Sanur's Balinese Restaurant

Indonesia might be one of Australia's closest neighbours but its cuisine hasn't quite found its way into the restaurant mainstream. There are a proliferation of Thai eateries serving up pad thais and larbs, Italian restaurants are a staple on any restaurant strip, and there are loads of Vietnamese joints selling broken rice dishes and bowls of pho. Even Malaysia has a couple of restaurants represented in the Canberra scene. But Indonesian restaurants are few and far between and Sanur's Balinese is the only one of its kind in the capital.

It sits on the Belconnen foreshore, along the retail and restaurant strip at Emu Bank. There's no fashionable lakeside dining or water views out over Lake Ginninderra but the restaurant itself is a compact little place nestled next to a Chinese restaurant with floor to ceiling windows. 

A starter of duck rolls ($12.90) features slices of dark duck on top of fine white pancakes with plenty of vegetables. They're topped with crunchy noodles and are flavoured with soy, galangal and garlic with a hint of wine and a caramelised sauce. The pancakes are a good size for an entree - they each make three little mouthfuls, a perfect start to the meal.

They're followed by the sate Sanur ($18.90), a mixed plate of half a dozen satay sticks with a little curling nest of carrot strips on top. A trio of accompaniments sit in a little partitioned dish beside the plate - the peanutty satay sauce, a tiny dab of sambal with a couple of pickled strips of vegetable, and a couple of cubes of lontong, or pressed white rice that you can spear with a satay stick and dip into the sauce. The chicken satay is nicely charred and glazed with sauce and a couple of sticks of prawn satay are also well grilled. There's nothing here that pushes the boundaries and there's not a lot of heat in the sambal. 

A bowl of soto Sanur ($16.90) is a decent laksa-style chicken noodle soup, full of spice and comfortingly rich. It's filled with prawns, tofu, thick noodles, a hearty winter dish that's good for the soul and for clearing away and cold weather cobwebs. A couple of prawn crackers, rimmed in bright red and green, perch on top. It's a generous serve and pretty good value too.

There's also a plate of nasi pandan wangi ($16.90) which features a bed of yellow rice, a beautiful piece of fragrant fried chicken and a couple of skewers of crisp-skinned, deep-fried tofu. It's accompanied by a bowl of peanut dipping sauce and emping, a crunchy Indonesian cracker with a bitter edge. This is another decent dish, sufficiently different from the usual fare of most Asian restaurants, and sticking truer to fully Indonesian cuisine. 

A final dish is more traditional - beef rendang ($18.90) with fragrant yellow rice. The curry is dark and mild, but to my mind it lacks the rich, thick texture that comes from long simmering in creamy coconut milk. The cubes of beef seem inconsistent - some are tender and falling apart, others take quite a bit more chewing to get through. There's also not enough heat in the spices - though I suppose that makes it a very gentle dish suitable for the non-chilli eater in your family. 

Still, Sanur's Balinese does Indonesian and Balinese food quietly and competently. There is nothing overly showy or flash in the cooking but care has clearly been taken in the presentation - dishes are garlanded with sprinklings of crushed nuts or fried onion, components are neatly and attractively organised on the plate. It's a very decent suburban eatery and must be lauded for bringing something different to the Canberra restaurant scene - a difference set out in flavours and traditional dishes rather than fancy decor or hipster cred.