Showing Promises

I've always been of the opinion that Sunday afternoons are best spent doing as little as possible. I suspect I am not alone in this. Rainy Sunday afternoons are even more important to spend doing nothing at all.

And so it was that I passed a pleasant few hours out of the back of Eastern Promise in Kemang, South Jakarta, eating a giant fry-up breakfast while doing the Guardian crossword with some friends and half-listening to the quiet blues trio that was playing in the main bar.

Eastern Promise is part of the veritable empire that Bartele Santana, he of Bugils in Taman Ria, seems to be intent on building across the city. Aside from Bugils, there's also Caz Bar (in Mega Kuningan, purveyors of excellent eggs Benedict for Rp 59,000) the One Tree (in Blok M) and, of course Eastern Promise, or EP (there are also apparently plans to open a new bar in Pondok Indah).

Eastern Promise advertises itself as providing British and Indian food - which is not really an odd combination - and is styled after a proper pub, with wood paneled walls and high tables and not a touch of chrome in the entire place. There is also a dart board (I've never really thought that that was a good sport to combine with booze, but there you go) and a pool table in the front bar. Further back is the restaurant area (cozy booths and a book collection) and an outdoor area, where bands play most evenings.

Once inside it is quite easy to pretend that it's the middle of winter somewhere and you've taken refuge not from 100 percent humidity and 30 degree heat, but from a chilly grey drizzle that has set into your bones. The all-day breakfast (Rp 56,000) consists of two eggs done your way, French toast hash browns, bacon, pork sausages, baked beans and a tomato, as well as coffee or tea and juice.

When I lived in the area last year, I used to eat this once a week. This was my first trip back in months, and I have to say I was underwhelmed. My fried eggs could have done with a little longer in the pan and French toast is a bit of overkill. The hash browns also seem to have gone downhill a little, and now consist of potato chunks with onion. The sausages were lovely, however.

Another member of the party also had the breakfast and said he was completely unsatisfied, possibly because his scrambled eggs arrived fried. I would not go that far, but I would suggest that the lovely people at EP need to dig out last year's hash brown recipe and start leaving the eggs in the pan for a little longer. Also, more bacon would not go astray.

The third member of our party opted not for the breakfast but for the Napolina pizza (Rp 51,000), which, despite being the size of her head, she devoured in a few minutes, a happy diner indeed. EP regularly features bands of almost every stripe (and almost every night) and plays major sports matches on a projection screen in the restaurant. The menu features a range of Indian dishes as well as western standards, and Sunday is also roast day.

One of the great pains of Sunday afternoons for me is that sometimes I have to work. So while my friends knocked back a few Bintangs (draught, Rp 16,000) I tottered into the rainy afternoon, destined for a computer screen. Life is terribly, terribly unfair.

+ Jennifer Bennett

Eastern Promise
Jl. Keman Raya No. 5
Ph: 7179 0151
Open seven days a week from lunch until late

Home