Kaum in Jakarta – Nice Spot, Mediocre Food

Kaum is an Indonesian restaurant that promotes itself as the “best in Jakarta”. Unfortunately, the food was extremely disappointing, bland and mediocre. The meal started with a complimentary Indonesian cracker and sambal which WAS good:

Next, they brought out a Lumpia Basah Bandung from West Java (I did like how they told you the region each dish was from). As an aside, I learned just how big Indonesia is on this trip. Because its an island nation, I would of never thought that it was actually the 14th largest country in the world! They also have a very diverse country in terms of regions and people. I will definitely be back to explore the other parts of the country!

This was followed by the nasi goreng cabai asap (Wok-fried rice with home smoked chilli paste, fresh prawns, fermented krill, lemon basil & stinky beans). This was bland. There was little wok flavor or smoked chilli. From the description on the menu, this should have tons of flavor from the wok, chilli, fermented krill, and “stinky” beans, but this was not the case:

The chicken sate was nicely presented, but also disapppointing:

Next was a dish called tagas tagas which I believe were papaya leaves from Papua:

For dessert, we had kue kojo from sumatra (Steamed pandan leaf & coconut sugar cake served with coffee sauce):

…and a sort of ice cream with sticky rice:

The best thing about this restaurant is the interior. Its clean, modern and buzzing; you can see the open kitchen. Service was pretty good. Unfortunately, the food was really unmemorable. I would not go back or recommend.