While currently experiencing something that I called, “ culinary jadedness”, which basically means, having too much exposure to food and restaurants in town, I want to relive the experience and surprise myself again. Having explored almost all hipster places, high-end eateries and restaurants in town for the last five years, they were all starting to look normal and nothing special. Today was the day when I finally decided to go outside rather than ordering takeaway. I want to be surprised once again. There’s actually a trick that I often do, whenever I want to experience some kind of new excitement, I end up taking my mom, friends, or family just to try something I tried. However, since they are far away now,I just have to be creative. So, I decided to just go alone and stick to my dining out rule. My rule is simply eating in peace, savoring the dish and enjoying the experience whatever that might be. Usually though, I eat while multitasking and not even being attentive to the taste etc. However it's different when I try to set myself to dine out, to me, dining out is more than just the food but also the ambience, the service, and the overall presentation including the prices or the people we spend time with. The biggest thing I learned after years of reviewing restaurant, eatery and coffee shops, that maybe somewhat cliche, is that sometimes price does not always translate to quality and taste. There were places where I felt ripped off for the service but there were places where I felt like it’s underrated. Today was the day where I was amazed by the service and the quality of the food including the price.
Anyway, on top of my culinary jadedness these days, the news is also pretty bleak, especially in crypto. It’s pretty depressing to browse through twitter. So, I thought going outside, getting something sweet would somewhat help me. After having to decide what to eat for brunch, I ended up gambling my experience away at a place called Svara Coffee and Eatery, a casual dining place located just behind a busy street of Yogyakarta.
From the outside, the place is surrounded by wall plants and has a bistro styled door. Just next to it, there are a few chairs for the outdoor dining experience. However once inside, the place was a mixture of rustic minimalist architecture with neon lights adorning the wall. The place has a high-end coffee machine with classic beautiful desserts and croissants on the food display. Next to the coffee machine counter, the cashier was ready to take up the order. In this place it seems like patrons have to order and pay first before choosing a seat. I scanned through the menu and there were plenty of options from western to indonesian menu which is the classic choices for almost any casual dining in Indonesia. Then, a small leaflet containing the weekly special menu caught my attention the most.
The weekly special was made by a finalist of Masterchef indonesia season 5. From the picture the specials were looking scrumptious but I was skeptical. From my experience, often the reality is different from the picture. However, looking at the ingredients of tofu cheesecake, and mentioning crispy tuiles and micro sponge, I was sold. As for the main, I ordered Fettuccine aglio e olio as I want something filling but simple. After just waiting for about 15 minutes, the tofu cheesecake came first. I was amazed.
It looked exactly how it was advertised in the picture. I wondered why it was called tofu cheesecake and after dissecting the food, I understood why. From what I tasted, the texture of cheesecake wrapped in praline was like tofu. The chef certainly puts detail into this dessert and when I cracked the praline, it was heavenly. The same thing with crispy tuiles which were black colored which I suppose from some type of charcoal powder. It was sweet, crispy, and complemented the dessert. It was also the highlight of my brunch experience.
Things got interesting as I took pictures of the food, I didn’t realize they messed up my order. I ordered Fettuccine but what came was Spaghetti. When I was just about to eat, the waitress came and apologized to me that the chef messed up the order. I didn’t really care most of the time especially given the price that was pretty reasonable. I told her that it’s fine and I proceeded to eat because I was starving as I haven’t eaten for the last 24 hours. Just about 5 minutes later, she came back with a delicious looking pancake topped with a carved strawberry and it was on the house.
I was awestruck. I didn’t realize they would go beyond for something that I thought was reasonable. One thing I learned in this country is that price often determines quality. That’s why given the overall place and how casual it was, I did not take a big issue on it. The meals in that place ranged $2.25 - $8. I am not fussy especially when the price is still mid-range but when it’s something beyond $10, I would have complained and unleashed my inner karen. I truly appreciated them for being attentive to the customer before they even complained about the food.
The spaghetti was somehow just good enough. Far beyond classic but would be great to be called fusion and the portion was hearty. There were too many chillies for my personal taste but nothing significant that really changes the overall rate of this food. The pancake itself was fluffy, soft, and the crispy crumbs were adding extra sweetness to it. The garnish that was carved strawberry was the “strawberry” on top. I mean, it was inviting and I am not biased at all just because it’s on the house. All these were only $7 including the drinks even with the tax. The weekly dessert was only $2.26 which was underrated and I didn’t mind if they priced it higher. Other places with less inviting cheesecake charged more but this place, given who made it and the presentation, it deserved more.
Overall rate of this place is 3.5 out of 5. I would say despite the amazing dessert, there are things that could be improved such as the attentiveness of the front staff. The place itself is good enough and comfortable for a rustic minimalist eatery. I would love to come back and sample more cuisine offered from this place given the reasonable price that this place offered. Instead of a trip to Starbucks, I would love a trip to this place again.