Jabu Berastagi — Restaurant in North Sumatra

This is a fantastic find just off the beaten path. Plenty of indoor, open-air seating with a roof that holds up to pounding rain very well. Food, beverages and a full bar. Well worth the slight detour to stop for lunch on your way through town or during your stay. Cash or credit cards accepted.

Large, comfortable and relaxed area and atmosphere. Staff are friendly and attentive and service is relatively quick.

For appetizers the Seafood Basket is tasty but a bit misleading. Primarily fried onions with a light coating of batter, along with a few small shrimp. Greasy but worth it, even if the seafood aspect is pretty light. Their Fiesta Chicken Quesadilla is very satisfying. Remember you're a long way from Mexico and you'll enjoy it thoroughly. Filled with diced bell peppers and chicken in a lightly grilled tortilla. Served with wedge potatoes.

Menu has a good mix of Indonesian favorites and Western familiars. Their Holy Mountain burger is a massive two-patty affair in a mustard-ish sauce. The bun has to work to hold it all together! Served with wedge fries. Their ox-tail soup is delicious and chock full of meaty bits, served alongside white rice. The Grilled Chicken & Prawn with Paella Rice is a healthy portion of saffron-infused rice with grilled prawns and chicken. The Carbonara pasta is creamy with a respectable alfredo sauce.

Their drink menu is extensive and includes the obligatory coffee drinks. However I was particularly impressed by their list of cocktails. The Long Island is delicious and a lot of attention goes into presentation. The White Russian is solid but a little small. Their mojitos are filled with crushed mint leaves and very refreshing. The Whiskey Sour is nicely balanced and made with an egg white for a frothy topping - a dash of bitters over the egg white would make it even nicer! Finally the Old Fashioned is solid even if it was missing the cherry.

For dessert we'd hoped for creme brulee but they were out. Churros were suggested as an alternative and didn't disappoint. Each order has seven medium-sized churros. They aren't overly greasy and are light and fluffy on the inside, with the perfect amount of sugar on the outside. Additionally, it's served with a dollop of whipped cream and a small side of chocolate sauce. Heavenly!

There's likely something for everyone in your group on this menu and it's worth spending time here enjoying the ambiance and...

Worst cafe ever and worst place ever I ever visit. May 1, 2021, come to visit at 20.00 WIB. Because it was crowded, I was told to wait on a list. We are on the 4th waiting list. Okay, let's wait. After waiting about 45 minutes, because there was no place, we were seated in the room next to the concrete one. After sitting down and ordering, we waited for about 1 hour and the only order that came was hot sweet tea. We have asked the waiter how our food is because we have been waiting for over an hour while hungry and cold, he said he was only told to wait and progress. The next table too. Even though they have been waiting for half an hour, the drinks have not come out. After we and the next table were annoyed to wait, we went straight to the center which took care of food orders, AND it turned out that our food had not been processed at all. Worse yet, THE NEXT TABLE ORDER IS NOT EVEN INPUTED. We decided to go straight to the cashier and pay for the orders we had received. A very impressive first impression for...

Pretty spot but super disappointing food & service, making it not worth the money. The teenage wait staff were all lazing on stools at the bar on their phones (ignoring other tables that were waiting to be cleared) and didn’t manage a smile at greeting or during our time there.

The food was similarly mediocre - “local potato with smoked beef” was potato wedges with a pile of dry cheese and five tiny flecks of thin meat on top. The “smoked beef bbq pineapple sauce mini pizza” had some bits of sausage, cheese and capsicum on top of a very store-bought pizza base.

Once you got past the scowling teenagers (one wearing a hoodie), the atmosphere was nice - it’s a beautifully designed space that someone put careful thought into.

The only other positive was the lady at the bar who we made payment to - she greeted us with a lovely smile and made friendly, thoughtful chatter as we processed the payment. If only the other staff had...