Author: Alex

Pondok Bali

- Alex 2 Comments

date of visit: Wed 16 February 2011

It was time for a meal out just the two three of us. In our household, any decision to go out en famille always results in quite a discussion about where to go. This is quite possibly why we go out in groups rather more often … We started off by deciding the cuisine would be Japanese and that, for easy parking, the destination would be outside the city centre.

And that is how we ended up dining at Pondok Bali, an Indonesian restaurant in the city centre …

In amongst Adelaide’s plethora of Asian restaurants the food of Indonesia is somewhat underrepresented. I’m sure someone will correct me but Pondok Bali seems to be the sole Indonesian restaurant in Adelaide. I’ve been there once many years ago for a work dinner (my sole memory of the event is that it was a ridiculously hot day!) so a return visit was more than overdue and a booking was duly made.

I booked for 6pm (I know, I know … stupidly early but fits in well with knocking off work and hauling around a baby) and when we arrived, just a fraction before, we were a bit stunned to see that the restaurant was closed. Our confused faces must have been spotted from within the restaurant, as seconds later, the door was opened for us and before we knew it we were seated in airconditioned comfort. On booking I had mentioned we’d be bringing a pram with us and it was lovely to note that our table had been selected with this in mind.

The menu at Pondok Bali is reasonably extensive without being frightening. The dishes have reasonably comprehensive descriptions so if you’re not conversant with Indonesian food you don’t need to worry about making an ordering error. It was interesting to see that the menu notes that the main courses are all served mild but can be made hotter according to individual taste. Based on the dishes we ordered, the restaurant’s definition of ‘mild’ may be different from yours: although we can both handle our spice, we decided that both of our dishes were hotter than mild. Consider yourself warned if you’re not a huge chilli fan!

I started with martabak – a stuffed pancake, folded and panfried and served with a curry sauce. I’m a big fan of the martabak my dad makes (which I think are more Malaysian style than Indonesian) so I was interested to see a restaurant take on this dish. At Pondok Bali the martabak is not deep fried and the filling is heavier on the egg and spring onion than I am used to but it was still very tasty and the curry sauce added moisture as well as a good kick of heat.

I followed my martabak with beef rendang which was really good. The sauce was very thick, concentrated and reduced and the meat simply fell apart – a sign of some very long, slow cooking. There was plenty of flavour and plenty of heat. Although there wasn’t masses of meat, we did have plenty of rice to help mop up that lovely dense sauce. It was one of those meals where what I ordered matched my expectations exactly and everything seemed right with the world.

Andy ordered some corn, potato and onion patties to start with (think onion bhaji with mashed potato), which were served with sweet chilli sauce, and for main he ordered prawns pan fried with chilli and garlic. His main course dish we likened to an Asian take on garlic prawns. I particularly liked Andy’s main course but in this instance, we both decided I had definitely won in terms of menu selection.

The service was very friendly but just a touch erratic … while there are massive plus points for taking on board the fact we’d have a pram with us and letting us know the martabak would be about 15 minutes in coming out, our drinks were (briefly) forgotten, and our entrée plates weren’t cleared by the time our main courses arrived and we were asked if we wanted new plates. I find that, in particular, a bit odd. However, this isn’t a restaurant which is setting itself up as a fine dining experience, so this shouldn’t be taken as a serious problem.

Our final bill was $85 (two entrées, two mains, rice, two beers and a pineapple juice) which I thought was a little bit steep. We used our Entertainment Card which brought the total down to $64 which we both agreed seemed a lot more on the money. Neither of our main course portions was particularly huge and I suspect someone with a substantial appetite would need to bolster their order with some side dishes. Personally, I thought it was fantastic to be able to order both entrée and main and be able to eat it all (and without feeling ill)!

The bottom line is that if you fancy something a little bit different then Pondok Bali could well hit the spot: you’ll certainly be looked after and enjoy some tasty food.

Pondok Bali on Urbanspoon

Jap Chae

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Jap Chae

I spotted a recipe for this Korean noodle dish which was featured on the UK’s Market Kitchen. What I’ve had of Korean food I’ve loved (yes, I do really think that kim chi and rice makes a fantastic breakfast) so I was keen to try it out.

Since making it, I’ve done a little research and it appears that this is not a dish that has a particularly rigid list of ingredients. The important themes seem to be vegetables (the chae) and the use of sesame seed oil.

As usual, I departed from the recipe a little. In a couple of places the original calls for sesame seeds which we didn’t have, so they were omitted, but next time I’ll make the effort to include them. I omitted the mushrooms, as Andy doesn’t like them, and added some crushed chilli. Sliced fresh chilli would have been better but our chilli crop is not all it could be this year … I also messed around with quantities which has left me wondering how the original recipe can claim to feed 6.

I started with just over 300g of rump steak, which I sliced finely and then mixed with a heaped tsp of sugar (the demerara was first out of the cupboard), 2 tbsp of soy sauce, 3 tsp of mirin and 2 tsp of dark (toasted) sesame oil. This mix went in the fridge for a marinate.

Next I made a very simple omelette using 3 eggs, cooked in a little vegetable oil in a non stick pan. This was then finely sliced and set aside.

I soaked 125g of rice vermicelli in warm water until soft, then drained them and refreshed in cold water, before mixing well with 3 tbsp of soy sauce. The original recipe uses less meat than I did but DOUBLE the amount of noodles. Personally, I think that would make your dish pretty lopsided – we had a ton of noodles and certainly didn’t feel like we needed any more to balance out the beef or vegetables.

When you’re ready to eat heat some oil in a wok and add two sliced onions and garlic to taste. Fry over a low-ish heat so that you soften the onions and garlic but don’t colour them.

Increase the heat and add the beef (and any juices from the marinade) and cook quickly. Stir in 4 or 5 sliced spring onions, a finely sliced (think julienned) carrot and 100g of spinach. Stick the lid on the wok (if you have a lid) to allow the spinach to wilt, and cook until the vegetables are tender.

Finally, add the noodles and omelette and stir fry until the noodles are hot through and tender. Mix in 4 tbsp of sesame oil and 3 tbsp of soy sauce.

At this point I added my crushed chilli and plenty of black pepper. With the soy sauce you won’t need salt.

The original recipe says to serve immediately – which I wasn’t able to do and the dish did not suffer for it. In fact, I think that a bit of time sitting on the stove on a very low heat helped the flavours mature quite a bit.

If you want to make your dishes look pretty, sprinkle with some toasted sesame seeds.

Holdfast Hotel, Glenelg

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date of visit: Wed 2 Feb 2011

Holdfast Hotel Schnitzel

I was quite excited to be heading to the Holdy: I haven’t had a schnitzel in what seems like ages and I went through a stage of drinking (responsibly, of course) at the Holdy on a Friday after work (quite an achievement as, at the time, I worked out at Elizabeth). The last schnitzel I ate there I perched at the front bar before a gig. More than 10 years ago.

Since then, the Holdy has had a face lift, got itself a micro-brewery and generally made its way up in the world. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it’s not.

We started the evening out in the beer garden which is a pleasant spot for a drink. Even though it’s smack bang on Brighton Road it’s well enough shut off from the street that you don’t notice it. There’s plenty of shade and no shortage of seating. Obviously, it’s where the smokers are going to congregate but I think it’s spacious enough to make that not an issue.

Having its own brewery was a definite draw card for me, so I was a little disappointed when I headed to the bistro’s bar to find only one of their beers on draught: Dominator. At least the barman did actually know what style the beer was (a wheat beer) and he even knew the beer’s approximate abv. Things were looking good.

The Bistro was a lot busier than I’d have expected for a Wednesday night, with a couple of large parties booked in – so it was a good thing we’d made a reservation. When I’d booked I’d been careful to advise that we were coming in with a pram so it was disappointing that our table was at situated along a wall, right on the end, next to the door through to the front bar – so no space at all for a pram. Fortunately, the waitress in charge of showing us to our table recognised instantly (before we did) that there would be a problem and suggested we sit in one of the booths at the back of the bistro. It’s a shame the person taking the booking hadn’t shown similar initiative and customer focus …

The booths at the back of the bistro are actually an excellent spot to sit even if you don’t have a pram. The area is carpeted with soft furnishings and is considerably quieter than the main area (which, of course, consists of the requisite hard surfaces). If you’re old and grumpy (like my friends and me!) this is perfect!

Mondays and Wednesdays at the Holdy are schnitzel nights – the schnitzels are $14 with parmi an additional $2.50. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking that $14 is not a particularly cheap schnitzel on a schnitzel night (not when you consider you can head to the Rob Roy and pay $10) … so was the Holdy going to over deliver?

No.

The schnitzels were standard pub schnitzels. The schnitzel itself was quite generously sized and came with a reasonable (but not massive) portion of chips. While I’d put the chicken parmi firmly in the average-good bracket, the chips weren’t that flash. As you can see from the photo the schnitzel came with a bit of vegetable decoration but if you wanted salad or vegetables that was extra again (an extra $4.90). Since no one in their right mind goes to a pub for a schnitzel and then orders salad as well I can’t report on that …

The remainder of the Holdy’s menu suggests that the kitchen is trying to do something a bit interesting while staying firmly within a ‘pub meal’ remit. Parts of the menu are a little pedestrian (seafood basket, for example), parts are a bit odd (potato and pecan croquette … not a natural pairing) and parts sound quite good (creamy parmesan potatoes, fennel gratin). But that makes me worry the menu is attempting to be all things to all people. Still, I shouldn’t be commenting on what I haven’t tried!

However, as far as the schnitzels go, we all felt they were too expensive for what they were: a standard pub schnitzel at a slightly higher than standard price.

Schnitzels a bit pricey – even on schnitzel night
Rating:2.5 stars