[Bandung Trip] Eastern Restaurant

Hi Eaters.

Any fans of dimsum here? If anyone ask me that question, I would be the first to raise my hand. Dimsum/Yamcha is one of the ultimate Chinese delicacies. I've never met anyone in my life who dislikes dimsum. Surely I hope you guys love it too.
Anyway, still at Bandung with the Openricers and the team of #myfoodtiramisu, we stopped by at one of Bandung's best dimsum and Chinese restaurant, the Eastern Restaurant.

Located at the ground floor of Istana Plaza (IP), Bandung, this restaurant was pretty crowded that day.
The interior was simple and had a touch of oriental flourishes. The dining area was quite spacious with two VIP rooms separated by glass doors.

We came there for dinner. And in my opinion it is never too late to have dimsums. But dimsums are not the only food I'm going to try here.
Come on see what I tried that day.

Sup Burung Dara

Pardon me if I don't know the price tag for this dish. But I highly recommend you to order this dish regardless of the price. Because it's super delicious. Served in a bamboo cup, this soup has an amazing broth!! Never before I tasted a quail soup so tasty like this one. It's so savory! The whole process to make this quail soup took days! Can you imagine that? But it pays of with that delicious, not to mention moist and tender quail meat inside. It's so addictively delicious!

Now, let's start with the dimsum menus.
I don't know for sure the pricing for the dimsum menus here, but from what I read they are in the range between IDR 20K - IDR 30K. Still affordable, and from what I read the dimsum here are considered to be one of the best in Bandung. So let's see what I tried.

Ha Kau

Delicious. The dumpling skin was a bit too thick though. Nevertheless the filling was awesome. The prawn was quite huge and very moist. 

Siau May

A nice, tender and also delicious shumai. It came with chicken and prawn fillings. The flavors are quite addicting too, and what's good about it was that it had more meat fillings than flour. Quite densed.

Lumpia Udang Kulit Tahu

Loving this dimsum. The beancurd skin was crispy and savory. The prawn fillings were superb. 

Bakpao Goreng Telur Asin

 Bakpao Goreng Telur Asin

Look at that dripping salted egg fillings. Yumm!! Yes, it tasted great. One thing I would love more if the buns have a crispy layer on the outside. I mean the name of the dish is Bakpao Goreng (Fried Buns) so it should have a crispy crust, most likely as the fried buns I tried in several reknown dimsum restaurants in Jakarta.

Pangsit Kucai

Served along with mayonnaise, this fried dumplings had prawn and garlic chives fillings. It's good how they wrapped the dumplings and it's nice how the dumpling skin had perfect thickness too. The garlic chives did an excellent job in complimenting the prawn as fillings. It's good.

That's all the dimsum I tried. Actually I was dying to taste their braised chicken feet, but hey those dimsums above was just satisfying enough. So now let's move on to the main course.

Udang Goreng Mayonnaise (Medium) - Rp. 98.700

Seemed like I'm eating a lot of prawn dishes that night, right? But hey, as long as it's delicious then no problem. And of course this prawn dish was no problem for me. I just love the crispiness from the prawns, even after they were soaked in mayonnaise. It's cooked perfectly and seasoned beautifully.

Sapi Lada Hitam (Medium)

Claimed to be the best seller dish of the restaurant, it really lived up to its game. Diced beef cooked with blackpepper sauce. The beef itself was tender and still very juicy. It sort of melted in my mouth. Simply delicious. The blackpepper had a decent heatness to elevated the flavor of the beef. In my opinion, the sauce was fantastic. Highly recommended.

Ayam Kungpao (Medium)

A classic Szechuan cuisine. Stir-fried chicken cooked with peanuts (in this dish, cashew), vegetables, and chilli peppers. There were a lot of textures going on here, starting from the tender chicken till the crunchy cashew nuts. Flavorwise this dish was awesome.

Baby Buncis Goreng Kering (Medium) - Rp. 70.200

 Baby Buncis Goreng Kering (Medium)

Another Szechuan-styled dish. Crunchy and savory. I always loved green beans cooked just halfway done. Still leaving that crunchy texture in every bite but also not being too raw to eat. And the use of garlic could be given two thumbs up. Chinese food are so identical with garlic, and this one did an amazing job with garlic. Bravo!

Tahu Spesial ala Eastern (Medium) - Rp. 79.200

Nice, soft and tender silk tofu cooked with Eastern's special sauce and then served with kailan vegetables and mushrooms. What's delicious here was the sauce. It boosted up the other components such as the tofus and vegetables. It's really a great dish, and the portion was quite generous for medium size.

Chinese Tea (Jasmine) - Rp. 5000/cup

For this tea I think you can order it either just percup or straightly in the tea pot. From what I read on the menu book, this tea has many efficacies and purposes for health such as: to cure cold and lowering blood pressure. But unfortunately, for someone who quite frequently drinks Chinese tea, I feel the taste was too mild. Chinese tea has been known for its strong vigorously flavor. Maybe for some, it's too bitter. But hey, that's the true authentic flavor of Chinese tea.

Overall conclusion, this is a great place to get good dimsums and also Chinese cuisines. In my opinion, the prices here can be considered quite affordable, taking the note that other Chinese restaurant with premium taste can give you a lot heavier price tags.
Flavors are very appetizing, in terms of ingredients and platings. Beautiful dishes with tasty flavors can be found here.
And FYI, Eastern has an All You Can Eat menu for dimsums. So if ever I need to find a great dimsum restaurant in Bandung, this is my ultimate place to go.

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

Twitter: @jzzydee
Instagram: @jzzydee
Questions: ask.fm/jzzydee

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Eastern Restaurant
Istana Plaza, GF, Jl. Pasir Kaliki No. 121 - 123
Phone: (022) 6046778
Kebon Kawung, Bandung, Jawa Barat 40173