eatandtreats - Indonesian Food and Travel Blogger based in Jakarta: GIOI SENOPATI

It feels like this December Miracle as we're reaching the final of the year and I happened to stumble on good restaurants lately, initially don't want to spoil the essence of the review but since I've raved about this particular restaurant on my Instagram then I guess you know that this will be a good review of the newly opened GIOI Senopati.

GIOI (pronounced: 'Jioy') is a Vietnamese word meaning "great" and something indeed feels GIOI when I first entered the restaurant and feeling this Christmasy vibe it gave me it's almost like en-gioi (sorry for the fuckin pun), I like how they kept the interior very simple, neat and clean and I gotta give it to them for the good effort in decorating the restaurant with Christmas details like Christmas tree, wrapped gifts, mistletoe, ornaments and altogether created this warm and homey vibe that I was super fond of, and something about the overall look that reminded of Tredici (also in Senopati), but anyway I noticed that there was this construction happening and I was informed that they are building their second floor and it will be more like a lounge and bar area where you can casually chill and drink.

A large table for 12 in the center, I don't know if they're fully booked or what for Christmas but if you are planning to make a big dinner for 12 (and feel like having Indonesian cuisine) then I highly recommend going here.

Salmon Lodeh - IDR 130k

Scanned their menu and found that here they mostly serve Indonesian-Asian cuisine that are mostly spicy (but they also have non-spicy food here), or Asian cuisine with a touch of local Indonesian element and value infused. I came here with my beloved friends from Jogja and somehow we were craving for good duck and YAS TO THAT when we saw that crispy duck on the menu. I heard good rave about their Salmon Lodeh and Satay Lilit so we had those two to complete.

FYI most of the ingredients used in the kitchen (and your food) are planted by them as they have their own plantery which I thought pretty awesome.

Price range for the food here is around IDR 60k-250k, standard Senopati price.

Red Thai Tea - IDR 35k

Lychee Yakult

Sate Lilit - IDR 90k

This might be the one of the prettiest Sate Lilit presentation that I've ever seen, and especially those beautiful edible flowers on top! Sate Lilit is an Indonesian cuisine that's easily found in Bali or Balinese themed restaurants in Jakarta, Sate Lilit normally consist of chicken and shrimp mix but I have encountered one where they actually put fish in it. As for the stick that holds the chicken and shrimp mixture, normally that would be lemongrass stick but here in GIOI they used sugarcane stick which I thought was genius. The Sate Lilit was absolutely delicious and spicy, the overall flavor was strong in the most delicious way and the seasoning was just spot on, the meat had this perfect balance of density and moisture with this soft otak-otak like character.

Salmon Lodeh - IDR 130k

Continuously heard so many people raved about this hence I have to give it a try! Salmon as the protein in Sayur Lodeh was definitely something that I expected and after that very first bite I knew why it worked, because they freaking cook the salmon perfectly! Pan seared salmon with extra minute on the skin to get the crispy coating and the perfect soft pink center that always works! The hot sayur lodeh soup continuously cooked and stabilized the temperature of the salmon and inside you'll also find soyabean curd, soyabean cake, labu siam, eggplant, beans and corn. The consistency of the soup was medium (not to watery and not to thick) and again, seasoned just spot on. Much love for this delicious dish!

Crispy Duck - IDR 180k (half)

Their duck came in two serving sizes: half and whole, if you're only getting the duck and not order anything else then go for the whole and you can share it with a friend of have everything for you, but since we ordered several other menu and dessert as a sweet closure, we went with the half portion. I read people's comments on my Instagram and IG Stories saying that the concept was familiar with The Holyduck (with a touch of shady) but I've never had Holyduck before so I don't know, but one thing you should know is that this duck was incredibly delicious and most importantly they managed to get the stink out of the duck (that's like ESSENTIAL rule).

The cooking was perfect as the skin and coating were perfectly crispy but when you reach the meaty part it was beautifully tender & moist! They must have marinated the duck right as it was mainly savory and salty evenly. The crispy duck was paired with GIOI Rice (fragrant savory rice with somewhat a hint of basil), Jukut Kalasan, and three kinds of chili with various level of spiciness, the spiciest one was so spicy but so delicious and as I am typing this I started to have this imagination of how the duck tasted (which I can still vividly remember).

GIOI Custard aka Deconstructed Mango Sticky Rice - IDR 75k
Not the biggest fan of the presentation but it was a sweet and delicious dessert to finish our lunch - texture check, flavor check! The thai-basil pannacotta was the highlight.

Freaking satisfying lunch and had zero complaint towards GIOI, even the service was memorable, especially the host who greeted us and escorted us to out seats who deserved a special shoutout. GIOI suddenly came to the scene and won me over, looking forward for the future visits!