Beer-o-nesian
The entrance of Under the Bridge has a large clipboard challenging customers to chug their 1.3 liter flower vase of beer (the "Cliff Hanger", ￥25) in under 93.5 seconds. At the time of visiting, still during UTB's soft opening, the first room was replete with only three tables, the rest of the space delegated for beer darts. The frat boy atmosphere was not what we expected of an Indonesian restaurant, but then again, UTB is a sister project of the Kro's Nest. Nonetheless, we shrugged off our perplexity as soon as the food was on our table. The core of any Indonesian meal has got to be the Beef Rendang (￥30), and UTB pulled it off well with a magnificent rich sauce around tender cutlets of beef. The Fried Rice (￥35), decidedly soft, brown and suffused with tiny dried shrimp. Indonesian empanadas, under the moniker of UTB UFO (￥25), were an astonishingly luscious stuffed mixture of ground beef, cheese, and raisins. We sweetened things out with the Banana Frittes (￥15) and powdery peanut Sand Cake (￥5), both as novel as potentially addictive. Whether it's the sumptuous flavors of Indonesia or the beer guzzling competitions that attract you, trekking out to the north Third Ring is a reasonable alternative to flying to Jakarta or your alma mater.

Michael Engstrom

Tel: 8201-4899
Add: Bei Tai Ping Zhuang Qiao, North Third Ring, opposite from Cheng Jian Da Sha ( 北三环北太平庄桥,诚建大厦对面)