It’s all about Indonesian and Japanese inspired dishes, desserts and creative cocktails at this lively cocktail bar in the Westend.

I had the Sierra Norte cocktail to start while Lawrence who joined me had the zero-proof Toucans dance.

We started off with Mariko’s house-made milk bread with Whipped garlic chive butter which I loved.

As dishes are meant to share they come out to the table at random, next up was the Spicy peanut salad with local greens, shaved cucumber, pickled onion, green beans, radish.

Charred Broccolini was very tasty with sambal oelek, kecap manis 

Jungle fries were lightly seasoned double-cooked house fries, chives, lemon pepper, togarashi, sambal aioli

The Laksa Bombs were outstanding, aka Prawn & truffle dumplings, with a lobster laksa broth, scallions.

Rendang tacos were done with coconut-braised pork, lemongrass sambal, pickled onions, cilantro, crispy shallot

Seared spring salmon was divine with a delicious Javanese opor sauce, pearl couscous, caramelized cabbage, chili oil, sambal matah, toasted coconut.

Tempura eggplant had a Ponzu glaze, roasted garlic eggplant purée

Indonesian chicken Taliwang was outstanding with a half-roasted free range chicken, cashew curry, steamed coconut rice, acar pickled vegetables, grilled lime .

We then tried three of their desserts, the Ice Cream Sando with miso caramel ice cream was our favourite of the three.

Pisang Goreng Affogato was playful and somewhat interactive, and we also tried the Earl Grey & Pear Lava Cake.

Jungle Room is located at 961 Denman Street in Vancouver. You can follow them on instagram @jnglroom 

By: Richard Wolak