Woohooo! My very
first foodie meet-up finally happened today! I was so happy knowing I was
invited to an event, where I could meet new people who shared exactly the same
passion with me. Thanks to Zomato who had made this happened. It was held at
Sulawesi @ Kemang, a restaurant specializing in seafood and other foods
originated from Sulawesi. The owner came from Makassar and was very familiar
with Sulawesi foods. Most of the ingredients, especially for the seafood and
the sauces were shipped from Makassar as well. Therefore, it’s doubtless that
even someone with ‘Makassar taste bud’ like me, loved all the dishes they
served.
Talking about the
venue, it was really spacious, even bigger than what I thought when I firstly
looked at the place from outside. The restaurant itself occupied the first and
the second floor. They did provide private room, dance floor, live-music
corner, meeting space and family space. The corner located at the second floor
besides the dance floor, was my most favorite one as it was designed to make
you feel as if you were dining by the beach.
Not only had the
venue, the service of this restaurant deserved thumbs up as well. All the
waitresses were highly responsive and very knowledgeable about all the dishes
listed on their menu.
So now let’s go
to the part you’ve been waiting for, the dishes!
Grilled Fish Cake / Otak-otak Bakar
As the appetizer,
we had the well-known Otak-otak Bakar.
It was so lovely with the chewy texture and strong fish taste. The best part
was the sauce, which was totally different to the sauce of Jakarta’s otak-otak.
Grilled Papakulu Fish with Parape Sauce / Papakulu Bakar Parape
This fish is very
well-known for its thick meat. Thus, it was perfect to be grilled. Served with
Parape sauce, which was basically made of sweet soy sauce and onion, this one
was surely to die for!
Grouper in Sour Soup / Kerapu Kuah Asam
This soup was exceptional
as the grouper texture was so moist and the soup itself had the right sourness.
Kudu-Kudu Fish with Sweet and Sour Sauce / Kudu-Kudu Asam Manis
If you were from
Makassar, you surely knew this box-shaped fish. Yeah, it always created
stunning presentation as its hard skin was always used as the ‘second plate’
for the fish meat due to its unique shape. In Makassar, I usually had it deep
fried only without sauce. But apparently, mixing it with sweet and sour sauce
was not bad at all.
Grilled Leatherjacket Fish with Rica-rica Sauce / Sukang Bakar Rica
Don’t call a
restaurant as a Sulawesi restaurant if it was unable to serve super spicy dish!
This dish was the winner for the spiciest one among all dishes served today. It’s
been a long time since the last time I ate such spicy and luscious sauce. Super
super love this! The owner said that in order to make the sauce had that
spiciness level, he had to ship the chili from Makassar. Yes, I know it. The
uber little chili from Malino, a highland area near Makassar, which is indeed
very famous for its spiciness.
Salted Egg Fried Shrimp / Udang Goreng Telur Asin
I usually did not
like salted egg, but this one was irresistible. The prawn was so fresh and
chewy, making me totally forget about that hatred.
Baby Lobster with Blackpepper Sauce / Baby Lobster Lada Hitam
Right after this
dish was served on the table, all the foodies immediately screamed ‘Whoaa!’. It
looked so tempting and photogenic of course :p! Most importantly, the taste was
also too good to be true. Unfortunately, the size did lie as the meat was only
a little.
Grilled Squid with Squid Eggs Filling / Cumi Telor Bakar
This dish was the
most unique among all. I firstly thought that the egg stuffed inside the squid
was chicken’s egg. Surprisingly, it’s squid eggs. This was my first time trying
it and I found out that it was totally different with chicken egg but I loved
it!
Crispy Fried Squid / Cumi Goreng Tepung
Who doesn’t love
crispy fried squid? Especially if the texture was not hard at all, and it came
with super delicious sweet sauce like this one.
Crab with Padang Sauce / Kepiting Saos Padang
Even before I
described the dish, I believed you could already think about how good it was
just by looking at the appearance. The giant size undoubtedly made you drool!
When it came to taste, this was so so good. The crab meat was so smooth and the
sauce was tasty. Call me lucky as I could get the claw part!
Soft Shell Crab with Mango Sauce / Kepiting Soka Saos Mangga
The thing I
really loved from soft shell crab was I could eat it with my hands stayed clean,
not like the big crab one :p. I’ve never had soft shell crab with mango sauce
before as I commonly had it with floss. However, this one successfully
made me fell in love at the first sight. From all the dishes, this one was my
most favorite and I would definitely go back for this!
Chicken Satay / Sate Ayam
Though this satay
was not my favorite, but it was worth to try. The meat was tender and the peanut
sauce was delightful.
Makassar Beef Soup / Coto Makassar
As I told you
before, besides seafood this restaurant also served other Makassar dishes,
including this most famous traditional dish of Makassar. Served with Buras (quite similar to ketupat but mixed with coconut milk), it
was quite pleasant although I still preferred the one in Makassar.
Red Frice Rice with Crab / Nasi Goreng Merah Kepiting
Definitely, you
would rarely find such this in Jakarta. Red fried rice was also one of the many
signature dishes from Makassar. Topped with super generous amount of crab meat,
the taste was certainly unquestionable.
Sulawesi Fried Noodle / Mie Goreng Sulawesi
Another Makassar’s
signature dish was this fried thin noodle. The noodle was poured with the thick
sauce combined with fresh seafood. I guess now people don’t have to visit
Makassar to eat this dish as they could have the same taste here!
Fresh Coconut
This drink was
not only able to amuse people with its beautiful presentation, but also its
refreshing taste. Perfect for Jakarta’s hot weather!
Passion Fruit Juice
If I have talked much
about signature foods, now I showed you the signature drink from Makassar. Yes,
you could easily find passion fruit in Makassar and people really loved to
bring passion fruit syrup as a gift when they visited Makassar. I really
enjoyed this drink as it made me felt like I was at home. Just one thing, I
thought I would be even better if it was mixed with the big pulps :)
Overall, I really
really enjoyed my dining experience in Sulawesi @ Kemang. I couldn’t thank
Zomato more for setting up the foodie meet up here because without this event,
I believed I would never try the dishes of this restaurant. I’ve tried several
Makassar seafood sold in Jakarta and always felt disappointed with them. However,
this time, I was a highly satisfied customer!
Taste: 9.5/10
Place: 9/10
Service: 9.5/10
Price: 8.5/10
Thanks
for Reading! :)
SULAWESI
@ KEMANG
Address:
Jl. Kemang Selatan Raya No. 2A
Phone:
(021) 7883 3170
Operating
Hours: Mon – Sun 11am – 11pm
Find me on:
Inputs & comments: jessicagaby@ymail.com
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