Prima Chefs offers style, not subtance

Kevin Vickers, Contributor, Jakarta

From the outside looking in, Prima Chefs, a new Singaporean- style restaurant at Mal Ambassador in Central Jakarta, appears promising. There has not been much to choose from in the food stakes at the mall, unless your tastes run to ersatz Japanese fast food or other uninspiring offerings served up at the food court, since The Stage closed its doors last year.

Prima Chefs also looks good once you get past the red-suited doorman and sit yourself down at one of the high-backed wooden chairs, surrounded by little Chinese knickknacks, including a framed cheongsam and red Chinese lamps.

Unfortunately, at least on the first floor of the two-story restaurant, which was where we sat on both of our two recent visits, the stab at authenticity pretty much stops at the visuals. There are no tinkering sounds of Chinese music to be heard, nor even some roaring Cantonese pop.

Instead, a TV is tuned to MTV, with Britney, Alicia and Eminem -- all competing at full blast for diners' attention.

Well, we are all part of the growing MTV generation now, so the audio oversight may be irritating but it can be forgiven, especially if the food is so good it lets you forget about other sensory distractions.

Again, unfortunately, despite that good first impression, Prima Chefs does not quite measure up in what ends up on your plate, although everything looks pretty in the glossy menu photos. It may still be finding its feet, ironing out the problems that inevitably come with start-ups, but it needs to do it quickly, including when it comes to service, if it wants diners to come back for more and to live up to its stated desire for "A Great Food Experience".

On our first visit, our troubles started almost from the get- go. For appetizers, there was the Malay Spring Roll, which was described as three pieces of vegetable roll with chicken and mayonnaise, and popiah. The spring roll was your basic lumpia with a sour-tasting mayonnaise, a none too appetizing combination. The pancake roll popiah was better, filled with prawn, egg and lettuce, but the pancake was too thick: what should have been so thin as to be translucent was more like a pastry.

We were sharing our meal, so we asked for plates and were promptly given saucers to eat off. Perhaps it's a minor infraction when it comes to dining etiquette, but for me personally I take it for granted when I go into a restaurant that the waitress should know that the proper accompaniment for saucers is cups.

For the main course selection, which includes such Singapore staples as laksa (rice noodles and accompaniments in coconut milk gravy), fried noodles and Hainan chicken, we tried Nasi Goreng Special "PC", Nasi Sapi Lada Hitam (sliced beef with a black pepper sauce, with rice) and Hong Kong Kailan XO, the green vegetable sauteed in the cognac sauce.

Taste-wise, it was overwhelmingly average.

The fried rice, with shrimp, chicken, eggs, bean sprouts and sweet corn, came first and, while it was admirably ungreasy and it was an ample helping, it did not deserve the appellation of special. We waited and waited some more before our black pepper sauce steak came out, consisting of four chunks of beef seared in the pepper sauce, the relative paucity of the portion shown off by the great divide of space on the plate between it and the accompanying mound of rice. The heavy handed use of peppercorns gave it a cloying flavor.

As for the kailan, we never got to taste it, because it was finally delivered to us when we had already finished with the two other entrees (my friend joked that maybe the delay was due to them sourcing it from Hong Kong!).

While it was not the greatest dining experience, we realized that Prima Chefs is still starting out and we needed to give it the benefit of the doubt. So we returned to try it once again, and it proved a better experience.

Yes, the service remains consistently erratic, with some of the waitresses seemingly unsure of menu items or the distinction that customers really do want them to help them, including clearing up the plates piling up before them.

As for the appetizers, it would be advisable for Prima Chefs to take another long hard look at what's on offer and whittle down the current eight selections to four really good, tasty offerings. Our Pangsit Udang Mayonnaise (wonton with shrimp mayonnaise sauce) was little more than overdone wonton stuffed with shrimp and with a dollop of mayo. Bakmie Gajah Mada could, and does, do better.

But, all things considered, our entrees the second time were very good. The Hainanese Chicken Rice, a Singapore invention, was judged tasty, with a good portion of chicken and fragrant rice. I was also pleasantly surprised by the Crispy Chicken Rice, which was marinated in broth and made a satisfying meal, even without the use of sesame oil. It was just too bad that it arrived 10 minutes after my companion's entree.

The lowdown on Prima Chefs is that it has the potential to live up to its declaration, or at least be a good food experience if not a great one, but it still has a way to go. With the exception of the beef in black pepper sauce, we found the portions to be large and relatively competitive with other restaurants of this type: Hainanese Chicken Rice is Rp 16,800, the pepper steak Rp 21,800, appetizers average about Rp 11,000.

For now, however, it's time to get things in working order, focus on the details and try to live up to the lofty assertions and seductive photos.

Although Prima Chefs is in a prime location and with little to no competition for a good sit-down restaurant in the same building, it's the substance not the style that will keep customers hungry for more.

Prima Chefs is at Mal Ambassador, Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio- Casablanca, Central Jakarta (tel. 576-4055). Open seven days a week.