The salsa and STIX -- An unabashed nightspot review

The salsa and STIX -- An unabashed nightspot review

By David M. Schiller

JAKARTA (JP): Just as the United States Senate last week took
an oath of impartiality prior to starting the impeachment
hearings of President Clinton, I also took an oath of honesty
prior to penning this review of a Saturday night at STIX, a
restaurant/nightclub located beneath the Park Lane Hotel in
Kuningan, South Jakarta. So here it is, the good, the bad, gems
and warts, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but...

The first challenge was simply finding the entrance to STIX.
The door was, of course, unmarked and cryptically located at the
base of a bunker-like stairwell. This enhanced the feeling that
one was entering a private club rather than a hotel bar,
especially when we were greeted by a hostess decked out in
metallic gold thigh-high boots and matching skirt that could of
graced any James Bond movie.

The interior was pleasantly dim but not dark, with a stage
backlit by an array of televisions, a marble and granite dance
floor and sparsely augmented metallic walls.

The menu was distinctly Latin-flavored with a slender but
pleasing selection of steaks, seafood and slightly nouveau
Mexican dishes. The heavily spiced fried calamari was brilliant,
as was the flavorful authentic salsa which accompanied the
nachos. My main course, pork tacos, was only about two-thirds
there.

The soft-shell corn tortillas were spot on, as was the pork
texture, but the meat was way too bland and absolutely screaming
for a good chili verde sauce. Maybe next time (hey chef!, are you
listening?).

The refried beans were gratefully homemade and tasted like
they were fresh from a tin of Rosarita Refried (which is a
compliment actually, if you know your refried beans). My friend's
boiled lobster was enormous, simple -- set on a bed of rice and
accompanied by only lemon and melted butter -- and from my
friend's expression, delicious as well.

The mixed drinks were expensive but adequate (similar to
B.A.T.S. at about Rp 40,000 a pop), the Irish coffees were a B-
minus, but, except under threat of death, excommunication or
nuclear holocaust, do not, repeat, do not order the margaritas.
None of us had a clue what the bartender was using for a lime
mixer, but whatever it was, it certainly was not meant for a
margarita, or human consumption for that matter.

STIX had better quickly get is act together in this department
because a Mexican bar without a proper margarita is equivalent to
a Sushi Bar serving up watered-down arak in place of saki.

We settled into another round of tall drinks as the main
attraction of STIX, La Otra Banda (The Other Band in Spanish),
made its way onto the stage at 10:15pm. Make no mistake about it,
this nine-piece salsa band from Mexico City knows how to sizzle
and cook the jalapenos big time! And this is coming from a
Southern Californian who has made more than a few deep forays
south of the border.

La Otra Banda features four percussionists, a two-piece horn
section and a keyboardist that pound out virtuoso mambo and
meringue improvisations that just do not allow you to sit still.
They ran through a blistering set of unknown Cuban, Mexican and
South American salsa numbers, as well as crowd-pleasing
renditions of better-known songs like La Bamba, Oy Como Va and
The Boy From Ipanema.

Watching a few tight-skirted leggy females, who took to the
dance floor and definitely knew their cha-cha from a bossa nova,
I realized that there is just something about high-percussion
Latin music that makes it far more sensual than most other styles
of music. By 11:30 the place was about half full and cranking, a
very respectable crowd considering it being the middle of
Ramadhan, and that the band unfortunately debuted at STIX in
December, a month when over half of Jakarta's expat population is
away on holidays.

The crowd itself was pleasantly cosmopolitan -- about half
local and expat, a mixture of well-heeled pribumi (native
Indonesians) and Chinese residents, Latin American diplomats and
several groups of Indonesian and Western ladies out for a very
danceable girls' night on the town.

Fully satiated with salsa for the evening, we asked for our
bills. Mine was Rp 290,000, including ample before and after
dinner drinks. Not exactly a cheap night out but the quality
musical entertainment, plus the discovery of such a tasteful
night spot hidden so close to home (I live in Kuningan) made the
evening more than one well spent.

As I left, one of the percussionists was bashing away on a
huge Brazilian samba drum, and I couldn't help but step in time
to the infectious rhythms as I mounted the stairs. La Otra Banda
is scheduled through February at the Park Lane (and hopefully
longer). If you love Latin music, salsa at STIX is a mix well
worth checking out.