Although I have not been blogging about my exploits in the kitchen recently, I have been pretty active in that area. Having spent most of the holiday season in Guangzhou by my lonesome I often turned my attention to some culinary experimentation. Some of my ventures went horribly wrong, like when I tried to make a chicken dish in Hunan spices. It tasted like crap and my apartment smelled like a side street chop bar for days. Others went well and I learned that I can use Chinese rice noodles to substitute for pasta when I need to and they are actually quite flavorful and soft in texture. Last night I remembered to take some pictures while I attempted to cook some Gnocchi.
It was my first time executing this dish so I had to call on my cousin for help; he is a learned chef who actually attended some school for cooking in Switzerland. He advised that I make a reduced white wine sauce with cream and garlic and gave me a few pointers on how to go about it. Using his counsel as frame work I armed myself with prepackaged gnocchi, some white wine, chopped garlic, cream, a red chilly (for my flavor), and some finely chopped onions. The cheese I selected is one I recently picked up in Hong Kong. It is a Pepper Jack Cheese that actually delivers quite a bite. I figured this would give the dish some zest. So the first thing I did was to pop a huge slab of butted into a hot pan and then throws in the garlic. Lots of garlic! After a few minutes I dropped a small amount of chopped onions into the mix and allowed them to brown. On the second fire I had my boiling water with loads of salt, into which I put my gnocchi.
The gnocchi is only supposed to boil until it comes to the surface of the water, but because there were so many bubbles in the water I could not see the surface and ended over cooking the little bastards. I actually wanted it a bit under cooked because they would end up cooking a bit more with the sauce. For future reference, if gnocchi is added to boiling water, 5 minutes is more than enough for them to cook through. I allowed the onions to brown just a little bit then I poured a fair amount of wine into the pan. I cooked that till it reduced a bit then added in stages some cream, my drained gnocchi, and the Pepper Jack Cheese. I kept folding the mix over itself till everything was well blended and the cheese melted. On the side I picked up some bread from the new shop that has opened up near my office. The big loaf was flavored with olives and herbs.
I served the dish up with the same white wine I used to cook it which is a local label called Great Wall. I actually found it to be very acidic. The sauce turned out to be fairly creamy but I think the pieces of onion were a bit too big. I am actually considering leaving them out completely the next time I try this. The gnocchi was a little over cooked as I suspected and ended up sticking to the roof of my mouth a bit. Also in retrospect I might not use a Pepper Jack cheese the next time I try this. The weather here is pretty cold so as the food cools, which it does quite quickly, the sauce looses a bit of its creamy texture. And in addition to all that I found the flavor of the wine in the sauce was too prominent. The olive bread however complimented this dish faultlessly. I do not know what herbs were on the top of that bread but when coupled with the sauce I had made, it tasted fantastic. I am definitely going to incorporate some herbs and chopped olives in the sauce the next time I try this.
A couple of days ago I got the cooking bug again and decided to cook myself some Ghanaian food. Now I know from past experiences that Ghanaian food is not easy to cook. It takes time and energy, not to mention utilizing numerous dishes which means loads of cleanup work. I was in the mood for something really filling so I decided to make some Jollof Rice. Those of you who have ever had an Indian Biryani, or Spanish Paella, you could say this is the African version. First I cleaned up some onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, and red chilly peppers. I would say that you got to use as many tomatoes as you do onions so the balance is maintained.
Next I blended the goodies in my trusty mixer, making sure to add ample sugar. I should also mention that my preparation style in even ingredients might not be traditional and completely accurate but I just work with what I can pull together at the time. It usually pays off.
As I have mentioned before, the fillet chicken here in GZ is really shite. It gets tough and stringy after cooking for only 5 minutes. That is probably why you don’t see too many boneless chicken dishes o the local menus here. So again I have opted to utilize some plump chicken legs in my Jollof Rice. I poured about ¼ of my well blended concoction over the chicken to marinate for a while. You could use beaf or mutton as well and it is a good idea to let the meat marinate over night so it can really absorb the flavors and spices.
Once I heated up the pan with a generous amount of oil, I threw in the chicken with the marinade just to sear and brown the meat. In my mix there was actually a bit too much marinade I think so I had to remove some. I just wanted the meat to fry a bit, not to actually stew with the sauce.
Then I removed the pieces of meat and put them in a pot of boiling water to insure they cook all the way through. Also I figured I can also use this water like a broth to cook the rest of the meal. Proper cooks would probably have some real broth ready but I was really winging it here. In fact every time I have cooked Jellof before this I have just let the meat cook with the rice, but sometimes it will not cook all the way through. With a good boil I figured I would get the meat cooked properly and have some broth to boot.
There should be a decent amount of marinade, which should now be a bit like a stew, in the pot. I threw 2 cups of washed but uncooked rice into the stew and gave it a good stir coating all the grains. Once that is done I just kept adding more of the marinade mix and hot broth, allowing the rice to cook slowly in the thick stew. I figure this would give the rice an opportunity to really soak in the flavors as well. Once the rice was half cooked I added the meat back to the mix. The goal is actually to get a finished rice and chicken dish that is not too wet but properly cooked so I had to keep adding the brother slowly while the rice cooked of all the water. It is a fine balancing act in my opinion, that I am in no way used to performing.
I felt like quite a hero having 2 pots bubbling in front of me on the stove. I was suffering from a pretty bad hangover that evening as well and task of managing both the mixtures at once was overwhelming. But I am glad to say that I was not injured even once during the process.
I finally ended up with a dish of the consistency I was aiming for. The rice was cooked and moist. The meat was tender and well immersed in the flavorful juices I had prepared. Many people add more vegetables to this dish like peas, carrots, or even potatoes. But I was not in the mood for all those fillers and I really just wanted to get to the core of this meal. My fist solo attempt at Jollof Rice came out very well although I will implement some changes in my next shot. You cant cook Jollof for one so when you whip up this dish you better have loads of friends to feed or at least be prepared to eat Jollof left over for your next 3 meals.
I gotta throw this post out to my friend Z, who is hustling out there somewhere Colombia trying to make the world a better place. Check out her blog. She happened to mention how she misses good food, and I would like to concur. There is loads of good food in Guangzhou you say? I agree but there aint no joy in eating alone. Back home in Jakarta we sit for a meal together as a family almost every night, talking story and really savoring the food. I meet up with VJ at least twice a week for lunch when we can and we go all out. Some days we cant even go back to work! Here in GZ eating has become a fucking chore, and I hate that. Something I love so much is now the time of day I least look forward to. Walking home from work at 7pm I start to think about what to have for dinner, then I realize I would have to go to the supermarket, prepare the food for a half hour, cook for another half hour, sit down to my meal alone, then do the bastard dishes. By the time I get all that done it would probably be 10pm. That leaves me an hour to digest my food before going to bed so I can be up again by 8am. Then repeat the process. How fucking depressing is that? I used to be totally comfortable with eating alone at restaurants but for some reason its no fun when the sole purpose is just to fill your stomach and not to enjoy a bottle of wine, the atmosphere, or good music. To top that off everything I have been cooking recently has been coming out shite. Until last Friday. I had enough of the cycle so I went out and picked up a few supplies and decided to whip up a storm. While I was shopping I had no plan of what I was going for, I just went for what looked good. The boneless chicken from the supermarket is GZ cooks really fat and get stringy in minutes so I went for some legs. I started off by chopping up some ginger, garlic, and red chilly peppers. I also scored a packet of coconut milk that I figured would come in handy.
I also diced some onions and fresh mushrooms. I got the last pack at the supermarket. They have loads of other mushrooms there but I have never cooked those kinds and I don’t like to experiment with mushrooms unless they are the magic kind. In most Indian curries the onions would be chopped finely or even blended into a purée but I was in the mood for some texture, not just soup with rice.
I had a bit of time to prepare the food and I was chilling with a drink so I allowed my chicken legs to marinate for a while I just dropped them in a bowl with some of the ginger, garlic, and red peppers. There are some people who like their meat with no skin at all. That's just silly. Skin is very healthy for you, it gives you good skin. And if you eat a goats brain you will get smarter. Swallow the fishes eye and your eyesight will never go bad. You get the idea. So when you are marinating chicken meat with skin on it, you can slip slivers of garlic and peppers under the skin so it marinates against the flesh. This is exceptionally good in BBQ when it's the meat has been absorbing the flavors overnight and when the garlic gets grilled right in there between the meat and the skin.
Being Indian I naturally have a full blown spice rack at home. I don’t know who bought the stuff that’s on it or who keeps it stocked but there is always enough goodies on the spice rack. If I am ever in the mood for Indian food I just reach over, select 3 jars, add to whatever I am cooking and VOILA! Its Indian food. It could be noodles, fried rice, or even scrambled eggs.
So of course I threw some into my chicken marinade. Until this point I was not really sure what I was making. I was contemplating making use of an old bottle of wine and coming up with some sort of white wine and coconut cream concoction with black pepper too. But of course once the spices made it into the mix I was pretty sure I was making some sort of curry. I had also invited Brother Ro to come over and feast with me so I could not go buck wild with experimentation.
I threw the chicken in my pot first with some oil and mustard seeds. I also added some foto for good measure. I don’t know what you call it in English but it has a really strong flavor and sometimes people use it in Indian tea, the milky kind. I like to cook the meat for about 5 minutes first on high heat because it makes the outside a bit crisp and gives the skin a chance to melt a bit. I then took out the 3 legs of chicken and threw in my onions, garlic, and ginger, then the mushrooms, chilly peppers, and one tomato. I also played around with the spice rack a bit before I let the mix sweat for a while and added in the chicken again. As the concoction got dry I began to add some coconut milk, cream, and water slowly cooking the curry on low heat for almost an hour. That's right, I like to let the flavors really work their way into the mix. Oh yeah, I added a few more whole chillys to the mix.
Also I added salt to taste. The last time I cooked for Z I did not use enough salt. I guess I have a sensitive pallet because when I taste food it is almost always too salty. And I also have figured out through trial and error that white folk or westerners LOVE salt. Like loads of it. So I put in enough salt for me, but maybe not enough for the unhealthy people out there. Add salt to taste. Plus I usually squeeze some lemon juice over the final product. Here is the curry...
So I could have stopped there and served up dinner for Ro and myself with curry and some rice. But I was in a mood to cook and having a damn good time with it too. I decided to whip up a batch of chips. I usually make my chips circular, thin, and crispy, but to accompany the curry I went for some long cuts with some really fat and others quite thin to get a nice mixture of textures to go with the curry and rice. This was a right good plan.
Curry, chips, and rice. What a fucking meal. Now my adventures in the kitchen do not always have a happy ending but I must say that this meal was quite fucking good. I guess I had been missing a good home cook meal for so long that I actually managed to hit one out of the park. To complete the session of course, 1 bottle of Jack Daniels. Bon Appetite Z.
Last night I went home from work pretty chipper. I am all stoked about my new tattoo and although I am pretty nervous about the pain, I can't wait to get started. I constantly have that butterflies in the stomach feeling you get right before skydiving or bungee jumping. I stopped off at the 7-11 to pick up something to drink and something to eat for dinner. Lately I have not been in the mood to cook elaborate meals so I stick to pretty basic stuff like glorified noodles, or things I can grill in my awesome little toaster. Especially over the last three days my dinner has been fabricated around my drinks. Last night I licked up some Campbell's Corn Flavored with Chicken Soup, a small loaf of whole wheat bread (getting healthy), a couple of cans of soda water, a bottle of OJ, and a bottle of Smirnoff Vodka. The previous 2 days had been Jack and then Scotch so I needed a change. Uncle Mitu schooled me on a great vodka drink. Fill the glass with ice, then half way up with vodka, pour in just a splash of juice, and then top it off with soda. I find the orange flavor in screwdrivers a bit over powering so this mix sits just right with me.
By the time I polished off 3 drinks I was not much in the mood for soup anymore. I decided to make a glorified cheese toast, but I din not have onions or tomatoes at home. So instead I loaded up 2 slices of bread with some Kraft cheddar cheese and a couple of slices of some Brie I had left over from a while ago. It was still good. I topped that off with some dollops of garlic butter, oregano, and red chili powder. I gave the son of a bitch a good 30 minutes of low heat in the bad boy toaster and then fired it up to high heat at the end for another 5 minutes.
By the time I pulled the fuckers out I almost burned my hands. A couple of days ago I had been watching Top Chef on TV and I guess the booze in my brain left me feeling a bit creative. I decided to ‘plate’ my dinner. Only I realized that I did not have much to plate it with. I also learned quickly that making designs on a plate with tomato sauce is not as easy as it looks. So where I had set out too make a cool floral pattern out of ketchup and mustard, I instead ended up with a few drops of ketchup and a whole lot of wasted kitchen towels. Not much of a design, but it was fun and I used some red chili peppers too. When I finally sat down to devour my creation I recognized quickly that my design had all form and no function! There was not nearly enough ketchup on the plate.
I spent an interesting evening with myself yesterday just listening to music, no TV, no books, and lots of vodka. Getting a tattoo for me is sort of a spiritual experience you could say, especially this piece I am going for now. There are many elements in it that have forced me to reflect upon myself, something I have not really given myself the time to do recently. It was when the track ‘Awake’ came on from Morrison’s ‘American Poet’ that I began to realize how far away from my self I am right now. Work has taken such a prominent role in my life at the moment that I find so many of my dreams are being tucked away in the drawers of my mind, one by one. It is as if I am being completely infused with reality. But that is just a part of growing up I guess, where you can put childhood dreams aside but every once in a while take them out, play with them, and then put them away again. Last night was a chance to play with my dreams, toy with ideas I had not given myself the time to do recently. I do take loads of holidays and I do have time to unwind but it is not everyday that you find your way back into a part of your mind or soul where you have not been in a long time. A place where you are reminded of WHOM you are and WHAT you came here to do. Walking to work today all the people in front of me happened to be walking in the same direction. We were like a river of people flowing down the sidewalk. Normally I would want to run the other way and break apart from the machine, but today I was at ease. This is part of the journey man. All I have now is time. It is ironic how short bursts of chaotic self destruction can unfold into moments of absolute clarity. Oh, and then there was the whole episode after my reflections where a large moth got into my house and chased me around. I shot you not, that fucker was all over my case. I told him he could sit anywhere but he kept trying to chill on my head. We finally made peace too and he perched on the plant in the corner. It was a pretty long ordeal because he just kept toying with me for over an hour. And he had a way of just disappearing as well. Freaky. I hope the cleaning lady does not kill him while I am at work.
I was home in Jakarta last weekend to spend some time with my nephews, and blow off some steam after hours. I spent one afternoon baking cookie’s with the boys, as we do. I would like to say it is a drawn out experience where we get to spend some quality time together but the truth of the matter is that these mixes are so damn easy to use that our part of the work is so simple to do that it really takes only 5 minutes.
As with most mixes we only had to add some water, oil, and one egg to the chocolate mix. This is the part where the kids get to participate. The mix also already had chocolate chinks in them. The boys got to take about 5 stirs each, that is the system my sis has put in place, and then I had to do the rest of the mixing. We could not use the electric mixer because this mix was too chunky. I got tired after about 3 minutes myself so the cook took over.
We slapped some of the batter on pan that we drizzled with flower and BAM! In 15 minutes we had these awesome tasting Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They were really tasty, soft, fresh, and extremely chocolaty. It is getting easier and easier to make home made cookies. Unfortunately the boys are 5 years old now and they have pretty healthy appetites so I only managed to have about 4 cookies my self.
I have written about my home made Ghanaian chilli paste called SHITTO before. Here in China I have had not other choice then to eat my Shitto with fried pakora, sambosas, or kebabs. They do fine when there is no YAM available. I do not know what you call yam in English but that yam from Ghana is not like the yam in America. It is a large tuber that grows underground and is a staple in Ghana. It is kind of like UBI, which we get in Indonesia, but at the same time it is not. It is a lot larger and not at all sweet. I have never seen this type of yam growing anywhere except for Ghana. Therefore the only time I get to enjoy yam is when I go back to Ghana or when one of my visitors is gracious enough to carry one on. My buddy Doc, being he true hero that he is, did not only bring me one, but he brought me 5 tubers of yam!! These puppies way quite a bit and to ask a man on a business trip to lug around 5 tubers of yam is quite a favor. But he did it and for that I am thankful. This piece here is about a foot and a half long.
First I had to chop up the yam. It is not as easy as one would imagine chopping up a tuber of yam. The skin on the outside is very rough and hard, not to mention caked in dirt. No potato peeler would be up to this task. So I broke out the biggest knife I own and it worked surprisingly well. I have a really bad track record with sharp objects so I was especially careful and I came out of the experience without a scratch. But there were a few close calls when I tried to act like the cooks on TV.
I usually go for fat chip style sizes but I make some slices thick and others thicker. The texture of the yam is tough but easy to cut through, not like a potato, so the shapes really hold. As I am cutting up the pieces of yam I drop them into a bowl with cold water and salt. This keeps them clean and flavored. Chopping yam can be a bit of a messy process so be prepared for some post clean ups.
Yam can be eaten fried or boiled. I much prefer the fried method. I am a bit of a neat freak in the kitchen so I lay out my tray with tissues to absorb the oil in advance. There will be a lot of oil to absorb. A foot and a half of yam is quite a load.
Some people prefer to go with a deep frying dish but I rather use a pan gilled with only half an inch or so of oil. It is more of an effort to cook this way but I feel the food absorbs less of the oil and I have more control over how it is cooking.
Because of the small pan I can only cook the yam 2 handfuls at a time. Be very careful to drip off as much water from the yam before adding it to the oil. I almost started a huge ass fire the other day. I let the oil get really hot then set it to medium heat before adding the yam. This way it cooks nice and slow to a light brown color. If you are using the shallow oil pan then keep the yams moving so they do not burn or overcook on one side.
Whilst frying the yams on the left burner I can skillfully prepare my Shitto on the right burner. Having already chopped and blended the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers in advance, I just have to keep them moving in the pan so as not to stick. I was planning to eat this batch of shitto with yam, I made it super extra hot with more than 10 red hot chilli peppers in it!!! That kids, is what I call multi-tasking’.
Now we all know what a stickler for safety I am. DO NOT FUCK WITH HOT OIL! I have learned these lessons in the hardest way possible so while multi tasking do not leave your spatulas unattended. They can easily fall and spill drops of hot oil on your feet. Keep your senses about you above and below the cooking surface. I like to take my time cooking the yam, getting the color and texture just right before taking them out onto the cooling surface. Then you can carefully use a few to sample your Shitto and vice versa while you finish off the rest. I usually get quite a fill in the cooking process.
Yam and Shitto baby! That’s how you serve it up. These 2 dishes compliment each other perfectly and go down best with a glass of Jonnie Walker Black Label with soda and ice. Small chop does not get better than this. Spending a good hour pre dinner with friends and family over drinks and snacks like this really bring back memories of the ‘good old days’ growing up in Ghana. One of the things I love about food is how the simple flavors and aromas can stir up emotions and actually cause a person to feel safer. Safer in sense that I let my guard down and my mind can truly accept the fact that I am back amongst good friends. It was a great week fella’s, I am looking forward to doing this again in October.
Roku-Roku Japanese Restaurant, located only a stones throw away from Guangzhou’s Citic Plaza is probably one of the cities best Japanese eateries. I have passed by there a number of times but have never ventured in for a meal. Although the exterior design of the establishment does not scream extravagance, I have heard the prices on the menu are quite hefty, although any person who has told me so has also added that that it is justifiably so.
Last Sunday, after an extremely heavy night out clubbing and nursing some pretty nasty hangovers, a couple of friends and I meandered into Roku-Roku for a very late lunch. Upon entering the establishment, we were immediately confronted with a fresh sushi bar. Roku-Roku is known for serving extremely fresh sushi. The bar is manned by 2 chefs, and although there are large cuts of seafood in the bar, they do not prepare any dishes before hand. They are all made to order.
Roku-Roku also boasts a large selection of Japanese rice wines, or ‘sake’ displayed in this elegant case. The interior of the restaurant is decorated in a sort of minimalist manner using mostly glass, steel and grey rock elements. This gives the room a very open flow where light and aromas are free to waft around. On the left of the room is where the sashimi or sushi area is and on the right there are glass cubicles that serve as private rooms for Tepenyaki dining.
We went for the Tepenyaki. Sitting in the little glass room kind of reminded me of the TV show 24. I felt like I was in Jack Bauer’s office in the CTU. There were 3 of us ding but they had a whole entourage of staff tending to us. I really enjoyed the small touches of Japanese design.
The assistant head chef was preparing our meal for us. Her name is Jenny. We ordered a couple of set Tepenyaki menus and a few other side dishes to boot. Dude, we were hungry. Plus I made the guys walk there so they were not too impressed.
For those of you not familiar with the Tepenyaki, it is a style of Japanese cooking where the food is prepared before the customer on a hot metal sheet. They cook a variety of meats in various sauces ranging from chicken, beef, and duck, to lobsters, prawns, squid, and fish. There is an acquired art to Tepanyaki cooking as with all other forms of Japanese cuisine. One of my favorite items on the Tepenyaki has to be the fried garlic. I can just munch on that stuff all day.
What is Japanese food without a good Japanese beer? Had it been late evening I might have gone for some hot ‘sake’ but being late afternoon and that I had just woken up, cold beer works damn fine. This large bottle of chilled Kinsai hit the spot.
Fortunately I was very thirsty and the Kinsai lasted all of 3 minutes. So we ordered a bottle of Asahi to chase it. Asahi is probably one of Japans most well known beers. I personally love the flavor. It is smooth yet flavorful and a damn good complement to Japanese cooking.
Here I was comparing the flavors of Asahi on the left, and Kinsai on the right. I prefer the flavor of Asahi any day. It reminds me of eating fresh sashimi on the beach. You can also see that the Asahi looks a lot lighter in color.
First up on the menu were these huge prawns. I have no size reference in the picture but these puppies were as long as my forearm! Watch Jenny slice and dice these prawns with fantastic skill. It is not easy preparing a prawn in this manner. She finished them up with a soya butter sauce. Off the hook I tell you. The flesh cooked pretty fast but she let the heads cook all the way to the end of the meal before serving them. And I have never really enjoyed eating prawn brains, but it was pretty good.
While Jenny was hard at work over the hot plate, we received our first order, grilled UNAGI or eel. OH MY GOD! Unagi has never tasted so good. These thin slices of meat just melted in my mouth. I have usually eaten eel in regular sushi bars and I never imagined when properly prepared it could be so awesome. And Roku-Roku makes their own fresh wasabi to boot that dissolves perfectly into the soya sauce with just one stir. I don’t even need to mention how tasty that was.
As part of the set menu we were served scallops. I am not going to pretend to know what a scallop is. I have eaten them on numerous occasions as part of a meal I have ordered but even though I have scuba dived, if I came across a scallop, I would have no idea what it is. Nonetheless Jenny cooked up some scallops on the pan then placed them in these shells to simmer a while with some seasoning. What I really liked about the Tepenyaki so far is that none of the items had been doused in sauces or seasoning leaving them with a very natural and palatable flavor.
Tepanyaki is a great way to enjoy a slow meal over good conversation and a few drinks. Each item is prepared one by one while the diner watches. Then he or she can savor the flavor and preparation of the dish. We were too hungry to sit back and wait for each item as it rolled of the hotplate, so we ordered a bunch of fillers to keep us occupied during the gaps. This range of Tempura (fried goodies) was so fresh and crispy. I nab not begin to compliment the quality of servings at Roku-Roku. Once again the dipping sauce was also perfection.
This small selection of sushi we ordered was also some of the best I have sampled in a very long time. I am particularly for of MAGURO, or tuna. That is the red one. It was marvelous! I am running out of adjectives to describe the food.
There were other items we toyed with that titillated and tantalized our taste buds, but the pinnacle, the proverbial ‘cherry on the cake’ was the Kobe Beef. These cows have been reared drinking only fresh milk and beer, listening to a continuous stream of Japanese classical music. This style of rearing provides them to live such a stress free and relaxed life that when they are actually slaughtered they are too chilled out to contract their muscles. This insures that the beef is as tender as possible. Yes, don’t you love the nihilistic nature of man? But seriously, all moral and overly passionate personal issues aside, Kobe Beef is the best fucking meat I have had in my entire life. It does not even taste like normal beef or US Prime cuts for that mater. It has a totally unique and unadulterated flavor. To understand it you would really have to try it for yourself. Check out Jenny preparing this awesome cut of beef. This is seriously worth watching, although I will warn you that you might end up drooling all over your keyboard.
Once the Kobe Beef was prepared medium, the small bite size pieces were laid out on a slice of rye bread. I have personally never seen Japanese food served with bread before. In fact I think I could safely say that I have never seen any steak served on bread before. The bread was great in soaking up whatever juices flowed from the meat keeping the presentation neat and tidy. It also went down great for flavor once all the Kobe Beef was devoured.
The overall experience at Roku-Roku was awesome. A healthy meal there could set you back a good $100 per head, but for the standard of service and quality of food they provide is worth it. Kobe Beef is a delicacy and will cost you a hefty sum anywhere you have it, but the stuff I had here is way better than the Kobe Beef I tasted in the Grand Hyatt Jakarta. The staff was very friendly and we were even visited by the head chefs. I will admit that at certain points I even felt uncomfortable with the number of people watching me eat. But they seemed truly content with the way I enjoyed their food. A meal at Roku-Roku is worth every cent if you are into that sort of thing.
