Gourmet Garage - Kemang

When reading the review and the concept i got slightly excited! Wagyu beef burger, seriously, even though its now quite common in places like Melb, i didnt know it has already arrived in Indo and at a very reasonable price of USD10.

I had to go! It was also on top of ranch market which is apparently the higher end of super markets here in jkt.

I kinda like its decor but felt it was too big, too open spaced. And they had 2 sections 1 japanese and 1 western. If i were the restaurant, with the space i have, i would have just divided both sections rather than combine it. Im a stickler for a restaurant for trying to do too many things at once. And this restaurant really tried to do everything. But i was adamant since they actually have a japanese chef to man the japanese side.

We didnt order the japanese stuff though. Mum snob had the ribeye, sis snob had the fillet salmon and i had the aussie burger.

Now, lets just combined both of my ribeye and burger together since both are beef. It was very weird, usually the beef will come out dark brown with charred marks. But both our beef turned out pretty pale almost looking white. On top of that, neither of our beef were medium rare. There were no signs of rare at all, no slight sign of blood whereas Mr Pancakes was just blood. Although my burger tasted okay with the bread, cheese and all. The beef patty along with mummy's snobs ribeye was utterly disappointing. And here we were thinking that they could have gotten the fresh ingredient since ranch market was downstairs. What i couldnt understand was why was the beef pale looking? Was it because the blood was utterly drained that it lost its colour?

Sis snob had the salmon fillet. Now, rarely do i prefer cooked fish than raw fish, and this was no exception. The fillet was not exactly fresh, it also wasnt not-fresh. It was just mediocre.

Yes, if i would to sum up my dining experience at Gourmet Garage it would just be mediocre considering the price i had to pay.

I would rather head down Casa which has a much better decor to chillax, or Potatohead for the food.

Oh, we ordered the hot chocolate cake with mascarpone cheese and vanilla icecream. The mascarpone cheese pipped my interest, but there were none when i ate it! maybe they used the cream to make the chocolate sauce. But that was probably the redeeming dish of the night. Try that if u're there

Being vegan

In Singapore i tried eating vegetarian once a week, but since this is Indo and considering this is probably one of the most polluted and environmentally unconscious people, it rubs on onto you. Which is me. I used to recycle all when i was back in Melbourne, but now i simply cant be bothered. Im ashame of myself.

Anyway today i was chit chatting to a friend of mine who stays in Jkt and is actually vegan cause she cares about the environment and all. Anyway this is some information on which we should eat less meat.

Meat and Climate Change
* According to the UN report “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” livestock production is the greatest contributor to global warming.
* Animal waste and feed cropland dump more pollutants into our waterways than all other human activities combined.
* Meat-based diets require 10-20 times as much land as plant-based diets – nearly half of the world's grains & soybeans are fed to animals.


Proportion of GHG emissions from different parts of livestock production

Livestock production emissions: 18%
Global Transportation emissions: 13.5%
18% of all greenhouse-gas emissions from human activities, including:
9% of CO2
37% of CH4(methane) - 23 times the Global Warming Potential of CO2 over 100 years, 72 times over 20 years
65% of N2O (nitrous oxide) -296 times the Global Warming Potential of CO2 over 100 years, 275 over 20 years
Source: FAO, 2006 (1)

Producing 1kg beef:

* Leads to the emission of greenhouse gases with a warming potential equivalent to 36.4 kg of CO2 .
* Releases fertilising compounds equivalent to 340 g. of sulphur dioxide and 59 g. of phosphate.
* Consumes 169 megajoules of energy .
* 1 kg of beef is responsible for the equivalent of the amount of CO2 emitted by the average European car every 250 km, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 20 days.
* Over two-thirds of the energy goes towards producing and transporting the animals' feed.

Source: Animal Science Journal, 2007

Casa Kemang

Gd Fd Guide Jkt, recommended this place and i went down to check it out.

I was looking for clean fuss free food in a nice environment to just chillax. I wld have gone to Potatohead but that isnt really such a chillax place. Casa upon arriving was really one. It reminded me so much of Melbourne and how they love their au natural/vintage decor. Lovely.

I ordered the apparently famous squid ink pasta with chili garlic oil and chicken. Mom snob had the steak sandwich with eggplant.

Now the squid ink pasta was liberally doused with chili such that i couldnt even taste subtleties of the squid ink pasta, i was disappointed as im quite a big fan of nero pasta. Although most of the nero pasta ive tasted have always been the sauce that is nero rather than the pasta itself. I was hoping (considering that my cholesterol was in check) to find out what nero pasta tasted like.

Mummy snob had the steak sandwich, it had a fancier name which was very forgettable, but the steak consisted of 3 thin slices of beef. Mummy snob was complaining how measly it was considering the price tag, but my thoughts were different.

Considering the dismay of Indonesian chef and their lack of passion/bushido spirit (for the japanese), i realised tht sometimes you have to create a menu that is in their means to cook. Having sliced beef rather than a thin fillet mignon was probably the right path to choose. You would have to really cook the sliced beef waaaayyyy too long just to ruin it. For the chef, you just have to wait for all the reds to disappear and the beef is done. Whereas fillet mignon requires a certain level of skill to reach the medium-rare tenderness which i love.

I would like to digress here abit since i touched on the topic of medium rare steak. We were at Mr Pancakes and i had no idea why mummy snob had to order the steak. It came out bloody, and when she sliced through the beef, blood ran all over the plate. It was simply not rested after grilling it. She told the people to send it back to cook again but i told her that these chefs do not understand that it had to be rested first, before heating it up again to serve it.

Anyway the steak sandwich was okay

What i really love about the place is the really chill atmosphere plus the decor which remains me of melbourne. Would love to go back there again if just to lounge and while my day away

Now all i need is an all white macbook (not the new austere aluminium frame) to look super gaya while sipping tea

Waiting for my itunes to work

Okay, like ive said ive been pretty busy and also pretty unmotivated to continue writing

But after eating at shabu tei and waiting for this itunes work, i realise that my job on this blog is somewhat of an evangelist... or maybe im putting myself too high on a pedestal.

Anyway my father snob out of a sudden decided to eat shabu tei, it could be the because the previous day mom snob was mentioning that she wanted something hot and soupy for her stomach, or it could be that 30% off bank mega that was available.

We ordered the nz beef for shabu, and my mom had the sukiyaki. The NZ beef for shabu was apparently 120-30 for 6 pieces whereas my mom who had the sukiyaki was only 80, and it seemed she had the same amount as us... it seemed pretty weird considering that the shabu stock was basically msg water, whereas hers there were stock/soyasauce and the lot. I felt terribly cheated.

We also ordered the beef katsu, and lo and behold, they use the beef slices to make the katsu. I mean seriously... what the fuck are you doing there?!

Dad snob was endlessly complaining on how paper thin the beef and how beef slices were used for the katsu?! On top of that, the sauce they provided for the sauce was sambal... I mean i know this is Indonesia and all, but at least serve some bulldog sauce or something. I had to dip it in the goma sauce provided by the shabu shabu to add some flavour.

Goodness, i would never go back there again. The whole day after i was suffering from msg.

Loewy

I've never really understood the concept of "gaul" or "gaya"

So on Saturday me and my friend went over to Loewy, this apparently "gual" place. And gual it was. We had to wait 90mins to get a table considering we didnt have reservations. but it was okay since we were at the bar and we had some snacks. But my friend wasnt too happy.

Okay onto the food, i had duck fillet with blueberry sauce and my friend the sole dish.

First, the sole dish SUCKS. Enough said. Dont bother ordering it.

The duck fillet when it arrived, it was like pieces of meat thrown onto the place, and was drowned in blueberry sauce. I had to lift the plate up to take a look and check whether this is really what i ordered!

There were no greens nor carbs. What a fucking let down.

The taste however was okay, but how wrong can you go when you just have to bake,panfry the duck and just drown it in blueberry sauce?

The plating of the dish was lazy, atrocious and totally unappetizing.

Gaul and gaya place indeed, closer to 10, lots more hip and happening youngsters came to this awful place.

Potatohead is so so much better for food.

Pepenero

I've blogged about this place afew times. And really both times have been disappointing. But i've said that the sauces were good, but texture was lacking. REALLY LACKING

I went back to the one at kuningan on a sunday at around 9 where it wasnt too crowded. maybe 40% capacity.

The food that day was good! I had steak with wine reduction and my sis had gnocchi, both really quite good. The chocolate souffle was pretty good too.

Mummy snob had minestrone soup, and it came out like indo style soup sayur, she was utterly upset and agitated. I told her that maybe in Italy there is such a dish and we shouldnt complain lest risk us looking like country bumpkins. I whipped out my samsung and started surfing to prove her that it does exit. Its called Italian Peasant Soup. But mummy snob, the snob cldnt resist and complained to the Italian chef who claims that it is from his hometown.

Food is good, go to kuningan when its less crowded, they might have mastered the art of texture with less people

Leko Teko

Teko, Leko, the iga penyet place. My friend swore by the sambal and claims that it had fucking ganja inside it. I mean seriously, if ever there was a sales pitch on eating something, that was it, except ganja is not so addictive, maybe something like coke or something. Anyway i digress. I went to Leko, and i ordered "spicy" since my stomach was okay.

Worst.mistake.ever

I was dying eating the fucking chili and i was cursing and swearing while eating it

So which is better, leko or teko?

Personally i prefer Leko, the iga penyet seems to be better marinated

But my friend says Teko chili is with the one iwth the ganja

Sushi Ippachi

Ippachi - widely considered one of the most expensive and the place to have sushi. ULTIMATE FAIL considering how bloody expensive it is and how hyped it is. Father snob and me realised that one of the sushis which had a liberal dose of wasabi was indeed not fresh, damn those fucking bastards. Don't bother going there if ure looking for sushi. My brother did say that the kyoto style sushi was okay. After Ippachi, ive vowed never to eat sushi again in Indonesia. Im just utterly dissappointed.

However there was one saving grace, the white fish sushi, i think it was halibut or something. The rest just tasted awful.

But one thing's for sure, the range of fish they have is really one of the best i've seen so far.

Maybe sashimi here is okay

On a side note, while in Singapore, i had to go and get my sushi fix, but the problem lies with the fact that i went in the morning, and thats where the reasonably price set lunches came in, it cost me 40 and i had sushi with some tempura. The sushi was ok at best. I shan't complain since if i wanted to have good quality sushi i should have gone at night, or not order the sushi set.

I have no life

The snob officially has no life. These days i only sleep 4 hours every night, not counting the 1-2 hours of nap time i spent in the car, damn the fucking indo traffic.

Anyway over the weekend i bought this book Jakarta Good Food Guide 2008-2009. Usually i shy away from these books because they dont really give a good account on the food. Its usually waaaayy too polite. And im not too discerning, i rather have in your face, no reading-in-between-the-lines to tell me it actually sucked.

When i read the review for Kinokawa, i knew i had to buy this book. She was spot on and brutally honest. Toro seared on a pan? Man, only idiots would do that. And i ate it, and it sucked big time. I always said time and time again that Indonesian Japanese chefs just dont have the bushido spirit.

The one restaurant i really wanna try is Shy, and i think in the book, its one of the longest reviews that took up to 3 pages.

Over the past few weeks ive eaten in a lot more places with less caution considering i was in singapore and got my stomach checked up. the dr gave me some medicine and now i can take chili and diary products. I'll post them up, one by one, but short entries since i hardly have any time these days...

Let me give you a round up on what i ate and whether you should bother making a visit.

Kira Kira Ginza

so i was at blok m and have been quite disappointed by the mediocre offerings except for the recent gem - kushigin

i decided to explore the other side and see whether there were any hidden gems there. i stumbled into kira kira ginza and was glad that i did. few signs indicating it was good

- quite easily the most crowded restaurant even though it was a tuesday night
- scores of bottles kept for their guests
- japanese women... why japanese women? melawai 9 is this seedy area with ktvs and hostesses which has sort of make this area an after work area for th salary man so its rare to see them here
- and oh, the japanese women prioprietror was entertaining the clients (albeit not in a sleazy way)

the guy beside me was having sashimi and it looked kinda fresh although the fish on display doesnt look too appetizing. when will they learn that that display is not only a utilitarian function just to keep the fish cool but as a selling platform for the snobby customers like me!?

no pictures cause i was too paiseh to take them, too many eyes on me that night, i think i was the only non-japanese there

anyways, i can finally say ive found decent katsudon in jakarta! the pork was juicy and soft while you still can detect some crunch to the crust. it was simply quite divine considering the amount of substandard katsudon i had to go through... of course its not the holy grail, but its a good decent standard one that i will not forget soon nom nom

i ordered the takoyaki and it was good as well. its a bargain as well, it was 27k for 8 pieces

oh i'd definitely be coming back here to explore the japanese menu rather than the pictures menu, i think ive found my new staple for japanese food

Jl Melawai 9, no 30

Loh Mie Pinangsia

Just in case you're wondering whether the snob family only eats at those establishment, we do eat at Indonesian food too. Here is the Indonesian version of lohmie compared to the darker cousin in Singapore.

While waiting for our orders to came out, some guy in a bike was driving past the store when he suddenly stopped infront of the stall, climbed down from the bike, kept his jacket and immediately started deboning the chicken. Wait a minute, he didnt wash his hands? The sink was just like 4metres away!!!

On a separate note, we ordered lohmie from the neighbour stall afew weeks back and while we were walking there, there were 2 guys sitting on the table presumably customers touching their feet. Now, i dont know what's with the indonesian's obsession with taking off their footwear and touching their feet, but its ridiculously unhygienic and disgusting. Anyway, before i know it, one of the guys turned out to be the owner of the store and promptly started slicing and dicing our order without washing his hands. Now, thats sick. If i dont regularly eat at these kinds of place this is the rational.

Anyway, the food came and the lohmie was sweeter than the ones i had in Singapore. It was good enough that i ate it up quite quickly and was hungry for more. The chicken was also sweet, probably due to the marinade.

Its on the Mangga Besar 1 road, and beside Alphamart

Potatohead

no photos here since the lighting is really awful and i cant be bothered to bring a proper camera with all the works

potatohead and restaurants the like have always been a bane for me. my perception is that they usually focus on decor rather than on the food itself. but potatohead has been a revelation for me since the first time i came.

today we had the special of the day paella and some pasta with mushroom stuffing. i was slightly skeptic on the paella but it came out better than i expected although i wld have hoped they use pork chorizo. the pasta was also quite good too.

well, if you have postpone your visit to potatohead you should go there soon, cause you'll never know when the standard will drop considering they're currently expanding. one thing though, the service was abit scratchy and the boy that served us was quite inattentive which made mummy snob slightly agitated

Its the branch at Pacific Place

Queens

ive come to this place after getting a tip from an indian friend. he claims that its the best indian restaurant in jakarta and that all the indians go there. he definitely wasnt bulling when there was a party in the private room, the restaurant was akin to a child having his party at macdonalds!



the tandoori chicken was tender and really quite good. it was abit on the moist side and i wasnt sure whether it was a north indian thing since i usually eat the south side.





the prawn curry was the weakest link that night as the taste fell flat



the deep fried fish in masala was good as well. and i love masala, so im definitely coming back here to eat there again



The briyani tasted good too

overall it was quite good and i'd try his other recommendation komala and see how it fares to the one in sg



Permata Plaza, Jl. MH. Thamrin Kav. 57,

Kushigin

mummy snob spotted this when we were eating at sushi kawana. it was really a hole in the wall kinda restaurant and if anything, it should be good as we saw a number of japanese business man tucking in into their grub. and oh did i mention that a japanese chef was right in the middle of thw sweat fest inside the grill area? immediately plus points for me already!



i came back here today after skipping japanese classes and i was seated behind where there were like mini compartments. btw it was really hot.... They need proper ventilation man



i ordered ox tongue skewer, minced chickeb skewer, bean sprout with pigs intestine in spicy miso sauce and ramen in shoyu sauce.

oh i finally ordered bali hai on tap and i have to say, it tasted good! no wonder the japs keep drinking it



i was given a cabbage salad with soya sauce. it was simple but it worked, although i kept to the thinner pieces



the ox tongue came out first. i squeezed some lemon on it and took a bite. the ox tongue was a little on the salty side, but considering this is more of a robotayaki/izakaya style restaurant plus the beer kinda make it very quite good. plus the ox tongue was really juicy!



then came the spicy miso dish, it was good except it was an overkill for me considering i was alone. i contemplated ordering rice to make this dish even better but i know i wldnt survive the rest of the meal if i did.



the minced chicken skewer came out with a semi boiled egg. the minced chicken had peanuts in it which gave it a different complexity t it. personally i cld have done without the peanut, but it was okay. the skewer dipped with the semi boiled egg was good!



lastly it was the ramen. usually i dont order soya based ramen, and much prefer the tonkatsu or miso ones. but it was clean and refreshing. it wasnt as heavy as the ones i prefer which is good considering how much sweat i was producing in that poorly ventilated space.

i'd definitely come back here and try the other skewers. but its not cheap, i spent bout 200k including the beer

kushingin
jl melawai 9 - 10f

Sushi Sei

Mega Bank was having a 50% promo so the Snob Family decides to go and check it out. It's been over a year that we've been back there and the Snob Family has tasted Kenzan, our outlook on sushi has never been the same ever since...

I walked to see the sushi counter and was surprised at how full the sushi display was considering its already Sunday, and fish imported from Japan usually comes in on Tuesdays and Fridays (and i think Sushi restaurants are usually closed on Mondays?), which means Sunday is the last day (well thats what i deduce anyway). But then again, it could be a bad thing as well, maybe no one ate it and thus the 50% discount.

After waiting close to 30mins we were seated at the counter. When i saw the fish up close, i was disappointed in what i saw. First the fish colour was not as bright as what fresh fish should look like. The tuna was not as bright as what i usually see and it was getting very pale in colour. What more, some of the fish were pre cut into slices. Although the sushi restaurant was packed, having to cut the fish before hand is seriously just plain lazy and unslightly. Although i've seen some good japanese restaurants with pre sliced fish, but i'd almost never see it in display.

After i saw the general skill level of the chef, ive decided to order the Chirashi rather than Nigiri sushi set. The wait was awfully long, and the worst part is not the fact that it took a long time to prepare. Chirashi sushi set which was being prepared infront of me was not difficult and personally very hard to go wrong. The worst part was that it was left on the top of the counter for a good 5-10mins before the waitress took it, go to another counter and put the appetizer, miso soup, and cutleries.

Sushi or sashimi is something you need to eat very fresh, and one way to make it taste fresh is to serve it almost immediately. If you let it out of the sushi display into room temperature, the fish would quickly lose its coolness making it worst. What more if you have to mould it in more than 7 steps with the fish on the palm of your hand.

Another problem with the restaurant was how it served the whole set as a set. Because of the very long process of having to get the sushi from the counter, bringing it to another counter to place the appetizers and then serving it to us. I believe they should serve the appetizers almost immediately after we've ordered our sets. So that we can tuck in to the sushi immediately rather than go through the appetizers and miso soup first before paying attention to the fish. Seconds are soooooo important here to retain its coolness!!!!



So how was the Chirashi sushi set? To be honest, im not a big fan of the Chirashi sushi set unlike my brother whose mission is to try all the chirashi sushi sets in the world. Because of that i dont know how to judge it? There is no need to mould the rice, and the fish does not need to be on the palm of the hand to be moulded as well. Freshness, decoration and aesthetics i believe would rule the merits of the Chirashi sushi set.

The fish as i said previously, was disappointing for the colour at least. The taste was okay at best, i didnt have much complain and the uni was one of the best ive tasted in Indonesia. But that doesnt mean its anywhere near "like-an-ocean-in-your-mouth" kinda good and it wasnt as bad as the urine tasting uni we had at Blok m.

I believe if i ordered the Nigiri sushi set i would have be highly disappointed considering how they moulded it. I would have been utterly dissatisfied, so thank god i didnt order it.

I would say, the service was awful, and being in the business for years, doesnt give you the excuse that it was packed that day. The appetizers should have been served immediately or at least before the mains came out. And oh, sushi chef, why are you slicing the fish into so many slices when no one has even ordered it? Doesnt keeping the fish as a whole piece keep the fish from dehydrating?

Huize van Wely

Huize Van Wely is situated on the other spectrum serving what might be considered "atas" tea house. Atas meaning high class. Anyway, Van Wely is something i thought Jakarta was missing, good quality extravagant desserts! So far, all the cakes i've eaten in Jakarta has been mediocre.

Cheesecake factory with its really cheap plasticy artificial tasting cakes. My goodness and considering how crowded it is when i pass by it, i really doubt the wisdom of the crowd. Maybe i shouldnt doubt the wisdom of the wallet, afterall Cheesecake factory was full and Van Wely was... empty.

It was tea time and there were the high tea menu which for 10k more rathar than 25k, you'll get a pot of tea or coffee. I got the pyramid chocolate which was layers of dark and milk chocolate in a shape of a pyramid, duh... How was it? As with any french cakes (oh its a dutch outfit that has french cake, but its main draw is the chocolate which should undoubtly use dutch cocoa), the main components are usually the layers of different textural delights, sponge, mousse, fruits etc etc. And as with any french cakes, its usually light enough leaving you wanting for more!


Its the square looking cake with the gold leaf on top

How was it? It was good, the different layers of dark and milk chocolate was paired successfully with the biscuit base that gave it a complexity to the cake. I finished the cake before taking a picture of it came across my mind, so i took one which was in the display, not very well taken of course.




My mom had scones for tea and it came out like little muffins. She tasted it and ask me to try one. To me, i felt it was probably the dutch rendition of scones and that it was more airy, light and fluffy compared to the denser British scones. It was good to me, but mummy snob retorted when i told her i thought it was not bad

You cant blame me, my mom and my dad because we were brought up eating British scones with Devonshire cream

JEEZ

How was the tea, i couldnt remember what i ordered but it was a fruity tea, i wanted a cold refreshing tea since its afterall Jakarta all year tropical climate, but the waiter said that the van Wely does not recommend cold tea, i imagine he was referring to the fact that im going to drink tea to accompany my cake. The recommendation is absolutely spot on.



They have a menu for dinner or lunch and im sure it comes from the same kitchen as Shy. So I'd definitely be back to try some of the other stuff


Huize Van Wely
The Papilion, 1st Floor
Kemang Raya 45AA
Jakarta Selatan

Arang 22

We decided to come here since it was usually the 1st of many Korean restaurants after exiting BEJ and into Senopati. It always looked full with many cars and if it's full the food usually shouldnt be too bad right?



We ordered the seafood pancake, sweet marinated kalbi and pork belly. Along with that was the many variety of small dishes that all good korean restaurants serve.

Alot of people say that the quality of a korean restaurant is usually dictated by the amount of small dishes they serve. I dont know how that would be true but thats what i usually hear people say. Arang 22 serves quite alot of small dishes, there were cockles, omelette, chips, veg, mini pancakes, kimchi to name a few. They were pretty alright, but im not such a big fan of the small dishes so i cant judge much.

While waiting for my sister we ordered the seafood pancake first, it came out hot and crispy which is ultimately important because of the recent failure in texture for all my meals!! How was it? For about 70k, there were very small pieces of seafood which if you dont pay enough attention would be missed by the radar. The requisite spring onion was a tad too overpowering in the meal as the taste was cutting into the pancake quite abit. But overall, i would rate it decent. The accompanied chili was pretty good as well.



Snob sister finally came (she doesnt like it tht i call her snob sister cause she claims she's not a snob ha ha) and the bbq meat came out. The portions i have to say, its pretty pathetic considering it cost like 160k for the kalbi, and 60k for the pork belly. The pork belly i was surprised it came out in strips of bacon, basically rendering it... bacon. It wasnt even pork belly considering how thin it was!!!! Of course 60k isnt alot, but they should have just given me one thick slice rather than with so many thin slices. This would have made the pork belly crispy on the outside while still maintaining its juices, texture my young padawan.....


Thin Strips of Bacon

So how was the 160k kalbi? Well it was tender and juicy, and considering how few pieces there were, i would expect this to be pretty decent quality of kalbi for that price. But i couldnt go past the fact that i could probably have gotten this cheaper at some other place. Or still pretty much enjoy my kalbi at a meat that is of a lower quality.


Kalbi Boneless

The place was pretty crowded with a mix of young and old, i saw 1-2 korean families coming in. The place is okay, but at such a price i probably would have gotten my fill at Galerai J, but mummy snob says that the quality is not as good as last time.

And oh, the many side dishes, i think it was offset by the expensive meat man..

Arang 22
Jl. Tulodong Bawah no. 1A
Kebayoran Baru - Jkt

Nakayoshi

nakayoshi, i saw it at the corner of my eye while driving home from jap school. its so quaint cause its a restaurant that open up in the middle of a residential lane just off jl senopati (quite famous road for restaurants). and me being from melbourne, just totally love off beaten quint restaurants cause thts usually the best places to go!





anyway they have a website and you can check it out, the prices are really quite cheap.

so today after class i decided to pop in and see whats going on in that restaurant that only seats 28



i ordered the gindara teriyaki set. for starters they had agedashi tofu. realising that its actually a fusion restaurant the agedashi tofu came in 4 round pieces(correct me if im wrong, im not such a fan of the tofu, but i thought it usually comes in 1 big square block?) but anyhow, the tofu tasted decent and i was quite looking forward to my main!

while waiting ive concluded that the chef is most probably indonesian and not japanese, when i went near the kitchen i heard indo not japanese being spoken. and the menu doesnt use japanese characters. plus they dont serve pork either...



so the main came with miso soup and salad. i was looking at the miso soup and realise how the tofu and seaweed was still very much intact rather than my rendition which usually have afew seaweed becoming too soggy or the tofu mushing up from the constant stirring! i thought what skill, but when i drank it.... it was cold, its a sin to drink miso soup cold! on hindsight there wasnt the requisite lid to keep the soup warm! WTF?

the teriyaki gindara, how was it? well i broke one of the biggest rules in my books, i ordered fish at a restaurant that doesnt specialise in fish/seafood. the gindara was not fresh, i had especially good and fresh grilled gindara at that japanese restaurant at plaza indonesia(sorry cant remember the name, but its near starbucks). the gindara at nakayoshi was not flaky, but it was mushy. just by handling it with my chopsticks i could see that the fish wont flake into slices like all good fresh cod fish would.

i had ogura ice cream for dessert, it tasted like this red bean ice cream stick (nyonya besar es lilin) that mummy-snob buys that is made in indonesia.

so hows the place? i guess i hve to come back and try the other non-fish dishes but its still quite blasphemous to serve the miso soup cold! usually i love small quaint offbeaten places even if the food isnt perfect (e.g. chiki, off smith street, melbourne - food is very simple but oh so good! one of the best miso soups EVER).

one thing i usually say is that, sometimes the chef isnt good enough to handle the workload and thus although he might cook a good meal if he has the time, he might not be able to reproduce the result during a restaurant service. however. this restaurant they had only 2 tables occupied including mine with the other one already had their mains served. so the chef only had to concentrate on my meal alone. pretty much a failure considering that the miso was cold... the gindara maybe i couldnt fault them since they dont have the turnover to have good fresh seafood.

the food is quite cheap although that was probably because i tot it was japanese who was cooking it. and its been quite awhile since ive been to kiyadon or sushi tei so i cant really compare.

http://www.nakayoshi-cipaku.com/
Nakayoshi
JL. Cipaku 2 /16, Keb Baru
Jakarta Selatan 12170
Indonesia
+62 (21) 7269751

Okonomi

Okonomi okonomi, i came here a few weeks back and i kinda like it. First of all, they had good japanese beer (kirin and suntory i think), which most japanese restaurants dont have. They usually serve Bali Hai... i havent tried it before but i definitely will get down to it one day.

Anyway we came back here again because Ramen 38 was PACKED!! It was almost 8.30pm on a Sunday night and it was packed!!! Well, that has to mean its good right? Well the last time i tried it was pretty good, but i cant really remember.

Anyway Okonomi, i ordered something like a Katsudon, except the pork and rice was ordered separately, they apparently dont have the don version. I absolutely adore katsudon, and after watching how katsudon is prepared in Japan, I can never eat katsudon the same way again... le sigh, same thing as how i can never eat sushi the same way again.. c'est la vie

Let me digress for awhile on how katsudon is prepared before going back to Okonomi. The pork is first marinated and then breaded before putting it in the fridge. Once in the fridge the marinate and breaded crumbs wld supposedly permeate the meat and crumbs would stick onto the meat better. Once you're ready to cook, first up, you deep fry it till its 1/2 cooked. This procedure of only cooking it 1/2 way through would retain its juicy because you're using residue heat to finish up the cooking process which makes the meat tender and juicy! Leave it 5-10minutes for the residue heat to cook through, then you place it back onto the pan and add the broth, onions, chives and finally the egg. The heat from the 2nd procedure will also continue cooking the pork. This method of cooking will ensure one of the tastiest katsudon ever! Most restaurants i've been to overcook the pork till it's too hard and it becomes abit chewy. Just dont overcook it!!!

So Okonomi, how was the katsudon? I have to say, one of the better ones i've tried, although not perfect yet. The meat was almost juicy, but it could do with less cooking time because it was chewy on some parts. One of the best that i've tried recently is at Izakaya Chuji (Lonsdale St, Melbourne), which was rather surprising actually!

For the sushi, i was surprised at how fresh the sashimi is considering that it's not really a sushi-like place. I think the main dishes that is popular is the okonimiyaki or others? Anyway they have the supermarket downstairs so i guess they can have good sashimi?

How does the okonomiyaki taste like? To be honest, i cant remember, but it was rather small. I think it was okay.

Oh i had miso soup, which was abit too salty, maybe it was the clams that made it too salty? I dont know, ive never had miso soup with clams before actually... But it was wayyy too salty

The menu is quite extensive so there's alot to go through i must say. And as with any restaurants that have such an extensive menu i usually have my doubts since i personally dont believe that

1. The chef is that capable to be that good in so many dishes (what more an Indonesian chef) and be able to serve it efficiently during one service
2. If the chef is that capable, the ingredients they have always have in stock for the extensive menu is not going to be the most fresh.

However Okonomi is not bad, the menu is quite interesting and you would have a quite a time looking back and forth the pages (considering how badly structure the menu is i guess) thinking of what to order cause most of them sounds interesting and you havent tried it before

I had dessert, which consisted of green tea ice cream topped with red beans. That was okay except the green tea was slightly on the sugary side. As for me, ive kinda stopped taking sugar and things that are not that sweet to others i find it very sweet so some people might adore it.

Gedung Kamome lt. 2
Jl. Melawai Raya no 189B
Melawai, Jakarta Selatan
(021) 7279-1608

Pepenero

Pepenero pepenero. I've heard about and remembered about this restaurant mainly because i heard it was helm by Italians. And any restaurants that are opened or run by people with the same ethnicity as the cuisine, i believe, retains their authenticity and thus the food taste better (but this assumption is currently being proven wrong for the Japanese Sushi chefs in Blok M, more on this later)

The 1st time i went there was with a friend, she suggested it and we managed to get a booking at the branch at Kuningan. We were sitted outside the restaurant, but still in the building, probably because the building was close, the aircon was switched off, making me slightly hot (this wasnt helped since i ordered the chianti, which was not bad) and bothered. Another problem with sitting outside was that i was situated at the corner and partially hidden by the pillar, calling for service was really really a hassle.

Anyway on to the food, the food is reasonably cheap (40-90k) compared to what you can get at other Italian joints. And considering this is run by Italians (i saw the Italian or some guy with western descent in the kitchen) and the nice dim light semi fine dining ambiance at kuningan, its really really a bargain. Which is probably why its so packed even on weekdays and the need to extend their restaurant floor to outside.

I ordered Osso bucco with rissotto (90k) and my friend ordered the Penne Al Tonno E Olive Nere (penne w tuna fish, black olives in tomato sauce) (40k)

The bread basket came and it had quite a variety with one of them slightly resembling the deep fried wanton skin they serve at noodle places. Thumbs up for the bread and bread sticks being warm. However, the bread sticks were slightly oily. And when we asked for butter, it didnt arrive... Probably we should have asked for olive oil instead.

We were also served bruschetta which i did not particularly fancy. It did not feel as fresh as the ones i've made or tasted before.

The Osso bucco came out and it was too tough. I was expecting an osso bucco with the meat literally melting in my mouth and not having to use my teeth at all to chew it. I was hoping the meat will break apart when i lifted it with my fork, but it wasnt. On top of that, the rissotto was too hard, it should have been cooked awhile longer to achieve that slight bite that is so synonymous with risottos but it was crunchier than what it was suppose to be.

Thank god the chianti was there to make everything go down much easier. But by now i was getting hotter due to the lack of air conditioning!

However, one thing i have to say though, is that the sauce and base that was used to cook the ossobucco was good. It was only the texture that was missing in this puzzle. Same goes with the risotto.

Same tragedy befall on my friend, the penne was undercook and not al dente.

I ordered the tiramisu (40k+), and i would imagine that they use mascarpone cheese, but it tasted abit like cream which made it taste artificial and not so appetizing. But there was coffee beans inside which kinda add a different dimension to it. But having eaten too many coffee beans from the tiramisu i think my throat was kinda irritated by it

Sure the place is ridiculously cheap and has really nice ambiance, but i wouldnt hurriedly go back there again. The problem with the food was that they cant master texture. To not cook the osso bucco longer so that it transform into a melt into your mouth sensation i believe is a sin to that cut of meat. And the really undercooked risotto and penne, yes it should al dente, not al hardte

Maybe chefs cooking their own ethnic cuisine does not mean that its gonna taste good. Either that, or they havent mastered the art of running a restaurant, or running a restaurant with Indonesians.

Menara Karya Building 1 Floor
Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav 1-2
Mega Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan

The Start

I've always enjoyed food, since i was a boy, sushi was my poison even though i hated fish.

25 years has past and my palate has definitely changed.

10 years ago whenever i come back to Jakarta for holiday, i would revel by the really cheap restaurants options we have here compared to either Singapore or Australia which usually is at least 50% more. Sushi sets costs a mere 100rp, compared to in Singapore which would cost at least 200rp

Of course, ever since I've been mad crazy cooking for myself almost everyday in Australia to save costs and to relieve some stress, my outlook on food has changed.

I would only order food that i cannot make easily myself at home e.g. meepok (the amount of time, preparation and effort just to make one bowl is RIDICULOUS!!).

The big breakfast, i believe is the most expensive thing on the menu, the skill required to make this dish is to own a big pan and buy fresh ingredients! But the amount of people who order it in Australia dumbfounds me. Which brings me to my other point on breakfasts in Melbourne, i think its a complete waste of money to spend $16 on french toasts, topped with orange glaze and pistachio mascarpone. And i detest the fact that i have to spent a fortune just to eat something i could make at home. But i have to say, the ingredients they use is not something we can easily find in the supermarket, so although the skill requirement is low, the ingredients scores a high point.

Anyway enough talk on the introduction.

This blog is about the journey me and my family have when eating out in Indonesia. I call my family snobby eaters cause we complain too much about the food and almost never enjoy our food. I always ask my family, when was the last time we enjoyed our meal?

The answer always leaves a moment of silence thinking about that last meal, usually too far a distance, that was truly and thoroughly enjoyable .