richard kurniawan's site

Hi, welcome again!!.. I try to write in English, since I haven’t written English for such a while… Please, pardon me should I make lots of mistake 

I never planned to go to this resto.... It happened by accident
After I flew from Surabaya with limited lunch on 14 Jan '07, I was starving by the time I arrived in Jakarta. I caught the airport bus and continued using taxi to take my car in the office. While I drove home, I was deciding to find close resto in the way home to have early dinner since the time was about 5.30pm.

I was thinking about Soto Ambengan, but then I changed to have dinner in Bakmi TOKO TIGA at TIS Square, Tebet. That was the first time I went to TIS Square, since that place was named as TIS Square. I forgot the name of that place before it changed to TIS Square. After I entered the parking area, I remembered that I had been there before and had lunch several months (or years?) ago. I changed my mind again, and I chose DOME resto just few yards next to Toko Tiga. I parked my car just in front of this resto and started to find “heavy meals” for my shouting belly. But I found there was no “heavy meals” in Dome’s menu. To bad, I needed to find another resto!

My eyes saw HEMA, Dutch Resto just next door of Dome and then I went there. The first time I entered this resto, I found the very Dutch atmosphere inside. I liked that! Perhaps, because I was grown by people, who have Dutch style education and lifestyle. But this was not the most important thing.

I chose three different meals: San Francisco Beef Minced Steak, Pizza Crispy Beef, and Macaroni Schotel.
Certainly with beverage, but a simple beverage. Before I ordered Macaroni Schotel, I was asking whether it has ‘dry’ or ‘wet’ style Schotel; And the waitress said it was ‘dry style one’. I needed to ask that since I do not really like the ‘wet style’ and I really missed the ‘dry style’ just like my family used to cook. While I waited for the meals being cooked, I was enjoying the situation and Dutch atmosphere, some Holland scenery photos, miniature of old Dutch bicycle, wooden shoes, etc. I did enjoy them all. The only thing to be addressed here is that Hema has only one toilet; I had to wait several minutes to finalize the nature call.

The Minced Steak and Pizza came to my desk almost together, while the Schotel came several minutes later. I never expected the Dutch Style Steak would be so yummy (I just wanted to try), but when I smelled them I became so curious and hoped a lot that they would be so tasty. And my nose worked very well proving that food was excellent shortly.

When I swallow my first cut of the beef, geeee…. What a delicious steak! The sauce was quite different compared to other steak I used to eat. It was dark colored, almost black, and blended very smoothly and delicate. The Steak consisted of 2 minced beef with a size of around 7cm diameter each, lied on laterally cut bread with butter and salad. There were also additional boiled vegetables, such as green nuts and corn. The sauce was poured on the beef and also in the other part of the dish. That was a pity I did not take a single picture at all in this resto. I did believe that the most important thing for the taste was the sauce. It was an excellent sauce. Followed by excellent butter, then again excellent beef and bread. The steak went into my belly within few minutes…. Hahaha

The Pizza was great too! But the size was obviously below my standard, so small but so thin and crispy with beef and additional vegetables. However, it tasted great! I ate the Pizza just in seconds , since the size was only about 15cm diameter and so thin. Sometimes I used Pizza to “clean up” the steak’s sauce.

To be honest, I never expected The Macaroni Schotel would be so resemble to which my family used to cook. In terms of dryness and taste were so close! I liked it much. The difference was only the way they cut the smoke beef (and the portion size of course, hahahha). I felt like I was back to several years ago when my mom and sister cooked the macaroni schotel for my family. I enjoyed lots, the ingredients were just right! The cheese and smoke beef were so rich. It was baked in shaped allumunium within the right time and temperature I believed. I ate that very slowly for three reasons, firstly because I was not starving anymore (I had great steak and delicious pizza before) and secondly because I was enjoying the taste of Schotel ‘running around’ in my mouth while I imagined I am back several years ago enjoying the Schotel baked by my family, and thirdly because the portion was small . Actually, I can hardly find the right English words to describe how excellent it tasted and how I felt that time . What can I say?

One thing that I made mistake, I ordered Ice Lemon Tea without asking separated sugar. It was so sweet, till I had to ask waitress to reduce the sweetness twice. But okay, it was paid off due to the great meals, ha3x. In terms of taste and place I would give 5 stars, but in terms of size/ vol and price I would give 4.

Hema, I will be back there again!