Tempo Dulu

This is definitely a restaurant that is not for everyone. Very unusual food. My daughter and I loved it. Our husbands would have hated it! Fixed price menu is the way to go. The chef throws in lots of extra courses.
Big wine list with a page of wines by the glass. Most of the wines I had never heard of and I stepped out of the box and gambled with a glass of reunion Cabernet. Smoky tobacco taste. Not something I normally would like in a wine, but I liked it.
We both chose the 4 course prix fix menu with one of the courses being a chefs choice. We got so much more! We started with an amuse bouche, a one bite treat,(salmon with a lot of stuff I can’t pronounce) then another amuse bouche, a mussel with lots of coconut flavors. Followed by Foie gra, coconut soup, duck. All prepared in fancy shmancy delicious ways! This is a special occasion restaurant, very pricey.

In short: Go for cocktails and an appetizer, skip the tasting menu.
My husband and I were celebrating a special occasion, so we selected the chefs tasting menu with the contemporary cocktail pairing.
The evening started out very promising. The atmosphere is wonderful and the cocktails very tasty. Over the course of the 3 hour dining experience things began to unravel. While I would give them an A for effort on service, they never quite got the timing right. The food also declined in quality. The main course was almost inedible. This place is truly over rated for the price! At $ 200 a person I should have left wowed.

Definitely worth it for restaurant week special price, described very well in other recent review here. The one star review was totally lame. We were very pleased with the extra intermezzos, etc, especially the quail egg and shot of soup. The tempeh, fried rice, chicken liver, cod, lobster soup, and unusual tart green panne cotta were all great, the beef bland. Service was a bit amateurish and spotty. The only downside was the bartender who took 20 minutes for two simple drinks, serving others who ordered later and then got drink wrong.

It’s crazy reading a one star review for restaurant week at Tempo Dulu. I also was here for restaurant week, and the atmosphere and service were five star perfection. The food was good. The prices are what would make a return trip unlikely for me personally.
I’ve driven by the Danforth Inn hundreds of times without ever noticing it. Inside, the restaurant dominates the ground floor. Service is special the second you enter, as the host asks to take your coats. Spanning multiple attractive rooms, the restaurant is cozy and hip. The asian techno (I guess?) on the speakers soon becomes mesmerizing, and we were sat at a prime people watching table.
This is a fancy restaurant with incredible service to match. Think hot towels with a refreshing ginger smell presented multiple times during your meal. What do you do with these? I did not know. After wiping my forehead, my companion informed me that they’re for your hands.
Amuse bouches are so rare at my usual restaurants that I love them even when they’re bad. These were decent, but unmemorable (I literally don’t remember) and there were two of them. Rice crisps were then presented with a delicious peanut butter sauce and a spicy jam.
For the first course we both had the green curry lobster soup dumplings. The curry was some of the tastiest I’ve ever had. The dumpling was good, but notice the lack of «s» in «dumpling.» For the main course, I was mildly disappointed with my cod kecap black garlic and Asian greens ginger sauce. It was a tiny piece of fish in sweet sauce. The side of white rice mixed with the sauce was the best part. My friend’s beef rendang with black coconut oil kaffir cilantro was better, with ultra tender meat. My caramelized banana dessert was solid, but the panna cotta was a little odd. The bright green inside resembled the ectoplasm in Ghostbusters.
The cocktail program is unique and very interesting. The Jakarta was a fancy Manhattan in a smoking glass with herbs and spices. It was delicious. The sake snow cone was even more original. This is literally an alcoholic snow cone that you eat with a spoon. While great, it melts fast, so it won’t take long to finish. It would be best to share. These drinks were each $ 15. At a restaurant, $ 15 is really $ 18 after tip. It’s just so expensive.
The $ 45 for two amuse bouches, the rice crisps, an intermezzo of sorbet and three courses was worth it. I liked my food and loved the service and atmosphere, so this particular night was a 4 star experience for me. But normally the apps are $ 21, the entrees are $ 34 and desserts are $ 17. Or 4 courses are $ 69. No thanks.

Honestly, this is one of the worst restaurants I’ve been to in Portland. The only worse experience I can point to is dinner at zapoteca.
It started out great. They have a great ambiance and some fantastic cocktails. Then we sat down to eat. Disclaimer: we were here for restaurant week, but if they didn’t show up for this, I can’t imagine the regular menu is any better.
First course: dumpling soup — pretty tasty, but only one dumpling… Regular price $ 17. Price in Thailand $.50
Chicken liver «custard» — imagine eating panna cotta made from meat. They stuck a bird in a blender and put it in a cup. Gross.
Main course: 3 oz of cod soaked in fish sauce. I like fish sauce, and still I thought it was overbearing.
Beef rendang– dry pieces of microwaved beef in a mediocre curry. Eww.
Dessert: honestly I didn’t think they could f* this up, but they did. The «panna cotta» was literally green. Like a st. Patrick’s day joke gone wrong.
Bananas flambé (I don’t remember what they actually called it) — this was ok, but nothing special.
Top it all off with expensive for New York prices and you’ve got yourself a real loser.

After eyeing it for some time, my wife and I recently spent a lovely evening at Tempo Dulu. From the décor to the service to the food, everything was simply amazing. After arriving, we were offered time to get a cocktail. They were excellent and the bartender was entertaining and informative. We were even offered a little amuse bouche at the bar, very nice touch.
When we finished our cocktails (never rushed, which is a good thing) we were seated in one of the main dining rooms. We opted for the tasting menu, each of us choosing a pairing. I chose the cocktail pairing while she got the coravin wine pairing.
What followed was a feast for all the senses, from eyes to mouth to nose and beyond. So many small tastings and so many bold flavors. Frankly we lost count of the amount of tastings and small bites that we finally gave up and just enjoyed the ambiance and the food.
Highly recommend a night at Tempo Dulu!

One of the best meals I have had in Maine. An excellent assortment of exotic flavors and textures unlike anything you’ll find in the area. Pricey but worth it, our table had the chef’s menu, the lobster menu, and 2 people ordered from the 3 course menu. You can’t go wrong, all were delicious!

During our stay at Danforth, we found out Tempo Dulu was serving Rijsttafel, a dutch adaptation of Indonesian cuisine. We’d been looking for a restaurant that serves rijsttafel for a while, and we jumped on the opportunity to taste it.
The restaurant was modern and beautifully decorated with the Indonesian wayang puppets, street cart, and other Asian influenced arts. Everything they brought out from the kitchen (hand towel, drinks, food, etc.) was like an art work as well, decorated with tiny flowers.
Although it was technically a tasting menu, we were happy that they could accommodate us for our dietary restrictions (no shellfish). The food was sooooo delicious! Payaya soup was creamy, yet light, and foie gras satay was perfectly seared for its nutty, fatty flavors. The rest of the courses was served all at the same time on a hot plate. Rendang Padang and lamb were superbly done. The serving portions were very generous.
The staff was very attentive and did not mind answering our questions on food and its preparation. We were the last customers at the restaurant, and they didn’t hurry us.
This restaurant was so good, and I created my Unilocal account to give this place its deserved review.

This is one of my new favorites in Portland. We’re so lucky to have it. Everything about this place is pure class. The service is the best I’ve experienced in Maine. The décor is surprising and delightful. And the food, the food is so very thoughtful and so very delicious. I’d recommend the bar for anyone, anytime and the dinner as a wonderful night out or an opportunity to celebrate with friends or for a special occasion. And they take OpenTable reservations, which is so greatly appreciated. Go here, go here, go here.

Tempo Dulu could very well be in the running for «trendiest» bar in Portland, however much baggage you attribute to that term. Between the Asian influenced décor (and, well, everything else) and the faux-​shrubbery chandelier, it would feel very at home in NYC.
But, ignoring the divisive décor, this place makes the most well-​presented (and possibly most delicious) drink I’ve ever had in Portland: the Jakarta. A delicious mix of herbal liqueurs rounded out with rye, served in a glass smoked with winter spices, bartender/​manager extraordinaire Trevin has set the bar seriously high.
Yes, it is $ 15, putting it beyond even Top of the East prices and straight into Timber-​range, but it seriously deserves a try if you are on the West End.
This will be my go-​to spot for a fancy drink from here on out.

Dining here is a true experience. The food was all delicious and the wine pairings they offered were the perfect match to each dish. I opted to go for the three course menu mostly because I had to try the lobster fried rice. It did not disappoint! The Thai sausage and coconut crêpe for dessert were also both very good.
The staff here were very friendly and seemed excited to welcome guests. The overall meal was stretched out over a couple hours and I believe that was done intentionally. The space was so chic and cozy though so it was a great opportunity to have lovely intimate conversation.
If you have a chance to sit at the bar… Definitely do so. The bartender has a real flair and some of the drinks involve many steps… The Jakarta even had the bartender lighting something on fire to collect the smoke and release it when the drink was served. Very impressive stuff.
The prices are a touch on the steep side so this place is definitely a splurge, but in my opinion well worth it.

5-​Star all the way! Portland Maine has raised the bar again with the arrival of this splendid Indonesian restaurant! Being Dutch I know a thing or two about Indonesisch Rijsttafel, but this is an experience I will not lightly forget. The ultimate combination of superb service, classy décor and exquisite food is possible, and Tempo Dulu proves it! I highly recommend the traditional Indonesian Rijsttafel!

My husband and I came to Portland for the week-​end to experience the food scene. Unfortunately, we chose this restaurant for one of our two evenings of dining.
Waited 20 minutes past our reservation time to be seated with no explanation from the hostess. (We were the only people waiting for a table.)
Seated at a table with both chairs facing the walls in the corner of the room.
Waited 15 minutes after ordering wine to ask where it was and was told by the waiter «we’re busy».
After 40 minutes sitting at the table with none of our food order served, my husband and I did something we have never done at a restaurant before. We got up and left.
The food may well be worth the $ 100+ per person tab. But the indifferent service attitude was really unbelievable. What’s most upsetting is missing out on eating at one of Portland’s other truly terrific restaurants. We had to settle for pizza.

When you charge the highest restaurant prices in Portland (and close to the top in Maine), you had better deliver. Aside from the lovely dining room, nothing here is top-​drawer, though an amiable staff did want to make it so. We have enormously enjoyed Tempo Dulu’s sister restaurant «Natalie’s» in Camden, but sadly, Tempo Dulu is nowhere near that quality and a far inferior value.
The food is good, but only good. I was skeptical that a basically Indonesian menu could make it to «haute cuisine,» and unfortunately left feeling my fears had been justified. Two dishes were very good — a duck leg and fois gras appetizer and a curried eggplant intermezzo. But a shrimp and crab cake appetizer was exactly the size of one scallop, the smallest crustacean cake I have ever seen — and there was only one. The duck entrée (which both of us had) was significantly overcooked (and we were never asked how we would have preferred it), though the flavors were good. And for the first time in recent memory, I left a restaurant a bit hungry.
Wine and cocktails here are overpriced to the point of being offensive. We each tried a «flight.» The better of the two was the «contemporary flight,» which we were told was new. This turned out to consist of cocktails, not wine, and you got three for $ 62 (which is $ 20/​drink). They were visually appealing and complex, and all were good (two were very good; the last one, a riff on Vietnamese iced coffee, was very sweet). I tried the more expensive flight of wines, which cost around $ 80. I had actually had two of the three wines before (though I only remembered when I tasted the second of those that I had experienced it before and not especially liked it). The other two wines were good and well-​paired with the food, but the pour of the red (a Sean Thackrey Pleiades) was so small that I had to nurse it through the entrée and was very frustrated by the stinginess.
Many of the wines on the full list are at triple their retail price or close to it. The three wines in my flight cost between $ 17 and $ 24 retail, which is not what one expects at the price of the flight, and is nowhere near what Natalie’s delivers (though Natalie’s sommelier, the gifted Micah White, was consulted in creating the wine experience here). If a pour is one-​fifth of a bottle, these wines had a retail cost of about $ 12, and the restaurant perhaps gets them at a wholesale price.
And when the meal was over, the check I received was only a customer copy, with no place to sign. It took a while to get the correct slip, and our server seemed baffled that I wanted it.
To be clear, this is not a terrible meal, but not a special one, either. I take no issue with the cost of a three-​course meal ($ 69, I think), which comes with an amuse bouche and two or three intermezzos, but the entire set of wine and spirits options is startlingly overpriced.

Amazing food and an amazing overall experience.
This was the best restaurant meal that I have ever had.
From the time you walk in the door, the entire experience is perfect. Very well thought out décor, extremely well trained staff. Cocktails are great — food was without equal.
The food brings in a nice touch of molecular gastronomy without going overboard — a great accent to the flavors.
I was really surprised the quantity of the food over the course of the meal is surprisingly substantial as they bring out small samplers between the various courses.
Three things that could be better:
1. Signage — it’s a little hard to find, but I understand that’s a problem with it being a historical building.
2. Broader wine selection — the wines that they have are all picked to explicitly pair with the menu, but if you happen to not like reds/​whites or want to go significantly off of the pairings, there are not many options.
3. A sommelier — this level of a restaurant should have a very good sommelier. The manager was filling this role and when we asked for red wines to pair instead of the suggested flight of whites, the wines that she brought out… didn’t…work…

This review is mainly for the cocktails at Tempo Dulu, as I have yet to experience a full meal. First, let’s start with the décor — clean, tasteful, feels luxe but zen-​like. Particularly eye-​catching is the large dome chandelier covered with living moss in the parlor. Don’t worry, I checked for spiders and did not find any. This is the perfect setting for a quiet after-​work gathering as you and your friends unwind, sip on perfectly crafted cocktails, and enjoy the soothing, eclectic music compilation of songs you will never be able to hum in the shower.
Ok, let’s talk booze. Craft cocktails are trendy in Portland, and the bartenders in town do not mess around. Mixologist Trevin Hutchins is no exception. He raises the standard of bartending by researching and implementing new and creative techniques, experimenting with liquors that no one has ever heard of (not even the hipsters), and mixing his boozy concoctions with the passion of a thousand fiery hells… if «love» is a flavor, then I do believe I have tasted it in his drinks. One phrase you will never hear from a guest at Temp-​Du is «When I make my Wayangs at home…»
And his hair… Trevin sports the best head of hair i have ever seen — always well-​groomed and perfectly coiffed, without looking like he tried too hard. If he ever shaves his head, then as God is my witness, i will flip over a table and storm out of the restaurant, never to return.
Trevin is an outstanding showman behind the bar. Every ingredient is carefully measured, stirred, strained, crushed, muddled, torched, bubbled… whatever is necessary to create the perfectly balanced drink. And it is FUN to watch. If this is how the kids drink in the ghettos of Indonesia, then book me on the next flight…
Sure, it might take a couple minutes to make your cocktail, but remember, you are here to sip and relax, not guzzle cheap tequila with your frat buddies. Although, come to think of it, I bet Trevin could create the world’s most exquisite jello shot…
I am excited to sit down for a full meal at Temp-​Du. But for now, I will be drinking my dinner. Oh, and there were no children! Experiencing Tempo — Dulu is like experiencing a world where children never existed. I fucking hate children.

Let’s start with the good stuff. Lovely setting in The Danforth Hotel. Great cocktails. Food (chef’s menu at $ 85 a pop) was reasonably good but overpriced for what you got. Service? Well meaning but for the money and the setting, not where it needs to be. Final thought: make sure those wine glasses are spotless before putting them on the table. Cloudy with spots does not cut it.

All the advance press, the hype, the raves, the superlatives? Experiencing a meal at Tempo Dulu transcends it all.
They’ve accomplished something special here, and it starts with the concept: Elevating Southeast Asian street food to a level any foodie wouldn’t think twice about paying dearly for. Every element of the night, from the quality and creative alchemy of the ingredients to the service and ambiance, was a lesson in perfection. And this was only their soft opening — I’m sure they’ll find a way to outdo themselves from here.
First off, the Danforth is gorgeous; from the lighting and the art to the layout and the privacy of the tables, much love went into its transformation. We were welcomed by the owner, the Maitre ‘D, and the bartender, and made our way to the bar and lounge, where Trevin knocked our socks off with his inventive and succulent cocktails. I had the Jakarta, served in a glass which had been smoked barside with torched star anise and other spices — the smokiness imparted an exotic bent to his take on the Manhattan, and I could’ve nursed it all night.
On to the dining room, where our server, John, made us feel at home throughout the following three hours. We chose the rijsttafel, an Indonesian smörgåsbord making its debut that night. (The chef, Lawrence Klang, visited our table to talk shop with us after he heard that one of us has spent much time in Singapore as a Merchant Marine; along the way, he mentioned we were the first to try the rijsttafel.)
Bottom line: take out a second mortgage, sell your possessions, do what you have to do, but do the rijstaffel.
Among the dozen-​or-​so small plates and dishes were amuse bouches, interludes, palate cleansers, small bites, all phenomenal. We knew we were into something otherworldly at the first bite. There was too much to cover in this tiny box within Unilocal,but here are some of the absolute highlights: green papaya soup, foie gras satay, beef rendang padang, sumatra lamb, the list goes on…
Some might say pizza is the perfect food. It was — until Chef Klang introduced us to his unbelievable beef cheek rendang padang.
And the desserts! Green coconut crepes with coconut chutney and lime sorbet, passion fruit and saffron panna cotta with apple ice and pandan leaf syrup… orgasmic waves of flavor combinations the likes of which none of us at the table had ever known were possible. These ingredients aren’t thrown together to see what sticks — Klang has delved into the marrow of Southeast Asian and Indonesian cuisine and has paired symbiotic elements from disparate regions and redeemed them like star-​crossed lovers.
I am kicking myself right now because I wasn’t able to knock this review out the night of the meal, and the details are fading, but I can tell you that everything we had was new, unusual, inventive, and magically sweet and savory. «Magical» is the key descriptor here — the meal was Adventureland for foodies.
Time for my own hyperbole: It was simply the best meal we’ve had in Portland, hands down. Our tablemates, who spent collective decades in the Portland food scene as servers, managers, and enthusiasts, were equally mindblown.
If only we could afford to eat at Tempo Dulu every week…