The Chameleon Indonesian Restaurant
Ξ January 30th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Restaurant Reviews |
The Chameleon Indonesian Restaurant, Temple Bar, Dublin.
This was my first trip to the Emerald Isle and I was only here for one night with my colleague Matt. Our contact was Adrian, and after a hard day’s work we invited him for a few drinks and a meal to take advantage of his local knowledge. I’m a big Asian food fan and once he’d mentioned an Indonesian restaurant in the area no further options were needed.
The front of the Chameleon is unassuming, easily mistaken for a traditional pub, but closer inspection shows the numerous awards won over the last 11 years. Inside we were shown upstairs to the first floor where we removed our shoes and sat, cross-legged, at the traditional tables. The menu concentrates on Rijst Tafel – a selection of different bite-sized dishes covering all that Indonesia has to offer, each one aimed at giving a single person a hearty introduction to the cuisine.
As all three of us were hungry we went for Rijst Tafel 1, 2 and 3 as I looked at the wine list. The Fred Loimer 2006 Grüner Veltliner from the Kamptal seemed a perfect choice. Grü-V is a delicious white variety I first tried a few years ago and I’m always keen to expand my experience of it, plus I recall it matching well with Asian food and neither Adrian nor Matt had had any of Austria’s finest before, so I was honour-bound to show them what they were missing. It was served well chilled and had a crisp, floral aspect that had us half-way through the bottle before the main dishes had arrived!
As for the food, well, I’m going to blame the couple of pints of Guinness we had after the meal for my incomplete notes, but the Rempah Daging (spicy meatballs), Sate Ayam (Chicken Satay) and Beef Rendang were the stars of the show and suffice to say it was all absolutely delicious and nothing made it back to the kitchen!
The final bill for 3 was approx. £100 which is a little bit on the pricey side (at least as far as my boss is concerned!) but the food and atmosphere are well worth it and this is a must-visit restaurant for anyone with a few days in Dublin, only Amsterdam is guaranteed to have better Indonesian in the region.
Greybeard
