My stomach took a bit of a Bali Bombing! (Galeria Bali (Warsaw))

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Galeria Bali (Warsaw)
Date:	19/10/08 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good location

Disadvantages: Ponsy, crap food, expensive

A few weeks ago - it was birthday weekend (my wife, my mother, me and various other people including Brigitte Bardot have birthdays at the end of September). I'm not a big fan of birthdays but always make an effort at this time of year - so had pencilled in a visit to the Indonesian restaurant Galeria Bali in Warsaw. It's one I had intended to visit and review for some time, it received rather good ratings in local guides but the price had so far put me off.. but this was birthday weekend and a time where money didn't matter.

Indonesian grub is someting I'm not very knowledgeable about, so I'd struggle to tell you how authentic it was but this was my experience!

Location
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Easy to find, just off a little street in the centre close to Metro Swietokrzyska. The exact address is Ulica Jasna 22.

Decor
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Quite outlandish, I suppose but rather classy and not in your face like an Indian restaurant. This restaurant also acts as an art gallery and all the work on display is from Indonesia and is also for sale, including the rather spooky looking enormous buddhas stood along the wall. The wine glasses were ridiculously large and the menus extremely heavy, to the point of being uncomfortable to hold and I nearly opened it and sent some of the wine glasses flying.

Menu
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The owner of the restaurant has obviously done a fair amount of travelling in Indonesia and explains through his website that their is not one kind of Indonesian cuisine but several different types from various islands and the menu makes an attempt to cover food from all parts of the country - Java, Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi, Borneo and the Maluku Islands. There's a great deal of choice and it all sounds mouth-watering, the prices are quite on the high side and you are looking at about 100zl (25 quid) a head realistically.

The reality
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I was rather disappointed, the satays were not what I remember them to be in other Indonesian restaurants, having a spiciness that was bland and later irritatingly hot than particularly tasting of any spices. Most of the main dishes were similar and they seemed to have gone really overboard with coconut flavouring.

I have to say that the spices used like lemongrass didn't really appeal to me much and whilst the meat was relatively well cooked, it was like eating it from a bowl of dishwater with a coconut milk flavour. The beer was on the pricey side but very good and the wine was out of just about anyone's price range.

The music was reasonable, quite enjoyable Indonesian stuff which helped ease the pain of the coconut overdose, the staff had obviously been told to be on their best behaviour and as there was only two tables eating at the same time, they had very little to do but to stand around looking slightly ridiculous and out of place in their "traditional clothes" which in my opinion had been tailor-made to be larger to fit tall Polish waiters as opposed to short Indonesians on mopeds.

Altogether, I'd advise giving this place a miss - too much coconut on offer, ponsy and expensive. I felt a bit sick afterwards and the coconut flavoured sweets at the end given for free, just seemed to be adding insult to injury. Fortunately it wasn't my birthday until the next day!!!

If you still wish to donate your body to Buddha abuse - their website is www.galierabali.pl

Summary: Not for me.