Bali style western?

Last week I got an invite from Wei Siong and two of his running 'kakis' (enthusiasts) to join them for dinner at the Waterlily Cafe located at IOI Commercial Square (Pusat Perdagangan IOI). It was a fine Saturday evening when we all gathered there to enjoy some 'Balinese style Western' fare, which I took to mean the majority of the dishes would be grilled (that's how they do it in Bali).

Notice their specialties?

I got myself a Bali's chicken combo with beef set which comes with their special 'Three Mushroom' soup and a choice of drink (RM28.90). They really do serve a wide range of ice-blended concoctions ranging from the usual fruit-based ones to (exotic?) ones such as red bean.

The 'Three Mushroom' soup was thick and there was certainly a generous amount of mushrooms inside. The garlic bread and croutons were crispy and went well with the soup. Not bad at all!

A large serving indeed!

All (meat) main courses come with their seasoned deep fried potatoes, apple coleslaw, some brown gravy and a slice of fruit.

First up the apple coleslaw was great! I could really taste the apple in it and the vegetables used were fresh and full of crunch. Unfortunately the deep fried potatoes were pretty much average as all I could taste of the supposed 'special marinade' was salt. But hey at least they left the skin on so the texture was pretty good. Dipping the potatoes into the sauce provided made them more palatable.

On the meat side, the chicken and beef were very flavorful, omitting the need to dip them in the provided brown sauce. The only gripe that I have about the chicken was that the insides was dried out resulting in a slightly tough texture. Maybe the cook let it sit too long on the grill? The beef surprisingly was very tender and juicy. I was pretty darn surprised that the cook did it up medium rare rather than well done. Of course you can't expect to get premium beef here but yeah for this price I'd give two thumbs up!

My jackfruit ice blended was pretty much average. I could certainly taste the jackfruit used but I would prefer that they add more as it tends to get diluted as the ice melts.

Overall this is a nice place for some good 'Bali style Western' dishes at a reasonable price. The crowd tends to agree also as the restaurant was packed. Oh yes I would recommend sitting outside if the weather permits because it's pretty stuffy inside. They definitely need more air conditioners!