Ramayani

This place is the epitome of an Indonesian Mom and Pops. You walk in and one medium size room constitutes as the dining room. The right wall exhibits for sale Indonesian imports and the kitchen encroaches on the dining room’s back wall. The owners, a wizened Indonesian couple, are the servers and probably, at times, the cooks. We settled on this place for a triple date after yelping all the restaurants near Century City’s AMC Theater (by the way - Iron Man II rocked!). The place was pretty quiet for a Friday night, but for the six of us, it fit the bill perfectly.

After some painstake and the patient help of Tyler (they have a very small kitchen for so many menu options) I chose the Tumis Kangkung, Hawaiian Watercress (not to be mistaken for water chestnuts) sautéed with onions, spicy shrimp paste, chili, and tomatoes ($9.50). I ordered the dish mostly because it looked good in the menu photo and there was a chili pepper by it’s description – thus when the waiter/owner asked if I wanted it spicy, I gave the thumbs up.

Tyler ordered the evening’s special, Nasi Goreng, Indonesian style fried rice with egg and chicken satay ($8.95). Too much fried goodness for me, but from the beginning I was really only interested in his beverage choice. To drink he ordered, Tiger, an Indonesian lager, that I liked okay despite my preference for stronger flavored beers and aversion to light, mass-market beers. For the beer connoisseurs this is a good review of the stuff: Link to Tiger Beer Review.

When our food came, I was happy with my pick and after peering at everyone else’s order, I got the sense that I had done well for myself as nothing else particularly appealed to me. Visuals aside, the taste was a little too bland for me – though I did enjoy the subtle Indonesian base blend of spices (see Indonesia "Spice Island"), I would have also preferred each bite to have been a little spicier on impact. Yet, with the extra order of rice and a little added house hot sauce (also available for sale at the wall market), I was happy as a clam and very much enjoyed the warmth of the restaurant and my company.