Tummy Prosperity: Out of The Blue, the Home of the Unexpected Ones

No, it's neither out of the blue that I came to this place, nor out of the blue that I wrote this blog post. They're all planned and intended guys, but what's out of the blue here then? It's the name of the bistro itself! Yes you heard it right, it's literally named as Out of The Blue! So welcome to the place where you might find unexpected stuffs; yet as usual, something not predictable was always thing that made life got more interesting, wasn't it?

It's very easy to find OOTB as the sizable venue was highly visible from the main road. They did put huge signboard in front, giving clear direction where the guests should head to. Since the name and logo were indeed catchy, they did draw the attention of people passing-by in my guesstimate.

Located at Spazio, OOTB finally brought me back to this place, which I might haven't visited for years already. The design reminded me of El Mono in Canggu with grey white and yellow combination. Some of the weird wall decoration became the true representative of Out of the Blue concept.

The huge space was well utilized as they weren't only providing abundant seats, but also a semi-private room at the back corner. When there's no event or no guest was booking the room, it's actually becoming normal dining space, yet the room was also suitable for lunch/dinner meeting as well as private parties. It's not a petite one since I guessed 15 - 25 people could be accommodated there. Besides, the contemporary minimalist design of this particular area impeccably fitted the setting usually desired for self pictures.

Regardless some of the decoration was indeed something unpredictable, yet the choices of dishes served were quite foreseeable as either the name well described the components, or the explanation under each name did mention clearly all the ingredients.

Cappuccino (IDR 36k)

Quenching the thirst first, we started from our mandatory menu in cafe or resto, coffee! This time the cappuccino was the luckily chosen one. Understanding they're indeed not a coffee specialist, I wouldn't complaint much about this cup of caffeine though I had to admit that it's slightly too milky. Perhaps they're using light-to-medium roast beans, so they suited those who fancied light coffee flavor better.

Arnold Palmer (IDR 35k)

Just like another Arnold Palmer, this glass was basically the couple of iced tea and lemonade, which might be more well-known as iced lemon tea. Just because the name's cool, it didn't mean that this iced lemon tea was something distinctive from the general ones.

Sweet Perfume (IDR 35k)

Compared to the Arnold Palmer, you might want to try this Sweet Perfume instead, especially if you had bigger curiosity and you're the one who loved to go for something new or anti-mainstream. Honestly speaking (and really apologize for this), I forgot what's the exact ingredients in it. However, I could clearly recall that it's a refreshing one and I loved how it was not overly sweet <3

Spiced Fries (IDR 29k)

Feeling kinda hungry already, my friends and I decided to go for something light to start our dining session (read: to prop our tummy so the 'dragons' in it didn't go mad waiting for us taking pictures of the other main courses). Again, what's served in actual in the plate didn't sound as catchy as how the dish was called as it's basically french fries served with spicy seasoning. There's dipping sauce coming as the companion, which was mentioned as curry ketchup, but for my palate *sorry* it was just similar to another normal ketchup. Well, fortunately most of my friends who did love french fries still enjoyed this appetizer though all of us agreed it's not something 'special special' to make it a must-try.

Beef Yakiniku (IDR 79k)

Our visit day seemed to be beef day, not literally the special theme brought out by the restaurant on that particular day, as it's just us ordering a couple of beef menu since they looked the most appealing and when we went through Instagram, they're apparently the most ordered ones as well.

This first one was quite unique since I rarely saw beef yakiniku was served with pasta as the main carbohydrate, yeah I believe you did agree it's mostly coming with rice. Giving it a try, this dish serving spaghettini (thinner type of spaghetti, but not as thin as angel hair) finally landed on the table. It was indeed a Japanese style one since it also featured seaweed, garlic dashi (Japanese broth made of water, dried seaweed, and bonito flakes), cream, scallion, and onsen egg. Though the ingredients were pretty rich, the taste was bluntly said a bit bland. Luckily, it was kind of being saved by the spaghetti texture which was cooked al dente, and the runny yolk helped a bit by giving more flavor into the whole dish, once it's being mixed together with the other components. If only the juicy and tender beef could have more kick by being given extra seasoning, it might have been an absolutely indulging dish!

Power Bowl (IDR 85k)

Called as power bowl, this dish did come as the savior to the prior one. Still featuring beef as I mentioned in prior, this one tasted much better as every single ingredient in the bowl tasted scrumptious when being combined together, and they're impeccably seasoned. The grilled beef slices were also more flavorful and I loved the sauce in which it's coated. When the first one worked well on the carbo part, for this one I loved the protein but facing a little problem with the carbo as the Japanese rice was quite dry and the mixed seed blended with the rice wasn't really my kind of taste.

Apart from that, I loved all other elements, namely edamame, snap peas, pickled nasu (Japanese eggplant), and furikake baby corn; all of which successfully made the bowl a generous and delectable mix of meat and veggies. Another alternative to the beef was tuna avocado poke, which also looked appetizing, so perhaps for next trial? ;)

Coconut Panna Cotta (IDR 49k)

Knowing me too well, my best friend told me that I should go for their dessert since the chef was apparently famous for his handcrafted desserts. Our choice fell to this Coconut Panna Cotta, which was served with extra toppings of fresh mango, passion fruit coulis, and strawberry slices. Thanks for the recommendation, I did think the dessert was the creme de la creme of our dining session in OOTB Bistro. I could feel the bold coconut flavor in the silky panna cotta, and the colorful toppings didn't only beautify this dessert but indeed went well with the panna cotta itself since they delivered those extra bonus of sweet and sour taste. Well executed one, chef!

Having a spacious comfortable space, Out of the Blue was actually a nice place for hanging out or meeting up. Some improvements were indeed required, particularly for the main courses, yet the desserts did worth to try. Best of luck! :)