Hospitalis Restaurant & Bar, Radio Dalam, Jakarta

For most people, one place that always creeps them out is hospital. Why? Because hospital is identical with house for sick people, and we usually go there if we are sick or when visiting someone who is sick. Even I, a doctor, dislike hospital for many reasons. But if I tell you, there is a restaurant & bar which brings hospital as its main theme, I am sure you’ll be interested to come and dine in there.Well, if that’s the case, wait no more, Jakarta finally has it, the Hospitalis! Located in Achmad Dahlan street, Radio Dalam, I had been eyeing for this particular place for a while. Passing through it quite often and noticed the creepy, brick walls in the front, wheel chair seatings, but didn’t stop by until some days ago. The exterior kinda reminds me of asylum or abandoned hospital, something like Silent Hill, LOL!

Sexy nurse silhouette welcomes you to Hospitalis!

Spoon, fork and knife are put inside these medical equipments containers.

 
While the place doesn’t look that big from outside, it is actually quite spacious. The seatings areas are divided into 2: indoor and outdoor, but since the concept is more like a Bar, I think even indoor, smoking is allowed too. Everywhere it is, all I could see is the thematic color of white and red, which according to Mr. Ade (one of the bosses, or so we were told), those colors come from their perceptions as colors of hospitals. Well, I can’t say that I totally agree with this, but perhaps the image of hospital for some people is somehow strongly related to Red Cross sign, hence the perception. 

 
What’s more interesting is that aside from its totality in interior/exterior design to bring the ambiance and environment of real hospital image, when you go inside, you’ll be welcomed with waitresses who are dressed like nurses, complete with the bright red wigs and a stethoscope around their necks. Male staffs wear lab coats or even doctors’ coats, while the kitchen staffs wear scrubs uniforms and thanks to the glass windows separating kitchen and dining area, we could actually enjoy the kitchen staffs doing their cooking job and looked like they are doing surgery or something like that! XD 

 
Heard that one of the owners is Ms. Anna, who brought the idea of opening this place. She used to work as a waitress in a bar in Japan, and made friends with a mixologist. According to Mr. Ade, in the beginning, they wanted to open a prison-themed restaurant, but due to minimum space, they switched to hospital instead. Well, personally, hospital-themed is quite new in Indonesia, while we already have prison-themed one like Bong Kopitown.

My visit was on a weekday night, and honestly it was more crowded than I thought it would be. There is quite good selection of food as well as drinks, from mocktails, cocktails, and lots of liquors. I think when it goes dark, it’s more properly addressed as bar instead of restaurant, but if you prefer to enjoy it as restaurant, it’s recommended to come during daytime. The food menu names are quite intriguing and made me curious but since we just finished our dinner somewhere else, we decided to try an appetizer and a dessert only, accompanied with some recommended drinks. Let’s check them out!

The Fish’s Fingers IDR 36K
From the concept of fish and chips, the plate comes with deep-fried fish sticks minus the chips. They were served with 3 assorted tar tar sauces: original, Thousand Island mix, and curry mix. My favorite was the second one, a bit more sour and sweet than original one. The fish sticks weren’t exactly the best in term of texture, but the fish was fresh and I just couldn’t stop eating especially when dipping them into the sauces.

 
Fondant Au Chocolate IDR 31K
This dessert seems to be a must order thing nowadays whenever I find this in the menu. This melted dark chocolate cake is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, garnished with slices of fresh fruits like kiwi, strawberries and oranges. The cake was soft and moist, with hot chocolate lava overloaded inside. I prefer my molten chocolate cake to be like this, when I cut it down, the lava doesn’t go spilling like crazy, instead they just nicely move down. Hands down, one of the best so far.

 
Blackbird IDR 35K
This mocktails contains of blackberry syrup, lemon juice, soda water and mixed berries. Under the minimum lighting inside, this glass of mocktail didn’t look very pleasant, it was like.. umm, better don’t say. But again, don’t judge book by its cover, this actually tasted pretty good, although was too sweet for my liking. The blackberry syrup tasted quite strong, almost overpowering the citrusy lemon juice. Just remember to mix it well before you drink. And the mixed berries on the bottom were kind of crushed so they somehow resembled blood clots or some body organs. LOL.

 
Mexican Blood Transfusion IDR 76K
A cocktail contains of Tequila watermelon juice, lime juice, mint, grenadine served in a transfusion bag. Now, this was serious! The drink came in real blood bag (let’s hope that it was sterile and had never been used before, err.. XD) connected to the stopper, and hung on the stand. Well, that was out of my imagination and kudos to Hospitalis for being so bold with their theme, LOL! The cocktail was fabulously good, strong hint of Tequila (never really a fan but this one smoothly went down my throat!), and this bag actually worth 2 glasses so it was fairly cheap.

 
Local Anesthetic IDR 40K
Orange juice, pineapple juice, strawberry juice in a syringe, with fruity caviar. You know, when it was served, I just couldn’t refrain myself from screaming “so cute!”. Came with a beaker glass, it was fancy and I haven’t even mentioned about the gigantic syringe! Just imagine if you get this syringe for your local anesthetic, LOL! BTW, there is a way to drink this molecular mocktail, you can mix everything altogether first (the caviar and the liquid in syringe) or drink first, put the liquid from the syringe to the caviar spoon, eat it like that and drink again. It all depends on how you like it, so feel free to experiment! The drink was nice and easy, basically fruity juice with strong citrusy taste, not too sweet and not too sour. Loved it!

 
Just Peachy IDR 35K
This drink contains of peach and chocolate syrup, cream, and milk. Curious? Me, too! Well, this drink tasted average, mostly overpowered by the cream and milk, and in the end tasted just like chocolate milk. There was very little hint of peach but you gotta have to concentrate first before tasting it, LOL. Nevertheless, if you happen to bring someone younger (i.e kids) like I mistakenly did (LOL!!), they will absolutely love this!

 
Flavor Jelly with Vodka Shots IDR 20K
Got to try this new menu for free (thanks!) and instantly fell in love to these drinks in tiny bottles. Best way is just to drink this bottom up so you get to eat the jelly too. Recommended to try so I wouldn’t spill so much on the flavorful taste, you try, you judge! 😉

Some of the Hospitalis team.

 
During Ramadan, Hospitalis still opens and even better, they also release new menu available for Buka Puasa, which are carefully crafted by Head of Kitchen, Mr. Alex and staffs. The food are served on prisoner’s trays and some of the sauces are also put inside syringes. We have yet to try those but definitely will do soon!

 
Last but not least, it was definitely not our first and last visit, BEST OF LUCK to Hospitalis and see you again soon!