Sasanti Restaurant and Gallery

If you are enthusiastic about enjoying a lunch or dinner in an ambiance bearing touches of Bali and Java styles, the newly opened Sasanti Restaurant and Gallery on Jl. Palagan Tentara Pelajar here would be a suitable choice. Home to a restaurant and a gallery, Sasanti presents a fine blend of traditional Javanese Joglo architecture along with other modern-style constructions with a Balinese touch to its exterior and interior.

The gallery, located at the front, boasts a collection of paintings, antiques, as well as fashion accessories including earrings, necklaces, and hand-made bags of natural fibers and genuine leather.

At the restaurant, apart from a selection of Western foods, a wide range of traditional Indonesian cooking is also on offer.

This includes lumpia rebung (eggrolls with bamboo shoots), mento, bakwan jagung (corn fried with flour and egg), tahu goreng telur (tofu fried with flour and egg), sop buntut (oxtail soup), rawon buntut (stewed oxtail), ayam bakar kecap (grilled chicken with soyabean sauce), bebek bacem (stewed duck), nasi campur langgi (rice with sweetened shredded coconuts and chicken), udang bakar sambal mentah (grilled shrimp and freshly pounded chili sauce), and nasi goreng kampung (fried rice ala village).

On the Western menu are salmon fillet steak, grilled Australian sirloin steak, vegetarian penne, smoked Turkey sandwich, and fresh fruit salads.

“So far, the most popular items among our guests are sate sapi (beef satay), bacem empal (stewed beef), and bebek bacem, while for the Western menu it’s salmon fillet steak,” the restaurant’s manager Deny said.

The sate sapi and bacem empal, according to Deny, are special mostly because of the tender meat used to prepare it, while the steak is special because it is fried without cooking oil.

“For the Indonesian menu we give three choices of rice, namely white, red, and yellow, which every guest can taste if he or she would like,” Deny said.

To keep the recipes original and interesting, the restaurant employs a local chef specializing in Indonesian food and a Western food consultant from Louisiana in the U.S., according to Deny.

“We try our best to serve all the food as originally as possible here,” said Deny.

Large servings mean it pays to come here part of a group of at least four people, which will allow you to sample a range of the food on offer.

Deny said the restaurant was designed to offer open-air dining to guests in a serene environment off the busy Jl. Palagan.

A Balinese-style decorative pond at the back of the restaurant fills the air with the tinkling of water.

A meeting venue, capable of accommodating 35 people, is also available, as is a traditional Joglo building that can hold 60 people.

“We can also arrange wedding parties here with up to some 600 guests or so for a standing party,” said Deny.

Sri Wahyuni