Purnawarman
Hilton Bandung
Purnawarman is one of the restaurants in the Hilton Bandung in West Java, Chef Adhi created a Vegan Food Quest Menu for us, showcasing local Indonesian dishes with a vegan twist.
The Vegan Food
Our first course was a gado-gado salad; a dish that is synonymous with Indonesia which can either be a food delight or or food disaster in our experience, but just have a look at this…
‘Food Delight’ – beautiful and tasty gado gado salad
Chef Adhi’s clever presentation of the gado-gado ingredients, designed especially for the Vegan Food Quest, won us over instantly. Not only did it look great but the lightly steamed vegetables, beansprouts, tofu and tempeh inside, all retained their individual flavours (food delight) instead of getting drenched in too much sauce and becoming watery and soft (food disaster).
The sauce was smooth with coconut milk and spicy with chilli and the crunchy, slightly bitter ’emping’ crackers made from the crushed melinjo nut, balanced out the sweetness of the sauce perfectly. We are huge fans of a good gado gado salad and the Purnawarman gado gado definitely gets our Vegan Food Quest seal of approval.
Our delicious gado gado salad was followed by a vegan soup that was seriously impressive. A stack of lightly fried, firm tofu cubes that has a mildly tangy flavour served with a jug of light coconut milk soup flavoured with fresh tumeric, shallots and green chilli.
As we poured the soup, the aroma of the spices and coconut milk filled the air and when we ate it we couldn’t stop commenting on how well the tofu cubes went with the excellent soup base. Little strands of leek added the final flavours to this lovely vegan soup.
We were seriously impressed by this delicious coconut milk soup
The main course was Nasi Campur, which means ‘rice with a bit of everything’ and is a traditional meal in Indonesia. Our rice was served with a potato cake and a clever blended tempeh ‘pate’ that had been wrapped in caisim (a Chinese cabbage) before being steamed in a banana leaf. Accompanied by a beansprout stir-fry, presented in a traditional woven basket, there was a really good variety of vegan delights in this nasi campur.
Crispy bean sprout stir fry with our nasi campur
For dessert we were served a traditional Indonesian warm sweet soup made from coconut milk, palm sugar, pumpkin and ‘pisang tanduk’ (horn bananas). It’s great to be served a traditional dish that is also naturally vegan so now we can keep our eyes open for it elsewhere too. It had a light citrus flavour from the addition of lime leaves and the stewed bananas and pumpkin that soaked up the sweet coconut soup were very pleasurable to eat.
Sweet coconut soup with local bananas and pumpkin; a pleasure to eat
The Interior
The Purnawarman restaurant is a light and airy, open plan space with interactive open kitchens so you can see your food being prepared. The floor to ceiling windows at one end give you the chance to look out onto lush tropical plants.
Lovely, light and airy interior.
The Service
The service in the Purnawarman Restuarant was excellent. It was wonderful to meet Chef Adhi who prepared our great vegan menu and also took the time to come to speak with us about how he made the food and his ideas behind it.
Vegan Food Quest meets Chef Adhi.
We were lucky to have the incredibly friendly Andri as our waiter and were won over with his smiles and sunny disposition.
Other Stuff
Before we got to the food we sampled one of the great fresh juices available in Purnawarman Restaurant, opting for the sunset teaser made from pineapple, carrots and oranges and spiced up with cinnamon and lime juice. A juice this fresh and tasty is a great way to start a vegan meal in our world and there were many more on the menu that looked equally as delicious.
The Vegan Food Quest Verdict
Make a reservation at Purnawarman Restaurant if you want to sample vegan versions of local Indonesian cuisine, prepared with creativity and packed full of delicious flavours.
Vegans won’t miss out on a thing here and every dish will be served with a huge smile, one of the nicest ingredients in any fabulous meal, here you can read about our stay at Hilton Bandung.
We were guests of Purnawarman Restaurant but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views
Purnawarman
Hilton Bandung
41-43 Jalan H.O.S Tjoroaminoto
Bandung 40171
West Java
Indonesia
Telephone: +62 (0)22 8606 6888
Email: reservations.bandung@hilton.com