Ulam Rasa Melbourne, Review.
Ulam Rasa is a family run Indonesian restaurant at 295 Exhibition Street in the Melbourne CBD, and it needs your bum on it's seats. Just get there. Go Now. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
I am not a soft touch, but I have owned venues and I know how hard it is to make money in hospitality. Our collective hearts did not survive a video from Jessica Christyanti Sinaga and Tonino (Toni) Kundjung, the husband and wife who own Ulam Rasa, talking about days when they have barely served a customer.
This is the state of hospitality for the many without big banks, big money or big brands behind them. For every restaurant in a group there is a single owner surviving on a margin under one percent, and when customers stop walking in there is no money for PR or marketing agencies and no margin left. There is nothing at the end of the day, and you wonder what tomorrow brings.
So in I went. My expectations were tempered. The food is honest Indonesian cooking, simple and wickedly tasty, and the service is impeccable. These two care about what they do, and the pleasure it gives them under such stress is infectious.
Jessica is a William Angliss Institute graduate who honed her skills at Bistro Guillaume, The Duke of Wellington, QT Hotel and Atlantic Group, and she can cook. Her galangal chicken with tempeh, sambal and a velvety chicken jus would hold a place at any high end Asian restaurant. The mie ayam jamur, egg noodles with mushroom, chicken and beef meatballs, is loaded with flavour, and the batagor, crisp fish and chicken wonton style dumplings swimming in a fragrant peanut sauce, is superb.
There is an honesty and a reverence to their home in Indonesia in this food, and it still feels very Melbourne and very now. If we do not start supporting businesses like Ulam Rasa, we will end up eating at chain stores, because they will be all that is left.
At the risk of being hyperbolic, or at least mildly dramatic, I fear for what our industry could become. So get off your bum and go to 295 Exhibition Street, near the corner of Little Lonsdale, for food to make your soul feel good too.
Price street food prices
Bookings No need, walk ins welcome
Good for A lunch that helps a family business survive the week
Not for Sunday nights after 9pm
Felix Marrow eats on his own dime. Venues are not contacted in advance. — Scoffermag.au
Ulam Rasa is at 295 Exhibition Street, Melbourne VIC
Open Monday 11.30am to 3pm. Tuesday to Friday 11.30am to 3pm and 5pm to 9pm. Saturday and Sunday 11.30am to 9pm
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