Ori Bumbu Restaurant,
AG-5 Block A, Happy Mansion,
Jalan 17/13, Section 17,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 03-7931 2261
Business hours: Mondays to Saturdays,
12.00pm to 2.30pm and 6.00pm to 10.00pm.
WHEN entrepreneur Gary Tang opened his first restaurant last year, he decided to go with Balinese food because of the variety of spices that goes into the cuisine.
“You can play around with spices and make food very interesting. We want customers to bite into the food and taste the difference that the spices can bring to it,” said Tang, 46, who owns several other business ventures.
Located at the unassuming Happy Mansion in Section 17, Petaling Jaya, Ori Bumbu Restaurant featured a simple selection of its signature dishes of duck, fish and chicken which can be ordered either deep-fried or grilled.
The fried duck, or Bebek Menggoreng, was marinated in Balinese spices and fried to a golden crisp colour.
“We worked on perfecting the frying technique so that the duck has a crispy skin while the meat remains tender and moist,” said Tang.
The a la carte quarter piece duck is served with a sweet sauce and fried onion dip, which was homemade.
Chilli topping:The Be Siap Mepanggang,or grilled chicken, comes with sambal topping.
“The dip has a bit of chilli in it and is made fresh every day because fried onions would turn rancid if kept overnight,” said Tang.
He also recommended the grilled fish, or Be Pasih Mepanggang, which was served with a ginger-based topping that had a burst of spice to the bite.
“We use premium dory fish because the regular farmed ones has a different taste and texture,” he said.
The grilled chicken was served with a Ori Bumbu sambal topping which was made with about 20 different herbs and spices; with a strong hint of turmeric, it made for a tasty accompaniment with white rice.
Each selection of meat can be ordered a la carte or with a rice set that comes with side dishes like mixed vegetables and homemade fried potato sticks.
Crunchy bite: The Deep-Fried Kangkung is lightly battered with a slight hint of spice.
The influence of spices could be tasted even in the side dishes as the potato sticks were fried with a spiced batter and the mixed vegetables also left a lingering taste of spice to the palate.
Besides the main dishes, there were also a selection of appetisers like Satay Lilit, Deep-fried Calamari, Deep-Fried Oyster Mushrooms and Deep-Fried Kangkung.
The deep-fried kangkung was a pleasant surprise, fried with a lightly-spiced batter that gave the crunchy greens extra flavour.
Tang said they had also come up with their own concoction for Sirap Bandung (rose flavoured drink with milk) and the Ori Bumbu version was worth a try, having a fizzy add-on to the milky drink.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
