Sunday, April 18, 2010

k-meals: french food bliss in jogjakarta (aka 3 days of creme brulee)


traveling to indonesia, i expected to eat my share (and more) of amazing indonesian food. the city of jogjakarta let me down in that way. gorgeous city as it is, i enjoyed very little of their traditional food. instead, i happened upon french food, and a creme brulee that lured me back 3 days in a row.

but this story of love & creme brulee has a bittersweet aspect to it. the day my sister and i randomly found this restaurant, i took some beautiful photos, and i was excited about them (i'm a modest person, excitement about my own work that i admit to publicly doesn't come often). and then i accidentally deleted all of them. its kind of pathetic to admit to, but my grief was such that you would have thought i had gone through a painful loss.

but i got over it, and i dragged my sister back so i could take more photos (and eat more creme brulee and drink more coffee) i will briefly divulge my thoughts on the restaurant, and then i will let the photos below do the rest of the talking.


from what the very friendly servers at k-meals told me, i think this restaurant has only been open for a few months. there are a few owners, but one of the owners is also the head chef there. the kitchen is visible and the friendly french chef will greet you (& welcome you back) and if there's a lull in the kitchen later, he comes by your table to ask about your meal.

you can tell that these people love their food - each plate is beautifully presented. even the simple dessert of ice cream is garnished in a way that makes it look like a complicated, high-class dessert. you can find out a bit more about k-meals on their website.

the menu is in french & english. they seem to have a special of the day that wasn't on the menu, but otherwise they specialise in wood-fired pizza (tasty). the drinks we had (orange juice and some weird mint & green tea creamy concoction) were so-so, but the coffee was quite delicious. but if you do go, make sure you specify that you want kopi java. the second day i ordered the same coffee from the menu, but i got an americano, and although it was lovely, the java coffee is just so much better. and if you're in java, drink coffee from java for goodness sake.

but the best part of k-meals is their desserts. the creme brulee uses vanilla beans from java, so you know its good, fresh stuff. the top layer of sugar is thick & crusty & yummy and the inside is creamy but not too sweet. i came back for this stuff 3 times, ok? it was good. the $3 canadian i paid for it didn't hurt either. the other dessert i tried was the kappuccino mousse "chocolate mousse in a cappuccino way" :) it was perfect. twice.
















9 comments:

Isha Marquez said...

I'm so hungry now! Brilliant photos Joey!

Unknown said...

I would LOVE to try out your desserts Joey!! They look and sound amazing!

Unknown said...

great work joey. you should be less modest about your work - because it is stellar. i laughed out loud when i read you went back to this place 3 days in a row... to eat what I calculate as at least five and potentially six desserts - i commend you for this.

i have also enjoyed your decision to ignore capital letters - when will people learn that language and punctuation rules can be bent or even broken for the sake of aesthetics? the most amazing artists are those who break convention and ask for no apologies.

losing photos of fleeting moments isn't as traumatic as losing a loved one - thats true. but it is also true that losing those photos is still friggin traumatic! - i don't blame you for going back - even when the pictures are not deleted. (ive returned to the same waterfalls four or five times now - go for the sight/smell/taste - stay for the photo)

and lastly, the restaurant - is excellent. i don't know how you happen upon these lovely places, but i am glad you do and that you share it with us!

Bayu Amus said...

Wow, the photos speak for themselves! Looks fantastic

lovenlights said...

too bad that u dont have many experience of Indonesian traditional foods. Escpecially in Yogyakarta, there are various kind of traditional cuisine u shud hav tried...maybe problem is most of them are located not in the main street or not exactly at the tourism area.anyway, nice blog...i love k-meal too...

joey armstrong said...

@lovenlights
maybe i'll have to give jogjakarta a second try someday! :) i do love indonesian food, but there are so many varieties. i am mostly used to the kampung food from kalimantan. i didn't mention this in my post, but i DID have some really good tempeh in jogja, as well as soto ayam. glad you like my blog!

French online said...

Crème brulée is my favourite dessert :)
Great pictures !

Catherine

joey armstrong said...

Catherine - thanks! i never used to even consider creme brulee, but now i think its one of my favorite's as well! now i need to try it at home. :)

ppearcy said...

Stumbled across this gem in May of 2010. What a great restaurant. Regretted not eating here more than once.