I was sitting on my table, under the sky lantern lamps hanging beautifully above my head. It was cloudy that afternoon where sun shone a bit calm through the roof top panel but not to left down the ambiance of the entire room. I simply come to conclusion that this restaurant is a lovely place, good match for lunch, dinner, or even just to take a sip of cocktail. It has a beautiful and modern interior that will make you comfortable to sit in a long time.
This is Batik Restaurant and Bar. Everything here is pleasant, just the way it is. But sooner I found there’re something more to tell. It’s way more than just beautiful. Something that people won’t notice at a glance.
THE ENCHANTED BATIK HOUSE: ALL ABOUT BATIK PHILOSOPHY
I didn’t put my attention in detail when finally I realized that everything made for Batik Restaurant Bar wasn’t just a piece of art, but also part of Indonesian traditional heritage.
Stepped inside the restaurant, a homey ambiance welcomed me warmly. The interior was clean, dominated with white and pastel color. Batik inspired ceilings was covering the light, turned the simple room into the opposite way — modern yet complex. What come to attract me the most was six hanging batik fabrics on the wall. Arranged from the fadest to the brightest, those fabrics showed the six main steps in making Batik Solo from applying wax to the dying bath.
Meanwhile, at the back of the house, three high mirrors stood so pretentious behind the bar. At glance, there’re nothing special to admire beside the size but if you look a bit closer, hundreds of golden brown patterns which separated the mirror side by side are actually Batik stamps — all handmade of copper strips, carefully cut, shaped and soldered. One stamp need approximately a month to be made. Just simply accumulate how much stamps you’ll find in the wall and how long the artisan took to make all of those pieces of art — the numbers will totally blown your mind.
Right beside the bar, you also will get to see some woods in a jar — not any usual woods for decoration purposes only but to show the inherited tradition of using natural raw materials for Batik coloring, such as Kayu Tegeran Solo and Kayu Sencang to derived both yellow and red color. These wood an only be found in certain parts of Indonesia.
Following stairway to second floor is likely going to discover the beauty of batik all around city in Indonesia. Each step showed various Batik patterns influenced by each region’s culture. Batik from Jogjakarta, for instance. The pattern seem to formed a kris which was the traditional weapon used by nobleman long time ago. This symbol is also identical with the power of Jogjakarta’s kingdom. While, Semarang has it’s own uniqueness with its pattern resembling tree upside down or popularly known as asem in Javanese language. This term also used as the origin to name the city, Semarang.
If the first floor emphasizing the art of Batik in traditional, second floor proof that Batik is magical things that can also be modernized. The monochrome side of the house showing painted girl in bluish batik gave artistically impression that so much way to describe. Other interesting side was the wall creation made from 1800 holes and filled with 180 canting, forming letter by letter to ‘love batik’ words.
The highlight went to two modern batik dresses display on the mannequin lady. Not just ordinary dresses, they were handmade creations by talented hand Ali Charisma — one of famous international fashion designer from Indonesia. His love for Indonesian batik worked like a spell, turned the traditional fabric to artistic modern dress with magnificent sense in details.
SOUTH EAST ASIAN CUISINE: INDONESIAN, THAILAND, AND VIETNAM
I know for sure that Indonesian cuisine will be packed along with this batik house concept restaurant. But unexpectedly, that very convincing Thailand and Vietnamese cuisine also showed up, even dominating the menu in the same portion. For this reason, I ended up with decision to try out the restaurant’s recommendation from these two countries. Not to wait in a long time, four plates filled up with food arrived on my table. They simply made me licks my lips with my eyes focusing to decide which plate to dig in first.
With no hesitation, Thai Pandan Chicken become my very first destination among all. That cracking sound when unwrapping the crispy pandan was a good sign that the chicken was perfectly deep fried. And as expected, they’re well marinated, tender, and cooked to fully caramelized. Come to drizzle the chicken with the sauce and hit it one bite, you’ll gonna put this dish for your checklist in another visit.
Vietnamese bites called Nem Nướng̣ come next with three pieces of skewers accompanied by fish dipping sauce Nước chấm. It’s hard to resist the strong aroma and flavor of this marinated minced beef — especially when it grilled in lemongrass as the stick.
What’s special from Thai-cuisine will always be it’s light prepared dishes with aromatic components and spicy at the edge. This simply come to a reason why Phad Krapow shoudn’t be missed at the place. This comfort dish always be everyone’s favourite in Thailand for it’s simplicity but tasty flavor. Batik’s Phad Krapow was developed with a modern twist but not to forget the authentic taste.
Forget about sweet crapes because at Batik I got to taste the savory ones! Those who wish for lighter meal, this dish definitely comes to save your appetite. Bánh xèo is essentially crispy rice flour crepes filled up with shrimp, chicken, bean sprouts, onion, and shallot. This famous Vietnamese sizzling cake is rarely found in the town and unique in taste since it use turmeric powder in the batter.
Too full for dessert, I finished my lunch with a glass of Batik’s signature cocktail, Lychee Madness — consist of vodka, blue caracao, lychees, triple sec, pineapple, and lime. As how it was name, I mad in the soft-blue colour, mad in the sweetness, mad in its aftertaste, and everything… it’s just too mad, too mad in a love 🙂
Batik is part of Indonesian heritage and this restaurant is hole-in-the-wall to show beauty of this inherited culture in the island. All of the artistic interior was designed with pride of Batik in the heart, creating thousand story to be shared. Not to doubt for the food, it prepared with a smiling face by developing the authentic recipes from ancestor. I never thought that my short visit to Batik Restaurant Bar Seminyak become something that I proudly to share.
It’s not easy, but here I said I got enchanted to meet you! 🙂
BATIK RESTAURANT BAR BALI
Jalan Kayu Aya, Seminyak, Kabupaten Badung, Bali, Seminyak, Bali, 80361
