Sunday, October 26, 2014

Seafood Feast and Foodie Meet-up at Sulawesi @ Kemang


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

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Inputs & comments: jessicagaby@ymail.com

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