We have just spent our honeymoon dinner here and boy was it delightful. Starting from the warm greetings and warm opening breads we knew straight away we were in for a treat. The things we ordered were as follow:

1. Soup: Sawangan Bouillabaisse

2. Set Course: 4 Course Starting Menu

3. Main Course: Sawangan Symphony

4. Beverages: Sawangan Lychee Tini, Cinnamon Maple Whiskey Sour

5. I can’t stress enough how good the seafood here. They actually cooked (grilled?) the meat first before pouring the soup, enhancing its taste with just the right amount of seasoning and smokiness. The squid meat is arguably one of the best I’ve ever tried so far, and surprisingly in a soup dish.

6. The 4 courses starting menu was quite the flavor journey. The lobster tartare dish (I don’t remember the name) had this tangy, salty, a bit sweet, crunchy flavors. Seems like a lot of flavors, you might say, but the great thing is that it works! You can mix and match the lobster with the sauces it comes with to your liking. The pumpkin soup was on the sweet side and holistically speaking it was a good tastebud refresher to balance with the rest of the dishes. The steak was a perfect medium-rare (a rare occurrence for restaurants here to get it perfectly. I’d guess they’d sous-vide it, maybe) with the right amount of salt. The steak came with a sauce but I ended up not using it for the steak as it was good enough already without anything but salt and pepper, you wouldn’t want sauces to interfere with high quality meats. I love garlic so I would like to see more than just one clove of it here, a bulb of it cut-in-half would be wonderful. Carrot cake was a nice ending as it wasn’t so sweet, a bit dense but still moist with a hint of ginger. The sweetness came from this lemony-sweet sorbet to pleasure those with sweet tooth who dictates a dessert must be sweet.

7. I believe sawangan symphony greatly emphasizes what this restaurant stands for: top quality seafood sourced locally. The freshness closely resembles the seafood you would get and cook straight out of fish market. A down-to-earth and unassuming dish that highlights its quality and freshness. The snapper fillet was beautifully grilled and came with the taste that matched its look. Great flavor and a bit bouncy, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually dry-aged it. Ample sized grilled king prawns is always welcomed. The baby squid was chewy and really soft but it was a bit dwarfed by the rest of the dish. And the squid on skewer, my oh my, was the star of the dish. It was so chewy and tender at the same time, smoky and intense flavor. The texture was like in between of a fish and scallop. My minor suggestion is to improve on the potato as it was a bit bland and could cook a bit more in the oven until the skin becomes more crunchy.

8. I had the whiskey sour, it tasted a bit on the stronger side with less sourness. My wife had the lychee tini, she liked it but I didn’t get the chance to taste it.

We were also delighted by the super friendly waiters and waitresses, and was humbled to talk to Chef Adi who supervised our food to the highest standard it could be at this restaurant. It was sad to see how everyone is affected by the pandemic; what was once a peak month that filled this restaurant to the brim, i only saw two or three tables filled at a Saturday night in Mid-December. I can only hope that this situation will soon pass and wish for the best for them.