Butter & Bean Surabaya (Review)

Weeks ago, I saw INIJIE’s post about this pretty looking new cafe with a bright turquoise color on the wall. He happened to be the photographer for the menu of this cafe (if I’m not mistaken), probably that’s why he posted it on his Instagram. The interior looks interesting, but I actually didn’t want to visit just yet, because it’s placed inside a new mall that’s quite far from my house.

However, I finally decided to visit because of two things : 1. I was really craving for Samyang, and some told me to go to this Mall and look for Samyang at the Lotte Mart (still didn’t get it there) 2. One of my viewers on YouTube asked me to review this cafe and put it on my YouTube Channel. So yes, I’m now going to share about my experience in :

Here’s the look of the Baked Creme Chicken (35k) that I ordered

First thing first, if you look carefully to the menu, it’s showing the ‘reference’ picture of baked chicken rice. It’s flooded with melted cheese on top of the rice, so visually tempting! That was actually why I ordered it, for the melting cheese! But when it came to my table, there was no melted cheese on top of it, just a freakin’ cheese powder!! Later on I found one piece of  ‘melted’ cheese (that’s not even melting anymore, it was already hardened) inside the rice.

But still, I found this really deceiving. Cafe/Restaurant owner should not cheated on their customers by putting those overwhelming food pictures on their menu. It should be shown as it is! I would tolerate if they put garnish on the reference picture, and not in real life, just a little bit exaggerating wouldn’t be any problem, but not this much!

I admitted that I was quite disappointed because of the cheese, but I continued to take pictures of this dish, and ate it. However, not too long after, I found out that there was so many garlic inside it, so.. Unfortunately, with a heavy heart, I had to toss it out. (fyi, I hate garlic, pretty much a lot) I guess this dish was truly not meant for me, really. 

Overall, I gave Butter & Bean 6.5 out 10 for the ratings.
I will explain why : 1. Because the photo at the menu and the dish that they served, has a lot differences 2. They (still) have no wi-fi, though they already open for almost a month, and 3. Some of the waiters were (still) insensitive. Remember, I said not all of them were like that, just some of them. I didn’t understand whether they were naturally like that or they just don’t care. When I tried to take a picture of the venue, one of them kept walking back and forth in front of me, and there was no customer on that area! I would be patiently waiting for sure if the waiter was on duty, but no, he was not serving anyone, and he acted like I wasn’t even there.

Another thing that made me cringe was when I asked one of them whether it was okay or not to move their little properties on the shelf. I’m always trying to be polite whenever I go to a cafe or restaurant. I always ask permission to take pictures and if I want to move things there. Usually, on other place, they would gladly welcomed me to take any pictures or move anything as I please. But in Butter & Bean, the respond was surprising. He responded, “It’s okay if you want to move the properties on the shelf, but you have to put it back on where it supposed to be later.” I was like……

I ‘asked permission’, not because I needed their permission of course, I was just being polite, and I ALWAYS put things back whenever I moved it around, though the waiter insisted it was their job to put it back. But since he told me what I had to do like he’s the owner of the place, it really made me lose my respect. A waiter should not do that. A waiter should’ve treated the customer like a king, whether they are regular or a food blogger, or whoever. And if the customer do something bad, a waiter shouldn’t intrude, just let the person in charge (manager or owner) take care of it.

Another thing. If you ever wanted to go to Marvel City, take either Ngagel Street, Dinoyo Street, or Darmo Kali Street. I won’t suggest you coming from Bung Tomo Street, because there’s no way that you can cut across the road from there, so you might suffer looking for a U turn and perhaps ended up cancelling your plan, haha.. Please note that it also implies when you’re out from the Mall. The only way out is to Bung Tomo street. So if you’re living in the west area like me, you will definitely face the traffic, since you have to go through Bung Tomo first, and find a U turn to go back, and good luck going through that street especially on the rush hour time. I’ve had enough.