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. 

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.