H.E.M.A. Dutch Resto

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	European
Location:	Jakarta

Here's the situation: it was definitely lunchtime and we needed a quick bite - one that our kids would really eat (they have become very picky recently) but no fastfood chain, please. And preferably nearby, since we had to catch our transportation back to Bandung in a couple of hours. My mother suggested this Dutch Family Restaurant, which sounds quite proper for our situation, so we went there. The restaurant is called H.E.M.A., a name not unsimilar to an established retail store in The Netherlands, but this one stands for Halal, Enak, Murah, Artistik (Halal, Tasty, Cheap, Artistic).

The interior has the notion of a wooden cottage; wooden elements (mock fences, tables and chairs, pilars) are spread around the place. Tiny gimmicks from The Netherlands can be found everywhere. You know, those small wooden 'klompen', plastic tulips, miniature windmills, cheese cutting board and Delft-blue ceramics. Feel at home yet? There's a television at one corner, broadcasting a Dutch program, although you could barely listen to it.

We quickly ordered our meals: tuna sandwich for Syb, fries and mayo for Dhanu and Lindri, a hot dog for Dhanu, fish and chips and cream mushroom and chicken soup for me. For my mother, a portion of sirloin steak. On to the food..
My soup arrived first, in a common soup-bowl, dashed with croutons and a sprig of parsley. Lindri ate all the croutons and gave the rest to me. It tasted decent, but not special.
Syb said his sandwich had a strong mayonaise taste, but hardly any tuna at all. Dhanu enjoyed his hotdog, that was completed with zig-zagged mustard and ketchup, although I wasn't impressed by the sausage at all. Both kids were happy with their fries, of course, which were cut 'Belgian-fries' style: thick, random and a bit rough. The fries were served in pressed wooden bowls, based with an oil paper, but lots of pieces were soaked and rather greasy. The 'mayonaise' was perhaps mixed with a bit of mustard, and were served in a small plate, garnished with parsley sprigs.

My fish and chips. It was probably a big mistake to order this food in a 'Dutch restaurant'. I hoped for at least a decent chunk of deep-fried fresh fish (while realizing that there's no way I would get kibbeling as a nice surprise). But what came in front of me were two patties of fried, coated frozen 'fish', which was hard to cut and evenmore to chew. Don't even ask about the taste. It's a wonder I finished them anyway. My fries were no different from the kids'. But the sauce! I thought it was tartar sauce of some sorts.. but it turned out to be a 'tuna mayonaise'! Just imagine my surprise when applying a knifepoint of that sauce to the already-ruined fish patties. Oh and of course that sauce was garnished with a parsley sprig, too.

What's for dessert? Syb ordered 'klappertaart' and a cup of black coffee, and I a portion of vanilla ice cream. The klappertaart appeared different from klaapertaarts I knew before: this one was served in a single, round aluminum baking container, and shaped like the top of a high ice cream cone. It tasted fine, though. The ice cream came in two scoops, one was dressed with strawberry syrup(?) and the other chocolate fudge. I only ate a spoon of it, the rest was claimed by Dhanu.
My mother actually ordered a portion of poffertjes as well, but it came only after we've paid and all (poffertjes included), so we had it packed to bring. I didn't get to taste it but my mother said it's just so-so.

All in all, the food was allright and edible, although not spectacular. The place was nice, the service good, the ambience friendly (nevermind the kitsch, the Dutch gimmicks and the noisy teenagers who seemed to consider this restaurant their hanging place). The toilet, however, was small but pleasant.
Will we come back to this place again? Maybe, if we feel like trying other dishes on the menu (there's hutspot met klapstuk!). It's just too bad that they don't really serve the Dutch rookworst, or ewrtensoep.


Scale 1 to 5
Service: 3,5
Food: 2,5
Ambience: 3
Price: 3,5
Total: about 3


H.E.M.A. Dutch Resto
Jl. K.H. Akhmad Dahlan No. 18
Keb. Baru, Jakarta Selatan
T +62 (21) 739 3891
F +62 (21) 725 2712
W http://www.hemaresto.com/

Drawings, coming up! :D