Ma Jolie in Kuta

Sunday night we met up with Sulis and Lexo for dinner. Because of them we have been introduced to new eateries. This time we tried Ma Jolie, which is supposed to be a French restaurant, situated right on the beach in Kuta. The place looks like the typical villa/international restaurant that are popping up everywhere, and the price is a bit below Ku De Ta in Nusa Dua (i.e. expensive by local standard). We had the very nice seating right next to the beach, but since we were there for dinner, we did not have the chance to see the ocean view. The cool breeze was refreshing though.

The menu consisted of French (supposedly) as well as Italian dishes, with focus on seafood and lamb. I ordered the fettuccini with smoked salmon and capers in cream sauce. Wid got the three fish dish with a bit of pasta in cream sauce and steamed vegetables. Sulis had the seafood pasta in red sauce. Lexo ordered the lamb, but since I didn't get a good look at his dish, I can't give a full description here. I was actually interested in the beef roll, but since I wanted to try the dessert also, I opted to get the fettuccini instead (cheaper and hopefully less rich). We received complementary mini apeptizer in forms of bite size pizza and clam cooked in some sort of vegetable red sauce (one piece/one clam per person). Soft, fresh buns and slices of bread with butter were served while we waited for our entry. Wid really enjoyed his three fish dish, but he liked my pasta even more. The sauce was surprisingly light for a cream sauce with good flavor. The caper and smoked salmon might have been a bit too overwhelming in saltiness, but they do compliment the sauce pretty well. The portion for the pasta dishes was perfect for me and Sulis, but the portion of the meat dishes was a bit much for the guys. Still, overall, the portion at this restaurant is about the same as most restaurants that serve this kind of food. For dessert I ordered cream puffs filled with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with melted chocolate. The size of the dessert was surprisingly large so Wid and I shared the dessert.

The bill came to around 160k Rp per person, including the service charge , and most of the cost did come from the entry. Pasta dishes cost about 60-70k Rp each while the price of the meat dishes ranged from 100k to 180k Rp. I did not check the price of apepetizers but I expected that the cost is about the same as the desserts (around 40k). The food was quite satisfying and delicious, but, like I said before, the place is more expensive than what locals usually go for. Overall, the view is good, the restaurant is clean, the staff is friendly and fast, and the food is quite good even if it's expensive. Not a bad place for a romantic dinner.

One final note: While the dishes we tried that night were delicious, it might not mean all the dishes are good. The last time Wid came to this restaurant, he did not like the dish at all so there might be differences in quality from dish to dish.