MELBOURNE | Kata Kita is the new restaurant from the family behind casual Indonesian restaurant, Yoi. At Kata Kita, brothers Michael and Dion Sanusi, and their mother, Lie, are expanding on their first restaurant, with a more refined deep dive into what Indonesian cuisine can be.
Walking in, the space is casual, but more refined than Yoi. The kitchen is larger, as is the predominantly white and light timber dining space, which is accented by greenery and warm lighting. Matte concrete tabletops and rattan wall coverings complete the look. This ‘casual but more refined’ theme flows through to the menu.
Kata Kita means “together we say”, and comes from the phrase “kata kita makan”, which is said before large family meals in Indonesia, when nobody wants to serve themselves first. The menu features family recipes, like mee belitung. It’s a noodle soup from the town in which Michael and Dion’s grandmother grew up. If features a prawn and beef stock, fresh prawns, slow-cooked beef, fried potato and bean sprouts.
There’s a lot that’s appealing on a menu that warrants multiple visits. Other highlights include the Urutan Bali – house-made Balinese pork sausage with micro greens and sambal mata, Babi Bakar – slow cooked Balinese BBQ pork ribs glazed with house sauce, lime, bumbu genep (Balinese spices), and micro herbs. The Padang-style pippies, Pippies Saos Padang, wok tossed in a thick sweet and sour chilli sauce, are also great.
For dessert, try the Cendol Bao, a creative take on the traditional dessert which sees coconut ice-cream, palm sugar, and pandan jelly cubes served ice-cream sandwich style inside a deep fried bao. Also try the Ketan Hitam. It’s a traditional black sticky rice pudding topped with coconut ice-cream.
Drinks follow the same theme as the food. There’s classic cocktails, and several creative house concoctions. Try the Uluwatu. It’s a mixture of gin, Cointreau, pressed pineapple juice and passionfruit pulp, topped at the table with a passion fruit bubble that busts into a waft of smoke after a few seconds.
Kata Kita
266 La Trobe Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: (03) 7064 5389
E-mail: [email protected]
Website
Open
Tue – Thu: 11:30am to 3:30pm, 5:30pm to 10:30pm
Fri – Sun: 11:30am to 10:30pm