Kado ++

Grand Indonesia is one of food heavens in Jakarta. They have a lot good tenant. Kado++ is one of the new comer there. Actually first opened at Intercontinental Hotel, now Kado++ spread its wing into mall. Lets see how good it is.

Tori Don (54K). It was rice with scrambled egg, minced pork, and chicken. Tasted pretty good. The rice was perfectly cooked that time. The scrambled egg was tasteless. And the chicken was nice, tender, smells good. Minced pork was just okay.  

Tsukune Zousui (35K). Basically it's Japanese risotto. Different with modern risotto that served by common bistro lately, this Japanese risotto tasted much purer. Salty and creamy. But I didn't like the the texture. The rice was sticky, in a bad way. And I couldn't feel the meat. :(
Anyway, it was successfully full my empty tummy. Tommy's happy now. :p

Taiyaki Angko (22K). You must be know Korean fish ice cream. Yeah, it is so good! Nah, this Taiyaki  is the mini version, but without the ice cream. So it's like the crepes shaped like a fish. Angko means red bean. I chose Taiyaki Angko, so my fish crepes came with red bean paste filling. Nyum! 
The read bean paste was sweet. It was exactly the same taste with Korean fish ice cream without ice cream. So bad it made me craving for ice cream. It would taste much better with ice cream. :p

Overall, I'm not too satisfies, since they only had few variant of dishes. And the menu book was already bad enough for a such pretty high end restaurant. The taste of dishes was also just so so. 
They should make some improvement I think. :)




Kado++
Grand Indonesia West Mall Lvl. 3A
(021) 23581871

Pepenero Cucina Italiana

Italian restaurant is booming in Jakarta lately. Pepenero is one of them. First opened since 2004 in Bali, Pepenero already has 3 branches in Jakarta and 1 branch in Serpong. After heard all good things about Pepenero, I was surely wanted to try at least once. So here I was. As they had 3 branches in Jakarta, I thought I had no worry about no booking in advance. A little shock, I was almost got no seat. 

Anyway, the later the time, the more crowded it was.

As I was waiting for my friends before I ordered, they gave me this complimentary bread. Consisted of 4 pieces, it was really good to kick your taste bud. The bread was a bit crunchy on the edge, and a bit chewy in the middle. The texture was nice. The tomato cube on the bread, gave fresh sensation when you eat the crunchy-chewy-savory bread. Anyway, I thought they didn't put any sugar to the tomato. 

My friends had came. And Pepenero was very generous. They gave me a basket of complimentary bread AGAIN. Yeiy! Well, nothing much I could say about it, as I just eat a few of them because I couldn't wait for the main dishes. :p

Prosciutto e Zucchine Grigliate (45K). Thin Italian pizza, with tomato sauce, mozzarella  cheese, ham and green zucchini. Well, it turned out they weren't be generous this time. You may see from the pict, the surface of pizza wasn't full of topping. Fortunately it tasted nice though. A bit salty and savory. 

Rigatoni Stracicati (49K). Rigatoni is a form of tube-shaped pasta of varying lengths and diameters. It is larger than penne and ziti and sometimes slightly curved. Rigatoni is usually ridged, and the tube's end is square-cut like ziti, not diagonal like penne (Wikipedia). Rigatoni Stracicati was  rigatoni with bolognese ragu sauce and mozzarella on top. The bolognese was good. A bit sour (tomato-ish). The pasta was al dente, not too hard yet not too soft. So loveable. 

Spaghettini Nostromo (49K). Pasta with green paprika, fresh tomato, tuna and calamari. The pasta was al dente. The sauce was a bit thick and not too much, but enough to cover all the pasta. This dish really kicked my taste buds. Tasted a bit spicy, and so mouthwatering. I definitely wanted some more!!

Linguine Alla Marinara (49K). Linguine pasta with mixed seafood and tomato sauce. Linguine is a kind of pasta, which a bit bigger than spaghetti but smaller than fettucini. The pasta was al dente too. The sauce was good. They were generous of clams. hihi :)

Enough with the main dishes, I saw Soufflé Al Cioccolate (44K). Of course I ordered it without think twice. And I didn't regret it. It worth every cent I spent. It tasted great. As I watched Masterchef, once Gordon Ramsay said that soufflé was one of the hardest dessert to make. You could feel the sensation when you crack that surface on top then touch the creamy milky chocolate inside. Whoooaaaah. I am drooling now. After I ate this, I always been craving for this.  

Gelatti Nacciola (29K). Well, it was gelato, which is Italian ice cream. The difference between gelato and ice cream is gelato is thicker. So when I heard gelato, first thing came up in my mind was it would make me queasy because I was too full and eat something thick. But the fact is, it wasn't. This was good. Well, it was creamy, but also light though. With tasted almond, and sweet. 

Pinzimonio di Frutta (45K). It was a plate of mixed fruits (watermellon, banana, pineapple, strawberry, and orange) with chocolate dip. It was pretty good and (of course) healthy. 


Overall, I was satisfies, and for sure would plan another visit. Yeiy!




Pepenero Cucina Italiana
Plaza Pondok Indah 2, Blok BA 25 - 26, 
Jl. Metro Pondok Indah, (next to CITIBANK Pondok Indah),
Jakarta Capital Region  
(0)21 750 0959


Gedung The Energy, Mezzanine Level, 
Jl. Jend Sudirman Lot 11A, Kawasan SCBD,
Jakarta Capital Region - (0)21 5296 4006


Menara Karya, Ground Floor, 
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said, Block X-5 Kav.1-2, 
Jakarta Capital Region - (0)21 5794 4727


Jalan Pahlawan Seribu 
Teraskota Ground Floor Serpong, 153222 
(021) 29915771


Temple Hill Studios, 
Jl. Wanagiri 18 - Jimbaran, Bali 
(0)361 704 672


Carrefour Sunset Road, 
Level 2 Unit 16 (opposite the Apple Shop) 
Jl. Sunset Road,Bali
0361 847 7355

La Biere

Heyho Readers! Beer Houses are everywhere lately. La Biere is one of them. 

As I was inneed of snack (you should have known my kind of snack, right?), and I saw La Biere was calling me in. *exaggerate*

As they had outdoor and indoor seats, I chose outdoor for I wanted to catch some wind. 

I ordered La Biere Fungi Pizza (48K). Extra thin Italian pizza with creamy cheese, beef bacon and champignon mushroom. I loved it. The pizza tasted light. Not too tasty, but it's okay as snack, that I didn't expect for something too much. Pretty big 8 pieces was good for 2 or 3. 

Strawberry Fruity Alone ( 35K). Fresh strawberry juice with yogurt and milk. In the other words, you could call it milkshake. Taste? Sweet, sour,creamy and fresh. 

Couldn't stand to try their signature beverage, I ordered Elder Flowlyc (48K). It was blend of lemon, elder flower, lychee & beer. Tasted nice. Sweet and smelled like lychee&lemon. Loved it. :) 

La Biere 
Central Park Tribeca GF 09-10. 
Jl. Letjen S. Parman Kav 28. Jakarta11470 
ph. +62 21 292 000 43

Starbucks VIA(r) Ready Brew Preview

Who doesn't know Starbucks? The pioneer of modern coffee joint in Indonesia, has a breakthrough for ready brew coffee. Different with just instant coffee, it took 20 years for Starbucks before they succeeded to invent this VIA(r). In other country, VIA(r) has been launched since 2 years ago, but in Indonesia, this is the time. 13 September 2011, located in Upper Room Jakarta, Starbucks launched their Starbucks VIA(r). Fortunately, I got the invitation for their preview since few days before. I was so excited to meet the latest products of Starbucks. :)

Considering the difference between fresh brewed coffee and instant coffee, Starbucks really knew that they're part of their customer's daily life. That's why they worked hard to create VIA(r) in order to bring fresh brewed coffee to their customers in just a flash. How? VIA(r) made from 100% high quality natural roasted arabican coffee bean, processed into micro-groundwhich means the whole coffee bean in tiny size. Different appearance of course bring different sensation. 

If instant coffee won't give us powder effect of coffee, VIA(r) still has it even just a bit. You could tell a coffee just by its smell. When the VIA(r) was brewed, I smelled it, and the next thing I knew is I wanted it. It tasted thicker than instant coffee (of course).

VIA(r) comes in 2 variants: Italian Roast (extra bold) and Columbia (medium). Extra bold is suitable for a black & bitter coffee lover. 

Available in 2 packages: 

3servings - 25K & 12 servings -88K.

Indonesian people loves black coffee when it comes with another sweets. Starbucks really knows their customers. So they also created 4 new sweets to accompany VIA(r), and of course packaged in ready-to-go packs. 

This one was Bond (19.5K). Remind me of James Bond. :p
Well, this Bond is a cookies, which in France means beautiful/delicious. Made from cinnamon, with raspberry and chocolate in the middle. Some of my friends liked this a lot. Just like usual cookies, it was a bit crunchy. Cinnamon monopolized the smell. It's good when you munch it, it's crunchy and cinnamon-ish outside, and when you hit the middle, it comes into sour raspberry. Good company for black bitter coffee. :)

 Toffee (14.5K). This one comes in bigger size. Basically, it was marble cake and could be categorized in butter cake. With vanilla and caramel sauce as base and crumble as garnish, made this cake so sweet and thick. The texture was good, and not dry. I loved it too. This Toffee is made for dine & to go.

Hollander (20K). I claimed this as my favorite. Hollander was almond butter tart with raspberry jam filling. So you could imagine dense sweet butter tart which is moist enough hit your taste buds, and sweet sour raspberry jam brings you to heaven. Well, that was exaggerate. :p
But the point is, I love the taste and sensation Hollander brought. :)
More over, just like written on the sticker on packaging, it's prefect with VIA(r).

They called it Mile (19.5K). Indonesia has tenteng kacang, and Mile is adapted from tengteng kacang. The difference is, Mile had butter cookies as base, spread with almond, and coated with caramel sauce. 

Tasted very sweet, highly recommended  for who doesn't like bitter coffee yet too lazy to put sugar. :p

We had so much fun there. Talking much, joking much, and tasting much. Starbucks was so generous. They gave us free drink that we could choose which one we want. Of course I asked Choco Signature. That's my fave. :)
And they also gave a goodie bag. Special for VIA(r), I assumed, because it has VIA(r) logo on it. And a mug, a Starbucks' teddy bear, a coaster, and of course Starbucks VIA(r).

Big thanks to Starbucks! Can't wait for another new invention. :))

Brussels Spring

Hello readers! 

I know how much you miss me, so I come back early. lol.

This time my heart got caught into Brussels Spring. Heard once about them, they're famous in Bandung. Lately, they opened some branches (only 2: Epicentrum Walk & Central Park) in Jakarta. Yippie! 

As their name seems into dessert, I thought I had to order one. So here this was. Opera Cake (22.5K). First time I fell in love with opera cake was the Harvest's one. Until then, Harvest's opera cake always be my baby standard. Anyway, for me, I thought Brussels Spring's was pretty edible. Even the rum was too much, it almost  beat the coffee smell. About texture, it was pretty nice. Love the moist.

Chicken Steak (47.5K). From the presentation, it won my heart. Looked so tempting. I couldn't wait to taste it. It was grilled chicken breast with BBQ sauce, served with fresh vegetables & mashed potato. The chicken was good. Nice, tender, juicy, well-marinated and well-grilled. I believe they didn't use to much seasoning into the chicken, because the main taste was in the BBQ sauce.  The sauce was nice. I loved the balance of sourness and sweetness. You can see the corn was hidden behind the chicken breast. The corn was boiled. Wait, can you see the mashed potato? Yeah, it's wrapped in spring roll skin. To be honest, I loved it so much! The mashed potato was savory and not too creamy. With crunchiness outside and moist & soft inside, 2 thumbs up for them. :))

Coffee Late (20K). Love the balance between milk and coffee. I'm not into bitterness, and this one fitted me well. I'm not an expert about coffee, but I knew this wasn't just an instant coffee. This was a well-brewed coffee. :)

I saw this in their show case. Chocolate cookies (12K). From the sticker on packaging, we could see it was still made in Bandung (their headquarter). Anyway, the cookies was chocolate-ish. Not too crunchy, a bit moist, and not too sweet, but I liked it. There was also some tiny cuts of cashew nuts. 

Brussels Spring
Central Park - Tribeca Park
Jl. Letjen. S. Parman Kav. 28
Jakarta Barat 11470
(021) 2920 0007/8

Brussels Spring
Epicentrum Walk - Lifestyle Center GF
Komp. Rasuna Epicentrum
Jl. HR Rasuna Said
Jakarta Selatan
(021) 299 41125

Brussels Spring
Jl. Sumatera no. 30
Bandung
(022) 426 4104

Yang Manis Dari Masa Lalu - Es Dungdung by Walls (Blogger Dinner)

  

Walls is one of the biggest ice cream companies in Indonesia. They are famous of their quality and have a lot of varieties.  They had been in this field for more than 10 years. In the other words, they are very expert in ice cream industry. 

Remember when I was in my first semester of college, my Public Relation lecturer once said a brand/product should has concern about environment, culture, and good will to its market area. I think Walls bring up this theory into their latest product: Es Dungdung. 

Es Dungdung is Indonesian traditional ice cream. Made by our ancestor using simple recipe which could bring delightful result of healthy ice cream. Unfortunately, not much people care about this heritage. People nowadays more interested with creamy cream or gelato. Maybe because there is no joint sell Es Dungdung in malls. Most of es dungdung sold by hawker stall which (in Jakarta and other big cities in Indonesia) is famous of their unhygienic. So people just afraid to buy or even forbid their children to taste it. Poor our children. They can't taste their own ancestor recipe because their parents too afraid they'd be sick after eat unhygienic ice cream. 

Nevertheless, Walls concern about this and try to conserve Indonesian traditional ice cream so our children could taste and enjoy it too. So here it is. 15 August 2011, at Rempah-Rempah Restaurant which also have the same theme with the product, Walls proudly pampered us (food bloggers) with their latest product: Es Dungdung. 

Es Dungdung available in 2 variants; jackfruit and coconut.  

In every event, I always concern about the food. So lets talk about the food here (Rempah-rempah).

First I came, they already arranged buffet table. I heard they usually serve ala carte, not buffet. So buffet arrangement was just for this event only. Well, the important point is the food, not how they arrange it, right? 

Look! This is my plate. :D

Now, let's take a look closer. 

Ayam Rempah. Recording to my friend who had been here before, their Ayam Rempah (seasoned chicken) was very good. So I was very curious to try it. But to be honest I was disappointed. It's not as good as I expected. My friend said usually their Ayam Rempah much better than this. Maybe because this time their served it in open air for pretty long time. So it became hard and tasteless to me. Hard to chew and hard to enjoy. Huff.

They said this was Salad Melayu. I liked it. It was clear salad with fresh vegetables and I smelled sesame oil here. It tasted a bit sour yet tasty. :9

The vegetables were still crunchy and fresh. 

Sop Buntut. The broth tasted savory and that's it. Nothing special in it. Me not like it anyway. Maybe I just love the more tasty and spicy food. 

Abon Tembakau Deli. Was it really made from weed?? Idk. I didn't even ask. :p

It looked very tempeting. So I took a lot of it. But when I tasted it, it was so rough. I hardly could munch it, and tasted so so. The season was very strong. I smelled coriander so strong. Too much I thought. 

Bakwan Jagung (Corn Fritters) . Bakwan jagung is one of my favorite food. So, usually I always say yes into bakwan jagung anywhere I find it. But (again), maybe because left in open air for pretty long time, this corn fritters became too hard to munch outside and I barely could taste the real taste. Well, this time I betrayed you, corn fritters. I didn't like you. 

                                    

Out of the food, here was the main agenda. Talkshow. There were Arie Parikesit from Kelana Rasa, Ratna Soemantri as dessert specialist, and a person as Walls' representative.

I like this kind of agenda. They didn't just talking about their product, but also gave us some knowledge. They even talked about the literature & history of ice cream. Now I know how to make ice cream. You have to whisk the boiling dough in a iron drum. The iron drum must be inside a wooden drum which full of ice cube. The speed and stability of your whisk are the matter here. If your whisk it unstable, the texture of the ice cream would be rough. Not as soft as when you whisk it in stable speed. You got the idea, right?

Voilaaa! Say hello to Es Dungdung! 

                                   

There was also a little game. 3 teams (2 persons each) were competing to decorate a bowl of Es Dungdung. The best presentation would get a cute oldies parcel. These are the result. Which one do you like the most?

Finally, lets take a pict of us! Wohooo!
Big thanks to Walls for the invitation. Psssttt. We also got a goodie bag, contain 2 packs of Es Dungdung. *big grin*
Hey, follow @esdungdung on twitter. They opened Kedai Dungdung at some points (mostly at mosque), where you can enjoy es dungdung in many fun ways. With bread or cone, you name it. :D