Bunga Rampai Restaurant, Menteng, Jakarta

Bunga Rampai is a prestigious restaurant located in the very heart of Jakarta, Menteng area, to be exact. Opening back since 2007, the restaurant is actually an antique Dutch colonial house turned into a restaurant, with a superb, exquisite architecture and interior that makes you go wow once you step in. Popular for high-society expatriates and ambassadorial meetings or gatherings, it’s not a hyperbolic state to say that this fine-dining restaurant is a symbol of extravagance. Bunga Rampai itself means an arrangement of fragrant flowers, which are commonly used for ceremonial purpose or just mere decoration. Last weekend, I had an appointment with another foodie and since he had some event to attend around there, I decided to make this place as our meeting point.

Before I continue further, this post will be loaded with photos, and eventhough actually these were already cut up so much because Mr. K took goddamn hundreds photos just for the interior and rooms, told you Bunga Rampai has the most beautiful, luxurious, photo-taking materials quality inside and outside!

They have so many rooms and areas inside, careful you might get lost, LOL! Back then, there was only one floor for dining area, but now, there are 3 floors available for dining, and wait until you see the photos! We are so thankful to Mr. Williams, who kindly welcomed us taking photos and brought us to look around the whole place including the 2nd and 3rd floor. The areas are open for public but that time those were fully booked so we were seated on the first floor in the secluded area beside the waiting room. What? You read it right, there is also a waiting room, complete with Victorian-themed interior design from wallpaper, chandelier, furniture, and so on. And there is a coffee table full of snacks to munch on while you wait, everything just feels so right in a good way.

As I wrote before, we were seated in the secluded area beside the waiting room, adjacent to the patisserie under the same management of Bunga Rampai, named Serasi Patisserie. The room we were in isn’t big, but it was okay, we had more privacy there. The main dining area is big and spacious but that day they were fully booked. We came without any reservation and I think it wasn’t a smart move especially coming on a Saturday evening, but well, lesson learned. 😉

Our seating area was ideal for smaller group, intimate date and less-intimidating dining experience.

SERASI Patisserie, straight-forward yet full of surprising baked goods!

One of the beauties 🙂

Cookies in jars, anyone?

Now, are you ready to move to second floor?

Ladies, imagine you dress up and wearing some Louboutin’s skyscraper heels and you have to climb the stairs all the way to the beautiful third floor? Hell, no! But don’t you worry, because they have elevator that will bring you to any floor nice and easy!

The second floor has entirely different interior design from the first floor, and it looks even more European to me. Dominated with warm colors, the area is beautiful and inviting, although seriously I think it looks even more intimidating, LOL! This floor has seating capacity up to 80 person and again, there are many separated rooms so you can actually choose which area you like the best. There is another room that has more simplified design, just like a regular cafe in Europe with black chairs and white tables, which I think will perfectly suit younger guests.

Now, onto the FOOD!!

Sadly, this time, I didn’t really order much because we were still full from our previous meals, so we just tried some recommended ones (by our waitress, so please note that the recommendations may vary). Bunga Rampai serves assorted Indonesian cuisine with fine-dining price standard, which probably doesn’t fit everyone’s pocket, but every once in a while or special occasion, it’s actually quite a good place to dine in since they also offer nice ambiance and service beside the food.

Bitter Ballen IDR 56K
Bitter Ballen is a Dutch savory snack that has become an important addition to local traditional snack since long time ago. Similar with kroket, they only differ in size (bitter ballen: smaller) and ingredients, but I love them both. The Bitter Ballen here was served inside a cone-shaped banana leaf wraps on a flat serving plate, together with the sauce (didn’t try it though) and a tiny tong, so cute! They were pretty nice, to be honest, had very lovely, soft texture and very tasty, probably used lots of spices in the ingredients. But IDR 56K for 5 pieces of bitter ballen? Even in The Netherlands itself, this doesn’t cost that much, LOL!

Nasi Buketan IDR 95K
Steamed aromatic pandan leave rice served with diced omelet, beef skewer, galangal and turmeric fried chicken, potato and shrimp light curry, corn fritter, sweet soya bean cake fritter, sweet potato chips, served with chili bilimbi fruit peanut sauce and shrimp crackers. Indonesian food can never be unattached with rice dishes, so there I was, after trying to decide what to eat for good 15 minutes, eventually my pick went to this menu from the rice dishes section. Honestly, I was more interested to read the name and long description *ahem*, but well. The rice was soft but too dry for my liking, but the good thing is it was already tasty eaten alone. Everything else tasted decent, but some were too sweet, probably suit Javanese tongues more. The so-called Chili Bilimbi fruit peanut sauce was extremely yummy and I found it a great addition to the not-so-impressive dish. Oh yes, did I mention that the beef skewer and serundeng (sauteed grated coconut) were also my favorite?

Cumi Garing Anyar + Steamed Rice IDR 65K
Deep-fried baby squid in palm sugar, sesame oil, tomato, and oyster sauce. The squid plate is probably better shared because it came in good quantity. Sliced thinly into tiny rings, the squid was nice and palatable, with right amount of seasonings. Sweet and crunchy. Loved this!

Banana Panakoeken IDR 42K
This Dutch version of pancake is slightly larger in diameter compared to American ones and somehow resembles crepes in my opinion. Didn’t try this but I was told it was okay, not necessarily great or special, but it was certainly big in size.

Es Bunga Rampai IDR 41K
Bubur sumsum, ketan hitam, kolang kaling, kelapa muda, cincau, cendol, santan. Or so I read on the menu. Honestly, I hardly found any ingredients above in mine and was quite disappointed by how “plain” my mixed ice was. I mean, this was recommended to me as one of their signature cold drinks, clearly I expected something much better, don’t you agree? In contrary, it was lacking of ingredients, tasted just simply boring, and I wish I could say something good about it.

Es Priyayi IDR 49.5K
“Priyayi” is a status for aristocrats in Javanese society, commonly used back then during Dutch era. This drink had nothing to do with it although I assume the name is used to describe the rich ingredients used such as kiwi and lychee. The drink had a very unique combination of tastes, dominated by sour taste, which gave an instant kick since the first sip. I would recommend this one if you happen to love something bold or kicking, either to start the appetite before main course or wash the mouth after main course.

Ice Tea Dahlia IDR 49.5K
Was expecting something more flowery in taste, but it was a fruit-infused tea with generous amount of diced apple and strawberries inside. Quite enjoyable, though.

Cikiniku IDR 45.5K
This was another recommended drink that, according to the waitress, is one of the best-selling drinks in Bunga Rampai, so clearly, it was an automatic mandatory order, right? I don’t remember the combination of fruits used for the ingredients but the taste was mostly citrusy. I think there is a soursop involved and it had distinctive taste but blended in a good, nice way.

So I am done with the food, and now I just have to share the beautiful third floor’s interior that is breath-takingly BEAUTIFUL!! The third floor has also just opened for operation since 4 months ago, and it’s completed with fine-dining tables as well as a bar in the most innerside of the area, still with  luxurious and rich interior design with younger and modern look! Beside functioning as restaurant, this very floor can be a great place as lounge, while you can enjoy some great music with nice view and colorful drinks! My heart goes into the super beautiful glass arch roof and windows that undeniably looks amazing, be it in daytime or nighttime. SUPERB!!

This has been a long post, and I really had fun selecting photos and writing about it. Love the place, the music, the privacy we had in our little room (which probably we couldn’t feel if we were seated in the main dining area), the service, the warm welcome and hospitality of the owner, and everything. We spent a good 2.5 hours there before moving on to another place, but we enjoyed every single seconds of our stay there. Glad that I decided to stop by and actually dined in there, and thanks to Paulus from Soompeat (and Nat!) for the great company.

Bunga Rampai is probably not for daily stops but every once in a while, treating yourselves to a place like this will bring a new and good vibe into your life, don’t you think so? 😉