Bale Soto, Senopati, Jakarta

There is one particular restaurant that I would like to visit so much after seeing so many nice pictures of the crowds whenever I open my Instagram. Bale Soto, located at one of the most popular neighborhood for foodies (Senopati), claims to be the cheapest restaurant in the block, so it made me wonder, how cheap could it be? So last week when we were thinking where to go for dinner, I finally found my opportunity to visit.

It isn’t located in the main street, but very easy to spot even during night time, thanks to the super duper bright yellow-tone lights all over the place. Initial impression was very nice, big and spacious house turned into a restaurant kind of place. The downside is very minimum parking area, but luckily there were some parking guys who were quite helpful so we just had to wait for a while. The restaurant was very crowded and almost fully packed when I came, and it seems like the place is very popular for party or gathering because most all the tables were fulfilled by groups.

Apparently, Bale Soto is already existing in Manado, and this Jakarta branch has just opened since January 2014. The place is very cozy and has the separated no-smoking area in the inner side. When I stepped in, I felt like I was at someone’s home and I really love the atmosphere. Everything is very beautifully designed and matched, yet still remains humble and less pretentious. 

   

Their signature dishes are the soto (duh!) and seriously they serve so many types of soto, and everything sounded soooo yummy! The menu is basically divided into some sections, from Appetizers/Snacks (Camilan) ranges from IDR 13K – 25K, Rice/Soto/Noodle ranges from IDR 20K – 37K (including rice), Drinks IDR 3K – 20K, and Desserts from IDR 25K – 30K.

From all their soto menu, we ordered 3 kinds: Special, Bebek, and Daging. While Bebek and Daging are two of their recommended ones, I didn’t really agree. Mine was the Bebek one, and it was very salty even just when I tried the soup, so the whole bowl was just salty without any other dominant taste. The Daging one was quite good, the soup was tasty and aromatic. The meat for these soto bowls were quite a lot so I was quite satisfied. Moreover, I really love soto cooked with various herbs and spices, and here I found them very rich in flavors too. BTW all the soto menu don’t include rice, so it can be ordered separately for IDR 7K/plate.

Never really a fan of this particular food. The lamb was a bit smelly but not hard. Acceptable but not recommending it.

I tried a REAL mie goreng Aceh made from local Aceh people some months back, and until now I still remember the taste. First, this was definitely NOT mie goreng; and second, definitely NOT mie goreng Aceh. But how about the taste? Surprise, surprise! The noodle was cooked with lots of spices and tasted so much like star anise seeds (pekak?), but yours truly loved it! It was unique and shocking, basically looked just like regular noodle, but surprisingly different. Gotta try it yourself!

I expected something new when I ordered it, but somehow it was similar with Tahu Telor from East Java. It was messy, black and might look unappealing, but it tasted so good. 

I was thinking that the prices for the desserts are even more expensive than the main courses. But well, for durian, I am willing to pay any price. #eeaaa The cup/bowl is the regular dessert cup but seriously it was very filling. The durian wasn’t too sweet, a kind of bland sweet durian actually. However, it tasted good combined with everything else in the bowl.

Indonesian food is never complete without a glass of es campur as dessert. Refreshing!

Another durian dessert with more twist, the popping bobba! Sweet and sour, not very original, but this combination totally rocks!

Although I and my companies that night agreed that the food weren’t the best, we really enjoyed our time there. Not only the place is nice, the service was excellent too and the most important thing is we felt like we were at home. Definitely will come back often even just for the desserts and drinks.