While structurally lies under Ossotel management, and it is a part of the hotel, Romeos location allows it to have direct access from the street, hence making it feels just like a regular eatery. Having just opened for few months when we arrived in March 2014, Romeos strikingly look like a refreshing plastic surgery to the neighbourhood which looks quite weary with its aged hotels.
Proudly showing "Established 2013" Romeos give out an eclectic mix of travelling back in time with the warmth of its homey aged pub atmosphere, combined with the minimalistic design and construction sleekness that's the adage of modern days. Its full-height windows brings the feel of the communal neighbourhood in, and vice versa lend its warmness outside, especially at nights when all of the electric chandelier are lit up.
Food & Drinks
As the name implies, Romeos arsenal are consisting of two weapons: an array of scrumptious grills, coming with a choice of seven different sauces and twenty different sides, paired with cocktails that's designed by a mixologist.Still quite new to the Bali scene, a mixologist is someone who design cocktails, concocting new and exotic drinks, experimenting with lesser known distilled spirits and mixers, and, overall, pushing the limits of classic bartending [1]. In short, it's someone who design exotic, uncommon drinks, that taste good.
Like for example this (virgin) Coconut Mint Mojito that combines the freshness of mint, sourness of lime, and a tad of coconut water that adds a more tropical feel to it.
As with the grills itself, there are options for both single and family or group size menu. You can choose among Chicken, Pork, Lamb and Beef, or Seafood, ranging from 115-225K, or pick the cream of the crops, which is Romeos Mix Grill (395K) that consisted of Rib Eye, Pork Rib, Sausage, Chicken Wing, and Lamb Leg. The composition itself is exchangeable, so for example if you don't eat pork, then the kitchen will be happy to substitute it with a couple of lamb chops like we did.
Since we're doing the usual "what's your recommendation?" routine, thus only quickly scans the menu, we didn't really noticed the "For 2" written beside the Romeos Mix Grill, and was thinking that it will be the miniature cuts of the selections, hence what's coming next was a bit surprising.
The Romeos Mix Grill
Behold! Romeos Mix Grill is not a miniaturized version of the individual grills on the menu, but instead all of the meats thrown into our plate in its full size! Suddenly I don't think that mine and hypnoticade's combined tummies would be big enough to contain such a feast! The scent from the grilled meats however, quickly made my mind ignore this fact and eagerly awaits to pick my favourite piece of meat: Lamb chop!
The seasoning used on the grills were quite classical, which deepen the meat flavour instead of competing with it. Among the sauces we tried, all are good with a special note to their Home Made Steak Sauce and Classic Bearnaise which enhances the steak flavours. You can also go straight with Mustard, not on the menu but you can ask for it, which in my not so humble taste buds opinion, provides the best zesty to balance those fatty meaty steaks.
The meat quality itself was superb, and I especially liked their juicy beef sausage and the succulent Rib Eye. The Lamb Chop was also good, with its savoury caramelized outside and meaty moist inside. The Lamb Leg itself was also surprising since it holds minimum "prengus" aroma usually trapped in lamb meat, which make all the meats are very enjoyable.
What we feel lacked though, is the single Vegetable Shashlik that comes wit it, as there should be two of it at least. Beside of its health concern, they also tasted good eaten with steaks.
As predicted we didn't manage to emptied the plate, as we've almost reached the fine line that divide the "oh so good" eating experience with "honey do you bring Po Chai pills with you?[2]" moment.
And beside, we also have the complimentary side dishes to try.
Onion Tower and Sautéed Asparagus
As the side dish we ordered Onion Tower. While it's basically Onion Rings with Horseradish Sauce, its naming interested us. Stacked vertically it's also a dish that looks good on picture. The onion itself was sweet, with no onion's pungent scent left.
The Sautéed Asparagus however, steals the show from the Onion Tower and came out as the most striking looking side of that dinner. The fresh green Asparagus were coated in butter melts and lightly seasoned with salt to enhance its flavour. Simplistic, delicious.
Dinner's tummy fully filled, now let's move to the dessert! You might find it hard to believe, but foodies do have spare stomach for desserts! It's witnessed over and over again, that no matter how full foodies feel during the dinner, there's always room for a good dessert.
Creme Brulee with Ginger Essence
Creme Brulee (45K) comes out looking beautiful in its yellowish colour. While the menu said it's infused with ginger essence, we didn't really sense it. It was an okay dessert though we hoped the crust is a little bit thicker, and the cream has stronger flavour.
Other desserts we tried like Chocolate Souffle with Vanilla Ice Cream (55K) and Chocolate Ice Cream (20K/scoop) was turned out decent. Maybe a Lava Cake with oozing chocolate filling would be a better alternative?
Other Options
Should you're not an avid carnivore, worry not! Beside of the delicious sumptuous grills, Romeos also serves other Western dishes like Soups, Salads, Sandwiches, Pasta, Pizza, and there's also an Asian Flavour section which presents mostly local delicacies like Nasi Campur (115K), Mie Goreng (60K), Beef Rendang (90K), and Thailand influenced Green Curry Baramundi (90K).As the latest addition based on their Australian guests, this Asian Flavour section are quite popular with international guests, which comes to Romeos drawn by its Bar's extensive collection of drinks, or looking for a cool place to hang out with their friends, or families with children.
Speaking of which, when we informed our waiter that Romeos Mix Grill was too much for us two to handle, he cheerfully replied that "there were two Australian gentlemen a few days back ordered Romeos Mix Grill, one for each of them, finished it, and still ordered additional main afterward."
Now that's a fact that worth scratching my head.
Thank you pak Wayan Supandi for introducing us and Epicurina readers to the delicious grills of Romeos. (byms)
Note: Prices are in thousand Rupiah, and excludes 11% tax and 10% service. Photos are taken using Panasonic Lumix FH7 and Samsung Galaxy Grand.
Romeos Grillery & Bar
Ossotel, Jalan Padma Utara, Legian, 80361, Bali, IndonesiaReservations:
T: +62 361 754 122
F: +62 361 754 121
E: reservation@ossotel.com
For more information stop by Romeos website at http://www.ossotel.com/page/romeos,
Resources:
[1] Mixology or Mixologist - http://cocktails.about.com/od/cocktailspeak/g/mixology_define.htm[2] Indonesian Po Chai pills are SAFE - https://www.facebook.com/epicurina/posts/517586241626196
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