Mountain of Food Explorace Part 1 : Marry Brown

One day, on a fine day, my owner just got invitation. This time wasn't just from a restaurant nearby, but from Resort World Genting! Big woohoo! 
The invitation was for 17-20 July 2012 and they said they would provide all my needs during event. 
So there I was, going to Genting - Malaysia with 4 others. I was so excited that this was my first invitation abroad. :p
Resort World Genting held an event called Mountain of Food Explorace, which required us to do some challenges and exploring Genting at once. The participants were from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and China.

Departed with morning flight was my first challenge that I'm not a morning person. But there I went. Terminal 3 Soekarno Hatta International Airport - Jakarta. With a boarding pass sheet on my hand, getting ready for my flight. 
We arrived to KLCC at 11.30am. A middle aged man, Mr. Lee, picked us up and brought us to Genting. But we're so hungry and thirsty. So we asked him whether we could stop at the nearest gas station and buy some food in the mini market there. His "yes" was such a heaven sound to us. :p

This were my hunger kit. A bottle of mineral water and a pack of chocolate muffins. FYI, it helped a lot. Actually, I didn't know this brands, I just picked anything I saw. The muffins was moist and very sweet. Since I was in a major hunger, there's no problem with the sweetness. 

Few miles after the gas station, we saw this. Apparently, an accident had just happened there.  I didn't know where's the owner of the car. The first thing came up in my mind was "why the traffic is so normal". I believe, if this happen in Jakarta, there would be a huge traffic jam. 



After about 3 hours (I slept during the journey), we finally arrived! YAY! To celebrate our arrival, we took a photo together in front of the First World Hotel. For the first 2 days, we would spend nights here.

Left to right: Me, Mia (Rian's wife), Rian , Inez, Julia. 



Ms. Mei met us there and help us to check in. She gave us a paper bag. Guess what. It was a pair of trousers and a shirt from Wrangler who's also the sponsor of the event. 

This was our room. Actually, we got 1 room for each. But we requested so Julia and me could be arranged in one room. Inez was in the next room, but she's afraid to sleep alone, so she slept over in our room. Yes, 3 of us sleep in 1 room. Could you imagine the mess we got? hihi.

After took a bath and unpacked our baggage, we went to go to have our late lunch. It was 5 pm and my lunch only 2 regular muffins and a bottle of mineral water. So we went around for some time. Short stories, we chose Marry Brown. A fast food during travelling is a safe choice.

Mi Kari Ayam Goreng (Curry Noodle with Fried Chicken) - RM9.80

I saw the picture on the menu and fell in love. So I ordered this. So bad it was out of my expectation. The curry was plain. The noodle was too overcooked. And the snaps was undercooked. In a shorter words, it wasn't as good as it looked like. 

This was Lucky Plate - RM13.25
Consisted of mashed potato, small bun, vegetables salad, and 2 pieces of fried chicken. As you can see, the main point of the dish was the fried chicken. For a major hunger context, this was very edible. For a non-major hunger, I prefer KFC. Tasted plain (since it was original flavor) and they don't have chili sauce. Well, they had one, but for us, it tasted more like sweet sauce rather than chili sauce. The texture was so so. Some parts even too dry. 

Nasi Marry Brown (Marry Brown Rice) - RM11.80
It also looked mouthwatering on the menu. Unfortunately, the real one was different. Even it had the special sauce to combine with, it still tasted too dry. The sauce was just sweet and lack of spiciness.

Unsatisfied our late lunch, we still thanked God, at least we weren't hungry anymore. 
8 o'clock sharp we went to Visitors Information, and got to know the other participants. We were separated into groups of two. There I met my team mate; Jae Park - a tomboy 21 y.o. girl. 
After that, we had a show to catch. Guess what?! FREEZE! 
Freeze is the title of an interactive dance and magic show on ice. Nice show, indeed. Pardon me for no pict because there was lack of light.

It was 10 pm already. It's been 5 hours since the last time we ate. In our defense, 5 hours was a normal period for the hunger to start re-attack our belly. Our appetite was risen. * exaggerate*
We went to Nyonya Colors and found there was a dish that wasn't on the menu but on display, near the cashier. Nasi Lemak it was. And the most shocking fact was it only costed RM2. Contains a handfull size of rice, anchovy, peanuts, egg, and their special sauce (looked like sambal, but it wasn't). This was more than worth it. The rice was soft and went very well with the sauce. 

In the end of the day, we were quiet tired and slept very tight. Tomorrow we still had some challenges to do. Adios! 



Genting Highland Resort
Pahang, Malaysia
(603) 2718 1118 
www.rwgenting.com

Hummingbird Eatery

Hummingbird is one of the hippiest joint in Bandung. Well, at least for Jakartans who try to seek any good food in Bandung, it is.
I went there about 5 months ago. (Sorry for late post)
Had been hearing about them for many times, I pushed me and my friends to go there. :p
Fortunately, I succeeded. Say yay, people! :D

First impression: Nice outdoor ambience. They have a 'big nest' which uniquely......lovely.
I was on the waiting list. Apparently they had a bunch of customers that day. During my waiting, I entered the indoor part, so excited to see what else they have that have been talked lately. The interior reminded me of Beatrice Quarter (I'll post about it soon). At the backyard, I found Hummingbird Guest House, which I did willing to book, but unfortunately they were unavailable that day. It looked comfy and clean.

These were on my table:
Bibimbab (44.5K). A big hot stone bowl with colorful components.We could say Bibimbab is Korean 4 Sehat 5 Sempurna (without a glass of milk). Agree, people? :p
Consisted of white rice, beef, mushroom, vegetables (bean sprout, lettuce, spinach, carrot, cabbage, and cucumber), and the most eye-catching part was the half boiled egg! Whoah. It was so sexy when the yolk bursted out. 
The sauce was just so ordinary, nothing special in it. It even less seasoned than the one I usually eat. But for a place like this, it was quiet good, remembering they're not a Korean restaurant.

TomYum Pasta (36.5K). At first, I was worry for ordering this dish, because I never heard pasta could be cooked in TomYum flavor. I mean, of course it could be, but would it be weird? Well, apparently it's not weird at all. It even tasted super good! Sour and spicy with TomYum typical taste successfully made this dish more than just edible, it even really made my day.

Garlic Beef Involtini (49.5K). No, it's not sausage. It's involtini; a processed beef that rolled resembling sausage. At a glimpse, it might look like a sausage, but if you look closer (or taste), involtini has rough texture, and not as juicy as sausage. I don't know whether it is really how an involtini should taste like or not, I never ate one before. 

Back to the dish. The mushroom sauce saved the dish, for it balanced the involtini which lack of juiciness. What did the garlic do here? Well, it helped a lot, I guess. It gave a strong-kickin'-buds smell.

Even it wasn't my favorite, but I could say, good job for the dish.   

(left to right) : Lychee Jello (26.5K) - Pinky Berry (26.5K) -  Passionate Peach (26.5K)

Overall, I was satisfied with my visit. Will come back as soon as possible. Moreover, they have some cakery collections that I haven't tried. Pssst. I heard they opened their first branch in Jakarta lately. It's in Kuningan City. Remembering a comment of a friend that said Hummingbird always succeed to keep the consistency of their quality, hope they won't lose this score. :)

Hummingbird Eatery & Guesthouse

Jl. Progo No.14
Bandung
022-4212582

Mon - Fri: 07:00 - 22:30
Sat: 07:00 - 23:30
Sun: 07:00 - 22:30

Food Tasting: Umaku Alam Sutra

Heyho, Readers!

Even my owner was a bit busy with her life, thanks God she never forgets to fullfil me. :p

Well, this time we got invitation from Umaku Alam Sutra. 

Umaku is a Japanese restaurant which serves authentic Japanese cuisine with reasonable price. First opened at Duren Tiga, now they spread their wings into Alam Sutra. Yay! 

We had so much fun. A little chit chat and games that they'd prepared really widen my knowledge about Japanese cuisine. For example, I never knew that Tempura brought by Portuguese soldier to Japan, only Southern Japan people eats rice, etc. 

Hot Ocha (5K) will never go wrong. 

 Karai Ramen (35K). Thick hot and spicy broth with slices of beef and noris completed a big bowl of ramen. I could say it was very very spicy. I didn't dare to eat them too much. :p
They said, this ramen is origin from Hokkaido. Because the temperature is quiet cold there, so people love to eat something spicy to warm their body. 

Salmon Yakimeshi (33K). The rice was a bit sticky, just fit well with my likely. The seasoning was perfect. They put small pieces of salmon into the fried rice. I could say Japaneses fried rice is more likely into Hongkong fried rice ( not Indonesian), so it tasted salty and savory, without any hint of sweet. 

Sashimi Mariowase Jyo (44K). Hmm.. as I told you in previous posts, I don't eat raw food, include sashimi. :D
Some of my fellows said it wasn't fresh, but the other said it was fine. So I can't say anything, I didn't even try.

Spider Roll (37K). Not much I could say about this dish. The unagi didn't smell fishy,

Tempura Moriawase (35K). It was still hot when it came up. The sauce was nice, went well with the fries.

Sake Kabutoyaki (26K). This was Salmon's head, smeared with sake and other seasonings. First I heard, I didn't expect much from this dish. But surprisingly, it tasted so good! A little bit sweet, salty and savory, combined well in bite. I have to say, this really kicked my buds. :)

Some Robatayaki, which consisted of 1 piece each. 

I forgot its name, but I do believe it tasted so good that I wouldn't erase this part from my post. The fire-sprayed salmon was super great. It felt like melted when it touch my tongue. Whoah! Can I call this as mouthgasm? :p

Volcano Roll (35K)

Inari Sushi. Yup, different from usual. They put seaweed and roe fish, and mix them with the rice. What a lovely! :))

Salmon Grilled Cheese (27K). Grated cheese on the top of sushi? Challenge accepted. Lol
Tasted very fusion, as it also had mayo between the rice and cheese. So, with the dominan of mayo and cheese, I guess you now the taste already.

The very generous owners gave us these cute souvenirs. Thank you. :))

Overall, I loved it. Small, neat, unique, and decent place. Good food with affordable price. What else can I ask? :)


Umaku Alam Sutera
Ruko ASTC (Alam Sutera Town Center) Blok 10E No 9
(ruko seberang flavor bliss)
Alam Sutera, Tangerang
Phone: (021) 943811633
http://twitter.com/umaku_alsut

Q Smokehouse: Mexican Food Panel

I love smoked meats! It has the best smell a meat could have. Q Smokehouse is an expert in smoked meats. They love to do experiments and they have invented many many many new unique recipe that no one has. Creative!  

Celebrating their 1st anniversary, Q Smokehouse Senopati invited some bloggers and try their new menu: Mexican food! Yeiy. 

So bad, I was a bit sick at that time, but I wasn't sick enough to not come, of course. :p 

Tortilla Soup (35K). Yes, this was good. Recording to the chef, they used three kind of beans for this dish. As it was a tomato based soup, it tasted a bit light and very powerful to kick my buds. 

Watching the chef cooking for us. :)

The chef's preparing tacos for us. 

Fajitas Delight- 135K. Consists of prawn, chicken, beef with fresh salad and soft tortilla. They smelled so good!! When it put on my table, I took photos of it quickly so I could eat it all soon. :p

Fortunately, the taste wasn't disappoint me at all. It tasted so good! I loved it. The beef and chicken was still juicy enough, but well done and well seasoned. 

This is the Tacos made by the chef. Mine was too awful to be showed off. Lol. 

It tasted fresh and yummy. The smell of the smoked meat met the fresh veggie and sour tomato. Slurp! 

Texas Style Barbecue Brisket Platter. Available in 2 size: regular for 200gr  (99K) and light for 150gr (79K). This is one of their signature dish. The owner, who is also the executive chef, said he used stock of rambutan tree to smoke this beef brisket. He also said, he already tried many kind of stocks available in Jakarta, and rambutan tree's stock had the best result. I didn't doubt his choice. He's right. It tasted so nice. The beef was so tender, juicy, and tasty. The bbq sauce was mild enough, so it didn't ruin the beef's taste. 

Crispy Prawn Bistro Pasta - 85K. No, it's not expensive, as it came in an extraordinary size. You can share it up to 3 persons. The pasta was al dente. The prawn was big enough and it didn't smell fishy. The sauce was mild but strong enough to leave a good impression on me. Love this too. :)



Agave Salsa Sorbet. This is also their new fusion mexican menu. They use lemon sorbet, which taste light sour, and fruits (tomato, olives, avocado, and raisins) with a hint of cinnamon and clove. At first I felt strange, but later, I couldn't stop to have more and more. 

I didn't take the picture of the place because they were close for public that day, and they would have an event that night, so the table arrangement was different with usual. But I love the place, it was cozy, neat and comfort.

Overall, I enjoyed all the food their provide. I definitely will come back again someday. See you there! :)

Q Smokehouse
Jl. Suryo No. 20 ( Senopati ),
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan.
No. Telp: ( 021) 723 5728 / ( 021 ) 722 9202
Facebook : Q Smokehouse Factory
Twitter : @qsmokehouse

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