Publico Bistro & Winebar

One of the best feeling in the world is sharing great food with great friends. Well, that's basically how I felt eating out in Publico Bistro & Winebar. Tucked in the most busy area in Jakarta, Publico Bistro & Winebar has stolen my attention since a while ago, however the chance to try had just came last month. It was a regular dinner where I shared table with my favorite 5 girls. We had our youth together and now spending our maturity ages by seeing each other regularly. Talking about spending the old days by playing mahjong together sounds really realistic haha..

As usual, we went there after a busy day at office. Lucky for us, the traffic was quite nice and I managed to reach Senopati only in 30 minutes from Satrio area. If you're familiar with Satrio area, you'll know that's a blessing. The place was quite packed when we arrived, but we managed to get a table on the corner of their 2nd floor. I fell in love instantly with the place: high ceiling, white stone walls, geometric tiles and black-yellow dining chairs, completed with brown leather sofas in the corner. Now let's get into business. It's dinner time!

Started slow by having our drinks coming first. We had hot cammomile tea (Rp35k), iced lychee tea (Rp35k) and doctor recipe juice (Rp50k), some other drinks were not photographed due to the thirsty customer haha.. I had the hot cammomile tea which tasted just okay, it was ordinary cammomile tea anyway. The lychee tea was a bit bland, I blame the amount of ice put into it. Luckily, doctor recipe juice come to save the day. A blend of fresh green apple, lychee and lime juice, this drink really refresh the night.  

cammomile tea - lychee tea - doctor recipe juice

We spent almost half an hour picking our dish. After some rough discussion, we finally made our choices. We picked 24-hr marinated chicken wings (Rp70k) to start. Six pieces of succulent chicken wings grilled in charcoal grill oven and served with spicy smoked paprika and mint aioli. The chicken wings were juicy completed with that finger-licking good sweet, spicy sauce. However, in my opinion, it was a bit overpriced looking at the serving size.

Onto the pasta selection, we had vongole pasta (Rp70k). A bowl full of creamy spaghetti with generous clams. Well, I have always been a fan of vongole pasta and of course I love this dish! The cream sauce was not overwhelming the pasta was al dente and the clams were served really fresh. We finished the whole bowl in split second. 

Next, we had grilled assorted sausage (Rp90k), served with sauteed mushrooms, coleslaw and triple cooked fries. On our first impression, two sausages do not meet the standard to be classified as "assorted". Sadly, the best thing on the plate was the coleslaw and mushrooms. The sausage were actually quite good, with a nice crunchy texture on the outside and tender on the inside. The fries were just mediocre. Perhaps we were expecting too much looking at the name.

From the fish section we picked steamed-grilled barramundi (Rp145k), fllet of barramundi in garlic, ginger, fish sauce and lemon marinade, steam-grilled in banana leaf. It definitely looked like pepes ikan right? An expensive one I suppose. But it was probably my favorite dish of the night. Love the tender, smooth texture of the barramundi. Simply cooked giving a nice, balanced taste where everything falls just right into place.

We still have some more food to go. Stay with me! Continuing our dinner that night, we had grilled peri-peri chicken panini (Rp75k), succulent grilled chicken homemade panini with smoked peri-peri aioli. The chicken was huge, served on top of panini bread, along with potato chips and salad. The chicken was tasty with a hint of spiciness from the peri-peri sauce. Their panini bread was fluffy and light, giving a nice texture to the whole dish.

Still from the chicken section, we also had grilled oven chicken breast with pesto (Rp90k), served with basil tomato concasse and butter mashed potato. The dish was very pretty! Loving the colorful food arrangement on the plate. The taste was as good as it looked. The chicken was tender and pesto sauce perfectly blend with the tomato concasse. The butter mashed potato was delightful side dish. The whole plate was just perfect in the eye and in the mouth.

Of course, there's always room for dessert. So we had varlhona mars bar (Rp60k) and vanilla creme brulle (Rp60k) to end the night. Warning, food porn ahead. The varlhona mars bar was a must order item for you, chocolate lover. The famous Mars bar with varlhona chocolate mousse, chocolate crumbles, vanilla chantilly then topped with salted caramel. I would say that varlhona chocolate mousse was the star of the plate. I really love the smooth, tender chocolate mousse especially when eaten together with the crumbles and salted caramel.

The vanilla creme brulee was served pretty to tickle our almost full tummy. It was served with caramel disc, banana passionfruit compote and coconut gelato. It was a dessert pick for non-chocolate lover. The creme brulee was not like the ordinary as the caramel was served separately. It was soft and not overly sweet with the right texture. The coconut gelato tasted a bit weird for my taste buds, though.

At the end, it was a nice dining experience we had in Publico. There were several hit and miss, but overall we had a great time, with great ambiance and delicious food. I, personally, will be back for their desserts. Yums!

Publico Bistro & Winebar

Jl. Senopati Raya 65, Kebayoran Baru

South Jakarta 12190

Ph.: 6221 5296 4960

www.rystgroup.com