Tony Roma's new C. Jakarta outlet a real place
Tony Roma's new C. Jakarta outlet a real place
JAKARTA (JP): Let's say you're dreaming of doing a Fred Flintstone and treating yourself to an extra wholesome juicy ribs bonanza and using your fingers to do justice to the meal, you should head towards Tony Roma's in Jalan Wahid Hashyim. This is where you can realize your dream and taste the meatiest, juiciest, tenderest, largest portion of ribs in Jakarta city. What's nice too is that you can enjoy their finger-licking goodness right down to the tiniest chunk, as the meat is so tender it falls off the bone.
Just make sure to stock up on paper napkins ( provided generously) and never make the mistake of requesting the staff to clear the cutlery. You'll be needing it for the plump baked potato that comes piping hot with an accompanying fanfare of chopped chives, bacon, sour cream and melting cheese. Coleslaw comes in a separate bowl and languishes in its delicious dressing.
Each award-winning ribs order with tantalizing names like Carolina Honey's or The Original Baby Backs comes with a choice of baked potato, french fries or ranch style beans. Stay tuned in if you have a "very healthy appetite" as "the hottest ribs in town" are available in FULL SLAB, HALF SLAB, or a regular order, which conveniently falls in between and is as massive as the other two.
Prices may appear steep, but tucking into a meal of these gargantuan proportions must actually mean taking a break and skipping a couple of lunches and dinners. Or so I suppose, being a modest eater myself.
The place for ribs, as Tony Roma's is affectionately and professionally known in the eight countries it operates in Asia, recently opened in downtown Wahid Hashyim, next to Nyonya Suharti local fried chicken restaurant. The free-standing restaurant is a first for the group that already operates an outlet in Sudirman's Panin Center.
The new restaurant has an air of fresh country with bang-on smartness as modern lines fight it out with stained glass panels. Its resounding visual success is due to the almost real, towering, roof-high strangler fig trees whose leaves throw intriguing shadows. Their super saturated emerald green gives the restaurant a welcome atmosphere and you'll chance upon grandma, grandpa, mother and father with boisterous children in tow as well as young couples, in search of privacy and exchanging whispered "little nothing's" and schmoozing on their first dates.
The Wahid Hashyim outlet is a great escape to good food and an impressive ambience with a bar that sits at the far hind of the restaurant. Service is attentive and the smiles are far from plastic. No grouse that an enthusiastic waiter forgot our second order of wine (RP 11,500 per glass) and we were parched, but what the heck, even the hottest-and-the-best establishments suffer hiccups and growing pains.
For those who favor a more relaxed approach to eating, such as salad, or fish or chicken, there is an especially interesting range available. What's most inviting is the mini French-loaf shaped sour dough that's served gratis as soon as you are seated and the drinks order taken. It arrives on a wooden platter with a choice of ordinary and herb butter. Tear off chunks like Flintstone or make dainty slices with the bread knife provided.
We caught up on the hottest news in town, marveled over the cracking of the "mirror-mirror-on-the-wall" that Lady Camilla Parker Bowles looked at (Blackwell says so), and ended on a pleasant note with a tartly christened Chocolate Seduction (priced RP 8,500).
Restaurants usually have a focus, a purpose that is linked to the activity of dining, and its patrons share a common interest. In the case of Tony Roma's it is to enjoy an enormous meal and leave satisfied. It is certainly addressed to those with gigantic appetites and with memberships to tough health clubs where trainers beat them into shape.
-- Marianne Pereira