MAD (Moderan Asian Dining)

I was at the Lotte Shopping Mall (LOVE), the one in kuningan I'm sure all of you know. I was about to grab a movie ticket and I saw MAD, which stands for Modern Asian Dining. I gotta say I hesitated to enter, it has this bright orange and neon printings, definitely reminds me of Disney mixed with Andy Warhol kind of vibe. But oh my, I was surprise by the size of the restaurant. From the outside, it looked like a normal entrance but 30 steps into the place, it was HUGEEE, with a capital H U G E! I really do mean it. I think it might cover more than 800 m2, the length of the restaurant was about 50 - 60 meters I think? I know you might think I sound hyperbolic by the bad description of just the 'size' but hey, you need to just enter the place to feel the space. Note : I didn't recommend you to try the food, but just enter and judge the space for yourself. Even better, it's entrance fee is FREE !

As for the food, I am not a big fan compare to the surprise I got by the size of the place :p hehehe

Menu : Pork Mantau

Price : Rp 80,000 ++

Score : 5.5 / 10

>> The photo in the menu made it look really tempting and I ordered. The taste was rather mediocre, the pork belly was juicy and has the right amount of hoisin sauce but apart from that, it's nothing special. Portion is too small for a Rp 80,000. Honestly feel this should be charged for Rp 35,000 instead of  Rp 80 K. A rip off? What do you think?

Menu : Laksa Lamien

Price : Rp 98,000 ++
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> So - So tasting laksa. I wasn't hoping to be better than the one sold in Singapore but I was far from being impressed. Portion was enough for a small adult female, soup was okay, wonton was cripsy, you know the ordinary. Bottom line, far from special, and I wouldn't miss having this. Btw, Din Tai Fung serves better tom yum lamien for only Rp 50,000 ... just something to think about :)

Menu : Josper Wagyu Claypot

Price : Rp 198,000 ++

Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Complete overpriced. Wagyu beef was okay (not brilliant), poach egg was perfect but Rp 198,000 ??? Come on, I think the price tag is not well suited with the ambiance. The place screams casual while the pricing is not casual at all.

Will I come back? Hmm...nope I don't think so. But you should !! See the perspective of the space and NOT the food. I warned you guys hehehehe...

MAD (Modern Asian Dining)

Lotte Shopping Avenue 4th Floor

Phone : 021 - 29889499

Le Quartier

I am sooo two thousand and late !! Everyone has came to this place and yet it is only now that I manage to post about it. Yes yes yes... BOOOOOO me ---____---"". I knew and passed by it a few multiple times, not sure why I didn't urge to try it, but anyways a bunch of friend gathered and they choose Le Quartier for Sunday dinner and here I am writing about it 2 months later hahahahaha...lazy me :p My apologies readers ...

The setting was comfortable and spacious, leaning slightly to romantic (not too romantic though) and also 'posh'? They have all the dim warm lightings and the beautiful chandelier hanging, making the ambiance feels like slightly out of Jakarta. I am gonna give the place a seven for decor I suppose? Nothing out of the extraordinary but definitely fits in the 'Senopati & Gunawarman' pricey district.

The choice of food basically covers a variety, from the "French" steak, to the "Italian" pizza. Their soups were beautiful and not to mention their duck confit was super yummy !! Pricing would be on the heavier side of the scale (We spent Rp 1,900,000 for a crowd of 6) but I mean the location is the CBD area, so what can you expect right? Right price for the right demographic of customers I suppose. Will I come back again? Ohh, yess I might. On some future occasions is a definite! And I sincerely believe, this place is gonna stick around for quite sometime anyways :)

Le Quartier

Jl. Gunawarman No. 34 

Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan

Phone : 021 - 72788001

The Holy Crab

I know it's probably 3 months since my last post? Well I only got the usual classic excuse, too busy for anything, not enough time everything. Sadly my blog became the victim of my 'busy-ness'. Well to put all that aside. I got a connection inside this eatery opened in June 2014 hence, manage to get a super super good reservation. Meaning, I get to cut all the queue and slip myself to a seat !! Blessed thy heart !! Or else, you gotta queue for at least an hour to get some seats, this place is pretty 'hot' in town.

The setting of the place is pretty much catered to family, it's those places that you go with your mom and dad, grandparents and grandchildren. Suitable for a casual dinner with a bunch of friends but definitely not the place you go for a romantic anniversary celebration. Unless it's your 20th or 35th hehehe...

The menu itself is also very straight forward to the point. The Holy Crab basically just sells CRAB, nothing else major but crabs. Well you get to order some fries or fish fingers at the side but all that is not the purpose. The food will definitely bring back memories all those people educated in Seattle. Why?? Cause all the sauce felt like 'Jambalaya' hot spicy with onion punch kind of sauce >> you people get the connection right?

The other special unique the restaurant bring is the style! You're given a table with plastic lined paper on top as table mat. Then, some mallet and shell crusher with your order placed directly on the table. Off you go! Smashing through can be a way to unleash a little bit of your stress built up from your bad working weekdays!! Apart from that, it's a good moral teaching to the kids too; you need to fight and squeeze through all those tricky shells before you get the super good part!

We got myself the 'dungeoness crab & king crab legs'. Love the king crab legs by a hundred mile. Easier to peel in order to get to the beautiful meat. Sauce was great tasting but after halfway there, it taste basically all the same and by the end of the dinner, you promise not to eat crab till the end of year. Hahahaha, the crab itself was the star but too much of crab goodness gives you this unavoidable term called 'cholesterol' hahaha. Bottom line, 'holy crab' is something you definitely must try but may think twice for the second trip.

Oooh! I forget to mention, price is definitely on a high end of the scale. A solid heavy dinner for 3 people would cover Rp 3,000,000 ; 1 dungeoness crab, 1 king crab legs, fries and sweet potato as side dish, refillable sodas for all. Heavy on the pocket and on your cholesterol too :p haha !!

The Holy Crab
Jl. Gunawarman No 55. Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta Selatan 12110
Phone : 021 - 29236155

Mango Tree Bistro Bar

A newbie has just join the Plaza Senayan scene. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, I just got off from a shopping spree and was hungry for some food. I was on my way to Marche when I spot 'Mango Tree' at the corner of my eye. The location is situated exactly across the XXI Cinema, right beside Paradise Dynasty. I hesitated initially but I was in the mood for something having a go at something new and hence here.

The amount of space area this eatery covered was pretty big. It has a very open layout with no elaborate design whatsoever. It's pretty much a wooden flooring with sittings.  I must say that I'm not impressed with the decor, it was too plain and definitely deserve a little bit more vibe to it. It was almost too empty, too plain and too boring. Then it struck my mind that this was suppose to be a 'Bistro Bar' ! Why should a 'Bar' look like this? Well, there you go on the decor but what about the food?

Menu : Vegetarian Tom Yum Soup
Price : Rp 48,000 ++
Score : 5.0 / 10

>> There was a choice of seafood, beef, chicken and I opt for Vegetarian instead. The veges fillings was alright with the generosity and the broth itself was on the border line. I don't think it was very far from over the top delicious, which made me slightly disappointed. I felt if the dish is meant to be sour and spicy then by all means have the kick and power to it! This was mildly sour thus didn't favor me too much.

Menu : Pad Thai
Price : Rp 47,000 ++
Score : 7.5 / 10

>> Oh goodness gracious this place has hope! Hahahaha, I was twitching my mouth and feeling a hint of slight remorse but I was glad I ordered this. Pad Thai was more than fine. Portion was well, taste was above average and the entire taste was well combined into. I shared this between two people but can easily finish this by myself.

Menu : Thai Beef Basil
Price : Rp 58,000 ++
Score : 4.5 / 10

>> My emotion was mixed in giving this a 4 or a 5. I couldn't be sure and thus a 4.5 over 10. Beef Basil is supposedly a simple dish but they got it all wrong. I did scent the basil but that's it. The fish sauce seems odd tasting. Bottom line a disappointment. I was pleased with the Pad Thai but now a twitched sour puss lips. A fail -__-''

Menu : Penang Duck Curry
Price : Rp 58,000 ++
Score : 8.0 / 10

>> Good solid curry dish. I truly wasn't expecting much while nibbling on the beef basil but I was re assured in my faith after a spoonful of this. Duck was perfectly well cooked and the curry sauce was a spot on for me. I love the sweetness from the canned lychees and somehow helped to cut through the thick feeling of the coconut milk. I definitely have this again but maybe just this and the pad thai. Nothing else besides that :p

Menu : Tapioca with Coconut Milk
Price : Rp 30,000 ++
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> I did enjoyed the dessert at the end of the meal. The tapioca was soft in a chewable manner but still maintain the integrity in each bite. The coconut milk was perfect to along side. Slightly sweetened with a slight sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds to give a slight variety of texture. A classic Thai dessert nailed and done reasonably well .





If you ask me 'Will I come back'? Ummm...I'm not sure, but I might again because of the life saving Curry & Pad Thai. As I think the food is not a complete 'hopeless case' but maybe in 6 months time? I'm not that eager and surely hope the Boga Management Group might want to re evaluate the decor and their dishes in the menu. Cheers!

Mango Tree
Plaza Senayan 5th Floor
Phone : +6221 - 29941303

Taco Truck Indonesia

Almost all overseas students studying in the Western civilization must be really familiar with the concept of a 'food truck' and personally I had lost counts on the multiple times I spent my time running across campus and the city itself, sparing some 15 minutes on the way having some Kebab or Tacos for lunch. And I must be really honest, some of the best Kebabs I had eaten during the entire of my Uni student life is from a Greek man selling from a food truck at the Lincoln Street gas station. Well..those are the good 'younger' days and what about here in Jakarta? We're more practical in a way that our street food is much less mobile (Warteg, Kaki Lima, etc). Not that it is bad in any way but this concept of Food Truck just made me excited, a concept that is so familiar in other countries can yet be still 'fresh' in Jakarta and made you go 'oooh wow...they have it here...'.

The first time I saw this particular exact same taco truck was in Kelapa Gading and I wanted to badly try it. But I was in a rush and I couldn't make time for that stop. Then the second time was last Sunday in Pantai Indah Kapuk. Upon seeing it, I brake the car and got down to have a munch. This taco truck made it quite interesting. There is only 1 truck available and they will go round Jakarta with all of their crew selling Mexican. There are ways to track them, by following their status on the Facebook and Twitter which they will update in advance. I like their fun concept, of having to track them down and thus made it more difficult to purchase and hence 'exclusive' in a sense.

Besides having to track them all the time, you're allowed to cater them. Imagine if you have a casual outdoor party at your backyard in your home. And you hate to cook and does not have the time even to take away food. No worries! Cater them and they'll park nicely and you can have your guest having Mexican food all day long.

They don't have an extensive list of food choice in their menu but those are definitely the essential ones in any Mexican joints. So as for the menu, I pretty pleased with it. I only got to try the tacos ( FYI, I just had lunch 30 minutes prior to this --__--" ). I saw others getting their nachos and burritos which made me rather jealous. I always think it's a little bit bias if you only taste one dish in the entire menu, but hey wrong tummy capacity at the wrong time.

While waiting for the truck's kitchen hand to prepare my take away, I thought Jakarta is very slowly starting to welcome Mexican food. For yearsss, I'm only familiar with Hacienda (Arcadia, Plaza Senayan) then only quite recently I had a bite at Taco Local and was invited for a blogger event in Sombrero (Grand Indonesia). Having this taco truck moving around Jakarta is quite educational actually, introducing a larger population to the rather new 'Mexican Flavors'. 

So if I may recommend the owner (if you happen to read this review), maybe for the next project you might think towards 'Greek Food'. It has a similar vibe to a Mexican; Tacos and Kebabs? The entire idea of a Kebab Truck with other dish such as fried calamari and shrimps can fit nicely too.

Menu : Bulgogi Beef Soft Tacos
Price : Rp 35,000
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> I had this 2 portion of beef tacos for only Rp 35,000 which is a reasonable price tag. The fillings were extensive, they put a good chunk of guacamole sauce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, lettuce, etc, all those good bits that contribute the sour and the spicy part of a Mexican Taco. I like the taste of the fillings but not so much on the skin. I felt they should have toast it much more. It still has a little of the 'doughy' after taste. Overall, I would still recommend you all to give it a try. Mind you that the cooking period can be quite lengthy with you standing while waiting for it made it felt even longer hahahaha...

So, the ultimate question : "Do I like it?". Yesss I certainly do, seven pointer for my tongue is very generous. But sadly I tried Taco Local (See Post 13 September 2013) and I would say Taco Local has better food. Nevertheless, I would definitely have a go on it again the next time I passes by, although I wouldn't so much as to track them down.

Taco Truck Indonesia

Track Them in Facebook, Twitter & Instagram : Taco Truck Indonesia

To Cater : +62 877 808 67888

Lyon

Do you know the city Lyon is famous for it's culinary standard? There have to be a reason why French are snobbish, well besides their taste for fashion and architecture, food is an addition to the column in their resume 'things to brag about'. Anyways, thousands of kilometers away from France, I was celebrating a special day and decided to head to Lyon in Mandarin Oriental Hotel situated at the heart of the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia. It was a dinner on a weekday and thus I wasn't expecting a large crowd. The concept of the place was pretty much straight forward; French fine dining. Price tag is definitely on the heavier side of the scale but I believe in you get what you pay for.

The decor of the place screams 'clean, spotless and professional'. It has elegant and subtle colors of ivory and wood tones. I wouldn't suggest you taking your kids to a lunch or dinner there. It's more for couples and corporate people who wants good food and doesn't mind paying. The service was spot on, attentive yet not bothersome. As for the most important part; the food, two of us tried a few of their dishes and how did my verdict turns out?

Menu : Fresh Bread

Price : Complimentary

Score : 6.0 / 10

>> I supposed this is an 'Artisan bread'. Good thick solid crust with a soft inner part. Resembles a smaller version of a sourdough. The bread itself is good, nothing wrong with it. But I would like a garlic or truffle spread to go with it. Besides the normal unsalted butter, garlic or truffle butter would definitely been much much better.

Menu : Escargots

Price : Rp 108,000 ++
Score : 8.0 / 10

>> Delish !! I would love to a full dozen of these all by myself. The escargots weren't over cooked. Juicy, chewable and definitely not 'gummy'. The abundance of olive oil and the ever good garlic and other herbs was totally infused into the escargots. Love the generosity of the herbs and garlic in the dish. I took the complimentary bread and soaked it into the olive and garlic concoction just to make sure I finished every bit there is left. Good stuff !!!

Menu : Tomato Soup

Price : Rp 78,000 ++

Score : 9.0 / 10

>> The best tomato soup I had ever have. I loveeeee everything the Chef put into this. The texture was spot on, flavor was wonderful, the viscosity was perfect and even the orange color was beautiful. What can I ask for more? Well maybe besides another huge bowl of this beauty. This tomato soup has a creamy side that is not overpowering, it is subtle trying to lift the soup as a more 'fuller' dish. Imagine a watery soup and I bet you'll won't be fanatic about it. By the way, the small looking pastry bread at the side was delish. It's a garlic and herb pastry bread; definitely needed to go along with the tomato soup. Yummm and I bet you'll love it too.

Menu : Seared Duck Foie Gras on Risotto

Price : Rp 288,000 ++
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> Consider me weird but I don't like foie gras. Whether it was the animal cruelty facts that goes behind the scene or the mushy texture, bottom line I'm not a fan. It would be a little bit biased talking about this dish. I didn't taste the foie gras but the rest of the dish definitely tasted great. When was the last time you had the perfect cooked risotto? It's not an easy job cooking risotto, much more difficult than cooking your ordinary white rice with the comfort of your rice cooker. Their risotto was top notch and I'm not sure what type of cheese they grated on top, but it completely matched the dish. Next time, I'll re-order this but with seafood or red meat instead of foie gras.

Menu : Steak Frites

Price : Rp 258,000 ++

Score : 8.5 / 10

>> A big portioned and a well done steak. I asked for medium and got exactly that (super crucial for me). The steak has the perfect balance of fats and meat, thus making it juicy and at the same time to my liking. I got to compliment on the fries on the side too. It was of course much better than Mc'Donald's hahahaha and just to make things better, the garlic mayonnaise on the side hit it a home run. My tummy was 70% full from the escargot and the tomato soup but did I manage to finish this? Hell yeah I did, but a little bit left over on the french fries.

Will I go back again? Truly yes. Now a taste of France is only 30 kilometers away from my home and I'm a sucker for their addictive tomato soup !!

Lyon

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Jl. MH Thamrin. Jakarta Pusat 10310.

Phone : +62 21 - 2993 8888

Yo' Panino

So here is a story ... a big pig and a somewhat smaller pig was caught in a dilemma. Two of them had lunch around 2 hours ago and it's still 3 hours to dinner time. Both trying to loose weight, both even skip on dessert after lunch meal, they also managed to not have rice during lunch! But as mentioned, they're pigs! So both of those pigs did what they do best, snack up and eat. Well, that smaller pig is me :p hahaha. We're waiting for dinner time in Plaza Indonesia and after much contemplation, we gave up to ourselves and surrender to Yo' Panino! I must be honest, it was one of the most satisfying sandwich ever !! Felt guilty but who cares ... diet starts tomorrow... or never ... hahahaha ! 

 

So the concept here pretty much simple. You choose on the filling and then craft your own sandwich. There is 21 types to choose from and divided into 4 pricing. Rp 35.000, Rp 43.000, Rp 53.000, Rp 63.000 ++. After deciding your kind of sandwich, you choose your type of bread. A selection of 4 ; Multigrain, Turkish Pide, Brioche, Framhouse White. Next station would be on the extra fillings (extra cost), you can have more chicken, or beef, additional bacon bits or egg and cheese. Then, you may go crazy on the unlimited veggies and toppings. The selection of veggies and toppings is massive and thus be smart when constructing your masterpiece. Don't try to have everything, too much may turn out to be a disaster. And to finish off, choose your sauces! Upon that, go take a sit while they stuff everything in and toast your sandwich to perfection. In around 10 minutes, they'll be serving it to you.

Note : They have vegetarian selection.

BBQ Chicken Club : Rp 53.000 ++ (Score : 8.5 / 10)

 >> As mentioned above, I wasn't experiencing great hunger and thus I was in my choosy and picky mode on food. Anyways, I had the BBQ Chicken Club, which originally consist of hickory smoked chicken, turkey bacon, Monterrey cheese and their very own Yo' Barbie-O sauce (which I'm sure is BBQ sauce).  I opt for the Turkish Pide, had no extra fillings. Then I choose paprika, lettuce, cucumber and onions for the veggies. I had extra spicy sauce slabbed in between too. Nothing too hot about the sauce, everything just seemed right.

It was DELICIOUS !! I didn't expect it to be good at all and honestly this is what people mean by 'do not judge a book by it's cover'. The place has simple decor, the seating area wasn't great either, in fact they're situated below escalator (superstitious Chinese people thinks it's bad luck, because people are trampling over you). But hey, the taste buds never lie. I will definitely be a regular. The pricing was reasonable, the service was pleasant, the ingredients were fresh and the end product was certainly yummy !!

Yo' Panino

Plaza Indonesia Extension, 4th Floor (Replacing Dante Coffee)

Phone : +62 21 2992 4019

Lin Artisan Ice Cream

I don't normally talk about dessert in particular. Well yes as apart of a complete dinner or lunch, but not a review on itself. But I wanna mention about this particular place ; 'Lin'. Food gastronomy is a common term in the States, Europe or even Singapore but Jakarta is always two steps behind. Finally, someone actually introduced liquid nitrogen ice cream to here! It's situated in Kemang which was exactly the right place to introduce this product. I supposed that the target market that visits Kemang somehow are a bunch of more open minded people. Liquid Nitrogen and ice cream? Hell yeah !!

If you love ice cream, then there is nothing like making your own. But the problem is, it is too long to freeze and some things just don't like to freeze. So now, there's a process using liquid nitrogen to freeze everything up in an instant. As you all know Nitrogen is 78% of the volume of the atmosphere and the boiling point of -185 Degree Celsius (wikipedia). In plain simple English, it is cold.

Well that's the chemistry lesson. Next is the 'cooking' part. Choose your flavor from the menu Lin provide (quite a variety of them) and their 'scientist' will mix all the sugar, milk, cream, fruit, chocolate, liquor (if you like) into the mixing bowl. When the sugar has dissolved into the solution, the liquid nitrogen would be poured into the mixing bowl slowly until completely frozen. The damage time would only cost 10 minutes!

Rum & Raisin With Alcohol  :  RP 69,000  ( Score : 6.75 / 10 )

Strawberry & Cheese  :  RP 39,000  ( Score 8.0 / 10 )

And so, how does liquid nitrogen ice cream actually taste?? Well, I must say it was your average ice cream with a twist. Meaning there is this sensation at the end of your tongue. It's a feeling that 'sting' but not in a painful or awful way, but more to a 'numb' feeling. I suppose it was due to the nature of liquid nitrogen itself, it is an insanely cold solution to begin with and thus able to cut so much time in the process of 'freezing'. It's little bit like having a dry ice swirl on you tongue for a little while, pretty much the same numbing sensation. As for the portion, it's big. More than enough for one person. If you're not much of a share food person, you'll still be able to finish one by yourself.

I had the strawberry and cheese and liked it. I can taste the freshness of the strawberry fruit bits and the cheese was subtle. It didn't overthrow the entire dessert. As for the sugar level, it was the right amount. As for the rum & raisin with alcohol, I thought it was slightly plain. I can't taste much of the alcohol but well obviously it must have evaporated during the 'freezing' process. But the rum and raisin flavor didn't came up to my senses either. But on a whole, it still taste pretty good.

Bottom line, I love the idea of having fresh ingredient ice cream without too much food additives to prolong their shelf life. This idea is encouraging fresh eating in a way. The product Lin made not only broadens the Jakartan's community by introducing cooking with chemistry but most importantly made a good tasting ice cream with that process. And thus a conclusion that yes I'll come back again to the parlor.

Lin Artisan Ice Cream
Jl. Taman Kemang 1 No 6. Jakarta Selatan (Below Umbra, Across Parc 19)
Phone : +62 21 71794393