Bandung's Valley cafe offers helpings of style and substance
Bandung's Valley cafe offers helpings of style and substance
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Finally. After a series of highly overrated up-on-the-hill
cafes and restaurants, Bandung has a new cafe called The Valley
Bistro Cafe, which has been open for four months.
When I first heard about the cafe, I thought, "Not another
one?" Similar cafes and restaurants in Bandung offer nothing but
the city landscape and fresh air.
Yes, that is nice for Jakartans, who regularly breathe
suffocating and polluted air, but don't we also deserve decent
food at reasonable prices, with good service?
Thankfully the Valley has all these things. When I went, I was
immediately struck by the view, and later I was pleased to find
that the food and the service matched the atmosphere. Hopefully,
this was not just because it's new.
The Valley Bistro Cafe: Jl. Lembah Pakar Timur No. 28, Dago,
Bandung. Telephone: (022) 2511450.
Hours: Open every day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The view is more
beautiful at night, but if you want to go there on the weekend,
don't forget to make a reservation first. Or go during the
afternoon. I went on the weekend during dinner time, and it was
packed with about 150 people. I had to wait half an hour before
being seated. Major credit cards are accepted.
How to get there: The only way to get there is by car or taxi,
no public transportation passes the area. Can't really blame them
though, as the cafe is located in the highlands of Dago, North
Bandung, and the road is winding. I don't know about motorcycles,
but the road can be very steep so you're probably better off in a
car.
Looks: The cafe has two main buildings, one in the front and
another smaller one at the back. The cafe is surrounded by trees.
The first building has a small terrace, but the best seats are on
the spacious terrace on the back building. Here, you will find
rows of wooden benches and tables, all under dim lights and with
a view of the city.
It's beautiful and romantic. But don't forget to bring a
jacket, sweater or something to keep you warm.
What's it got: For appetizers, there are salads, soups,
calamari, sushi and otak-otak (fish cakes). The main courses are
divided into western dishes, pasta and oriental favorites. The
western main courses include items like steak, fish, chicken and
lamb.
The standard pastas include risotto, fettucini and spaghetti.
And the oriental menu focuses on Japanese dishes like salmon
teriyaki and gindara. Indonesia is represented only by sop buntut
(oxtail soup).
For dessert, there are some delicious-looking cakes and other
treats displayed near the cashier. Also available are dessert
items such as kahlua cream cake and mango sorbet.
Beverages include juices and punch (all served in tall
glasses), coffee, tea, beer (local and imported) and a wide range
of liquor.
Taste factor: On a friend's recommendation, I started with the
Zuppa Zuppa soup, which is cream of chicken soup covered with
bread. After forming an opening in the bread and taking a sip,
the rich taste of the soup quickly filled my mouth. But do share
it with your friends as the soup is quite filling.
The main course, the Gindara Shioyaki Set, was surprisingly
generous, with two long slices of fried gindara fish, a bowl of
rice, misoshiru soup, Japanese-style salad (sort of like asinan),
a fried shrimp and two pieces of sushi. I felt full just looking
at all that food.
The fish was perfectly fried, with soy sauce over it, not too
sweet, not too salty, just right. The salad was sour but
refreshing, the sushi was great and I had no room left for the
misoshiru.
My dining companions had the cafe's specialties -- Valley
Spaghetti with Seafood and the Salmon Steak. Both came with
tomato sauces and tasted delicious.
We ordered Guava Squash, Fruit Punch and Lemon Surprise. The
latter is a blue soda mixed with lemon. It wasn't really special
and the guava squash was fresher.
We didn't try any dessert because we were already full.
Service: Fast and polite.
Price points: Compared with other cafes, and considering the
taste, the size of the portions and the view, the price was
relatively cheap. The huge gindara set was only Rp 29,500. The
filling soup was Rp 12,500 and that gigantic pink guava thing was
Rp 9,500.
The total bill for three people was Rp 157,080, including tax
and service.
Alcohol was also quite cheap. A Corona is only Rp 18,000 (in a
Jakarta cafe a Corona costs at least Rp 24,000), Irish Coffee Rp
14,500, Singapore Sling Rp 27,500 and a whisky cola costs an
amazing Rp 12,500.
Minus points: The salmon steak still had some small bones in
it, which was annoying. And the glasses the beverages came in
were apparently too big, because we could only drink half.
Verdict: Next time you go to Bandung, try this cafe.