The Hook is the latest joint in Senopati area, located in Jalan Suryo, replacing what used to be Raja Begor restaurant. This restaurant is currently still in Soft Opening period, when we visited, they have been opened for less than 2 weeks. With the tagline of “Are you ready to get hooked?”, I was eager to visit and give this restaurant a try.
The restaurant has a relatively large parking space (and valet service is also available), and looks just like a simple one-story building from outside. Stepping inside, the restaurant looks spacious with high ceiling, with a sophisticated and suave design, thanks to the leather seats and minimal decorations. The wall mural is simple yet accurately fascinating, successfully sparked my curiosity even more by their wording of “Prepare to get hooked”.
The restaurant is quite bright because the 2 sides of the walls are decorated with glass windows and door. I preferred to sit by the left of the area, which is (obviously) brighter, but it is actually the smoking area. And since I brought kids with me during that visit, I got a table in the middle of the room with less daylight coverage. The smoking area looks more casual and perfect for laptop-ing session as well since I noticed there are electric sockets available.
The Hook’s specialty is seafood, especially groupers-related dishes. Groupers are known as “ikan kerapu” in Bahasa Indonesia, and are commonly found in restaurants in Indonesia. Then, what’s different about groupers in The Hook and other restaurants?
The Hook claims that they only use ARAFURAS groupers, directly from the exotic Arafura Sea. There groupers are organically and naturally farmed, without the use of chemicals, antibiotics, and hormones. Fed with human consumption grade (such as fish, squids, shrimps, and crabs), the groupers are bred and raised to the highest quality, and free from chemicals that are commonly used in the fish farming industry.
The menu itself is not too many but the variety is good enough. There are groupers dishes for sharing (2-4 person), chef’s recommendation, Indonesian, Western, and Asian fusion dishes, which can perfectly fit everyone’s taste buds on the table.
Without further ado, let’s start with the drinks first!
Orange Squash IDR 30,000
A refreshing freshly-squeezed real orange fruit mixed with soda water, love this! Was thinking that they would just use orange syrup so getting the fresh fruit one was great.
Blue Legend IDR 60,000
An intriguing mocktail judging from the name, it’s actually dominated by Blue Curacao. My 6 y/o nephew was the one who ordered this and he was pretty hooked, LOL. The drink was served on a fancy martini glass with curly stem, cute! We love how it was sweet and fragrant, also paired nicely with the seafood dishes.
Dragon Berry IDR 55,000
Okay, first of all, the drink was so PINK. A combination of dragon fruit and berries, it would have been weird if the color was not pink. XD The mocktail tasted a bit bland with hint of sweet and sour, but the taste grew on me quickly after few sips. I loved how they also prepared a separate container for liquid sugar, just in case we needed it.
Mixed Platter IDR 235,000
Calamari, Prawn Shasilk, Fish Satay, Sweet Potato Cake, Baby Potato, Seafood Nachos, Salad.
The Mixed Platter basically covers all the available appetizers menu, so we thought it would be easier to try everything on one plate.
The platter was extravagant in presentation, with a large-sized plate and beautiful arrangement, I couldn’t ask for more. The serving portion though, was a bit disappointing because each items were given in (too) small amount, making an unpleasant empty spaces on the plate.
Every dishes had their own tastes, but eventhough I ate them in turns, the taste didn’t bump and nicely complimented each others. It’s hard to pick which one I like the best since they all were delicious, but if I have to choose, I will say that the Fish Satay was the winner! Basically a minced grouper on lemongrass stick, the satay was soft, chewy, and fragrant, and strong in flavor. Don’t make me start with the (Thai-alike) sweet chili sauce in the bottom, YUM! <33
The others like calamari, prawn, and nachos were okay but there were nothing really special about them. Surprisingly, my other favorites were the baby potatoes (come on!), which were generously bathed with herbs and drizzled in cream cheese sauce. And don’t forget the “regular-looking” golden flat balls which probably didn’t take any attention at all, the sweet potato cake.
Prawn Fettuccine Alfredo IDR 85,000
Another recommendation from our friendly waiter was this white sauce pasta topped with Cajun prawn. I was totally impressed by this pasta dish, thanks to its thick creamy sauce with strong flavor and al dente fettuccine. This is the type of pasta that tastes as good as it looks, and amen for that. The prawn was huge and the Cajun seasoning totally hit the nail. Love, love, love it.
Fisherman Fried Rice IDR 55,000
I know it would be lame if I mention that every dishes is beautiful, but what else can I say? This fried rice, for example, it was nicely arranged and so colorful that even by looking at it, the eyes can say “I am full”. XD The fried rice was cooked to perfection, not clumpy and sticky at all. Garnished with sides like prawn skewers, sunny side up (we can choose how we want our eggs to be cooked), melinjo chips, and traditional raw pickles, the Fisherman Fried Rice was definitely a blast.
The Hook Pizza IDR 82,000
Still with seafood, the homemade pizza was topped with tomato concasse (crushed tomato), fish, mozzarella cheese, and black olives.
First of all, the dough was quite a disaster. It looked undone from the color (too pale) and almost looked like a biscuit rather than pizza dough. It was crispy and the flour taste was still prominent, giving an impression of amateur-ish baked pizza like beginners do at home. The tomato paste was hardly original, with an appearance and flavor of instant paste, and totally overpowered the whole pizza paste and made me think “where is the seafood?”.
Needless to say, this was our least favorite dish of the day.
Rosemary Grouper Steak IDR 255,000
As we didn’t try the shareable grouper menu, I chose the single-serving grouper dish which was recommended by the waiter. This steak was a breaded grouper fillet with parmesan cheese served with cream sauce, garnished with salad and baby potatoes on the side, and separate sweet chili sauce.
Only God (and few closest person of mine, for sure!) know that one of my biggest weaknesses is seeing seafood paired with (Thai-style) sweet chili sauce. And although I doubt that this sweet chili sauce was Thai-style, the taste was quite similar and I had high expectation upon seeing my steak platter!
The grouper fillet was thick and seasoned nicely so the inside meat was very soft and tasty. The white sauce was savory and finger-licking good, but adding the sweet chili sauce, the sensation was crazy! I really love the combination between these Asian and Western style sauce together, they created unique yet marvelously good combo that enhanced the taste of the grouper itself.
The single serving portion weighed 200 gram for 1 person, and for sure I don’t mind eating more than 1 portion. XD If you ask me, it’s THAT good!
While waiting for our desserts, we looked around and were surprised to find that they also provide private rooms with seating capacity of 20 person. I think it’s very neat considering the space of the restaurant itself is not too big but they still managed to provide those rooms. With the calm ambience and welcoming service, I am sure I will put this place on my list whenever I want to hold a private event!
Chocolate Overload IDR 45,000
The name actually doesn’t really represent the dessert itself as not everything there is chocolate. But who cares, right? XD The 3 scoops of ice cream probably didn’t take your attention when browsing through the menu, but don’t miss the part saying that the ice creams are served in chocolate bowl. What? You heart it right, the bowl is actually made from chocolate, and is completely edible! It’s already cute for adults but kids will definitely find it interesting too!
Cocomint IDR 45,000
This Oreo Mint pudding with vanilla ice cream was a complimentary gift from them (thank you!) and again, the presentation rocked! The “pudding” had a solid, dense texture which was definitely harder than typical pudding, and we think it’s probably much better if it was made softer.
The oreo mint flavor was distinct and pleasant enough to make me forget about the texture for a while. But again, for a pudding, texture and consistency are very important for me and we found this a bit difficult to finish.
Besides all the good food and drinks we had that noon, we highly appreciated the warm welcome and super friendly service, especially by our waiter and the managers-on-site. If you have been following our food journeys and reading our blog posts, you probably know that we are not fans of Senopati restaurants because we think they (most of) just sell good-looking places with average-standard food and sky-rocketing price list. Don’t even make me start with ridiculously-high service charge although the service sucks big time.
Here in The Hook, we didn’t experience anything we dislike from Senopati restaurants, kudos to the chef for delicious food, great service, and awesome place. It’s always nice to find hope within thousand despairs and hereby we wish The Hook the best of luck!
Currently they are having Soft Opening promo, which is 25% discount for F&B, go by yourself and experience the goodness!
THANK YOU FOR READING! <3333
*All prices are subject to 5% service charge & 10% government tax
*The Food Escape team are not paid whatsoever for writing this post.
** This review is written based on our visit on 16 October 2015.
Follow Us in:
TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOOGLE+
THE HOOK
Jl. Cikatomas II No. 35 (Jl. Suryo)
South Jakarta 12180
Ph. +62 21 2751 3528
Opening Hours:
Weekdays 10AM – 10PM
Weekend 10AM – 12AM
No Comment