Rating: ★★★☆☆
Address: 5/F, The L Place, 139 Queen’s Road Central , Central 中環皇后大道中139號The L Place 5樓
Telephone: 2577 9981
自從它由銅鑼灣鋪搬到The L Place後，我第一次去印尼餐廳 1968吃飯。食物不算精緻但味道還可以。午餐有多款選擇，份量很大，價錢不貴。
I love the bold flavouring in Indonesian cuisine and I always find Indonesian food hearty and satisfying. I have visited Indonesian Restaurant 1968 a few times when it was still located in Causeway Bay, but this was the first time I came to the restaurant since its relocation to The L Place in 2011. I was here for lunch with a bunch of friends, and immediately fell in love with the ambience of the restaurant – despite being buzzling during lunch hour, the large space and the use of bare wood surfaces gave the place a down-to-earth and homely feeling.
Set lunches ranged from $98 to $148, and included a salad, a main course and a drink. The service was a bit careless or unresponsive at times, but this could perhaps be forgiven as the restaurant was very busy during lunch hour.
(1) We were given a small portion of papaya salad for the set lunch. The papaya was fresh and had a firm, crunchy texture, but it was very spicy and completely took us by surprise – we wished the waiters had warned us about it!
(2) The portion sizes at Indonesian Restaurant 1968 were not for the faint of heart. We ordered a Pineapple Fried rice with King Prawn to share, and could not imagine how one person was expected to finish it. The fried rice, contained in a pineapple shell, looked alluring. The fruitiness of the pineapple complemented the strong flavours of the meat and the seafood, and the prawns were grilled beautifully, which resulted in a delicious smokey flavour. However, the chicken in the fried rice was not very fresh, and the rice in general was a bit bland.
(3) The best-faring dish was the Hainan Chicken Rice. The chicken was tender and irresistibly full of flavours (and tasted much better than the chicken in the fried rice above), and the rice was soft and fragrant.
(4) Almost everything served came in bigger portions than expected, but even then we were once again surprised by how huge the Grilled Chicken Yellow Rice with BBQ Sauce was. The grilled chicken had a gorgeously roasted skin, and the meat on the inside, which was juicy and smooth, was perfectly complemented by the tangy BBQ Sauce. I also adored the yellow rice, which had a strong, attractive spice aroma.
(5) One of my friends, J, is a vegetarian, but I had a very busy week at work and forgot to check the menu beforehand to see if there were any vegetarian dishes for her. Fortunately, the menu actually had a full page of vegetarian dishes, and J went for the Yellow Ginger Rice with Assorted Veggie Dishes (V) ($118). The assorted vegetables were cooked in a scrumptious, flavourful curry sauce, and went very well with the yellow ginger rice.
(6) If you would like to get a full Indonesian experience, you should order the Indonesian Bottled Tea, a sweetened jasmine tea drink which is popular in Indonesia.
(7) I ordered a glass of Lime Soda, and I found the sweetness and iciness of it really soothing after all the spicy food I had eaten.
(8) For the coffee-lovers, you will also be able to find latte on the drinks menu.
Conclusion: Even though one or two dishes were a miss, the full-flavoured food at Indonesian Restaurant 1968 was in general tasty and satisfying. It is a restaurant worth coming back to.
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