The Playground

What do you think when you hear "playground" ? Kid, child, play, fun, etc. 

Remembering when I was a kid, I loved to eat while sitting on a swing. Yes, it could happen again now, at The Playground. The Playground presents the concept of playground ambiance, with grassy floor, swing seat, bench, and other playground's material. Cool, isn't it? 

Pepperoni Pizza. I was excited when I knew it was square pizza. Well, it's just a matter of shape, but tried something unique is always exciting, right? ;p
The pizza was crispy on the edge side. The tomato sauce was a bit sour, but balance enough with the cheese. Just for tips, you'd better eat this while still warm. :)

Katsutti (65K) - is a fusion pasta. Spaghetti with cream sauce and chicken katsu, covered up with egg. As good as it looked, it tasted superb. Me very loved it. The portion wasn't big, but I found myself full enough because it's creamy and sweet. Anyway, I want it again now. *drooling*

Aglio Olio (45K). I'm not expecting much about this dish. I thought, as I was in major hunger, it would be better if I ordered safe menu. And turned out it was good! Well, a bit oily, but it tasted nice. The spaghetty was al dente, not too spicy, smelled very tempting, and really well-seasoned. 

Ice tea, lemon squash, and strawberry ice tea. (@20K) 

Zabaglione (35K). The waiter said, there's Bailey hint in it. But I tasted was milk and rum. Yeah, I was disappointed. 

Peanut butter and jelly. Actually, I was just curious, how this thing could be very famous among western people, so I ordered one. Apparently it was toasted breads with peanut and strawberry jelly in the middle. I couldn't taste the peanut jam. I forgot how much it cost, but I'm sure, it wasn't worth it. I prefer toasted bread sold in hawker stall; cheaper and yummier. 




The Playground
Plaza Indonesia Extension - Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28 - 30, Jakarta - (021) 3199-0221 

Mr. Curry PIM 2

Call me reckless blogger, cause I am. Lol. Apparently I've just realised that I haven't posted this post.  

Mr.Curry has opened their new branch at PIM 2 last December 2011. Located near Pasta de Waraku. 

Not just new place, they also offer new menu. 

The ambience was exactly the same with Mr. Curry GI. Yeah, that's their signature. 

Salmon Carpaccio. It looked very fresh. I could smell a hint of sesame oil in it. I love clear salad. The lettuce was crunchy, proved that it was fresh. The salmon also not fishy. Nice! 

Korokoro Tofu. I looooooved this. It was simply just deep fried silk tofu. But it was soft and nice. They spread some seasoning to give it some tastes. 

 

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Assorted Mushroom Omurice. It was so creamy and buttery. Actually it was delicious, but I got myself nausea when ate it too much. :(

Chicken Katsu Curry Rice. Actually it was pretty good. The chicken was moist and tender. You can choose the curry, they had some variants. 

Here are the best part of the dishes which made my day delightful. A Dash of Fruit Splash (top) and Matcha Karamba (bottom). I loved the matcha! Yeah, I'm not a big fan of greentea, but this one was different. The ice cream was light and not too sweet. Then dorayaki was soft and cute (see the heart shape). The  honey toast was me-love-it-completely. 

Mr. Curry, Japanese Curry & Sweet House
Pondok Indah Mall 2
Restaurant Row, Level 3
Jl. Metro Pondok Indah, Jakarta
Ph: +6221 75920666
http://www.ismayagroup.com/mrcurry
http://www.facebook.com/iloveMrCurry

Mad For Garlic

This is a quick post. Lets make this quick. Quick quick quick!

Mad for Garlic. I had been eager to come here. Then I tried once. So bad I lost the bill. Pardon me if there will be some incorrect or mistaken. :)
I was not a big fan of garlic. But I was curious about what a garlic could be. Let's see. 

Snowy Flakes. The tasted? Nice. The pizza was thin and crunchy at the edge. The topping was garlic flakes, cheese, prawn and mayo. Don't judge the pale look. It tasted so moist and a bit sweet. I loved the mayo. 
Anyway, as I remembered, this pizza cost me more than 1 hundred thousands rupiahs. But I saw their prawns (on this pizza) uncleaned. I mean, for this kind of restaurant (Mad for Garlic still in one group with Tony Roma's), with the big cost, I really hope for something outstanding. Not prawns with its feces. Yeah, i was disappointed. :(

I forgot the name, but there's 'tower' in the name. ;p
First it came, it looked like a bread tower, then the waitress flattened it down and cut it into 4 pieces. The bread was nice, crunchy outside, and they were very generous for the minced garlic filling. Tasted savory, a bit salty, and of course sooooo garlic-ish. 


http://www.madforgarlic.co.id
Mad For Garlic Jakarta
Grand Indonesia Shopping Town
West Mall - Ground Floor-20A
Jl. MH Thamrin No. 1 Jakarta 10310
Telpon: (62 21) 2358 1076
Fax: (62 21) 2358 1079

Pesto Autentico

The other Italian restaurant in Jakarta! Pesto Autentico located in the heart of big city, its name easily spread  and known among people. The next question is how good are they? Could they win from another Italian restaurant? 

Complimentary bread welcoming me when I came in. :)

So bad it wasn't warm so even I was in hunger, I just ate 2 slices of them. The bread was a bit rough but after I bit, it became soften. 

Spaghetti Firmati - To be honest, I thoughht this kind of restaurant would give such standard portion. But it came to my table, surprise surprise! The plate was huge. Oval shaped, about 30x15cm big. Not only the plate, the dish itself also came in huge portion. Enough for 2-3 persons I guess. Whoah! Lets try how it tasted like. Spaghetti Firmati was spaghetti with prawn, clams, squid, organic cherry tomatoes, and white wine sauce. The spaghetti was al dente, nice texture, and the sauce was very very nice. The prawn was crunchy which means it was fresh. Everything just fine, except the squid which was overcooked. Yeah, squid is one kind of meat that easily done. But overall, I guess this dish was over my expectation. :)

Going to Italian restaurant without ordering pizza is like walking without shoes. So I determined to order one; Rustica. The waiter said this was one of their recommendation. The pizza's diameter was about 30cm. Not too thick yet not too thin. Crunchy on the side, but bready in the middle. Me lovey. The toppings were tomato sauce, mozzarella, cooked ham and mushrooms. Well, I was hoping for more toppings, but no probs, this was okay. 

Panna Cotta. Funny, they don't write dessert in the menu. So I asked, and there were only 3 kinds of desserts available, and I tried this. Apparently I have nothing to regret. I love this panna cotta! 
The texture was thicker that pudding, but light enough to be called as dessert. Smell like lychee and milky. Actully I'm thinking to try to make this at home. :p

Hot chocolate. Came in a tall glass. Pretty thick chocolate and not sweet. Nice.

I heard they still have a lot of good pasta. I hope I could make another visit. Anybody? ;)

Pesto Autentico 

UOB Plaza - Thamrin Nine, UG Floor, Jl. MH. Thamrin No.10,

Tel: 29937230 

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

Izzi Pizza

Izzi Pizza is one of famous pizza stall in Jakarta. So, not awkward if I wanted to try it. Well, I once tried it, but forgot already how did it taste.lol.

SO here I was. Coming back to the corner where I first saw Izzi Pizza. hahaha

I went to the Menteng one. Since I came at about 11am, the place was still vacant. Some people came not long after I came in.

BBQ Chicken Wings (45K). I can't believe I ordered this. As this was the most expensive appetizer they had, I hoped for something.....err... much better than this. Let me explain more. The BBQ sauce was yucky. Tasted like they put bottled-BBQ-sauce which sold at supermarket. The chicken was horrible. The skin was wet, I bet they boiled it, not fried it. Plus, it tasted like instant-chicken-wing which sold in freeze at supermarket. As conclusion, I can say it was like boiled instant chicken wing with bottled BBQ sauce, and all without being processed. How can they sell something like this?!

I forgot the name, but I'm pretty sure it was large pizza with sausage, beef, and pepperoni as toppings. And it costed me about 115K IDR. Darn! Well, it was much edible than the chicken wings. But the sausages (cut into small pieces) was not good. Maybe the made it homemade or something. Because it tasted different with the ones in supermarket. Now I know why they just use many instant ingredients. Hmm..

I ordered cold chocolate, and guess what came into my face? It's milo. Oh geez. They made me pay 20K IDR just for a small glass of Milo. (The glass was only about 20cm tall and 8cm diameter anyway)

Plus, the Milo was not perfectly melted. There was still some part that unmelted or not well-stired.

To summarize all above, I can say Izzi Pizza needs a lot of improvements.

• Pondok Indah Plaza I
• Blok UA 64 Metro Pondok Indah, Jakarta
• (021) 750 7220

Cilandak Town Square

Letjend. Tb Simatupang Kav 17 -

(0)21 7592 0222

Gedung Sentra Pancoran

JL. MT Haryono Kav. 1. Jakarta Selatan

Red Tomato

Heyho! Long time no see. Blame it to my owner!! LoL.

Believe me, they've eaten a lot. In the middle of hectic days, at least she tried share tonight. So this is a quick post. Better then nothing. ;p

Red Tomato! Not too hip, but still pretty much exists. Actually I never heard what they're famous of. But i love the atmosphere. Broken white! yeiy!

BBQ Pizza (Reg) - 39K. Where was the meat??? Seriously, when i ordered this, i hoped for a lot of meat with BBQ sauce. Well, you can see from the pict i took. It was lack of meat. :(

Ok, lets move on to the taste. For me, it was S-T-A-N-D-A-R-D. Nothing special. I love PHD much then this. So sorry buddy. :)

Lasagna (45K). For I was craving for pasta, I ordered this lasagna. Wish their lasagna as good as Pizza Hut or Cafe Cartel , but (again) I was disappointed. :'(

The sauce was too aqueous. Pasta was overcooked. And (again) lack of meat! Aaaaa. I want some meat!!LoL. Oh, one more. The portion is too small for me. ;p

Plaza Indonesia Unit LB # 61

Jakarta Pusat

DKI Jakarta - Indonesia

(021) 3190-0386

PIM 2 Lt. 3

Jl. Metro Pondok Indah
Pondok Indah 12310
(0)21 7592 0576

Mall Taman Anggrek 2nd FL

Jalan Letjen. S. Parman, 11470

Tel: 3151033

Food Testing Panel (Pasta de Waraku)

Ahoy! I am back with another story of Food Testing Panel (or in my words, free yummy food. :p) from Ismaya. This is time for Pasta de Waraku! wohoooooo!

As the former gathering, I could order everything I want and eat 'till the end of the day.wahahaha. Unfortunately, I still had my limit, so I 'just' ordered these dishes.:D

This is chicken teriyaki twister. Twister is Pasta de Waraku's new dish. It's made from their pizza crust which is so so so so thin and crunchy, and filled with salad and potato puree. In this case, it also contain chicken teriyaki which was sweet, crunchy, tender, and nice! :D

the puree and salad was cold, gave fresh effect into it.

love this a lot. They used fried chicken karaage, mixed it into teriyaki sauce, and poured some sesame. In my opinion, this is the best twister of all.:)

Err.. i forgot what's this. :p

Well, it was a twister, just the same with my former explaination, but i forgot what kind of twister.heheh. So sorryyyyyyyyyyy. :(

Grrrr. Damn! I forgot this one too. :(

But I remembered that this was quiet good.hehe

This is Seafood Soup Pasta. So bad it contained crab meat so I shouldn't eat it. Blame it to my crab meat allergenic! :(

This one is pretty rare. This was Seafood Pasta with Black Ink Sauce. What's the different with another black noodle? The pasta isnot black. The sauce is the one that give black color. So when I ate this, my teeth had a lot of black spot. Oh noooo! But don't worry. The taste was worth the black spot within your teeth. :p

They cooked the pasta really well. The sauce not too taste, but as it made from squid ink, is wasn't smell fishy, and it tasted savory. :)

Kimchi Al' Aglio Olio. I hated kimchi. For me, it tasted too spicy and too sour. I don't i should take my words back or not, because Pasta de Waraku made me love it.wahahaha. This Olio was sooooo gorgeous. Can't you see how good it looks? Can you taste the goodness in it? It taste super well. I guess I'll order it again when I make my next visit here. :)

To gave 'kimchi effect', they put some small cubic cabbage into it. The taste was savory and a bit sour spicy, but the balance in it made me fall in love. :D

Basil Prawn and Tako. I guess i once tried this dish before. It smelled good. The prawn was big enough to made me drooling.ahaha. The pasta was wellcooked and the dish was nice. Thanks to the basil for becoming a hero here. :D

Bacon kimchi Pizza or Kimchi Bacon Pizza. I don't know which one is right.heheh. Well, I loved this too! The bacon was brilliant. Taste so good. Not overcooked yet not raw. The kimchi didn't do lot of work here, but i think it's good for nothing ruin the taste of the bacon. :)

Bulgogi Pizza. I ordered this because in the picture there's a lot of beef there. But when i ordered it, this one came to my table; not as much as in the picture i saw. Well, i tried to accept it, hope the taste would take me higher. To be honest, i didn't. But fortunately, it wasn't too bad, so i took this as still edible thing. :)

This was choco milkshake or cold choco ya? hmm. Damn. I got short term memory. ggrrr. Ah let's go straight int my opinion about this beverage.nyehehe. It was owesome! Maybe because i am a chocolate lover.hehe. But i love chocolate, i love whipped cream. That's why i am this huge. But i don't care as long as i am hapy. wohooo!

Pizza Boutique (revisit)

finally i made the next visit to here. :)

here is the story..

actually i just missed their dessert pizza so much. but as you know, Pizza Boutique has weekdays promo which is different each day, so i asked the waiter about what is the promo of the day. he looked confuse and answered that he didn't know. i guess he was new.

so i ordered Black Forest (39K for small size and 52K for regular size). first, i ordered the regular one. as i didn't want to eat too much that time, so i just ordered that.

since i was curious about the promo, after i ordered, i went to the promo board and read it. written that that day's promo is free dessert pizza for main course purchase. then i asked the waiter about this. i didn't know where were the other waiters, that seems-new-waiter came to me, so i had no other choice, i asked him. he looked confuse and said that if we bought a main course, we would get free dessert pizza. and he also said i might choose the size too. then i made sure by asked him if i ordered a main course on the menu, so my dessert pizza was free. and he tried-to-be-sure-looked answered yes. so i chose Lasagna (58K). apparently the lasagna was good. the taste was tomato-y that it was a bit sour -yet fresh. :)

and i ordered ice lemon tea (19K) and this is refillable.hehe.

oh i almost forget. when the lasagna came, a waitress bring it to me, and said that we had a wrong information. free dessert pizza was only valid for minimal 150K bill. then i said, the waiter didn't tell me that, and actually i just want the dessert pizza, but as i was told if i would get this free if i made a purchase for a main course, so i ordered lasagna. i guess this waitress was the manager because she took a decision to let me had the free dessert pizza because the lasagna was made and i ordered it not because my fault. but they would just give me the small size of dessert pizza. as i thought it was fair, so i accepted.

so , the main point is I GOT A FREE DESSERT PIZZA here. hahahaha :)

and so sorry to the seems-new waiter. i thought the manager would just mad at him.heheh

Pizza Boutique

Plaza Indonesia Ext. level 4

phone (021) 3199 6655