Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Restaurant Trio

Yesterday, my Ex- Boss, brought me to this old Chinese restaurant named "Restaurant Trio". This restaurant was established in 1947 and is quite well known for the delicious taste until today. My Boss told me during his university time around 1960s, that this restaurant became a favorite place. He and his college friends would eat often at this place for celebrations like graduations or birthdays.

It's a very humble restaurant. There's no air-conditioner, only fan.
The Menu is on the wall
The restaurant is not big, probably just about 10 tables.
You will be "greeted" by a shoeshine man at the entrance door. Then, a magazine vendor is selling around from one table to the other table.

I ordered a glass of passion fruit (Markisa) which cost Rp. 7.500.
The 3 kind of chilies are for free but the small plate of cucumber pickle (acar ketimun) costs Rp. 2.000.

My boss ordered his favorite dishes. First is the shrimp balls soup (Baso Udang Kuah) for appetizer. I think it's a very nice choice as an opening for the full meal. The shrimp balls tasted flavorful with a bit of chewy texture.

Fried frogs with butter sauce (Kodok goreng saus mentega) is wonderful. The first bite, you can feel the crispy part then follows by the inside soft tender meat from the legs' frogs fried with salty butter and sweet soy sauce plus a bit of kaffir lime juice on the top which made the aroma of this dish nicely.

This below dish - Huis Pot Babi, was my favorite. It's fried pork wrapped in batter, and mashed potato on the side. The fried pork is boneless and crispy. The mashed potato is an old Dutch style where the potato is not smooth nor creamy, and has little cubes of carrots in it. It's served with sliced tomatoes and cucumber.

Ayam Nanking means Nanking Chicken. Nanking is a name of a town in China, I guess this dish came from Nanking :) It's sliced chicken layered with ham and also minced prawns then dipped into batter before being fried, then later on before we eat it, we squeeze a kaffir lime on it. This dish is very flavorful.
All the dishes are eaten with white rice.

At the end of the lunch, I thanked my boss for the scrumptious lunch :)

Restaurant Trio
Jl. R.P Soeroso No. 29 A (or more known as Jalan Gondangdia Lama)
Phone: 31936295
Jakarta Pusat

Currency rate: 1 USD = Rp. 10.500

Disclaimer:The review and opinion expressed here are purely according to my personal taste. There's a possibility that the taste of the food might change later on, which could affect the review and opinion here. I also affirm that no monetary or non-monetary compensation has been received from this restaurant for writing this review.

49 comments:

  1. ohhh...those dishes looks even better than some chinese restaurant's here in Msia dear!
    Fried frogs with butter sauce, Hot pot babi and the nanking chic!! Yums..mayb i can print out ya post & give it to some restaurant owners & ask them to cook these dishes! ahahaha

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  2. TNG: Hahaha... you can't be serious that some Chinese restaurants in Msia couldn't be compared with this restaurant ;)

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  3. What a nice boss you have Selba. I would love to someday sample these delicacies you write about. I can smell the kaffir lime from all the way over here:)

    Sometimes the best food comes from the most humble restaurant.

    Thank you for sharing.

    P.S. I will gladly send you Hershey Kisses:)

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  4. louise: My boss (he used to be my boss, it was 7 years ago and now, he's hired me for a part time job in order to help him for his book writing) is nice.

    I really hope that you will have the chance to try all this food, it's really scrumptious. And yes, you can never get wrong with kaffir lime, it has a wonderful fragrance.

    Thank you so much for the offer, Louise :) It's so thoughtful of you, but then, I'm afraid if you send it by post, it might be melted during the way to reach me.

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  5. Wow, totally understand how they've stood the test of time!! I want the hot pot babi and Nanking Chicken! Oooh, great idea from Nomad Gourmand! If we can't go to Trio, let's make a Trio out of our local dai-chow! :-D

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  6. Sounds like you had such a delicous meal. I would love to have a restaurant like that around here.

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  7. 550ml jar of faith: Hehehe... the idea sounds great and also tempting ;)

    helene: Yes, it's a delicious lunch :)

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  8. i would like to try the Nanking chicken-so much effort to make it.

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  9. The frog leg quite big size huh~~

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  10. Your Chinaman Boss must be quite authentic,and his lucky guests quite special,to be hosted and generously feted to his extra old favorites !

    Vivala Nanking !

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  11. food looks really delectable, I'm so hungry ;p

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  12. Shrimp ball soup sounds delicious. In Singapore, frog legs are usually stir fried or braised in Kung Po chili or green onions and ginger :P

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  13. wah some more while makan got tukang kasut to polish for you? that's nice? I wonder can he polish high hill? Btw, is that ur boss or exboss?

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  14. the fried frog should b tasty...see the oil...haha...normally tasty food is not so healthy ya!haha

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  15. foodbin: The Nanking chicken is very good, probably because of 3 kind of different meat :)

    mimid3vils: Uhmmm… I think the size is average, hehehe

    BSG: He is almost 70 years ;) I’m considered being lucky to be his guest ;)

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  16. little inbox: Not bad at all :)

    noobcook: I wish I could have lunch there again, hehehe…

    tigerfish: Oh… the way of cooking frog legs is quite different than Indonesian Chinese style. Interesting to try the Singaporean way :)

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  17. steven goh: Not so sure whether the polish man also is polishing women’s shoes. It’s my boss… well, he used to be my boss long time ago then he became an ex-boss, until this beginning of month when he is hiring me again :)

    simplegirl: Oh.. the melted butter! It’s so wonderful with the warm white rice ;)

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  18. So lucky you are to have a boss and job like that. Id love to be able to try all those goodies.

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  19. donna-ffw: It's only a temporary job, Donna :) I think you will love the food.

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  20. I love passion fruit juice but I don't eat frog legs..everything on the menu sounds delicious,though

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  21. peachkins: Passion fruit is very nice to be eaten directly or making it to juice, ya? :) Ah... you don't like frogs' legs, it's yummy though, hehehe...

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  22. Mmm, everything looks good...even the frogs (which I have only had once). Maybe your boss would want to take me along too next time you two go out!

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  23. Looks like you and your boss had a scrumptious lunch Selba. I would have been really curious about the frong in the butter sauce!

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  24. mica: I think if my boss know you, he would love to invite your also for lunch and I would be so glad if we could have lunch together ;)

    katherine aucoin: It's a scrumptious lunch indeed :) Have you ever eaten frogs before?

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  25. It looks like an amazing lunch. I love the pictures you share with us.

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  26. mary: I'm so glad that I can share the pictures of the delicious food, Mary :)

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  27. Wow, this restaurant has a long history. Guess it should mean a lot to your boss. The food looks good! Wanna try them out!

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  28. The food is for a yum yum!! It isn’t necessary to have air-conditioner to eat gorgeous dishes..this is the case :D

    Cheers!

    Gera

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  29. Selby,

    I'd been to that restaurant decades ago... I almost forgot about Chicken a la Nanking. That gives me the inspiration to create the dish here. The fried frog legs... oh, don't even mention it.. you're killing me!! I miss that so much.
    Thanks for the "food porn" ;-)

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  30. sugar bean: Yes, I believe so that the restaurant must be also have a sweet memory for my boss beside the delicious food :)

    gera: Hehehe... sometimes air-con is also needed because the weather in Jakarta can be so hot and high humid :)

    tuty: Wow! You've been at this restaurant before? Seriously? I'm so happy that you get the inspiration to make the Ayam Nanking, maybe you can show you cooking to me, ya? ;)

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  31. I think the food in this restaurant must be very good as it has been its biz for so long.

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  32. so is it your boss or you ex-boss? hehe

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  33. i like your photo formats, selby!

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  34. food for tots: Yes, the quality control is very good ;)

    cumi & ciki: Well, used to be boss then ex-boss and now boss again, hehehe…

    pearl: Thank you, Pearl. Glad that you like it :)

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  35. Delicious looking dishes and I think I like the sound of the pot babi.Yum!

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  36. jo: Hehehe.. the huis pot babi sounds yummy, ya?

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  37. The Frog legs in Butter looks so good! I enjoyed these old eateries in Indonesia and yes plus minus 10 tables which serves excellent food. Thinking of my times in Indonesia!

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  38. woops..fried frog? I'll go for hot pot babi hehe
    nice to be given a treat right? :)

    http://buzzingbee.blogsome.com/

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  39. worldwindows: Did you try the "authentic" Chinese restaurants in Jakarta? How's the taste compared to the ones in KL?

    buzzingbee: Hi Buzzingbee, thanks for dropping by my blog :)
    You are not a fan of frogs? It's good though, hehehe.... Yup, a treat definitely is nice.

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  40. I love your blog, I´m from Spain and my english is not good, I hope you undestund me well... I have never proven the frogs nor I will make it...
    A kiss

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  41. You're great at taking photos in restaurants, they look so appetizing! Sounds like you enjoyed a nice, varied and well-balanced lunch... I would have probably needed a nap after :)

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  42. mar: Hi Mar, welcome to my blog. It's very nice to know you :) People in Spain don't eat frogs? Hopefully, you will be to try it someday.

    marta: Thank you for the compliment, Marta :) Ah.. after a full meal, we tend to feel sleepy, I wonder why..

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  43. So much good food! Your boss is really nice. Many of the items I have not seen before, like the Ayam Nanking. So many different types of flavors in one dish! No wonder why all of these dishes are great with rice :).

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  44. Wow, I love comparing authentic food to the US versions. So similar, right? LOL

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  45. maris: Hi Maris, thank you for stopping by my blog :) You like comparing authentic food to the US? Sounds a lot of fun, hehehe... Well, hope to see you again on my blog, coz' there might be more authentic food coming ;)

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  46. ETE: I'm not so sure whether the food is actually originally from hokkian (Fujian) or cantonese. According to my mom, her family used to cook this kind of food but then in the menu, it said some of the dishes are cantonese.

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