Blowfish Kitchen & Bar

Club goers must be familiar with Blowfish; I, myself, had been there several times. However, this was actually my first visit to try their food. I went there on a weekday night with my cousin, and the restaurant was not busy at all. It was kind of late, though. And Puro next door seemed to be closed down, I wasn't sure tho', but there was no activity seen. Anyone knows what happened to Puro, the restaurant, not the club?

We could still get the club ambience. It was dark and as the night wore on, they dimmed the light more. You could definitely tell that it was a restaurant in the evening, and it became a club at night. However, I actually thought it was cozy, if the light could be brighter.

Kabocha Croquette - Rp 45k

The waiter recommended the Kabocha Croquette as the appetizer. It consisted of 5 yummy croquette that were made out of kabocha pumpkin. I had never knew pumpkin could taste this good. Totally recommended!

Dragon Roll - Rp 85k

Blowfish Roll - Rp 95k

The sushi rolls were delicious! and they were actually big rolls just like the ones in the states, which I really liked; compared to the usual sushi rolls in Indonesia that came in really small pieces that you could barely taste it. Love, love it! We were really full just by these 2 rolls, which was extraordinary considering my cousin was a big eater :p

The drinks (not pictured) were okay-ed priced with Ice Cappucino for Rp 30k and Hot Wedding Tea from TWG for Rp 25k.

We were really satisfied with the food and planned to come back again. However, the super dark lighting made the place feel gloomy.

Blowfish Kitchen & Bar

City Plaza at Wisma Mulia
Jl Jend Gatot Subroto Kav 42
Jakarta 12710 – Indonesia

Ph: (021) 5297-1234

Sop Buntut Ibu Heni

I always search for oxtail soup that is comparable to the one from Bogor Cafe and less pricey. A couple of my friends mentioned that the one here was good enough, or even better. I doubted it, but still I went :p And it's street food, so it should be a lot cheaper, at the least.

I went to the one in Sunter. Apparently the main one was in Muara Karang. I went there with one of my cousins and I wasn't hungry, so we decided to share.

Grilled Oxtail Soup

Like in Bogor Cafe, they offered 3 kinds of oxtail, which are grilled, fried, or served in the soup. I thought I was a pro enough in ordering oxtail soup (like there's such thing.lol), so without hesitation and asking for any suggestion, I ordered the grilled oxtail soup, since in Bogor Cafe, the grilled one was the best. After ordering, I noticed that a lot of people actually ordered the fried one.

I should had asked for suggestion, because I really really didn't like its grilled oxtail. It has this annoying taste in the sauce, which I was not sure what it was. I was only able to taste one bite, and that's it. However, my cousin said that it was okay for him. And we liked that texture of the meat was tender.

On the other hand, the soup was tasty. I kept wanting more :p but they only gave so little of it. 

When it was the time to pay, we were shocked. The bill came in about Rp 60k for a portion of grilled oxtail soup, a portion of rice, and two glasses of ice tea. In my opinion, it was expensive considering it was in a tent, and not in an air-conditioned restaurant, if you know what I mean.

Note to self: always ask for recommendations when trying out new places!


Sop Buntut "Ibu Heni"
Jl. Taman Sunter Indah
Jakarta Utara
Ph: 0817 988 4783 / (021) 9562 2576

Kitchenette

I've been here numerous times but never written any review about it. Kitchenette is managed by Ismaya Group. And just like other products of Ismaya, I would say it was successful. There was usually a line on the weekend or if there wasn't, the restaurant was busy. However, service was a hit-or-miss. They could be really accommodating, like offering a special box for your bag, but sometimes they were not.

In terms of food quality, I was not really impressed. Once I ordered Chicken Caesar Salad, and they served the chicken half-cooked!!eeewww....and a bunch of different stuff I tried, they were just okay. However, I love their sweet crepes. Mary Lou is my favorite! and their drinks never failed me.

This time we went there just for snacking.

Nachos Style Crispy Potato Chillis With Chilli Beans with guacamole and salsa topping -
 Rp 45k + Rp 10k for each topping

The nachos was not your regular nachos with tortilla chips. This came with potato chips which was kind of disappointing to me. But it tasted super good!The chilli, melted cheese, our guacamole and salsa, and even the chips were good mixed together.

London Fog Earl Grey latte - around Rp 30k (I forgot)

Green Tea Latte - Rp 30k

I Love Earl Grey Tea and the London Fog Earl Grey Latte made the tea to be more aromatic and creamy. I loved it! They also offered it cold, which was what I intended to order, but I forgot to tell them that I wanted it served frozen -.-' my bad. My friend got the green tea latte and she adored it. I also love their frozen hot chocolate (Rp 35k - not pictured).

Mary Lou

Red Velvet Cupcake (Rp 28k)

I forgot how much the desserts cost us. Anyway, the Mary Lou crepes was super delicious, exactly like how I loved it. It came with banana, nutella, topped with caramel sauce, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.All of the ingredients that I LOVED! How can I resist.lol 

However, the cupcake was okay to me, but my friend said it tasted bad. Okay, the icing had the texture of fondant, so it was kinda chewy and a bit dry. The cake was too dry.

Kitchenette

Plaza Indonesia Extension

Ground Floor 

Jalan Mohammad Husni Thamrin Kav. 28-30. 

Jakarta Pusat

Ph: (021) 29923580 

Bogor Cafe

If one asks Mr. Foo, what's the best food in Jakarta, Sop Buntut (Oxtail Soup) from Bogor Cafe would make it to the top list. It was indeed one of the most legendary food in Jakarta. I might be a bit exaggerating there, but it was super famously delicious!

Bogor Cafe was located in Hotel Borobudur. They also offered lunch and dinner buffet. The oxtail soup was also offered in the buffet and actually the price for the buffet was only about Rp15k-ish more, but you'd get to try other food as well. However, I always ordered the oxtail soup a la carte because I did not like buffet; it would make me eat more than necessary.

Free Bread

The free bread was kinda good. Maybe it was because I was super hungry. The butter bread was soft to my liking.

Grilled  Oxtail Soup - Rp 116k

There were three kinds of oxtail offered,the original, fried, and grilled oxtail; The soup would be the same though. I had tried them all, and both of the original and fried oxtail were just okay, but the Grilled oxtail was superb! The oxtail was perfectly sweet and tender, and the soup was just heavenly. It was indeed the best oxtail soup in town, or in the world if I may say. But it was kind of pricey though.

For the drink we had Hot Earl Grey Tea (Rp 35k) and Ice Lychee Tea (Rp 53k), both were not pictured.

It was just proper to say that the oxtail soup was the best and worthed the price. Legendary food was priceless, indeed.

Bogor Cafe
Hotel Borobudur
Jl. Lapangan Banteng Selatan
Jakarta Pusat
Tel: (62-21) 3805555

Cassis

Mr. Foo and I decided to go to Cassis for our late-Valentine's Day dinner on a Wednesday night. He suggested that we did not need to make a reservation, since everytime we went to fancy restaurants in Jakarta, the places were almost always empty. 

So on the day, we went to the restaurant. We walked through the hallway and saw Moya Tapas and Wine Bar and Harum Manis. But wait a minute, where's Cassis? We couldn't find it. Being desperately hungry and confused, Mr. Foo asked the waiter at Moya where Cassis was. Aaaannnddd it turned out that Cassis was under renovation!!!!

Anyway, he also mentioned that we could still order food from Cassis but seated in Moya. However, they did not have any available table at that time, and offered us to sit at the bar instead. I was sooo pissed off. It's not that I don't like sport bar, but I don't want to celebrate my Valentine's Day watching soccer match. I thought he knew that I wasn't happy, so he offered us to be seated at Harum Manis, instead. The three of them was under the same management.

It was about 8.30 p.m. and I was so hungry, so going to another restaurant was not an option. So we decided to get seated at Harum Manis instead. The ambience in Harum Manis was nice, actually. I could smell sheer Jasmine aroma, and it put me at ease in no time.

Mr. Foo was like debating with himself whether we should get the Tasting menu or just ordered the a la carte. In the end, we decided to just order from the a la carte menu since he really wanted to try the Grade 9+ Wagyu.

Escargot - around Rp 150k

We had the escargot as an appertizer and it was soooooo good!!!! The shells were already peeled off the snails, and they add those crumbs on top which made it had a different feeling than the usual bread topping.

Wagyu grade 5 cooked medium - around Rp500k

I'm sorry for not remembering the menu details (name, what's on it, etc) and the price precisely. It was my best try :( 

Anyway, my steak was HUGE! I couldnt finish it, but it tasted good. It came with mashed potato with black truffle sauce.

Wagyu Grade 9+ - around Rp 800k

Mr. Foo's wagyu was cooked either medium or medium rare. It was juicy and tender. I forgot what it came with. But to be honest, both of the steaks we're not really memorable, even though they were nice.

We didn't get to order any dessert since it seemed like we were the only customers left, at the time we finished our steaks. Note to self: ALWAYS make a reservation, anywhere, anytime. I learned it the hard way.

All in all, other than the incident, which was our fault to begin with, the food experience was satisfying. We planned to visit it next time once they're done with the renovation (around June 2011, if I'm not mistaken) to try the Tasting menu.

Note to management: I hope they utilize the website more.

Cassis 
Pavilion Apartment Retail Arcade
Jl. KH. Mas Mansyur, Kav. 24
Jakarta Pusat 
Tel: (62-21) 5794 1500 

Holycow!

No, I'm not cursing.lol For those who don't know, Holycow is a super famous steak restaurant for selling wagyu beef at cheap price. I went there on a Saturday night. The place was opened on 6.30 pm but when I arrived at 7, the place was a mad house! The line was really long and I had to wait for about an hour to get a seat. I heard people started waiting in line from 6 pm! Holy cow! :p

Don't expect it to be your regular fancy steakhouse. The place was just a little off street with tent. It was really packed considering the amount of people eating and waiting in line, and the space was tiny to begin with.

We were seated at about 7.50 p.m. aaannndd the super famous wagyu rib eye was sold out! :'( So I got the second most popular dish, which was the Wagyu Sirloin Steak. I started to wonder whether the rib eye was just a myth since my cousin went there a couple of times and they always ran out of the wagyu rib eye. However, my friend confirmed that she had tried it out. At least, we knew that it did exist! lol

Wagyu Sirloin Steak (200gr) with mushroom sauce - Rp 93k

The wagyu sirloin was really cheap, noted that it was wagyu but I forgot to ask what grade it was. Yes it was tender but not wagyu tender, if you know what I mean. I was a little bit disappointed. Maybe I had a very high expectation since everyone was raving about it. But hey, what do you expect, the steak was less than 100k. It's hard to find a good steak at that price, let alone a wagyu steak. 

I chose mushroom sauce since the waiter said it was their specialty, and it wasn't what I expected either. The mushroom sauce was more like the one for pasta instead of for steak. My cousin had his with black pepper sauce and I thought it tasted waay better than my mushroom sauce. So I would suggest you get the black pepper sauce, regardless the waiters' recommendation.

I usually had my steak done medium, but in Indonesia, unless it was a reputable steakhouse/restaurant, I would ordered it medium well. My cousin beat me again, he ordered his medium, and it tasted wayy better than mine. It was tender and juicy, but I could taste the blood somehow at the middle part. eww...

We ordered the refillable ice lemon tea. I forget how much it was, but I think it's about Rp 12k-ish. I would not suggest you to order the refillable tea since the steak was huge that you'd be too full to have it refilled.

I'm really sorry for the crappy picture. If you know me, you'll know that I always bring my camera with me everywhere, even for work! However, I forget to bring it this time so I had to take the picture with my phone :'(

They will give you free tiramisu (value Rp 9k), if you post status on facebook or tweet that you're at @holycowsteak.

Holycow Steak

Jl. Radio Dalam Raya No. 15

Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan

Magnum Cafe

 After lunch at SoHo, Mr. Foo and I wandered around GI for a while until we got tired and decided to get some drinks. Somehow, we passed by Magnum Cafe. Yes, it sounded like one of Ice Cream Wall's products, well, because it was! I do not watch TV and I think I missed a bunch of posters around GI about this cafe, which I realized later on.

It was on a weekday evening, and at that time they hadn't even had their grand opening yet, but there was quite a line to get a seat. Luckily, there were just the two of us and we did not mind to be seated in the smoking section. Later on, I noticed that the non-smoking section was the one with the garden theme. The garden section was super cute!

The cafe would be opened just for a few months, but yet they decorated it super nicely. It was managed by Ismaya Group. The interior would make you feel like you traveled through a time machine to the Victorian time, as it was also supported by the costumes of the waiters. They also addressed the customers as "My Lord" and "My Lady." I tried very hard not to burst out laughing when I heard that for the first time, not in a mocking way, of course, but more like because it was too cute :p

They had a giant magnum ice cream and a cinderella-like horse carriage in front of the restaurant that you can have fun taking pictures with ;), just like I did.

As the name, the main menu for this cafe is: Magnum ice cream. They even had a dipping station where you can make your own magnum and choose your topping to dip in your magnum. They also offered appertizer and main dishes, other than desserts.

The Magic Mocca (Rp 29k)

After flipping the drink menu back and forth, I decided to get the Magic Mocca, as suggested by the waiter. Mr. Foo ordered Lychee Ice Tea (Rp 18k - not pictured). The drink was soooo good! I really loved it. And, the chocolate decoration on the glass (pictured) was really really hard, I wondered how they made it.

Waffle Aristocrat - Rp 35k

We did not mean to order any dessert, really, since we were so full because of the lunch. However, after looking around the restaurant I saw most people ordered waffles and they looked really really nice, so we ordered Waffle Aristocrat. It was presented really well and tempting. They served the waffle with two sticks of magnum ice cream, chocolate and vanilla flavor, a banana, and some cookies with chocolate sauce. Despite the super fancy presentation, it tasted blah. The waffle itself was really lack of taste, and the ice cream came with the sticks that made it so hard to eat.

Anyway, last Friday, my friends and I decided to give Magnum Cafe another go. Well, most of them hadn't tried it yet. And...OMG the line was sooooooooooo long!

I had never seen a line this long for any restaurant, as long as I can recall. I might be wrong tho'. Oh well, The Cheesecake Factory in SF downtown might have longer line, but they gave out buzzer to people, so you can go out shopping while waiting and when it was almost your turn, your buzzer would vibrate. That way, people did not have to stand in the line for a very long time like this. So, we decided to have dinner somewhere else.

Even though I did not like the waffle, I loved the drinks. I might come back again just because it will close in 3 months, and will try out its other food. My advice though, come with a friend or two on the weekdays afternoon to avoid long line.

Oh, they will give out 10% discount if you are willing to fill out a survey.



Magnum Cafe
Grand Indonesia
West Mall, 5th Floor
Jl. M. H. Thamrin No. 1
Jakarta Pusat

Social House

I took a day off to accompany Mr. Foo applying for a US visa. After finished with the US Embassy, Mr. Foo felt very hungry, since he got up late and had to skip breakfast. So, we decided to go to Social House in Grand Indonesia, or GI for short.

Food goers must be familiar with Social House. It was under Ismaya Group management. Being located in GI, Social House was one of the "IT" hang out place in Jakarta. It was always fully booked on weekend, and it was spacious.

It was located on the First floor right at the end of Level One, inside Harvey Nichols. Now that the department store had closed, the athmosphere at the entrance of SoHo was not as inviting. It did not give the exclusivity vibe it used to, it was actually a bit horrid. However, once you went in, you would forget about the entrance!

I love the decoration of Social House, or SoHo for short. I found that it was really comfie and cozy with the wood pantry atmosphere; and the most interesting part is it gave totally different vibes during afternoon, evening, and even at night. In the afternoon, the place would be really bright, since the restaurant was surrounded by mirror overlooking "Bunderan HI." In the evening, they would open some of the windows so that you'd feel the wind breeze passing through your face as you were enjoying your mid-day cocktails or tea. At night, they would dim the lights and it was usually really crowded. You could hear people talking and laughing while they enjoyed their boozes.

Anyway, we went there for early lunch and it was not that busy. We were quickly seated right in front of the open kitchen. I had been here numerous times, and I just realized that they had open kitchen.

Mr. Foo was really really hungry, while I was too full after my breakfast at McDonald's Sarinah. So here's what he ordered:

Fresh Oyster - Rp 20k each (Rp 100k for 6 pcs)

Mr. Foo LOVES oyster. However, he just ordered one because he already ordered a lot of other food. He said it was really really delicious! He even considered to order more before the other food started to come out.

Dragon Roll - Rp 70k

I decided to share the Dragon Roll since it looked so good! Extravagant food presentation was one of my weakness. Anyway, it did not taste as good. It was soggy in my opinion that I did not finish my part.

Bibimbab - Rp 75k

I tried a scoop of the Bibimbab and I didn't like it. However, Mr. Foo said that it was good, at first. But it might be because he was really hungry, because later on he said that it was not good.

SoHo had always been a hit or miss to me. It could be really good and it could be really bad. It was bad for our visit this time. I would stick to the waiter's recommendation next time. If you plan to go here at night or on the weekend, reservation is highly recommended.

Oh, and they have a bunch of different promotions for those who use HSBC credit card. For this visit I got 20% discount on food, since it was on the weekdays. On the weekend, I usually get a free dessert of the day.

Social House
Harvey Nichols at Grand Indonesia
East Mall. 1st Floor
Jl. Jend. Sudirman
Jakarta Pusat , Indonesia
Ph. (021) 2358-1818

Early Morning @ McDonald's Sarinah

Mr. Foo had to renew his US visa and I had to take him there early in the morning. While waiting for him, rather than hanging out in Gambir or Monas ( The U.S Embassy is located right across Gambir Train Station), I decided to go to McDonald's Sarinah. It reopened just recently.

It was not busy when I arrived at 8 a.m. Actually, the one in Kelapa Gading was way more crowded compare to it. Anyway, I ordered the Sausage McMuffin meal; it comes with hash brown and hot coffee, but I asked for hot tea instead.

McMuffin Set Meal - Rp 26k-ish

It was my first time trying out McMuffin, and I didn't like it. McMuffin was basically a sausage patty and a slice of cheese in a toasted and buttered English muffin. However, I could barely taste the meat flavor. The good side was, the English Muffin was kind of chewy. The hash brown was oily , oh well it was deep fried, so what did I expect..I thought it would taste better if they fried it a little bit longer.

I heard some of my friends complained that the new interior made it not as comfortable as before, but in my opinion I liked the new McD better. It's cleaner and not as packed as it used to be. They also provided some computers for customers to use, as well as free WiFi for those who brought their own laptops.

It turned out the WiFi service needed a username and password. I had to ask for them, and here they are:

username: mcdonalds
password: cheeseburger

I had to giggle when I heard the password. It was just too cute. However, after sitting there for a few minutes, I realized that it was too cold there.brrr.....maybe because there was not that many people, I'm not sure. Luckily, I brought my cardigan.

McDonald's
Jl. Moh.Thamrin No. 11
Jakarta Pusat

Goemon

It was my second visit to Goemon. It was on a Friday evening, and as you may know well, Jakarta's traffic on Friday evening was the worst, especially at Sudirman area, where Goemon was located. So, I was not enthusiastic about going there. Moreover, my first visit was not that memorable, but most of my friends really LOVED this place. They said it reminded them of an authentic Japanese depot in San Francisco area, where we went for college.

Luckily, the traffic was friendly that time. I wonder, it seemed that Jakarta traffic on Friday got friendly these days. *fingers crossed* It was on the 3rd floor of the Wisma Kyoei Prince. Once we stepped inside, it felt like we were not in Jakarta anymore, but in some place in Japan. There were 2 types of seating style here, one with the usual table and chair, and the other one, you sit on the tatami. The waitresses would ask you to take off your shoes, regardless of your seating option. Once we were seated, we then realized that everyone else there was Japanese expats. Most of them drank sake, and would speak louder as the night went by.lol

Tamago - Rp 20k

Gyutan - Rp 13k each

Chicken Katsu Curry - Rp 58k

Miso soup and salad were included in Chicken Katsu Curry set. The food was delicious, cheap, and came in big portion. The tamago was moist and had a hint of sweetness. The curry was good, and so did the gyutan. Here's what my friends ordered, but I didn't know the price of the Hamburg Steak.

Yaki udon - Rp 47k

Hamburg Steak Curry

They also gave us fruits for dessert for free. Anyway, the food was good, but to be honest, not too special. I'd rate them 3,5 star out of 5. Service was ok, but then again, it was not a high class restaurant. But the traffic always made me reluctant driving here. However, if you are looking for cheap authentic Japanese food, Goemon is the place to be. Reservation is highly recommended. 

Goemon

Wisma Kyoei Prince

Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 3-4

Jakarta Selatan

Ph: (021) 572-3343

Sunlight at Luna Negra

I'm terribly sorry for not writing for such a long time! It's because I lost my phone that contained a lot of menu details (name, price, etc) and restaurant infos :( I know, I know, I have to admit that I'm kinda lazy. I am sorry... However, with this post, I intend to revive this blog. yayyy... So, I am going to update you on my restaurant visits, even though some of them may not be recent. Here we go..

I had lunch on a sunny Saturday at Luna Negra. This was supposed to be a new "happening" Italian restaurant in Jakarta. It was located in the Citibank building, and placed kind of far from the parking building. However, once we stepped in, the atmosphere was inviting. The high ceiling room were surrounded by big window that let the sunshine came in and made the place bright. I really loved it.

The dining room was located after a two-story wine cellar and the long bar table. The interior was dominated by dark color (to emphasize luna negra - black moon - feeling, I believe), and the decorations gave vintage feeling. My favorite was the old pictures framed on the wall and the vintage telephone in the corner right after the long bar table. For a Saturday afternoon, they were not busy. Ok, I gotta admit that I arrived really late, so people probably had finished their lunch, like most of my friends. They complained me for picking Luna Negra, as the food were terrible. Since I arrived late, I could not take any picture of their food.

Just to be safe, and I was on my period at that time so I didn't have much appetite, I ordered the Classic Caesar Salad with grilled chicken and Hot Earl Grey Tea for drink. I actually wanted to order fruit tea, but the cup for the so-called-premium tea (which was plain boring tea such as Chamomile, English Breakfast, etc) was so much cuter and luckily, I do love earl grey. My boyfriend, let's call him Mr. Foo, ordered Spaghetti Bolognese *he can be sooo plain sometimes* and Luna Ice Tea.

Classic Caesar Salad - Rp 56k and Earl Grey Tea - Rp 25k-ish

The Caesar Salad was humongous, even though it looked normal in the picture. And....it tasted blah. I could not describe it, but...I could not finish it. It was that horrible. However, see the cup, it was sooo cute! I dreamed to have some of those if I have a house on my own :p

Spaghetti Bolognese - Rp 70k ish (I coudn't remember) - Luna Iced Tea Rp 30k

The Spaghetti was standard, nothing to rave about, yet nothing to dispise about. Mr Foo ordered the Luna Iced Tea, which was basically ice tea with cubed grass jelly, because the waiter claimed that you had not visited Luna Negra unless you tried Luna Iced Tea. 

Creme Caramel - Rp 39k

We had creme caramel as a dessert, and it was the only decent food that noon. However, one of my friends commented at how the creme caramel was bubbly while it was supposed to have smooth texture. Despite the texture, it tasted good. I loved how it was sweet, and I loved(!) sweet things; moreover, when I had my period and my mood went down to zero level. 

All in all, I was disappointed. However, my friend, who ordered Salt and Pepper Squid, said that it was quite delicious. So maybe one day ifff... I have to go there again, I'll try their Chinese food, and probably some cocktail and the Chocolate Lava Cake for dessert. will keep it in mind.

Luna Negra

Plaza Bapindo

Citibank Tower, Ground Floor

Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 54-55

Jakarta Selatan
Phone: (021) 2995-0077