RoCA, ARTOTEL Thamrin Jakarta

Today we visited RoCA, a restaurant located inside the boutique hotel, ARTOTEL, in Jalan Sunda, just across Sarinah building. The hotel itself has been operating since October 2013, and thanks to the very strategic location in the midst of Central Jakarta, the hotel was very crowded and busy during our visit. 

The ARTOTEL, uniquely features original works of some young Indonesian contemporary artists, is just not your typical boutique hotel. It is very artsy, young, modern, hip and colorful, a pleasure to the eyes to another level. It’s hard not to notice the tall building from the street, especially with the black-white-purple paintings all over the walls. The parking area is neatly organized and never worry about not getting any spot, because the hotel provides free valet parking service, so everything is made convenient for you.

RoCA is located at the right side from the entrance, it is not too big, but quite spacious. There is also a smoking area which is separated from the main area with glass walls, and honestly, they do give lots of love for smokers because the smoking area looks even more beautiful, LOL. 

  

  

Personally, I love every aspects of the restaurant’s design, from the walls, the lights, the furnitures, everything looks as if they were really carefully considered so nothing was missed out from the whole picture. And there are also electric outlets available everywhere, which is great. In other words, BRAVO for the ARTOTEL designers team for bringing in such an edgy, creative and fabulous arts into reality!

The menus were presented on a paper inside glass blocks, which is so classy and elegant. Thanks to our sweet waitress, we finally settled with 3 appetizers and 2 main courses, completed with a tea drink and a mocktail for our lunch. She kindly assisted us in selecting what might be of our interests and I really appreciated her help and knowledges about all the dishes. Having experienced quite bad services in many restaurants lately made me skeptical about those things, but now I am hopeful again!

Rather than Truffle Fries, this was just a regular French Fries served with chili and tomato sauces. I was expecting a true Truffle Fries, at least tossed with real Truffle oil as the name suggested. However, the fries were very fresh and crunchy, which I considered a good start!

Fresh veggies (lettuces, shallots, red chili slices) and deep-fried battered prawns tossed with Asian dressing sauce, was a good option for an appetizer. NOT! The veggies were fresh and alright, but I didn’t really like the dressing. Honestly it only tasted sweet and that was all. The red chili didn’t help at all because they were not even spicy, just a little hint of spiciness. In my opinion, it would have tasted much better if they added some more vinegar.

I was ecstatic when I saw this in the menu so without thinking anymore, I ordered right away. The escargot is cooked in classic way, with potato cuts under, and topped with shredded Parmesan cheese, then baked. It was very delicious in escargot way, unique and tasty, especially with the buttery potatoes and cheese, this was simply amazing. I didn’t expect that the escargot dish could be this good, but really, applause to the RoCA for having this menu and managing to pull this one off so well.

This is one of the signature dishes so I was curious like hell, what can be so good about fried rice, right? Turned out it was breathtakingly delicious! @_@ The dish was presented on a big clay bowl, with banana leave as base, there were the green-colored fried rice, sunny side up, some sambal, acar, lalapan, and kerupuk. I must say that the presentation itself was very tempting! The fried rice was really DELICIOUS with strong taste of basil, as it was fried with minced basil leaves (and probably was marinated or left with that for a while before it was cooked). The teri (salted fish) gave another saltiness to the rice, which was a completely genius combination. I asked my fried rice to be spicy, and it was in fact very hot and spicy as I even shed tears while eating. No joke! And I am usually an avid chili eater, so I was very impressed by the amount of orange chili they used in my fried rice. The acar was fresh although a bit too sweet for me. The sambal by the side of the rice was nice, tasted like shrimp paste chili, but with another twist. The sunny side up helped so much in neutralizing my tongue after being stung by the spiciness of the rice, so everything was like, complimenting each others resulting in a very beautiful harmony of tastes! It’s a no brainer that this is chosen as one of their signature dishes.

Similar to the dish above, this burger is also one of the most recommended dishes from RoCA. The set was presented on a wooden chopping board which was so classy, in my opinion. The burger didn’t look too big, but we certainly couldn’t help cheering for the SUPER THICK, CHUNKY beef patty which was partly hidden under the sunny side up. And seriously, it was freakin’ delicious! The bread was very moist and soft, another evidence that looks might fail you! The patty was thick yet juicy, moist and perfectly done. I wonder how could they make such a delicious patty?! It also tasted very good with the already-spread mustard sauce, funny that I could enjoy it so much even though I am usually not into mustard. Served with french fries and fresh salads, the dish is finger-licking delicious and I promise I am gonna go back there soon only for this.

This drink truly lives up to its name, as I believe if you drink this like, everyday, you’ll seriously avoid hospital successfully. Combinations of broccoli, lime, pineapple, and RoCA secret ingredients, the drink was dominated with sourness, but at least you know it’s very healthy.

Sadly, I barely tasted the strawberry although there were strawberry tiny cuts floating inside the glass. The tea itself was very fragrant and nice, and with some drops of sugar, it was a perfect tea.

RoCA opens 24 hours and usually is the place where ARTOTEL guests come and enjoy their breakfasts. But it’s also open for public and has a wide variety of menu, from appetizers to desserts, also serving alcoholic beverages. It’s a nice place to hang out and I wonder how beautiful it looks during night time! Perhaps I will make another visit sometime soon, because I tell you, I am truly in love with this restaurant 😉