Komodo Airways: Fun lair with a heart

Komodo Airways: Fun lair with a heart

It's not often that a restaurant gets its inspiration from
such a preposterously ugly creature like the komodo. You just
have to agree that the slimy gigantic lizard you see protruding
from one side of the Atlet Century Senayan Hotel doesn't inspire
much ... appetite.

So far, the only other animal-meets-building exterior I can
recall of Jakarta's restaurant scene was that huge shark that
plunged right into the roof of one restaurant on Jl. Mahakam,
South Jakarta (where KOI now stands). But at least it went into
the building, not out of it.

But as I began to examine the Komodo Airways Restaurant's
innards, a wave of perverse approval gradually washed away my
skepticism. It's a lair all right, but it's also much more than
that. It's a ... umh ... Gotham-City-meets-Planet-Hollywood; Bat-
Cave-meets-Jurassic-Park. In other words, it's a pretty darn
interesting place.

The restaurant is divided into two dining sections. The main
one, an L-shape of blended yellows filled with comfortable seats,
is replete with reptilian decor -- upholstery, wall prints
Swimmer's-Cave-meets-Dragon-Heart, even a cage resembling the one
in Jurassic Park's gripping first scene with a sign that says
Don't feed the snake. At each end of the room are TV screens
half-obscured by artificial creepers, playing endless satellite
TV sports and music clips.

The other section is more of a fun pub, with high chairs lined
against the trivia-infested walls and clear-glass windows
overlooking the Senayan area's praiseworthy greenery. The spiffy-
looking bar concocts some pretty incredible alcoholic fantasies,
such as the recommended Dragon's Blood -- a wonderful blend of
brandy, cool red wine and fresh fruits.

Kids can enjoy a 50 percent discount for every Coke purchased
during the daily 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. happy hours. They can even get
a bubbly waitress to open some floorboards and ... umh ... get
the shock of their lives.

The literati can roam the place reading komodo articles, jokes
and trivia.

The deep-pocketed can down glass after glass while stomping
with Jon Bon Jovi.

The health-conscious can slog all those calories off on one of
the two exercise bikes near the window.

Midnight owls can swing by for snacks and drinks after a late
night movie because the bar is open until 1:30 a.m.

In short, the place is good enough for the Billionaire Boys
Club, the Joy Luck Club and even the First Wives Club, who, after
reading stories of Captain Biff's mysterious demise on Komodo
Island or looking at his immortalized remains (read: a shoe and a
broken pair of glasses), will be equipped with all sorts of nasty
designs for their two-timing husbands.

It's also a lair with a heart. Any donation made into the
paper boxes found at every table is supposed to go to the WWF for
the conservation of the Komodo National Park. So will profits
made from ordering the restaurant's signature dish, the King
Komodo Pizza.

Like many new establishments with Western-imported themes, the
memorabilia is cute and effective -- the smirking komodo logo
adorns everything from matches to place mats and coasters. The
waitresses, although painfully Americanized with cap and jeans
and the "Hey, yo, are you guys having a good time?" Hard-Rock-
Cafe-enthusiasm, are lovely. They give you good advice all the
way. They even offer to eat your dessert if you don't like it.
And they grow on you.

One word of advice: You do need a dragon appetite. Although
I'm not sure whether poor old Captain Biff was filling enough for
the komodos, he says that the dishes on the first page of the
menu are ... umh ... appetizers.

Settling for The Cargo Hold (Vegetable and avocado curry puff
served with Komodo's secret dip) proved to be an inspired move.
The curry puff was made from the most refined filo pastry, baked
to perfection. The filling was bountiful, the sauce wonderfully
piquant, the presentation elegant. The sauce's ingredients remain
a mystery to me, and you really don't need any main course after
this deliciously hearty fare.

It's obvious that the restaurant's concentration is on pizzas
cooked in a wood-fired oven. Pizza Sulawesi, the smallest on the
pizza menu, was in fact a vegetarian calzone, shaped like an
inflated sandwich. So, it was more like eating a focaccia, and a
very good focaccia at that, from the basil-seasoned crusty bread
right down to the zesty sun-dried tomatoes.

The rest of the menu has enough varieties to satisfy dragons
of all manners and stripes, including pasta with various sauces,
Cajun-style Snapper Burger, Spicy Beef Fajitas and Komodo Satays
(I kid you not).

If you can still endure dessert, the lighter options may be in
order, such as the Baked Creamy Cheese Cake. Going for Bromo's
Eruption, which is a Chocolate Brownie with Ice Cream and Fudge,
is guaranteed to make you witness the eruption of your own belly.

For all its positive points, this is no cheap place. Expect to
pay Rp 100,000 (US$41.42) for a full course for two and add on
another Rp 30,000 if you order alcoholic drinks.

If you typically hang out at places like Planet Hollywood and
Hard Rock Cafe, the bill is not going to scare you. But the thing
underneath the floorboards might.

-- Epicurus