with broccoli (price stayed the same). So far so good. 

1903 Society Complex

Molten Chocolate Cake

It has been quiet on the blog for a while. This is not because we are tired to review restaurants or because we spend our time watching the World Cup or because we are broke (well, almost :D ). It is because I went back to Europe for the holidays. But there is nothing to worry about – before I left Surabaya, Carlo and I tried a lot of restaurants and we will publish the reviews in the next few weeks. I will be back in Surabaya in October :) . 

The restaurant we tried on my last evening was 1903 at Society Complex. You have probably already heard of it – Society Complex is a new location in Jalan Sumatera and also home to Historica Coffee & Pastry (see our review here) and a bar which hadn’t opened yet when we were there. 1903 is a fine dining kind of restaurant so make sure to bring your good dress or shirt and some more money (see prices on the menu list below) :-) . 1903’s interior is dominated by the colours white and black and it is slightly vintage. The atmosphere is a bit “cold”, maybe they could put some pictures on the wall to create a warmer and more comfortable atmosphere? The room was also cold in a literal sense, it was über-airconditioned (so Ladies, bring your vests or better yet, order an alcoholic cocktail :D ). Our table was too big for only us two and we haven’t really seen smaller tables. So if you go to 1903 on your first date, it is fine because you will sit not too near to each other. But if are on your fifth date and your relationship is already close, the big tables will not really create a very romantic atmosphere. The place would be great for a vintage themed party with Venetian masks or Great Gatsby attire. 

Kayu

Grill Salmon Sushi

Our dinner at Kayu proved to be a very nice ending to the birthday of our friend S (Happy Birthday again :-) ). It took us some time to find a parking lot because there were two wedding parties going on in Srijaya building. There was valet service but we are too stingy to pay for valet :D . Kayu is at the 5^th floor of Srijaya building. Accidentally, we went to a different floor at first (bad sense of orientation combined with bad indication), the floor where one of the two weddings was going on. For a moment, we were tempted to crash the wedding party but then decided not to because we were too hungry already!

Kayu is a very nice and cozy restaurant. The interior consists of a lot of wooden elements which create a quiet and warm atmosphere. Kayu really has soul. It is hard to explain what ‘having soul’ means for a place but if it was a person, he would be honest, true to himself and not trying to be someone else or faking something. We haven’t found a list of criteria yet which determine if a place has soul or not, but usually you can feel it when you are there. 

Historica Coffee & Pastry

Sunday is the best time for breakfast at a café as it is the only day that Carlo does not have to work (yes, poor C). After Libby Café (read our review here) we tried Historica Café in Jalan Sumatera this time. We didn’t go there because of its location (Jalan Sumatera seems to be getting a popular restaurant/café street - the famous Domicile is also there), but because Historica café is having a 20% discount on breakfast and coffee this month :-) .

The café looks nice, outside and inside, and as you may have guessed from the name ‘Historica’ its interior design is vintage. There are a few big comfortable chairs (we were too slow to chope them – damn it!) and many normal chairs. It has also a small terrace if you want to sit outside. It was almost noon when we got there, so sitting outside was out of question, even for me as a European (this really means something...Europeans are crazy about sun and tanning). We came to Historica café not only to have breakfast, but also to “chillax”, read a bit and discuss our future plans...

The Golden Saffron

Chicken Tandoor Mix

Coming from a European country where most people eat bread every day, I (Julia) have some kind of a bread addiction. Sometimes it can get really bad and I crave bread so much that the sweet bread and toast bread which you can find in Surabaya are not enough to satisfy me. Then, strangely enough, I have to eat Indian Nan bread to fix my bread cravings :D . So, when this was happening last week, Carlo and I went to The Golden Saffron to enjoy some Indian food and bread. The Golden Saffron is located in Lenmarc Mall and one of the very few Indian restaurants in Surabaya (Sitara is another one). We haven’t been to India yet, so we cannot judge the authenticity of the food. But I used to eat a lot of Indian food when I was living in Singapore, so we have a rough idea about it.

You already get a feeling of India when you enter the restaurant. There is a small elephant shrine that welcomes you as you enter. The interior design is pretentious, with a lot of kitsch and a lot of purple colour and a screen showing Indian TV, so you feel a bit like being in Bollywood. Tables are big and comfortable but our table was not clean. There were stains on the table cloth! This little fact changed our expectations from neutral to negative and we were curious how the food would be.

Domicile Kitchen & Lounge

Durian cheese cake

Domicile Kitchen & Lounge opened its doors in the beginning of this year and many of you may have already tried it. We heard from quite a number of people that Domicile is one of the new trending places in Surabaya (mainly due to its unique lounge atmosphere). We just made it there last week (we are no trendsetters) and had quite high expectations.

The place is big and the interior looks very nice. We took only a few (bad) photos of the place itself but you can find nice pictures at Laura Angelia’s blog (she also did a review). We sat outside on a comfortable sofa-chair combination. There is some kind of air-conditioning outside and (fake) plants hanging above your heads. We didn’t really like that the plants are fake but if they were real, they would maybe attract unwanted insects.

Now, let’s get to the most important part: the food. 

Antica Osteria

Crema di zucca

The Italian cuisine is probably the most popular in the whole world – I haven’t met anyone yet who didn’t like Italian food. Have you? If yes, tell me about it :-). For authentic Italian food in Surabaya, La Rucola is our favourite place but last weekend, we tried Antica Osteria and were surprised – in a good way.

Antica Osteria is located in the centre of Surabaya and we had quite a hard time to find it. Some rather annoying traffic rules (i.e. one-way streets) combined with Carlo’s not-really-good driving skills and our bad orientation made us go some extra rounds, so when we finally arrived there, we were already super hungry. The place itself is quite nice and it really reminded me of a European restaurant. There was Italian music in the background and a huge screen which displayed FashionTV. Some restaurants and bars I have been to in Italy also displayed FashionTV so this evoked some good old memories. So if you eat at Antica Osteria and are bored with your dinner date, you can just watch FashionTV.

Libby Café

I’m sure all of you know Libby – they have a few small shops throughout Surabaya and are famous for their brownies (this is what I was told). But have you been at their café yet?

In my home country, we love to have a really big breakfast on weekends and often go to a small café for breakfast or brunch. We even have an old saying that goes something like this:

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.

(This old wisdom still seems to be up-to-date considering the health advice that suggests you to eat only a small meal for dinner)

Anyways, I was missing having breakfast outside so we went to Libby café in Sukomanunggal area. The interior design of the café is nice, with a slight vintage touch, and the atmosphere is cozy. What we really liked is their small yard outside – me because I love being outside in the morning and enjoy the brightness before it gets too hot, and Carlo because the small yard is also the smoking area (bad, bad habit). 

Tong Tong Japanese Resto

Carlo used to go to this place very often but had not been there for a long time. So we went there on a quiet weekday evening and had a nice date. It was the calm before the storm because after dinner we went on a crazy supermarket shopping marathon to find some European ingredients for me to cook at home (update: the food I cooked was not good -.- ).

Tong Tong is one of the most authentic Japanese restaurants in Surabaya. When we got there, a group of Japanese businessmen were having dinner. So we figured that if even Japanese people eat at this place, it must be authentic! It was also very interesting to watch those businessmen, the way they were communicating was, well, very Japanese.