Prima Chefs offers style, not subtance

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.