I've been to the Bumbu Desa in Jakarta. Compared to that one, this place was an incredible Fail.

First off, the restaurant is separated into 2 parts. The service counter is in one part, and the diners are in another. Needless to say, it was incredibly difficult to get any service. Even getting the bill was troublesome. And I had to physically go to the cashiers counter to let them know I was ready to order.

The menu and selection was pretty limited. That's fine with me, but why are all items listed as a set. They had satay, but you had to order the set. They had ayam goreng, but you had to order the set. They had ayam pangang, but you had to order the set. In the original place in Jakarta, you selected the dishes you wanted, then they brought a serving of rice for you (see the picture for the incredible variety of food). Why couldn't I have a single serving of ayam goreng, an ikan bakar, some gado gado and satay without having to order a set for each of them? I would like some variety without having 3-4 extra helpings of rice that I can' finish.

Ok, fine. I made do. I ordered Nasi Rames which was the closest thing to having some variety on the plate. There was some curry chicken, a piece of beef 'steak', some fried noodles, rice and keropok. The other half went for the Ayam Panggang Makasa, which was a chicken thigh with some rice. We both had iced teas as no water was served.

Was really disappointed with the food. The curry was sour and the beef seemed like it had been sitting in its sauce on those aluminium trays all day (it probably was, cos one side of the beef was dry and tough, and the other side was soggy). The noodle was obviously pre-fried, but at least the keropok was quite good. I should mention that the portions were awfully small. Don't be fooled by the pictures in the menu. The Ayam Panggang was so-so. You could tell it was kampong chicken cos of the size (small), but the sauce was overly sweet and lacked any bite of chilli. Very disappointed.

If you do crave this type of food, head down to Jalan Pisang for the Nasi Padang. Much better in terms of variety and price. In fact, you would probably get more value for money if you flew to Jakarta to eat at the original Bumbu Desu. Give this copycat a miss.