Seeing red in a green garden at Kampung Daun
BANDUNG (JP): The "in" places to eat in Bandung are two restaurants way up in the hills of Lembang. They have the style, but what about their substance? The Jakarta Post checked out one of them, Kampung Daun.
Kampung Daun: Jl. Sersan Bajuri Km 4.7 in the ultraswank Trinity Villas estate (take the road to Setia Budi, a left at Ledeng Terminal and ask around). If you take a taxi from Bandung, the roundtrip fare will be high, about Rp 80,000.
Open: Mid-morning to 11 p.m.
What's it got: A variety of Indonesian, Asian and European dishes, such as nasi uduk (rice in coconut milk, served with a piece of fried chicken, omelet and tempeh), which was on the special "monthly" menu when we visited, teriyaki chicken, Mongolian beef, lasagna, spaghetti. An unusually extensive selection of sweets -- waffles, profiteroles and cakes.
Soft drinks, juices, coffee, tea, shakes and traditional "hot" drinks such as ginger-based bandrek available.
Price points: Relatively pricey for Bandung. A coffee is Rp 5,000, entrees average about Rp 19,000, a piece of undeniably good cheesecake Rp 17,500. It all adds up.
Looks: Much of the attraction of Kampung Daun, its initial fascination, is its gorgeous locale. The little stream cutting through the footpath fringed by wooden tables and traditional platforms, the "village workers" busying themselves making candy floss (a rustic pursuit?), the little children going from table to table selling red roses, the waiters in their batik pants and white shirts hurrying back and forth (to where, we later wondered). Why, any moment you expect a woman with a switch and a frilly frock to emerge from the trees asking about some sheep.
Popular with: Lots of people by the sound of things.
Taste factor: Except for a few dishes from its main menu and a couple of desserts, the food is obviously not the great draw of Kampung Daun. The mixed plate appetizer of gorengan (fried delicacies) was middling, nowhere near as good as the average fare served up in plastic bags by sidewalk vendor. The Mongolian barbecue -- strips of beef with paprika in a savory sauce -- was tasty, served with what the restaurant terms nasi enak (delicious rice) and the nasi goreng pete (fried rice with pete beans) was not too oily and filled with chunks of that green bean given the ungainly -- but apt -- English name of stinking bean.
But the chicken rice was bland and unappetizing, and the chicken teriyaki, in an overly sweet sauce and served with Indonesian emping crackers (!), was a half-baked grasping at "general" Asian cuisine. Even the Sundanese/Indonesian entries are spotty efforts; who can imagine serving nasi uduk without chili?
The desserts are something else. The chocolate cake is a chocoholic's dream, smothered in delectable frosting. And top honors go to the cheese cake, a smooth, creamy lemon-flavored wedge planted atop a crumbly Oreo cookie base. Simply scrumptious.
Minus Points: It's attitude dancing when it comes to the erratic service at Kampung Daun.
When we first dined on a Sunday afternoon, one of the main orders came straight out but we waited and waited for the second to arrive. When we asked, a full 30 minutes later, on its status, we were told it was accidentally given to another diner. Such mistakes can be excused (the kitchens are spread out over the site), but not the surly, unhelpful attitude we encountered on the following Sunday night.
Yes, it was busy, but we were left to our own devices for 15 minutes. When one did come over after being called, he looked as though he had better things to do. Our food did come quickly, plopped down unceremoniously with cutlery but no napkins by another waiter, but our drinks were nowhere to be seen. It was the wrong order again, nasi uduk instead of the nasi kuning we asked for, but the waiter was gone by the time we realized.
Five minutes later, yet another waiter came along, to tell us one of the drinks we ordered was not available, but there was some water. I got my coffee, minus sugar, a few minutes later. In our disappointment and haste to leave (our complaint to the waiter was met with a look which said, "So?") we did not see that the missing beverage finally made its appearance -- on our bill.
Verdict: A study in beauty, but then so is much of the surrounding area. Unless you have so much time on your hands that you can throw away 45 minutes of your life waiting for mediocre food at a price, and still end up with the wrong order, then forget it. And double that if you have small children who need to be fed right here, right now, and won't take no for an answer. (Melvin Hunt)