White sand, good food and Phil Collins

White sand, good food and Phil Collins

JAKARTA (JP): Picture this. You're having a seafood barbecue
and a few drinks with friends in beach-like surroundings while
watching Phil Collins in concert.

That's the atmosphere that Pasir Putih grill and bar tries to
recreate in the heart of the Kemang neighborhood in South
Jakarta. Good food, friendly and somewhat neighborly surroundings
and good, slightly loud, music.

The one vital missing element is the sea breeze, but at least
you're spared from having to struggle through the traffic to get
to Ancol to find the atmosphere you're looking for.

This particular eatery in Kemang is advertised as located on
Jl. Bangka XI No. 1, but it is actually facing the main road of
Jl. Bangka I. The huge parking space in front of the house was
filled when we got there, but we managed to squeeze in somehow,
thanks to the parking men.

The decor of Pasir Putih, which literally means white sands,
is all beachy.

Colorful surfboards hang on one wall, and on the other a long
aquarium serves as a partition between the dining room and
kitchen, allowing patrons to absorb the collection of tropical
fish and at the same time take a peek at the way food is being
prepared, or check if the kitchen's hygiene is up to expectation.

There is a long bar on the left side of the dining room and
two tall round tables with stools for those who come to drink and
enjoy the music.

A narrow path in the flooring is filled with white sand and
sea shells, just in case anyone wonders where they got the name
Pasir Putih from.

At the far end of the restaurant there is a stage for a live
band and a huge screen where laser discs of music concerts is
projected. During our visit there, we chanced both Phil Collins
and a live six-piece local rock band which was quite
entertaining. If you think you're up to it, you can even go onto
the stage and sing one or two songs yourselves, but be sure not
to drive customers away!

Fish market

In the front there is the mini fish market, where you can
select from a range of fish and shellfish as if you're in a
fishmonger's. They're kept fresh with ice cubes, but I guess they
are as fresh as you can expect in the Kemang area at any
particular time.

As grill is its speciality, the restaurant also has a range of
red meat should anyone who doesn't go for seafood dine there.
Those who don't go for the grill can choose from the selection of
the chef's wok.

On the night we went there, we dispensed with the ritual of
reserving a table beforehand. After all, could a restaurant that
was still having its advertised "soft opening" be full?. We were
almost proven wrong, and it was a good job that there was only
the two of us as ours was the only spare table they had when we
arrived just before nine o'clock.

The service was quite fast as we were given the menu
immediately after we were seated. It became slightly confusing
later on when different waiters/waitresses came to attend to our
needs.

Entree-wise, we decided to go our separate ways. I went for
crab corn soup while my companion went for shark fin. For the
main course, we opted for the grilled kakap, which we picked
ourselves from the fish market. For vegetables we decided on Cai
Sim Prawn -- Chinese cabbage with cuts of shrimp cooked in soya
sauce and Chinese wine.

The soups were quite satisfactory although I had expected the
shark fin to be a little bit thicker. My companion noted that the
chef had put a little too much pepper in the crab soup.

The kakap was excellent, although one could hardly fail in
grilling fresh fish on charcoal. It was grilled to perfection,
neither under nor over done.

We had a choice of different sauces, but since had opted for
the Indonesian kakap, we went for the ginger flavored soya sauce
and the chili sauce. Both were served on sea shells.

Every order from the fish market comes with rice. Two tiny
bowls of rice were delivered to our table, almost too small for a
big eater like me, but understandably this restaurants caters for
expats who prefer small portions of rice.

We washed down the meal with fruit juice, mine was lime juice
while hers was orange juice. For afters, I went for a cup of
cappuccino and my companion settled for a plate of assorted fruit
-- papaya, pineapple and water melon.

All this we enjoyed while enjoying a selection of music, first
on the huge screen, later from the six-piece band. A little noisy
but quite entertaining.

We did have our misgivings about the "soft opening" status
earlier, but we found little to complaint about, and there was no
scaffolding or construction work which we had feared might still
be in evidence.

When the restaurant's friendly PR came to our table after our
meal to check that everything was okay, we asked how different it
would be once the restaurant has its full opening.

"The service gets better," he responded.

We later found another benefit of the "soft opening" when we
discovered that we were entitled to a 20 percent discount.

Our total bill of Rp 50,237 certainly was worth it.

-- Hijitus