Potato Head, Pacific Place

Food taken from Jakarta Globe

I promised N that i would bring her to Pot Head, my all time favourite chichi restaurant. The decor is uber cool, laid back and stylish and yet the food is really up to standard. There hasnt been anything that has disappointed me yet, well except the salmon dish that N ordered that was kinda fishy.

I was surprised how packed it was for a Thursday night, especially with all the working expats lounging around. Another surprising thing was the age group of the crowd, it had quite a huge number of people over 35 years old. Surprising for such a place that i would think targets the 25-35 crowd.

Usually i go during lunch so the menu is slightly different with more items towards the side of breakfast. This time, i ordered something pretty un-dinner-ish, wagyu burger with sweet potato fries. They asked whether i wanted any toppings and decided to go with the cheese. I was slightly disappointed when the cheese came out, it was the Kraft-type processed cheese. It was also slightly weird when the salad came with slices of chilli. I requested to change the salad and the next one was drowned in balsamic vinegar...

The wagyu burger and the sweet potato fries were pretty good. However, even though i did order the wagyu burger, i find it such a waste that such a fine piece of meat with superior fat marbling is minced into a patty. Although i thought the burger was good, i felt that, considering how much fat content it should have, i found the wagyu burger under-performed, but still good for a burger.

The real star of the meal was definitely the sweet potato fries, if you have a chance, just order it by itself, its that good!

Oh, one thing, never order orange juice, its terrible, i cant believe they dare charge that amount for that OJ.

And oh ya, the salmon that N ordered, sauce was good, but salmon not all that fresh.

Potato Head
Pacific Place Mall
5797-3322

Casa Kemang

N came down to Jakarta for her 3rd wedding this year. She's officially the friend that has come Jakarta the most often!

Decided to come Casa (not rebranded as Canteen) because it was near by and we decided not to go too heavy on the food, just the perfect place. Ultra chill and laid back, totally love the place. And oh, awesome soundtrack, which apparently you can check out their playlist on their website http://www.casajakarta.com

Casa was closed for renovations because i thought they were rebranding it as Canteen, but turns out, it looked somewhat the same. The most noticeable difference are the exhaust fans! The smell onslaught from all directions were at a minimum and i would like to say, very very bearable compared to back then.

Greedy i am, i decided to try the chicken roll with mushrooms, mash potato and mushroom sauce. The chicken was rolled up with mushroom and deep fried. It was really well done, the chicken breast was not dry at all. Thoroughly impressed. The mushroom sauce however was slightly cold, i suspected they didnt heat it enough.

Looking back at my older Casa posts, i realised that i wrote that the food was that good, im thankful i forgot about that and decided to come back again, and try Canteen as well. I'm going back there to try the Casa Burger, im hoping its good

Katsu-sei Grand Indonesia

Received an email yesterday - "what are you doing tonight"

R requested for japanese food in either Plaza Indo or Grand Indo. The decision was awfully simple since HSBC is having a 50% discount till the end of the month at Katsu-sei.

I dont know why, but i have this knack of suggesting to go and eat japanese food on my vegetarian days... Damn it, im such an idiot...

I arrived there and realised that almost nothing on the menu was vegetarian!

I had the tamago and agedashi tofu served with rice and miso soup. The tamago was surprisingly really good, i finished it up easily, you should order tht as appetiser. The agedashi tofu was up to standard as well.

I was there last month, and i was there on a Saturday so i managed to try the katsu-s. It's pretty good, although on the pricey side. With the 50% discount its a steal. It's probably one of the few authentic Japanese food chains from Japan around.

Its quite sad because although they serve good food, its pretty dead. I've been there twice and its really empty. I only hope more people will eat there, or at least Katsu-sei should decrease their price to better compete with the other players.

Katsu-sei

Grand Indo, Lt 5

Tokyo Dog

Mmmmm... i was at the Tokyo Police Club concert when i saw this stand selling Tokyo Dogs. Me being the jap-crazy person that i am decided to take a look and try it.

I bought the hotdog with nori on it, it tasted normal, the nori, though it looked good, didnt give it any sensory pleasure that i was looking for. I should have tried the curry dog next time. I think they have a store in kemang food fest, im not sure...

Okonomi Dining En

Judging from its name, you would expect it to specialise in Okonomiyaki, and it does! It even comes with the hot plate in the middle of the table to do your own frying of the okonomiyaki and if you desire - yakisoba too.

I've been here a number of times and there have been some hits as well as misses.

Let's talk about my most recent trip. I had anago-don plus some maki. I was surprised that the anago was actually dry and probably crispy. I think they grilled it till it became that way. I'm surprised they cooked it this way since anago as opposed to unagi is actually softer in texture, i wasnt sure why they opted for the dry/crispy texture. It came with the kabayaki sauce and you could dip the anago in it. Not a very big fan of it... I wldnt recommend it, although the accompanying miso soup was pretty good.

The maki's at Okonomi has always been pretty good, so just go ahead and order anything

Mum snob had this hiyashi chuka noodles with sliced beef, it was pretty good and just perfect for a summer dish. Although mum snob felt it needed a little bit more sauce.

Okonomi is slightly more expensive compared to Kira2, but some of the stuff is pretty good. It even gives you the chance to cook your own okonomiyaki

OKONOMI Dining EN

Gedung Kamome Lt 2. Jl Melawai Raya No 198B

72791608

Mummy Snobs Birthday

Mummy snob turned a nice round number last year and we wanted to celebrate it in gastronomical heaven! (awesome excuse to splurge on weekday lunch deals at the top restaurants)

Me and Sister snob shortlisted afew restaurants suitable

1. Emilie

2. Shy Restaurant

3. Pastis (well, not really shortlisted but we tried it during tht time frame)

4. El Wajh

5.Kappo Don

1. Emilie

Emilie, one of the top french restaurants in Jakarta. We arrived at the restaurant and i have to say the decor was refreshing, it had alot of space and felt minimalistic. The food however was very very disappointing. Me and sister snob was very shocked. I had the duck confit while sis had the fish. It just tasted flat all round. The fish was tough. And i believe my duck confit did not have any taste. The dessert just another round of disappointment. They gave us complimentary madeleine, which was probably due to the occasionally blackout during the service, it tasted flat too.

I was shocked, i wonder how could so many people say it was one of the top french restaurants in Jakarta... The service however was excellent

2. Shy

After Emilie, i wasnt too sure what to expect of Shy. The restaurant was at the ultra cool Papilion Building at Kemang. Many articles have already written about their degustation menu lauding Shy as the restaurant to pave the way to a new era of gastronomy in Jakarta.

The decor was definitely more opulent here compared to Emilie, but yet still very modern and austere.

I ordered the steamed crispy skin duck breast. This was probably the best duck confit ever.... The best in Jakarta that ive tasted before. I also had turban of langoustine, i didnt really fancy it, but probably that's because i couldnt appreciate it. The service here was excellent as well. Go there if you want to impress anyone

3. Pastis

Pastis, one look at the menu, and i knew i wasnt going to bring my mom there, it had both italian and asian dishes. Total no no. My sister was there with her friends so i hopped over to El Wajh to try their Moroccan dishes.

4. El Wajh

El Wajh is actually under the Face Bar group that has restaurants all over the world. Situated in a building with other restaurants by Face Bar, it feels like an escapism right in the middle of the city into another world. The diverse interiors taken from India, Thailand and Moroccan seem to blend seamlessly that complements rather than clash with each other. I really have to give it to them in creating that sanctuary that is held together by the Face Bar.

I tried only one dish to gauge the potential of the restaurant, i had the chicken and apple in tajine. It was just simply divine.... I love it alot and swore to come back here again to try the other food.

5. Kappo Don

The last place was Kappo Don, the sign on the restaurant stated that reservations had to be made in advance for dinners, they do not take walk-ins. That is very bold for a restaurant in Jakarta, actually anywhere else in the world to have such a policy. I was intrigued, so i decided to go there for lunch to see whether its worth the trip for mum's birthday. It specialized in Kyoto kaiseiki cuisine if im not mistaken.

I had the lunch set. I didnt meet my expections, infact it fell short of it. I was quite disappointed in it and didnt bother thinking about trying the reservation-only dinner service.

Emilie

Senopati 39, Kebayoran Baru

5213626

Shy Restaurant

Level 4, The Papilion, Jalan Kemang Raya no. 45AA

7199921

Pastis

The Kuningan Suites Lt. Dasar Jl. Setiabudi Utara Kuningan

526 0260

El Wajh Moroccan Restaurant & Lounge.

KH. Wahid Hasyim no. 112

315-0424

Kappo Don

Moved to Blok M

Canteen - Plaza Indonesia

Canteen, the same group as Casa (kemang), and if im not mistaken Casa is being rebranded as Canteen (seriously, they should have just kept Casa as it is)

Its super cool, with wood being the dominant material for decor, it projects a very laid back non-pretentious atmosphere that is helped by the light flooding in through the floor to ceiling windows during the day (very much like Casa). Come night time Canteen dims the lights and transforms into a watering hole destination.

So how is the food despite is super cool image? I'm very sceptical towards these restaurants that spend a fortune on design but their food is just not up to standard (which seems to be the case these days, since Indonesians care more about where they eat, instead of what they eat, truly sad...)

Anyway I was just there yesterday because California Pizza Kitchen at EX was just too noisy, there was some band playing at the atrium and that was a huge turn off. I dont know how Indonesians can stand the blaring music! Just the other day i went to Bandung on a bus, and the bus was blasting rock music at 6am when most of passengers were not fully awake yet and there was still a 2-3 hours drive ahead of us...

ANYWAY

Canteen, i've been there a number of times, always forgetting how crowded it gets on a Saturday night and the inevitably waiting list. So this time thankfully we manage to get a table quick making it my virgin food-trip (ive been there for drinks).

First i ordered Storm beer Tropical, it was really good. At only 35k++, a steal if you ask me, it tastes something like Hoegaarden but 1/3 of the price. I'm definitely going to get more of that.

M ordered the truffles fries, and oh my goddddd, i have to say, BEST TRUFFLE FRIES in Jakarta! Trust me, you could easily taste the Truffle Oil compared to other places where they just measly drizzle the oil. I told W to stop pouring the tomato ketchup because it might mask the truffle oil taste, he said it wldnt, and boy was he right, even with ketchup, i could still taste the truffle. Order it, the snob recommends it, you wont regret it.

I had mushroom risotto which came out in record time, i believe it was pre-prepared, and there wasnt really any bite to it, but the taste was there and i was famished, so it did the job, i wldnt mind ordering it again i guess?

W and M shared pesto pasta, i didnt like it, i reckon the pesto sauce came from a can, so zero points there. Dont order it unless you really... wait no, just dont order it.

I had tiramisu for dessert, it was 35k, i was testing my luck, i knew the tiramisu was not going to be nice, i just knew it, but i was hoping canteen would surprise me... Well they didnt, it was what i expected to be. There was too much cream, not mascarpone, and not enough savoiardi, plus it wasnt soaked enough in coffee... i separated the cream and just ate the savoiardi

Remember to make bookings for a Saturday night, and oh, there are very limited non-smoking seats, and probably the worst seats as well.

Plaza Indonesia Extension

Lt 5

3156537