Bali Round-up Part II: Cafe Degan

Bali Round-up Part II: Cafe Degan

Cafe Degan was a TripAdvisor find, and I was drawn in by how reviewers mentioned its delicious Javanese food, unpretentious attitude, and reasonable prices. It’s located just across from Metis up Jalan Petitenget, which is a bit of a drive from the main drag in Seminyak (one address I found says it’s technically in Kerobokan), but it’s definitely worth a trip. Architecturally, the restaurant is very open with high, vaulted ceilings and two seating areas. I found out from reading Travels With a Gourmet that the restaurant is actually a joglo, or a Javanese traditional wood building, which makes sense given they have two sides of their menu: Thai and Javanese. (Note: check Travels With a Gourmet’s blog for reviews of the Thai dishes.)

P & I chose to stick with the Javanese dishes, as we were in Indonesia, after all. It proved a great choice.

Our first dish was a long bean salad with chicken. The salad was bursting with flavor; so many spices and tastes were interacting at once. There was a strong presence of kaffir lime leaf (which I love), and a bite from the chilis. The chicken was soft and the long beans were crunchy, not to mention the fried shallot bits on top, which made for great textural balance.

After the salad came the prawn spring rolls, wrapped in a what looked like a pandan leaf. There were two juicy prawns inside each roll, along with the usual carrots and lettuce. The dipping sauce was very similar to sweet and sour sauce, which made this whole dish seem a bit Chinese to me. While the spring rolls were tasty, the long bean salad was more of a standout to me.

For our mains, P and I ordered very similar dishes, though we only realized after the plates materialized. He got the Bebek Goreng, or fried duck, and I had the roast chicken, which may have been called Ayam Bakar, if memory serves. Both of our dishes came with sambal. The duck was so unbelievably crispy on the outside (as you can see in the photo) and, as duck is usually a bit drier than chicken, went perfectly with the sambal assortment. The green sambal had by far the most kick, almost like a hot mustard flavor. The middle red sambal was the best with the poultry, and my favorite to eat on its own was the shallot sambal to the far right, which was sweet but piquant at the same time.

The chicken was similarly well cooked, with meat coming off the bone at the slightest scrape of a fork. Even though both our dishes turned out quite similar, I would not hesitate to recommend either of them to other eaters.

We eyed the dessert menu but, as with so many of our meals, were simply too sated to take advantage. However, I do know Café Degan is quite famous for their desserts. Creme brulee is on the menu, as well as various crumbles. They’ve also got goodies like macarons and cupcakes, which they sell in a separate little deli adjacent to the main restaurant. I read the owner is French, so perhaps that’s where the cute patisserie fits in. I wish I could have summoned up enough stomach to try a sweet, but I just couldn’t.

Throughout the meal, the service was fairly good. When we first got into the restaurant, it was only half an hour before they formally closed. However, there was never any indication we needed to hurry our meal. Since we didn’t have a reservation, the hostess put us on the lower level. When we complained that the air was stifling (the available fans were already pointed at other occupied tables), she graciously moved us to the upper level.

Besides the hostess, the waiters were also kind, but almost a bit too attentive, as different waiters kept coming to our table to ask how our meal was. This happened at least four times throughout our one-hour meal, including one lengthier discussion when another employee, who seemed like a manager or the captain, specifically asked us, “How did you hear about our restaurant?” As P commented, I suppose he wanted to know which avenues of marketing were paying off. I understand, but I felt just a tad put off by the prying.

However, the food, atmosphere, and price were definitely great enough for me to justify the overly attentive service. I would totally go back again, if I had the chance. I’m still thinking about that long bean salad!

Cafe Degan
Jln Petitenget 9
Seminyak/Kerobokan
+62.361.889.3271
Cost: ~ 130,000 IDR/person (Roughly $117 HKD or $15 USD)

Source: farfromdomestic.wordpress.com