Marutama Ramen : The Rise of Japanese Ramen

Ramen shop is everywhere now. But I do remember, Marutama Ramen as the pioneer of authentic ramen shop in Jakarta. Last week I made a visit to their outlet in EX - Plaza Indonesia. I love the ambience; private, calm, and earthy. Even located among other shops in the middle of the building, they still have interesting view, which is bowling alley. So don’t worry if you go alone, you still can watch people playing bowling and shout “wow” when they do strike. Never find a restaurant with this kind of view before. 

Boiled Gyoza was my first dish. Gyoza is Japanese dumpling. Available in two choices: pork and chicken. You also can choose how you want it to be cooked; boiled or fried. The gyoza came with special house made sauce, made from vinegar and soy sauce. Tasted a little strange to me. The vinegar was too strong, ruined the gyoza’s natural charm. Maybe next time I’ll ask them to serve the sauce separately. 

Boiled Gyoza

Second dish I tried was Tamago Ramen (IDR 66k). This is their new menu. Well, not literally new, but they just created a new package. Before, you could order Marutama Ramen with tamago (marinated half boiled egg). Now, because of a lot of request, they allow you to order Tamago Ramen, and get the exact dish. Fun fact: here you can have all you can eat noodle, as long as you still have the broth. Don’t worry, the ramen come in a big size. A little truth about the broth, it is chicken broth, made fresh everyday. The spoke person said they need 30 kilos of chicken bones and more than 5 hours to cook the delicious rich broth. This broth is used for all ramen and menu. They call it toripaitan. That’s what makes Marutama different with others. So if you don’t eat pork, you still can dine here and order chicken, because you are always allowed to choose chicken or pork for the topping. Not enough? You also may order for extra topping with extra charge too. Enough with the information. Now my turn to share my opinion. I loved it! The broth was so rich and thick with perfect amount of seasoning. It was the hero of the dish. The tamago was beautifully cooked. Need a whole night to marinate the egg before served to customer. The ramen itself was silky and perfectly boiled. I’m not surprised that it was a homemade ramen. Yes, they made the ramen in their main kitchen and distribute to all of their branches everyday.

Tamago Ramen - IDR 66K 

Tamago Ramen - IDR 66K 

Marutama is still one of my favorite ramen in Jakarta. What about yours? Tweet me. (@yummyfordummy) 

Marutama Ramen

EX- Plaza Indonesia 2^nd floor #20

P: 021‐316 0705

F: 021‐315 1874

Operation hours:

Sunday – Thursday : 11.30 am – 11.15 pm

Friday – Saturday : 11.30 am – 12.00 pm

Sizzling Brownie to Sizzle Your Sweettooth - Fat Burger

Among many burgers joint in Jakarta, Fat Burger successfully caught my eyes. Used to be located at 5^th floor of Plaza Indonesia, now they move into a new nicer place; LG floor, still in the same building. Fun fact: they have classic-look jukebox where you can order your favorite songs for FREE. Yes, it’s free! I tried to order some songs then happily ate my meal while listening. It’s fun.

Offering juicy meat and delicious big size burger, now they proudly present you a new dessert. I found it very creative and inspiring. Sizzling Brownie it is. From the name, you might guess it is a brownie in a hot plat. Then yes, you’re right. This is how they served the tempting Sizzling Brownie: a brownie on a hot plate and vanilla ice cream on top, with the chocolate sauce poured onto them so the sauce will sizzle all the way.

Felt like a sweet dream to me. The moist rich chocolate brownie with cold and milky vanilla ice cream plus melted chocolate sauce gave a superb sensation to my palate. My sweet teeth were truly entertained. For you who don’t like sweet, you might find it too sweet. But you like me, so you definitely love sweetness. See you around, sweet heart! ;)

Fat Burger

Address: Plaza Indonesia

Jl. MH. Thamrin No. 28 – 30

Central Jakarta

Phone:(021) 3107584

Store Hours: Sun-Sat 10am-10pm

Plaza Senayan Food Court 
3th Fl, #339 Jl
Asia Afrika No. 8

South Jakarta

[Food Tasting] Shang Palace: "Tea Wonders" Sensation

I was pretty amazed when I know we could eat alcohol (if you haven't read, you read my post here). Then I found out that we also could eat tea. Yes, tea. Amazing, right? 

Apparently, using tea leaves for cooking is not something new. Chinese people usually use tea leaves as cooking ingredients. Chef Benson Fok, yes he's a chinese too, prepared some delicious tea-infused menus for you to try. Please welcome, Tea Wonders. This menu only available during September. 

Tea Wonders consists of :

• Braised Bo Lei Duck - Rp. 68,000++/portion
• Stir-Fried Phoenix Prawn with Long Jin Tea Leaf - Rp. 98,000++/portion
• Lamb Chop with Golden Phoenix Tea - Rp. 88,000++/portion
• Steamed Bai Ling Mushroom and Seafood with Rain Flower Tea Sauce - Rp. 78,000++/portion
• Glutinous Rice and Fish Cooked with Yellow Treasure Flower - Rp. 58,000++/portion
• Steamed Tomato Stuffed with Assorted Vegetables with Dongding Oolong Sauce - Rp. 58,000++/portion
• Stir-Fried Lotus Root, Water Chesnut, Lily Bud and Pumpkin - Rp. 68,000++/portion
• Chilled Red Tea Jelly with Chinese Pear and Pipa - Rp. 58,000++/portion

I hadn't tried all of them, because part of me insisted to try the regular menu too. :p

Menu that day

Corn and Crab Soup 

Corn and crab soup wasn't part of Tea Wonders. But as it was a good dish to giggle my appetite, it was (actually) a good choice. So bad, due to my allergic to crab, I had no guts to try. Poor poor me. 

Braised Bo Lei Duck

Ms. Agnes - manager of Shang Palace - said Bo Lei was a type of tea. Bo Lei had similar taste with Pu-Erh, but they're definitely different. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of duck, but I do eat one slice, so I tried one and........one more, and.......one more. This was one of the best duck dish I ever met. Nice sweet savory sauce, juicy and well cooked duck meat. Apparently the chef really knows how to cook duck. 

Lamb Chop with Golden Phoenix Tea

Have I ever mentioned that I can't stand of lamb? If not, now you get it. 
I tried for some times, but my sense of smell was just too strong. Nah, lets talk about this one. To be honest, it was well-spiced. I didn't know how the chef cook it, but he succeeded to reduce the lamb-smell. This dish came with scrambled white egg and yummy sauce. I guess there's a tea ingredient in the sauce. The scrambled white egg was magnificent. Absolutely love it. :)

Steamed Bai Ling Mushroom and Seafood with Rain Flower Tea Sauce

Steamed scallop and prawn plated with Bai Ling Mushroom was nice. I am a big fan of prawn, and prawn never goes wrong with anything. :p
The sauce was mild. Actually i was hoping for stronger sauce because the scallop-prawn-mushroom need to be highlighted. 

Glutinous Rice and Fish Cooked with Yellow Treasure Flower

This dish looked similar with Lo Mai Kai, glutinous rice with meat that wrapped in lotus leaf. And I wasn't wrong. They tasted similar too. The difference was the presentation and additional ingredients. Lo Mai Kai didn't use bamboo bowl. Glutinous Rice and Fish Cooked with Yellow Treasure Flower had a 2x2cm piece of fish on the top. I assumed it was snapper fish. The glutinous rice was sticky and tasteful. I found little fiber appeared in the glutinous rice, and thought it was coconut until Mrs. Jajan asked the waiter and the waiter asked the chef and we found out that it was CRAB. Oh, crab! (As I told you I am allergic to crab)
The good news is there was no symptom of allergy later on. Fiuh. Am I crab-immuned already?  Maybe I am. I was a little regret that I didn't eat the corn and crab soup. :p

Chef’s Special Stewed Pork Rib served with Chinese Bread 

When I asked about what are their recommendation, Joris (Digital Marketing Manager) and Felicia (Marcom) said this stewed pork ribs, then we agreed to order. And none of us regret! The stewed pork ribs was soooooo tender and no pork-smell at all (that's my main consideration of ordering pork in a restaurant). The sauce was also perfect and joyful. So when I put the ribs' meat in the bread, it was heaven! (I'm drooling now)
Love the texture and taste combination. Good job chef! Hats off! ;)

Chilled Red Tea Jelly with Chinese Pear and Pipa

Back to Tea Wonders, here was the only dessert of the series. I watched how to make this pear in Masterchef US and was amazed and confuse at the same time. It's pretty hard for me.:p First you must peel the pear, then make a big hole in the middle where the seed and core are there. No worries, here you can enjoy the pear effortless. The dessert wasn't sweet, more in to plain and pipa taste. Good dessert to finish the dinner. To be honest, I didn't know what is pipa. But as we talked about it, the taste reminds us with one of cough syrup, and we assumed pipa was a kind of chinese herb that also used to make cough syrup. I did some small research and got some endorsement for our "theory". lol

Anyhow, the conclusion was this dessert was healthy. ;)

Psssttt.. they also have dimsum menu available everyday until 2.30pm, and all you can eat dimsum also available on weekend at IDR 188,000++. Will try that soon! 

Shang Palace 
Shangrila Hotel Jakarta
Kota BNI, Jl. Jend. Sudirman kav 1, Central Jakarta
Ph. (62 21) 2922 9999
Fax. (62 21) 2922 9900
http://www.shangri-la.com/jakarta/shangrila/
http://www.shangri-la.com/jakarta/shangrila/dining/restaurants/shang-palace/
Twitter : @ShangrilaJKT
Facebook : Shangrila Jakarta
Instagran : @ShangrilaJKT

Lady Eve Pattiserie (Product Tasting)

I admit that I have a huge sweet tooth. I love chocolate, cakes, candies, cookies, brownies, and other sweets. You have no idea how much glucose I consume every single day. But still, nothing can stop me. :p

Brownies has been a familiar food in Indonesia lately. For the last few years, it even been one of most hunted products in Bandung, created image of affordable and unexclusive. Finding 'serious brownies' is even harder than I thought.  Glad that I found one. Lady Eve Pattiserie; founded just few months ago, committed to create a literally serious brownies. Using high quality ingredients that deliver the best taste and perfect texture. What's the different, you may ask. Let me answer. All of their products comes up with luscious filling concept and made from couverture. The result? Don't ask, I'm busy eating them all. 

Come with a fashionable black and pink box, Salted Caramel Brownies is one of my favorites. Salty chocolate inside balanced the dark rich chocolate brownie. They suggested to reheat the dish 30 minutes in microwave, but I prefer the cold one so I can munch the filling. Sorry for ruining the melted filling concept, but I like it this way. :p

Salted Caramel Brownies

Need something fresher? Here is the answer. Apple Crumble Brownies. Yes, it's brownies with cinnamon filling and caramelized apple + crumble on top. Shame on you, pie. Now apple has new accompany. ;)

Apple Crumble Briownies

To get these marvelous bites, all you have to do is call them or mention them on twitter or drop them email or message on facebook/email. Anything suits you best. IDR 100K is enough to let them pass one box of brownies to your hand. Pssst.. delivery charge applied. Ask them for the delivery charge info. 

More flavors from Lady Eve Pattiserie:

1. Brandy - Black Forest Brownies Dark Chocolate cream filling with dark cherry infused in cherry brandy  

2. Rum - Raisin Brownies Chocolate cream filling with California raisin infused in rum

3. Irish - Coffee Cream Brownies Milk chocolate  filling mix with butter and Irish Cream   

4. Salted Caramel Brownies sea salt caramel and milk chocolate cream filling 

5. Vanilla Crème Brulee Brownies French classic dessert with combination  vanilla Madagascar  and caramel 

6. Milk Chocolate Truffle Brownies Classic Creamy and  velvety Chocolate cream

7. Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies Mixture of selected Raspberry fruit reduction and cream cheese 

8. Passion fruit Cream Cheese Brownies Mixture of selected passion fruit reduction and cream cheese 

9. American Cheese Cake Brownies Famously American cheese cake base filling with mild flavor of lemon

10. Apple Crumble Brownies Apple and cinnamon filling with  crumble on top

Lady Eve Pattiserie

Twitter: @ladyevebrownies
Facebook : Lady Eve Pattiserie

Phone : 081281813201 / 02193366688

Email : ladyevepatisserie@gmail.com

Aloha! Welcome to Hawaiian Bistro

If you walk down the PIK area to have lunch or dinner or just hanging out, you sure have a lot of choices. Hundreds of restaurant approaching their potential customer with various ways; unique concept, unique food, unique design, etc. 

Let me present you one of restaurant that catch my eyes; Hawaiian Bistro. Located in the corner, the good news is beside good food and good place, it also has good parking lot. Since PIK is not a place you can go without your own vehicle, parking lot become something very crucial. It seemed more vacant, even always be full every weekend, but still acceptable. Big YAY. :)

"How is Hawaiian food look like?", you might ask. According to the chef (who is a native Hawaiian), most of native people in Hawaii is Asian. That's why the food is much influenced by Asian. So don't be surprised if many rice ingredient in the Hawaiian recipe.

It was a sunny day. I wanted something simple and yet refreshing at the same time. My choice was perfect; Lychee Ice Tea. Based from some information I learnt lately, I could say they used black tea as the base, with lychee syrup as additional flavor. Love the presentation. Simple yet sweet. 

Lychee Ice Tea

Hot sun had burnt my energy. I needed food immediately. Hah! I got the answer to my prayer. Lolo Shrimp Wrap looked interesting. Remind me of my childhood favorite appetizer; deep fried sausage rolled with noodle. But this time is prawn; bigger and (look) more mature. :p

Lolo Shrimp Wrap - IDR 38K

Getting bored with sushi roll with salmon? They have Spam Musubi (sushi rolled with spam). If you don't eat spam, don't you worry, they also have other choice: BBQ chicken and chicken katsu. 

Spam Musubi - IDR 22K

 I believe you already familiar with popcorn chicken. If you love it, then you'll love this even more. Mahaka Mochiko Chicken is basically BBQ seasoned popcorn chicken. 

Mahaka Mochiko Chicken (IDR 32K)

 Bistro Bento is my favorite of all, because it contained almost all the best dishes here. Spam, fried dory, BBQ fried chicken (this is sooo goood), and BBQ grill. Happy tummy, happy day. ;)

Bistro Bento (IDR 72K)

 Loco Moco was one of the top dish. Rice woth hamburg beef and sunny side egg, plus brown gravy. Well-seasoned, perfect portion. My mom's fave. :) 

Loco Moco - IDR 65K

Another star brought by Hawaiian Bistro: BBQ Mix. Thin sliced beef, pork, and chicken. Love the flavor and texture. I could lick the the plate until nothing left. If you don't eat pork, just tell the waiter and they will happily change the pork into chicken or beef.  

BBQ Mix (IDR 69K)

Coffee Jelly was a nice closing of the lunch. Coffee jelly with vanilla ice cream and kahlua. I wasn't a big fan of coffee and vanilla. But this one was an exception. Fresh and sweet vanilla ice cream bumped along to bitter coffee jelly. Suprisingly, i loved it.  

Coffee Jelly (IDR 25K)

Who doesn't love shaved ice? Me not. Hot sunny day was a perfect reason to have a glassful shaved ice with ice cream and tutti frutti syrup. 

Overall, I loved the food and ambiance. Price was definitely worth it. In fact, I've been coming back for some times. ;)

Hawaiian Bistro
Rukan Garden House A25
Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta, Indonesia 10620
Opening Hour (Jam Buka): Senin-Minggu 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Phone: (021) 29033185
www.hawaiianbistro.com

Alcoholic Bar: Eat and Drink Alcohol! (Food Tasting)

Heyho, people! After a long blogwalking, my writing spirit has been awaken somehow. Thanks to my fellow foodies! :p

Kemang area is famous as hang out place for Jakartan youngsters. Many fancy restaurants built in here, offer their own uniqueness. Alcoholic Bar is one of them. Located a bit 'hidden', you may find it still in one complex with KOI Kemang. 

I received invitation to try their new brunch menu with some fellow foodies. 

My coming is well-welcomed with the first appetizer; Green Peas Cream Soup with Diced Pork (IDR 38K).  IMHO, this was a good appetizer. The green peas puree wasn't too soft, still had some rough texture. Glad to hear that. If the texture was too soft, I guess it would look like a baby food. 

Tasted a bit plain, but good enough to tickle my buds. Now I'm ready for bigger kick. 

Green Peas Cream Soup with Diced Pork (IDR 38K)

They served all the brunch menu with Italian Sparkling Wine. This was my first time having brunch with alcohol in it. lol.

Anyway, they are having weekend brunch promo, where you can have 3 course continental brunch menu (consist of soup, main course, and dessert) and FREE FLOW Italian Sparkling Wine, only for IDR 250++. This promo valid only on Saturday-Sunday 10am-2pm.

Go give it a chance and make sure you don't get drunk! ;)

Italian Sparkling Wine

Foccacia with Cointreau Gravlax Salmon, Scramble Eggs & Rocket Salad IDR 50K

Eggs Blackstone IDR 45K

Crispy Amaretto Pork Belly IDR 68K

Eggs Hemmingway IDR 50K

Jack Daniel’s Baby Back Ribs IDR 180K (full slab) or IDR 90K (half slab)

Orange Martini/Champagne (I forgot)

Salmon Crepes with white Wine Mornay Sauce served with rocket salad IDR 40K

Champagne Jelly

HOMEMADE VODKA RASPBERRY SORBET IDR 28K

I had a blissful brunch. I loved the food. My favorite was the Pork Ribs. I loved it. Heavenly well-marinated. Came in one plate with baked beans and chick peas. I loved them too. No, it's not canned baked beans. They made it themselves. Sweet enough and not tomato-sauce-ish.  

They had 5 types of poached-egg-with-muffin (you may read them on the photo above). The differences between them was the topping only. Which one was the best? Depends on your taste. ;)

The poached egg was perfect. The yolk running out sexily covering the muffin and topping. 

In the end, they served us Orange Martini/Champagne. I forgot what's that. The point is, it was orange alcohol, which I enjoyed a lot. It was my fave beverage that day. Light and refreshing. 

The dessert was too serious for me. I always love light and fruity dessert. But I just can't stand the alcoholic dessert. Maybe I got too much alcohol that day (since I'm not an alcoholic person). 

If you can't drink alcohol, don't worry. You still can eat the dishes. Alcohol material won't leave any alcohol effect after been cooked, but the exotic scent still remains in the dishes.

Alcoholics Bar

Jl.Kemang Raya no. 72N

Jakarta Selatan 

Tel : +628 719 5675 

@Alcoholics_Bar

http://www.facebook.com/AlcoholicsBarGrill

www.alcoholicsbar.com
info@alcoholicsbar.com

Sukhothai: Eat Till You Drop Authentic Thai

This is my first experience if All You Can Eat (AYCE) Thai Food. To be honest, when I heard AYCE, I didn't expect something outstanding. I was just hoping for many good food, not superb food. But wise people once said, "Put your hope higher, and your expectation lowest". And my hope was not a waste. I was impressed with the incredible dishes of the dinner.
I went home with a big smile on my face, forget about all dietary thingy. :p

Oops. Let me rewind my memories for you.

Our dinner started with a bowl of Thom Yam Thalay. Hot and sour soup with seafood, that's how they wrote it on the menu. Who doesn't know TomYam? Famous thai soup which always available at any Thai restaurant. A strong flavor of spiciness did surprise me at first. "Ah, ini sudah diadaptasikan dengan lidah Indonesia loh. Kalau di Thailand asli mah harus lebih pedas dari ini. (Ah, this flavor has been adapted to Indonesian taste. In Thailand, the level of spiciness must be way above this one.", Mr. Iqbal (Marketing Manager of The Media) said. 

After some bribes, I was getting used to and started to enjoy the dish. And finally, it successfully kicked my appetite. 

The next starter was with Pla Takrai. It's fried marinated fish with lemongrass and fresh herb. In Indonesian, we usually call it as "sate lilit". Actually I didn't know what kind of fish the use, but it tasted so goooood. *big grin*
Perfect seasoning in this dish succeeded to make me ask for more. Tender and delicate texture did indulge my taste buds. Both hands od Pla Takrai weren't enough.

Khao Pad Sapparot was pineapple fried rice. I found some uniqueness in a good way in this dish. Recording to Chef Sidik, the unique fragrance and taste came from the soy sauce he used. They imported it from Thai. IMHO, I loooove the dish. It was perfectly seasoned. Tasted savory with a little hint of sweet and sour from pineapple. 

Phad Pho Taek (squid, fish and prawn stirred in Thai herb chilli). So bad it also contained crab, so I couldn't eat it due to my aleregic. But my friends said all the components were well-cooked. The prawn was fresh, even the squid wasn't too hard to chew.  Pad Kana Kratiam was stir fried baby kailan.

Pla Sam Rod was deep fried fish with three flavors sauce. The deep fried fish was chrunchy outside but very soft inside, and wasn't smell fishy.  Love the tangy sauce, nice balance of salty, spicy, and a hint of sour.

Kapraw Gai was stir fried minced chicken with thai basil. The dish wasn't the best of all, but it suceeded to hit top three. There was beef version of this dish, named Phad Kapraw Nuea. Similar taste, just different meat.

Anyway, due to bad lighting and  not qualified camera of mine, so, all the photos credit in this post goes to AnakJajan. Thanks to Mrs. Jajan who gave me permission to use their photos.

Recording to Mr. Iqbal (Marketing Manager of The Media), name "Sukhothai" is taken from an ancient kingdom in Northern Thailand. "Sukhothai" means dawn of happiness.
Chef Sidik, the executive chef in charge, is a humble and creative chef. I could say it just by tasting his dishes and ask him few questions. He's not a Thai, but he successfully cooks authentic Thai food. He also gave us some quick cooking trick. How generous he was.

I found a jaw-dropping fact during my visit. They had their cutlery brought directly from Thai. Made from copper. And yes, it's traditional Thai cutlery. How cool is that?

Tell me what you think! Do comment below. ;)



Sukhothai Thai Restaurant
The Media Hotel & Towers 6th floor
Jl. Gunung Sahari 3
Jakarta 10720
Phone: (021) 6263001 ext. 4605
Opening Hours: Daily – Lunch 12.00 pm – 2.30 pm, Dinner 6 pm – 10.30 pm
Price: 149K IDR nett (excl. drinks)
Twitter: @SukhothaiResto