Monday, April 5, 2010

Warung Laba Laba

Eating a bad meal...rather, paying to eat a bad meal upsets me more than it upsets the next guy.   It upsets me even more when I read a somewhat positive review on TripAdvisor, only to find the reviewer was totally off.  Optimists might say the chef's cooking was off the night we went.  But it can't be that the restaurant ran out of salt, pepper, and every other spice left in Indonesia.  Or that the chef didn't feel like cooking, so decided to heat up pre-packaged meals and send it out as his/her own creation.

I don't mean to sound cranky, it's just that bad restaurants don't make sense to me.  Even if I allow for the presence of a sizeable group of diners with a limited number of tastebuds, I won't understand how bad restaurants continue to operate or for that matter, open in the first place.  Are these owners surrounded by friends/family who feel the need to lavish their bad cooking with exaggerated praise?!?  And how do they continue to stay open?  I'm not talking about personal preferences, break-even points for the operator, and the rest of the economic analysis, that's not what I want to know.  What I want to know is...why do people pay to eat bad food? Am I the only one whose food-soul dies a little everytime I pay my bill after eating a bad meal???

My food-soul died a little after finishing my meal at Warung Laba Laba.  I've managed to catch a cold and wanted soto ayam (Indonesian chicken soup) to chase away my tropical cold.  My husband had been stuck at home eating instant mie goreng and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all day, so we ran out of the house as soon as the rain stopped and motorbiked our way into town.  Laba Laba looks inviting enough and they have a decent selection of Balinese food.


I ordered soto ayam (18,000Rp) and Nick ordered their nasi kuning special (45,000Rp).

                                           Nasi Kuning Special
                                                                    Soto Ayam
After the first taste, I think, "I've had Buddhist temple food with more flavor."  There was no salt, spice, or heat in either dish, so I asked for some sambal (which made it better).  There really isn't much more to write about the food, it was bland and lukewarm when served.  The soto ayam tasted like it was made by a miserly chef who added only a fifth of the recommended amount of a soto ayam mix to the broth.  I almost forgot to mention the spring rolls, which were soggy and were served with a big side of flavorless pink sauce.  In all, we spent 95,000RP (about $10US) and the best part of our meal was the pot of ginger tea (10,000RP).

I don't recommend eating here unless you're on a restricted salt or flavor diet and don't mind spending 2-3x the market price for the food.

Warung Laba Laba
Jl. Hanoman 49 (Southern end of road)
Telephone: 0361-978434

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