Ah Mei

Another chain of Kopitiam in Jakarta's shopping malls. Ah Mei is one of the additions into the group. The first of the many branch they opened was at Mall Puri Indah and around a year after that, a branch pops up at Emporium Mall Pluit.

I think every Kopitiam style eatery has their own specialities, some has more variety of menus, some serves a better 'teh tarik', some provides bigger portion and some with better pricing. Nevertheless, I'm here to post a review on this particular 'Kopitiam'.

Menu : Fried Popiah 

Price : To be advise

Score : 5.5 / 10

>> Skin was really crispy and the amount of fillings inside were real generous. It has all the component of a basic popiah; vermicelli, 'bengkoang', carrots, mushrooms and of course seasonings. It was piping fried hot when it arrive on the table which means it's freshly fried but the taste was mediocre. It was just a so - so, I'm not saying it's junk but I had much better ones. The problem might be in the condiments. The chili provided wasn't a good marriage with the popiah.

Menu : Cheese Prata

Price : To be advise

Score : 7.5 / 10

>> If the popiah above wasn't satisfying at all, this cheese prata saved the day. This cheese prata might be the only reason that I come back to Ah Mei from time to time. I always have this. It's a basic roti prata, but instead of egg and onion, there's a good handful of grated cheese in between the layers of the prata. I love the savoury of the curry lightly spread across the salty prata. Yummmm !! Well, I must say the curry itself was alright, acceptable but the cheese prata itself was the bomb. I had the egg and onion prata before and was alright, but definitely loose out to this one.

Menu : Char Kuey Teow

Price : To be advise

Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Another so - so dish, just an ordinary plate of Kuey Teow tossed around. The taste was not too bad and thus explain for a six pointer. But nothing special, nothing kicks and pops on my taste buds. Just a decent plate of carbohydrate. I'd still come back to Ah Mei, but just because of the Cheese Prata and nothing else. I personally believe 'Lau's Kopitiam' hands down serves the best Kuey Teow amongst all Kopitiam Style restaurant joints. 

Ah Mei

Emporium Mall Pluit, 4th Floor.

May Star - Revisit

My last post on May Star was in 2010 and so here a revisit post !! A few weeks back, before Lebaran Holidays; FW and I were cruising Emporium Mall on a Wednesday and he was urging for some Chinese cuisine. The decision came down to either 'May Star' or 'Dian Xiao Er' and because we had Dian Xiao Er a couple of weeks back we end up going for May Star. I wasn't feeling hungry and my flu is still going on thus wasn't very much in the mood of eating for dinner.

Menu : Sup Asam Pedas Szechuan

Price : RP 34,000 ++

Score : 7.0 / 10

>> They provide all the basic taste of what a Szechuan Soup should taste. The sour level is exactly where I would like it to be. I don't need additional black vinegar for this bowl. The heat is lacking a little bit (but hey it's me a chili fanatic talking hehehe) but the seasoning is correct at all department. The only additional thing they should do is to at least imitate Duck King's Szechuan Soup. They have a piece of prawn wonton inside.

Menu : Sosis Taiwan Special

Price : RP 54,000 ++ (for 4 sticks)
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> If you notice exactly next to the current May Star at Emporium Mall Pluit, there is a new 'to - go' May Star counter. They sell this exact sausage for RP 12,000 / piece (including tax). Price wise it's cheaper there. It taste slightly like 'lap chiong', those chinese pork sausages. A good snack but don't count on it to fill your tummy and as for taste wise, it was alright; rather mediocre. If you are curious, buy it at the 'to - go' counter instead.

Menu : Babi Cincang Tim

Price : RP 68,000 ++
Score : 5.0 / 10

>> I'm disappointed at this dish here. It lacks of salt! Tim babi is suppose to be salty and has that strong punch of Chinese soy sauce flavor. The color looks right but eventually not so much on the flavor. The positive part is that the portion is reasonable for 2 - 3 people. 'SKY' restaurant at Muara Karang serves a better same dish than this one here. Skip this dish the next time you're here. I wouldn't say it taste bad, but rather disappointing.

May Star
Emporium Pluit Mall, 4th Fl Unit 26 - 29
Jl. Pluit Selatan Raya Bl S 6, Jakarta 
Phone: 021 - 66676280

Champs Patisserie

Menu : Champs' Strawberry Thousand Layer Cake
Price : RP 26,000
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> I was a little bit reluctant to buy this cake but end up buying just because I had this itch for having something to bring home for my mom. Anyways, they provided me with testers and bought 4 slices; strawberry, cheese, chocolate & oreo. I only got the chance to eat this one slice as my mom finishes the rest of the flavors.

A very pleasant surprise upon the first spoon. The stacked crepes wasn't as tall as 'First Love Patisserie's" but taste wise was pretty damn good. Maybe I was desperately irking for something sweet but I was aware of the aspect in the cake. 

- Sweetness level : checked

- Strawberry Taste : checked

- Thin Crepes : checked

- Smooth Butter Cream : checked

- Leaving Me Wanting For More : checked too !

Champs Patisserie

Emporium Pluit Mall 4th Floor (Booth Stand exactly across KFC)

White Hunter & Han Gang

2 weekends ago FW and I had our Sunday lunch at Emporium Pluit Mall and I was responsible for choosing this restaurant (not going to be a good review). White Hunter, Han Gang and Incognito is situated very close to the main lobby, just right next to Fish & Co and Starbucks Coffee. In here, you are presented with 3 menus from all 3 restaurants and you can cross choose, mix and match your preferences. White Hunter serves Western food, Han Gang represents the Korean dishes and Incognito holds the Italian flag.

HAN GANG

I remembered my previous trips to Han Gang at their branch in Grand Indonesia wasn't bad but this time in Emporium Pluit was not the same. I'm not sure whether it's under the same or a different management (I think it's different) but food was disappointing in many ways.

Menu : Side Dish

Price : Free

Score : 2.0 / 10

>> The minute the side dishes is placed on your table you'll probably start to pick up your chopsticks and hit the nearest kimchi. This Han Gang only serves me 4 selection (other Korean restaurants usually they offer you more than 10) and the taste is wrong. The Kimchi and egg roll were bland, the green vege is soggy and as for the shellfish, I didn't bother to try --___-- "

Menu : Sundubu Kimchi

Price : RP 48,000 ++
Score : 4.0 / 10

>> Temperature of the soup was right, size for price that I can accept, amount of fillings inside were reasonable, but they failed at seasoning. This lacks the sour of the kimchi, the kick from the chili and even failed at the basic skill of salt seasoning. A big wake up call for the owners! Customers are running away by the minute.

Menu : Dolsot Djingeo
Price : RP 48,000 ++
Score : 3.0 / 10

>> This is basically a seafood bibimbap. They uses freshly cooked steam rice which was already a wrong move, As a result, soggy!!! It's like eating baby food and to make things worst, the super hot stone continues cooking the rice. Seasoning needs help too :'(

WHITE HUNTER

Both FW and I wasn't interested in having any more food but due to the "bargain"; a 20% off with BNI Credit Card, a minimum charge of RP 200,000 on food only, before tax that we need to add more dishes. The two main course above only accumulate 50% of the bill and thus here are the additional dishes we added to our bad lunch.

Menu : Wild Maki Salmon

Price : RP 58,000 ++

Score : 3.0 / 10

>> O MY LORD ! The price is more expensive than the sundubu kimchi soup and yet it's worse. The salmon fillings were extremely dried out, it's like it had been sitting in the freezer for 3 months and defrosted again and again until it reaches my table. A bad dish, please do not order!

Menu : Spring Enoki

Price : RP 29,000 ++
Score : 3.5 / 10

>> The only one thing that I can positively say about this dish is the fact it's big for an appetizer. 70% of it is because of the tempura / flour batter. The taste is lousy and just not ever going to order this again.

Menu : Chocolate Melt

Price : RP 35,000 ++
Score : 5.5 / 10

>> I put this picture slightly bigger than the rest of the picture is for a reason! This scores a 5.5 pointer, the only dish that passes my tongue. I'm not going to say this is good but definitely acceptable compared to the rest of the dishes we ordered. The chocolate did melt and oozes out of the sponge cake. Pricing and size was reasonable and most importantly it taste right, not superbly good but wasn't yucky at all !!

White Hunter, Han Gang, Incognito

Emporium Pluit Mall, Ground Floor

Old Town White Coffee

Emporium Pluit Mall has a newcomer; Old Town White Coffee. It claim to have overseas branches in Malaysia but it was my first time seeing it. Even though it was in the middle of the afternoon (around 4pm) the crowd there was quite a handful with mostly old age people hanging out drinking coffee. Nevertheless, I decided to have a try.

Menu : Curry Potato with Thick Toast

Price : Rp 22,000 ++

Score : 7.0 / 10

>> I enjoyed it! I like the fact that the curry wasn't too strong and all of the spices and herbs at the right amount. The potatoes were soft and the thick toast was a perfect combination to dip into the gravy. 

Menu : Old Town Hot White Coffee

Price : Rp 15,000 ++

Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Definitely better than your supermarket instant coffee mix hahaha! This coffee is suitable for those who do not like strong black coffee. The proportion of milk is definitely more than the espresso. However, I'm more of a 'frappuccino' type of gal !

Menu : Old Town Ipoh Chicken Hor Fun

Price : Rp 28,000 ++
Score : 5.0 / 10

>> I don't really like this dish because of two critical factors. It has too little fillings (besides the obvious noodle) and the chicken broth / soup was slightly on the bland side. Thus bottom line, I wouldn't advice all of you blog walkers to try this. Pass on this one!