February 19th – We decided to go for a nice evening walk and head out to find a restaurant in Seminyak/Legian area, ideally something other than Indonesian food. We’ve been in Bali for only a month, and already my parents have had their fair share of Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice), or ‘Nasi Boring’, as they have to come call it 🙂
Despite not having taken my afternoon nap, I’m always happy to go exploring the town. Within approximately 10 minutes, we found Poco Loco, which is actually easy to miss, as the restaurant is set beyond a parking area and ‘garden’. So, it just seems like there is a vacant piece of land between the crowded buildings on Padma Utara, but when you look up, you see that there is actually an establishment there. I’m used to it anyhow, cuz from my stroller I miss about 80% of the things that do not appear directly in front of me….
At first glance, Poco Loco almost looks like a small amusement park with its multi-coloured ‘flags’ and vibrant furniture. Dad checked the menu and it seemed appealing to him – he really likes Mexican food 🙂 The restaurant opens at 6pm and it was a few minutes to six. We decided to continue our walk to see if we could find anything else around, otherwise we had our ‘backup plan’. It’s a bit un-cool to be the first customers at a restaurant, and besides the staff looked like they were still setting up.
After having seen the menus of other restos close by, which weren’t too inspiring, we decided to stick with our first choice and headed back to Poco Loco. Aahh, there were other customers now, so we were able to maintain our ‘cool-factor’ too, phew! As you can imagine, there were also kids at the other table – Who really has supper at 6pm besides families with young children??
The restaurant is actually huge and has at least 2 floors, and maybe even 3. I couldn’t really tell from where we were sitting. I think it would be a fun place to be at for a celebration, bday party or to watch a World Cup game, or an NHL hockey game if we were back home. We had our choice of table and the staff was nice and friendly. I didn’t see their high chairs, cuz I had brought my own chair this time…Mom and Dad started out with a large bottle of Bintang (beer) while going through the menu, and meanwhile I was chatting it up with the other kids (who seemed a little shy or perhaps I was just too loud for them?)…Finally, I gave up trying to make small talk with the other kids and poured my soul out to the Bartender instead, who was a much better listener when he wasn’t busy mixing daiquiris for the other table!
Dad took the BBQ ribs from the Specials of the day and mom took the vegetarian burrito. The veggie burrito and the beans from mom’s plate were quite yummy for my taste 🙂 The only thing I had to be careful for, were the chopped chili peppers that were sprinkled on top, which looked like tomatoes at first. Thank god, mom realized the difference before my tongue was on fire! The ribs looked tender but were not the ‘Fall-off-the-bones’ type ribs that dad really enjoys…Overall, mom and dad seemed to enjoy their meals as well, although it may not have been their best Mexican meal ever. But hey, it’s nice to have a change for your tastebuds sometimes… Trust me, I know! I eat almost the same things everyday, so this was a welcome change for me as well – Ole!!
Food: ***
Deco/setting: **1/2
Service: ***
(out of 5 stars)
Poco Loco
Jl. Padma Utara, Legian.
(0361) 756.079
Little Sumo Girl 