The room was heavily painted with the colour of Greek Blue. After sitting there for a while, Santorini and its sea vista came into my mind! The longer I was inside the room, the more I am in love with the room (disclaimer: I adore blue colour). I was lucky to have our meal in the afternoon since the sun cast amazing light against the wall. This specific room and maybe the whole building interior gives uses a hint of colonial design that is present from the half wall panels. With the spread of hanging photo layouts it surely gives a striking vintage feels too. If you carefully look at the floor, you could see a beautiful blue-coloured decor floor tile that complements the whole room ambience.

Looking up, I am more than impressed to know that this room has a grand height. With the small vintage lamp, it gives an amazing opportunity to capture a unique photo composition. I have no idea how the room will be lit in the evening, but I think it will look the best while the sun is up. Such an enjoyable room!

That surely is a long talk of a single room - but lets get into the foods. After I recalled how this is the reincarnation of the Warung Ijo I have ever been back then, I learned that the dish pricing is totally on a different level - it is not college-student-friendly at all. With that pricing, all of us really hope that they push the flavor to the next level too.

First thing first, the appetiser - lets take a look at it. We ordered Bakwan Sayur - that would be vegetable fritters in English, a mix of sliced vegetables and batter. The taste was OK. Compared to the one we could buy from the street vendors, this is quite underwhelming actually. I expected something more savoury and tasty - but the fritters tend to taste bland even after we dipped it into the given sambal (chilli sauce).

Steamed rice with specially prepared chicken, the next dish was more redeeming. Even though it was still pricey and we didn't find the "suwiran ayam mesere", the betutu spice mix was good enough for us. The selections of side dishes also went pretty well with the rice. But again, nothing exceptional.

Their next dish that we ordered was Kwetiau Raja, a well known dish for Warung Ijo frequent diners. This could actually be the winning dish if there was no bizarre after-taste. They cooked the noodle, mixed with the seasoning to almost a perfection. But it could be the seafood or something that was not fresh or things I didn't know that cause the bizarre after-taste - all of us felt the after-taste and couldn't figure out what foul taste was that!

A bold move I'd say when I saw a dish called "Romeo" in the menu. It is an unlikely mix of curry, seems like Indonesian curry, and spaghetti. I had high hopes on this dish, but when it came out, I lost some part of my appetite. Funny enough, they really, literally, mix the curry dish and spaghetti into one plate - without any proper concept. There it was, in front of us, a very traditional curry dish, with chunks of, NOT boneless, chicken (what underwhelmed me the most) and the spaghetti with chilli flakes and Parmesan cheese on top. The chicken really gave a bad eating experience overall. I was expecting boneless sliced chicken fillets with Indonesian curry broth/soup as the base. I know it was a very detailed different, but it gives a very different eating experience - remember excellence? Anyhow, taste-wise, I love this dish the most, but talking about the way the dish was presented, it was disappointing.

There were limited choices of dessert in this restaurant. We found this Frozen Seulincah as the most interesting dessert menu they provide. It was simply Acehnese salad or we called it rujak Aceh in Indonesia. This is the best eating experience I have had back then. The rujak was so fresh, and yes, it had a hint of spiciness that makes it special.

I had high expectations that this restaurant would serve unique, flavorful dishes that afternoon. But I am really not sure whether the dishes we ordered could do this restaurant justice. In my opinion, the dining experience was far from excellent. Thankfully, the blue-room and some of the dishes truly was a memorable experience that give this restaurant worth a try.

WARUNG IJO EXCELLENCE
Jl. Babura Lama No. 5, Medan, Indonesia
Everyday, 11 am - 11 pm
+6261 456 9389
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