Indonesia Indah Restaurant, Perth
The restaurant, looking dark and mysterious (and semi-dodgy), did not deter DG and I as we walked down the steep stair case into the world of Indonesia Indah Restaurant.
In hindsight, I should have let that deter us but we still went in as I saw a sticker that stated it had won the I Love Food Awards that is run by the Lifestyle Channel on Foxtel. My thought process was that it had to have good food if it’s won an award… right? Plus ‘Indonesia Indah’ literally means beautiful Indonesia. I guess it was only curiosity which really made me go down to this place.
We were guided to a table which had been cleared, but yet when I put my hand on the table while I was talking to my friend, I touched a piece of cold chicken that was still on the table but I didn’t notice. Yuck!! I should have taken that as an omen, as everything went down hill from there.
DG ordered the ‘Pepe’s Seafood “Indonesia Indah”’ ($22.50) which is supposed to have barbecued scallops, prawns, squid, and fish with spices. I noticed that the restaurant claims to be the ‘House of Rendang’ and that the Chicken Rendang ($11.90).
We were both really dismayed by the dishes we ordered. Perhaps the Chef(s) were having a really bad day. They had run out of most of the seafood apart from the fish on the list, so they thought it was ‘alright’ to substitute all of that with fake crab (i.e. sliced crab sticks).
I chose the Chicken Rendang as it stated to have been praised by Bill Thompson, a former Sunday Times Newspaper Food Critic. Unfortunately the Rendang wasn’t that great and the chicken was overcooked.
We also ordered desserts, which came out during the time we were having our mains. I thought desserts were supposed to come after the mains. Or maybe they were just trying to get rid of us quickly, even though the majority of the diners at this restaurant were people from tour groups who were still eating.
Indonesia may be beautiful. Disappointingly, the food at Indonesia Indah certainly is not.
Indonesia Indah Restaurant
118-120 Barrack Street
Perth WA 6000
9221 3970
I reckon the best Indonesian food in Perth is at Djimbaran Bali in Myaree. Although I hate to share with everyone this little secret Indonesian place of mine but I think they deserved to be mentioned. Go there and try them out before they get too crowded. Beef satays and rendang are just no where to be found in Perth. Most of the items on the menu are good, except for the sour soup.
Djimbaran Bali is ok. I went there last year (or was it earlier this year?) for my friend’s birthday party. It was…… let’s just say, overall it was quite bad particularly in the service stakes. The birthday girl was so embarrassed, but it wasn’t her fault the place was bad that day! I would be willing to try it again and hope that when I go there they are a bit more organised!
Their service are so so. Can’t fault their food as they’re always good whenever I go.
I remember one of the dishes was quite nice, although for the life of me I can’t remember. I just remember the service, because we kept telling my friend not to worry and that it’ll be coming out soon… eventually… any time now… lol it actually took over 2 hours for the food to come out – and my friend kept telling the wait person in Indo to hurry up because we were supposed to go to a movie at 9pm. Still feel sorry for my poor friend when I recall that night!
Went there for lunch. Nothing to shout about. Just a normal and fast lunch from the buffet.
hmm I know what you meant with Indonesia Indah. They used to have really exceptionnaly good rendang about 2 years back. Like so good that even my dad who’s very picky about Indonesian food actually requests to go there everytime he stops by in Perth.
But yah we’ve seen them declining gradually especially with the rendang, so we don’t really go there anymore.
Certain dishes, such as ayam balado (request for extra extra hot!), or the dessert bubur sum2… Indonesia Indah is still the best place for these
.