Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Harvest Cake

The Harvest Cake is one of the best cakery in town. First opened their outlet at Jl. Panjang, now they have a lot of branches already, even outside Jakarta. Whoah, big growth, huh? ;)

I had tried their Opera Cake. It was nice, me loved it so much. But as I have aten it for some times, so I gave the other choices a try. 

Chocolate tiramisu. Just like another tiramisu, it has a hint of coffee. Chocolate plus coffee? Don't you feel like mocca? Yes, that's a perfect word to call the taste. More like into mocca, but with a little less milky. With no hint of any alcoholic liquid such rhum or kahlua or baileys. 
The texture was moist and soft. The mousse was rich. The sponge cake was fluffy and not velvety.





Chocolate Devil. It was mousse cake with layers of sponge cake between. What's the difference with tiramisu? Choco Devil had no hint of coffee and a glimpse of heaven for a choco lover. The mousse was very sweet. The texture was soft, rich and nice. The mousse part was thicker than sponge cake.



Psssst.. I heard they also have red velvet cake! Wanna try some? :)




The Harvest Cake
Jl. Arteri Pondok Indah No. 38E 
Kebayoran Lama Selatan 
Kebayoran Lama 
Jakarta Selatan DKI Jakarta
(0)21 720 1710



JL. Dharmawangsa Raya No. 10 B  
South Jakarta 12160(0)21 739 4225


Jl. Senopati Raya No. 78 
Senayan Kebayoran Baru 
Jakarta Selatan DKI Jakarta(0)21 7070 8793



Jl. Pluit Putra Raya no. 23
Ph. : +62-21-6690-250
Fax : +62-21-6690-250


Jl. Margonda Raya No. 295
Ph. : +62-21-7721 6200
Fax : +62-21-77202170


Jl. Boulevard Raya, Blok TA 2/4, Jakarta Utara
Ph. : +62-21-45844954
Fax : +62-21-45840880


City Plaza Building Lantai Dasar 
Jl. Gatot Subroto No.42 Jakarta Selatan
Ph. : +62 21 5297 1277


Jl. Sunda, No.7, Jakarta Pusat
Ph. : +62-21-2300369
Fax : +62-21-2300469


Jl.Alam Sutera Boulevard Kav.6 
Kawasan Flavor Bliss No.7 (Serpong)
Ph. : +62-21-53140400
Fax : +62-21-53140402


JL. Bengawan No.39, Surabaya Pusat - 60241
Ph. : +62-31-5616263
Fax : +62-31-5619696


Jl. H.Djuanda no.15 - Dago
Ph. : +62 22 4200756
Fax : +62 22 4200756







Nannini : Food tasting

After success with first outlet in Plaza Senayan, now Nannini opened their second outlet at Plaza Indonesia (Yeiy!). Just had the grand opening few weeks ago, two of my owners were invited to experience their new concept and food. We are so excited. 
Located in 2nd floor, just right behind Aldo and Zara, Nannini Plaza Indonesia seems more peaceful because not much people walking around there. A perfect place to have a bunch of chit chat with friends or even for meeting point/working alone. 
Actually Nannini provides various dishes from Italian to Indonesian, and they provides cocktails too. 



Fitra, the operation manager of Nannini, introduced himself and he did some demo of making Smokey Rosemary. So far, it's interesting. 





Beetle Juice - 35K. Presented as welcome drink that night. It's pineapple, orange, mango, with passion fruit and kiwi. Love the sweet and ice cold refreshing drink. Now, my tummy is ready for some kickin' dishes, I thought. So I just couldn't wait for their maincourse.





While waiting for the main courses, we were given Pineapple Cinnamon Roshka (80K). Consisted of vodka, pineapple liquor, lime wedge and mix sugar. Tasted sweet at first and bitter at the end. As I came with an empty tummy, cocktail is not a good choice for me to drink. 







Smokey Rosemary. As its name, it contained smell of rosemary. Fitra showed us how to do this. He put rosemary in the glass, that burnt it with lighter until it was considered as moderate, and then.....that's it. lol. He just showed us until there, maybe not much trick needed after that or maybe they even had a special trick that shouldn't showed to anyone else. I felt the alcohol level is less in here, rather than pineapple cinnamon roshka. Or maybe because I drank that first, so my tongue had became less sensitive. 




Finally, i had the food! What a happiness. :D
Nannini's Wild Mushroom Soup - 50K. A soft velvety cream soup blended with a medley of wild mushrooms and drizzled with truffle oil. It tasted light creamy, savory and a bit salty. Happily, it wasn't too thick, so it was very appropriate for an appetizer because you won't feel full easily. The garlic bread was crispy and nice, went well with soup. As compliment, there was a fried mushroom. I loved the mushroom! It was tender and juicy.






After a long wait, here's the main course. They served 3 main course in 1 plate. So what you see here were't the actual size.
 Here's the first dish: Nannini's Striploin - 195K. Grilled striploin served with mashed potato and creamy champignon sauce. I didn't know how long it had been served after they grilled it, but the meat was cold. Even there's still a hint of warm left, but it's still too cold for a steak. And it was medium well, so when I eat a medium well done meat with a cold temperature, all I could imagine was I ate a raw meat. lol. Okay, it was exaggerate. But I seriously suggest them whether it would be nicer if they could serve the dish in appropriate temperature. The sauce was nice, seemed like Nannini is genius in mushroom-processing.








Nannini's Salmon - 85K. Grilled fresh Norwegian salmon served with mesclun salad tossed in balsamic dressing and homemade sauce. This was my fave. The salmon wasn't fishy and it was well-cooked. Yeah, I love well-cooked fish, rather than medium well. The meat was tender and the sauce was epic. The sauce was sweet sour and savory. Ah, I don't know how to describe it, I enjoyed it much. :)








Here comes the last main dish: Nannini's Cordon Bleu - 75K. Tender chicken breast stuffed with smoked beef and cheddar cheese, served with potato fries and red wine gravy. The outside was crispy and the chicken meat was tender and juicy. The cheese was pretty strong. Nice combined with the sauce. The sauce was savory and could elevate the rank of this dish. So bad the sauce wasn't much enough to me. :(


Overall, I loved the dishes, just so bad, I wasn't full enough as these small portion had to be shared for two. It would be much better if they gave these 3 dishes in actual portion and could be shared for up to 4 people. I guess that's a better idea. :)








Sangria - 125K. Brandy, mix fruit, and red wine. I am not a drinker, so you may don't want to believe me at this section. The sangria here was stronger than Tapas Movida's, and even the fruits also tasted like red wine, maybe they had swamped the fruit from long time ago. 








They closed the night with Nannini's Tiramisu - 60K. It was Nannini's famous mascarpone mousse covered sponge cake drenched in Kahlua and Baileys. Yup, I loved it. The tiramisu was soooo soft, moist and light. Yup, they used Kahlua and Baileys instead of rhum, which brought more coffee and cocoa smells. Tasty!








Anyway, big thanks to Nannini and Goorme for inviting us. May success be ever in your favor! 




NANNINI
Plaza Indonesia 2nd Floor, Unit L2, No. T. 111
P: (021) 2992 3650
T: @nanninijakarta
www.nanninijakarta.com




Thursday, April 5, 2012

Paradise Dynasty

Another food paradise opened in Jakarta last few months ago; Paradise Dynasty. Offers individual chinese dishes, Paradise Dynasty opened their first outlet in Jakarta at Plaza Senayan. Oriental ambience welcoming me as I walked in. Just like another Chinese restaurant, many family came to Paradise Dynasty to have family dinner (I came on Sunday). 
As I mentioned above, they offers individual chinese dishes. Means, the menu is more into la mien, or other chinese dishes that eaten individually. So I guess, their positioning is not family restaurant but more into meeting point restaurant or hang out restaurant for middle executive. But apparently, it's stick in our head that chinese restaurant is family restaurant. So here I was, seeing many families having lunch together. :)

They have open kitchen where we can watch the chef making our lamien/noodle. Their recommended dishes are la mien and xiao long bao. Can't wait to try!

Sliceed Pork Garlic (38K). IMHO, this was great! Out of my expectation. Pardon me if I'm wrong, because I don't really remember exactly what it is. For sure, it was slices of cucumber rolled in (pardon me if I'm wrong) pork slice and covered with minced garlic and sauce. The cucumber was cold, but the pork wasn't. So when I ate it, it was very refreshing. The garlic sauce was very tasty, which went super well to the cucumber and pork. The right choice to tickle my buds.




Black Truffle Xiao Long Bao  (108K).  They have a lot of xiao long bao variants. Some people says, the worst looking food has the best taste. Remembering that quote, I chose a black color xiao long bao. :p I never ate this type of xiao long bao, I usually only eat the ordinary ones. Well, let me finish my review about this black truffle xiao long bao. It contained pork, of course. Xiao long bao without pork is like sky without cloud. lol. As a black xiao long bao, nothing special in it. But as a ordinary xiao long bao, it tasted so good. The water (which was broth) was perfect, savory and not too salty. The pork was simple-seasoned and went well with the broth. The skin a bit thick, but that's okay. Not a big deal, since the filling was good. :)




Lamien Poach Marble Beef (58K).  What surprised me in this is the broth (which was thick and condensed) contained a lot of black pepper. So when I tried to swallow, it felt like my throat burning. Lol.  On the other hand, I was hooked. It was addictive. Even I've been sweaty like hell, a part of me want some more. :p
Anyway this is their noodle. Thin and silky. 




Lamien Pork Belly (58K). The broth reminded me of Ikkousha. It was thick and rich. It had half done egg too, which gave me sensation of heaven when it stirred to the broth. 




Lamien Pork Dumpling Chili Sauce (45K). Aha! This is my fave. Imagine sour and spicy in one bite of noodle and dumplings. Yeah, that's exact how it tasted like. The sourness was more into vinegar or somewhat, but for sure it wasn't lemon or lime. The noodle had the clear broth separated, but it was already flooded by some tasty water (I usually call it as cep. It is few thick broth). 




Rice Ball Peanut (25K). It was like a hot mochi, with black sesame filling and peanut topping. It was nice. Me loved it though. The mochi wasn't too thick and wasn't too thin. As it was hot, the black sesame filling turned liquid. 


Overall, I loved all the foods I ordered. The quality was great, the portion was big enough, even for me. The taste also awed me well.  I promise I will make another visit.  :)




Paradise Dynasty
Plaza Senayan, Lt.5, Jl. Asia Afrika No. 8
(021) 57900146









Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Warung Ngebul

Bandung famous of its eatery world getting bigger and bigger each day. Every time my owner goes there, she do a lot of preparation such eating schedule, which take most of my time, and visiting route.
Vabyo, a well-known writer and seleb, has a small eatery house in Dago. Warung Ngebul it is. Interested with the fun concept that offers many light bites at reasonable price, my owner and friends decided to give it a try. 

Located in the heart of Bandung city, a small place with dim light and simple decoration. They had some old games such congklak, snake & ladder, etc. 
Vabyo was very friendly. My friend even got his book signed and we took a photo together. :)

Nori Krispi Kulit Tahu Bakar - 15K. Do you have any idea what is it? Well, actually it was grilled seaweed covered with tofu skin, with aci (sago powder mixed with water). Yup, unique. I never tasted this kind of dish before. It tasted savory and plain. Savory came from seaweed, and that's it. I didn't love it much, but it's fun to try it. 




Fusilli Carbonara - 18K. It came in a medium plate. The portion wasn't big, but considering this as a light bites, it was very okay. Surprisingly, it tasted so yummy! I loved it. Looked very simple. It wasn't milky, very light, savory and salty enough. In shorter way, I could call it yummy. There were pieces of sausages, and grated cheese on top. 




Mie Goreng Ngebul Spesial -15K. Another surprising dish. Basically this was instant noodle that cooked in certain way. They put sausages, vegetables, meatballs, and cheese on top. Easy cooking, but delightful to me. Well, this wasn't a fancy dishes but it was loveable. 




Roti Keju + Daging Asap (10K IDR)- Cheese bread and smoked beef. It was deep fried smoked beef rolled in bread loaf with cheese inside. Of course I loved it. Tasted savory and a bit salty with a hint of sweet from the bread. <3


Overall, I loved the place, even it's too narrow or somewhat, but affordable good food, easy bites (you dont have to think when you eat) and warm chit chat, Who will say no? :D




Jalan Ir H Djuanda 230 Bandung (Near McD Dago)
http://twitter.com/WarungNgebul



 

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