THE FRONT ROOM - SENOPATI

The Front Room at Senopati (Jalan Suryo) is new cafe and restaurant with emphasis on chilling and dining at the living room, just like its name. The whole ambiance is set so that customers who visit here will feel like home, you can really tell by how beautiful and comfy the room interior. Food wise, they are emphasizing on Asian and Western comfort food, at least that's how the owner tried to describe her idea when creating the restaurant. Although we have to admit that, menu wise we could find a wide variety of International cuisines from Vietnamese, Italian to Mexican. We'll review a lot more about everything in this post, let's check it out!

FYI, The Front Room is actually located at former Kanawa Coffee location across Okinawa Sushi (as per February 2020). The blue colored house is very distinctive and easily recognizable. The major issue about restaurant at Senopati is the lack of parking space and that's when the restaurant offers free valet parking here. Great service!

SECOND FLOOR & BAR 

The second floor though it is spacious it has only 2 dining tables and a few bar seatings. The bar here is a typical 'clean bar' as the owner described which means it is a non smoking bar (otherwise you can smoke outside on the balcony area. They have quite a spacious balcony area with table and bar seating front facing the Senopati street. We personally love the first floor than the second floor because it really feels like home and more lively

Balcony on the second floor (smoking area)

MENUS

At the first glance of the menus, it was very minimalist with no picture of the food/drink. Most of the time we were difficult to imagine how the food looks like, especially those menus with unfamiliar/ certain foreign language. Apparently, The Front Room has a wide variety of  International cuisines from Indonesian, Western, Italian to even Vietnamese and Mexican. That's when the customers (mostly) take the easiest way by ordering what they understand, such as Indonesian dishes, pasta and steak.

Apparently, one of the owners has a hospitality background and loves cooking, while the head chef is a Mexican origin with many years of international cooking experience. That really tells why the menu is so diverse. Having said that, we ordered a few of their recommended menus that we guarantee will satisfy you: 

1. Fresh Rolls (95k) - Shrimp, rice noodles, mint, lettuce, hoisin peanut dip. 

2. Bagna Cauda (110k) - A "hot bath" of anchovies, garlic olive oil, vegetable sticks. 

3. Fried Rice (115k) - Jasmine Rice, Beef Tongue, Garlic, Shallots, Basil, Nam Prik Pao, Fish Sauce  

4. Grilled Ribeye Steak (385k) - Ribeye 300 gram, roasted garlic, herb butter, corn on the cob, smashed potatoes, red wine gravy.

Fresh Rolls (95k) - Shrimp, rice noodles, mint, lettuce, hoisin peanut dip. This is definitely the most generous fresh Shrimp Rolls we've ever had. I mean look at the amount and the size of the shrimp. The ingredients were very fresh and the shrimps were big and still crunchy. The mint leaf gives that extra freshness to the roll. And last but not the least, the hoisin peanut dipping sauce plays a big role on enhancing the overall flavor because the fresh roll itself was unseasoned, so that it blends very well with the sauce.

Besides the Vietnamese popular Fresh Roll, we also tried their Italian's Bagna Cauda (110k) - A "hot bath" of anchovies, garlic, olive oil served with assorted vegetable sticks. This is our first time having this unique menu and probably our first time seeing a restaurant serving this menu. The anchovy flavor is very intense with a little hint of garlic flavor. It is salty and savory. This dish is commonly served with fresh veggies such as paprika, carrot, and shallot.

Fried Rice (115k) - Jasmine Rice, Beef Tongue, Garlic, Shallots, Basil, Nam Prik Pao, Fish Sauce. Let's make it simple, it's a classic fried rice with beef tongue and fried egg. This is definitely the easiest pick on the menu as everybody knows Fried Rice, right? And the thing is the rice itself was slightly moist, the flavor was sweet (of course from the sweet soy sauce) but it wasn't that salty savory as in a street food style fried rice. But it's still good probably because of the beef tongue. And the portion is pretty generous actually.

Let's jump into the highlight of our lunch which is also our most favorite dish: Grilled Ribeye Steak (385k) - Ribeye 300 gram, roasted garlic, herb butter, corn on the cob, smashed potatoes, red wine gravy. Imagine 300 gram of juicy medium cooked tender ribeye steak seasoned lightly with salt, pepper and olive oil. in fact, it was one of the best ribeye steaks we've ever remembered for at least the past one year. Many other restaurants may serve same old classic ribeye steak, but not many could impress us like The Front Room did.

Loved the corn on the cob, it's naturally sweet and very smokey. The smashed potatoes with cheese were brilliant and surprisingly the grilled whole garlic was really good (it somewhat got that potato texture and flavor). Definitely a must order dish here.

Oh BTW, the gravy sauce is made of red wine reduction which gives the steak a sweet yet tangy flavor. But even without the sauce, the steak itself was already salty and smokey. Everything on the plate was perfect and we really mean it.

Look at those perfect medium cooked steak!

Something sweet to close our lunch: Lemongrass Jelly (60k) - kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass, panda. Mildly sweet, light, fragrant and balance your palate from all those heavy meals.

As for the alcoholic beverages, they suggested their signature Sangria: Classic White Shangria (120k) and Rose Lychee Shangria (120k). While the Classic White one is lemony, acidic and less sweet, The Rose Lychee one is sweeter and has that hint of rose flavor with lychee fruits. Personally love the rose one. We could imagine having these during the afternoon around 4-5 PM on the outdoor balcony when the weather was chill.

Anyway, it's gonna be a very nice Valentine's Day Dinner idea. Don't forget to make your reservation. Thank you very much for reading!

THE FRONT ROOM

Jl. Suryo No. 23, South Jakarta (Across Okinawa Sushi)

Opening Hours: 11:00 - 24:00 (everyday)

Average Spending for Two: IDR 400.000

thefrontroom.co.id

INSTAGRAM: @Thefrontroom.id

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