The Belly Clan

 Merry christmas everyone! I haven't written anything for weeks, so I'm gonna pay it with this long review of one of the newest place in town, The Belly Clan!

Last saturday, me and my highschool friends were having a twist event, me and my friend Jessie's birthday lunch, and also a little christmas celebration by exchanging christmas gifts. Jessie and I picked the place, so we decided to hold it in The Belly Clan. The place is new, and we've heard good reviews from several bloggers,  so why not?

I really love the entrance of the restaurant. It's located in the Intiland Tower's lobby, which is decorated with old white tiles, vines, and a glimpse of sunlight, making the modern western facade stands out among the old building. I was planning to take pictures of it after lunch, but the rain poured heavily that time, so just go see it yourself :) Anyway, the interior was also nice, typical western restaurant.

There were seven of us, and we ordered full meal from appetizer to desserts, so I'll just describe them one by one. The service timing was wierd, several main course were served before the appetizer.

Belly Clan Nachos (IDR 40.000)

Nachos is a must-order dish wherever we go, so we ordered it too here. The nachos here were delicious, crunchy and fresh, portion was quite big, but we thought that it was't nachos. It didn't taste like corn chips, it was more like fried wonton skin. Anyway, we were hungry, and it tasted delicious, so it's forgiven. lol.

Truffle Macaroni (IDR 30.000)

It's more like mac and cheese. Everything cheesy or creamy works for me, so this one did too.

Thai Pesto Spaghetti (IDR 75.000)

This was my dish. It was a pesto-style spaghetti, served with prawns and fried quail eggs. Actually, it was my first time eating pesto spaghetti, and I don't really like it. The olive oil taste was too strong for me.

 Pan-Fried Salmon (IDR 85.000)

The Pan Fried Salmon was served with tumeric rice and salsa sauce. Tasted a bite of the salmon, and it was good and fresh.

Wagyu Beef Burger (IDR 95.000)

This was my first choice, until I read that they're using kimchi as the topping. I don't like kimchi, so I changed my mind. But a friend of mine ordered it, and it was dissapointing for him. He said that he'd prefer burger king to this one. Ouch.

 Crab Fettucine (IDR 75.000)

This one were meeting my tastebud. The Singapore Chilli Crab sauce were delicious. It was not too spicy, but the taste is strong.

Orange Yuzu Glazed Chicken (IDR 80.000)

This one took the longest to be served, but my friend said, it was worth to wait. The chicken was roasted perfectly, and the corn also tasted great. 

Warm Bread and Butter Pudding (IDR 35.000)

This is our favourite dessert among all. The bread pudding were warm and soft, and it melted in the mouth with the cold ice cream. Heaven! We even ordered one extra portion of this. One is not enough for us ;)

Rainbow in a Jar (IDR 35.000)

Unlike the other rainbow cake, the one inside this jar was a cheesecake. I kinda like it too, but not as good as the bread pudding.

Chocolate Fudge Cake (IDR 55.000)

If nachos is our must-order appetizer, then a warm chocolate cake is our must-order dessert. This one was also good, but not special. We usually prefer a choco lava cake, but there's none here, so this one was just a fair substitute.

Overall, in this restaurant, I like their desserts better than their appetizer and main course. But it's worth to try though :D

The Belly Clan

Jln. Jend Sudirman Kav 32, 

Jakarta, Indonesia 10220

ph. +6221 57906000

f. http://www.facebook.com/thebellyclan

The Lab

After having a satisfying dinner at Detention Room, we decided to try the bubble tea place next door, The Lab. The place looks very attractive, both the exterior and interior, but too bad I didn't get any good shot for the exterior, since it was already dark :(

In my opinion, amongst all bubble tea store I've tried, The Lab has the cutest and most unique concept. Loves their consistency between the store name, the interior (starts from the table to the sink!), and the custom designed bubble tea glass that really looked like a lab cylinder. Attention to the details!

Yes, I did say that The Lab is the cutest, but it's also the most expensive bubble tea I've ever bought. We shared a glass of Macadamia Milk Tea (IDR 24.000), topped with Mini Boba (IDR. 3.000). The price was IDR 28.350 after tax & service, and the size was smaller than the usual bubble tea glass (It only came in one size). 

So is it worth it to pay almost IDR 30.000 for a small size bubble tea? Or do we only pay more for the cute glass and ambience? For me, the price is worth the taste. The taste of the macadamia and the tea came strong at first, but they blended nicely in my mouth, making me couldn't wait to take another sip, and another sip, until the glass is empty.

The Lab
Ruko Crown Golf Block D No. 29
Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta
Ph. +628118772837

Detention Room

The last time I went to Rukan Crown Golf PIK blok D was to try the famous Ikkudo Ichi Ramen about three months ago. Two days ago I went to that area again, and I was so surprised how things have been developed for the last three months. The area is getting more lively, more restaurants are open, the parking spot was almost full even though it was only a normal Tuesday night.

More restaurants means more choices, so me and David decided to try something new. Our decision goes to Detention Room. They've got colorful chalk writings and drawings on the blackboard all over the place, over the unfinished-look room with no finishing on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Simple but nice.

We ordered a bowl of Broccoli Cream Soup (IDR 19.130) for our appetizer. I've always loved creamy food, so this dish just got an easy win. The creamy texture was perfect, the garlic bread was soft and delicious, and the portion was quite a lot. 

In Detention Room, B.Y.O.B is one of their specialties. You can create your own burger, choose your own toppings, sauce, and side dish! I found it fun, so I tried to create mine. My B.Y.O.B burger was a single beef patty soft bun topped with hard boiled egg, cheese, smoked beef, and barbeque sauce, served with potato wedges as the side dish (IDR 34.783). Yeah, my burger got no vegetables in it. I don't like raw vegetables, but usually I'll have mushroom burger. But when you have to choose between sauteed mushroom and smoked beef for your topping, I'll clearly go with smoked beef :p

Anyway, the burger was really good! The bun was soft, the beef patty was thick and delicious, and the smoked beef added crispiness into the burger texture. The only lack I found is the quantity of the BBQ sauce, that my burger felt kinda dry on my latest bites. But it was definitely a fun and delicious experience.

   

As for David's main course, he ordered Black Pepper beef with Rice (34.783). The black pepper beef came  covered with flour, and the black pepper sauce's color was red instead of black, which is unusual. But the taste was also yummy.

For the dessert, Detention Room got another specialty, the Deep Fried Chocolate Bars, which was very tempting. But that day we've planned to try bubble tea in it's neighbor, The Lab. So better save it for my next visit!

DETENTION ROOM

Ruko Crown Golf Blok D #28, 

Pantai Indah Kapuk, 

Jakarta, Indonesia

facebook: Detention Room

T2 Taiwanese Tea and Coffee

After having dinner at Tortuga that night, David and I were still looking for something else to chew. And there just across the road, we saw this place, T2 Taiwanese Tea and Coffee.

The interior was cute, and the place was packed with customers. We sit in the indoor area, at the only empty table by the window.

At bubble tea place like this, we always ordered their signature milk tea at first visit. And the waiter recommendation was the Ultimate QQ Milk Tea (IDR 19.000). With that price, we already got the pearl and grass jelly topping inside, quite affordable right? 

By the way, the waiter asked us if we'd like to add IDR 5.000 for couple size, and we agreed to that. I thought maybe it's just like the normal upsize in the other bubble tea station. But look how big the glass was! It's like twice the normal size. Below is the picture of me holding the glass. It's really big, isn't it? 

 Taste wise, I quite like their tea. The tea flavor was strong, and it was not too sweet. Love it! <3

  

Anyway, they also served snacks, and we ordered Fried Abalone Mushroom (IDR 15.000) that night, but I don't like it. I think they were using the instant flour for banana fritters for the dish, as the flour tasted the same as my mom's banana fritters, so I find it wierd.

Anyway, the bubble tea is worth to try! Don't forget to bring your partner to get most advantage ;)

T2 Taiwanese Tea and Coffee

Rukan Crown Golf Blok D-12

Jakarta Utara

Tortuga

I always love to go to Pantai Indah Kapuk and try different restaurants there. Several weeks ago, I went there with David for dinner, and decided to try Tortuga. It was Sunday and it was 6 pm, but the restaurant was quite empty. They were having happy hour promo, 50% discount at 2-6 pm, but unfortunately we came several minutes after 6pm, so we only got 25% discount.

I wasn't really hungry, so I ordered Tortugan Nachos (IDR 35.000). It tasted good! The nachos were freshly made, and the meat sauce was delicious and quite a lot, enough for all the nachos. 

David ordered Beef Blackpepper Rice (IDR 45.000). It tasted quite nice. Not special, but not dissapointing though.

This restaurant was actually good, based on what I tried, but maybe they have to add more menu, as I think the variation was not too much. With the growing number of restaurants in Pantai Indah Kapuk, each must compete to attract customers in every way to survive.

For Tortuga, maybe I'll pay a visit again next time, in happy hour of course ;p

Tortuga Kitchen & Bar
Rukan Crown Golf Blok A No. 10
Pantai Indah Kapuk (North Jakarta)
Twitter @tortuga_pik

Caprese Restaurant, Pizzeria, and Bar

A few weeks ago, I went to Kota Kasablanka with a friend of mine to see the Jakarta Architecture Triennale  Exhibition. I've never been there before, and I just found out that it got the Food Society section, which consists lots of new restaurants to try. That day we tried this Caprese restaurant, and I liked it so much, but unfortunately I didn't bring my camera that day. So two days ago, I went there again with David, and this time with my camera equipped.

Caprese is located in the front area between the Main Lobby and the Food Society Lobby. I really love the interior of the place, with high ceiling, transparent bamboo partition, cute dining lamps, and lots of sunlights coming from the outside. But the interior is not the reason I came back there, it's the food who has taken my heart at first place.

The Porkies Pizza (IDR 60.000) was recommended by the waiter at my first visit, and this is what brings me back here. Thin crusted pizza topped with pork sausages, bacon, barbeque sauce, and mozzarella cheese, I would like to recommend this for all pork eaters out there :) 

For our main course, we shared two other menus, Egg Benedict (IDR 50.000) and Lasagna (IDR 55.000). I've always wanted to try egg benedict since I watched the masterchef series, so this was my first egg benedict! Two beautifully poached eggs over spinach, chicken ham, and english muffin, topped with hollandaise sauce, and served with sauteed mushrooms. I think my egg was slightly overcooked, since the egg yolk was kinda dense, but the taste still very delicious. I love the taste of my first bite, it feels like all the ingredients were balancing each other. 

The lasagna was also good, love the meat sauce, but the lasagna itself was a liitle overcooked, that it tasted kinda mushy. On my first visit, I tried Melanzane Parmigiana. I think it was some kind of eggplant lasagna, the sauce was the same, but the eggplant texture was perfect.

By the way this is the picture of the head chef taking picture of me, while I was taking picture of him. LOL. I was actually taking picture of the interior when I realized he's taking my picture. He was very friendly, he came out once in a while and smiling to the customer.

Anyway, I was really satisfied by the food, ambience, and the service of this place. If only I worked around the Kuningan area, I would visit it often :)

Caprese Restaurant, Pizzeria, and Bar

Kota Kasablanka Mall, Ground Floor Unit FGS02

Jl. Kasablanka Raya kav. 88, Kuningan

Phone:  (021) 29465333

Fook Yew

Seeing the Fook Yew stand at JCF weeks ago got me really curious to try it at the place, so last week I asked David (read: I force him) to go to Gandaria City to try the food. Fook Yew is the newest restaurant from Ismaya Group, and I always love to try their restaurants. 

The place was not hard to find. Located in the ground floor near the entrance, the place was really catchy with a huge waving fortune cat at the front, very shanghai-looking colorful interior, and the Fook Yew wallpaper to convince you. It was crowded that night but luckily they still got one table for two, so we got seated immediately. 

Fook Yew was turned out to be a Chicken Siew Mai (IDR. 19.000) in the menu, so we ordered it. It comes in a cute rectangle bamboo plate, but it tasted just ordinary.

For the main course, David ordered a Macau Fried Seafood Noodle with Egg Sauce (IDR. 49.000). For me the egg sauce was kinda tasteless, and the portion of the noodle was too small for David.

This was my main course, Beef Hor Fun with XO Sauce (IDR 49.000). This one was not a disappointment, I really like it. Perfect chewiness and seasoning. The bottom part was a little bit too oily, but still, love the XO sauce seasoning so much! :)

By the way, Fook Yew was having a twitter promo. If you follow and mention them, you'll get a free item! That night we got an Avocado Pudding with Chocolate Ice Cream. I usually don't like avocado, but I love this one. The pudding texture was soft, and it melts perfectly with the chocolate ice cream. Satisfying dessert for the night :)

By the way, the also sell bubble tea, but I didn't try them last week, so I'm looking forward for my next visit to try their bubble tea!

Fook Yew
Gandaria City, Main street Ground Flr
Jl. KH. M. Syafii Hadzami No.8
Kebayoran Lama
Jakarta
Ph. +6221 29007897

The Muffin House and Manila Connexion

Weeks ago, I had a meeting with some friends and my ex-lecturer at FX Sudirman. It's my third tme being there, but the first two was a loooong time ago, I think it was about four years ago, when the cinema just opened there and still cheap ;p. So when we got there, we didn't have any idea where to go.

After wandering around a little bit, we found this place down in the lower ground floor. The place got two brands in one place, The Muffin House and Manila Connexion. Tempted by the muffins on the display, we decided to sit and have our lunch there.

The Muffin House serves various kinds of muffins, with the price starts from IDR. 9.000. Affordable, isn't it? The picture below was our muffins, Marble Cream Cheese Muffin (Top Left), Caramel Muffin (Top Right), Choco Lover Muffin (Bottom Left), and Blueberry Muffin (Bottom Right). We tasted all the muffins. All of them were good, but the hero of the day was the Choco Lover!

Here, take a closer look of our hero. The chocolate glaze on the top combined with the moist texture of the warm muffin was bringing a real delicacy to our tounge. But wait, there's more surprise! It got warm melted chocolate inside, and it was really delicious. I'm actually craving for it as I write it down right now :9

By the way, we also ordered the lunch menu in Manila Connexion, but I don't want to write long about them, since none of them was outstanding. Even worse, my Lasagna (Top Left) was terrible. It doesn't look like a lasagna, it's too creamy, and I could barely taste the beef. Dissapointing. I think it's kinda our fault though, ordering Italian food in Philiphine's restaurant. The Philiphine's cuisine (Top Right, I forgot the name) was okay according to my friend, but not special. 

In conclusion, I think their muffins really worth to try. I heard they also got another store at Pacific Place and Plaza Senayan. Run and grab your muffins, sweet tooth! :)

The Muffin House - fX Lifestyle X'nter
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman
Pintu Satu Senayan
Jakarta 10270
Telp : 021-25554268

Downtown Bistro

I've heard about this place since the opening months ago, but never had the time to try it. So two weeks ago, I was so excited when a friend of mine told me that he's going to throw his birthday dinner there. 

It was saturday night, so we did a reservation before we came, presuming that the place will be crowded, but we were wrong. The place was kinda empty for saturday night. They've got indoor and outdoor area, and only a few table were occupied in both sides that night. 

The interior was set to look like a library, there are bookshelves in one side of the wall, and they've got reading table like in the library. We got the table near the bookshelves. Actually, the bookshelves really reminds me of the graduation photo background :p

For the appetizer, we ordered the Boston Red Sox (IDR 49.000) and a bowl of Seafood Chowder (IDR. 39.000). The Boston Red Sox was a plate of calamari served with BBQ sauce. The sauce was good, but the calamari was too dry. As for the Seafood Chowder, I really like the creamy texture. :9 

For my main course, I ordered Teriyaki Glazed Short Rib (IDR. 85.000). I really love their overall presentation, but the rib looked really burned. I don't know whether they grilled it too long, or this is how they usually presented their ribs: scorched. But unexpectedly, it tasted delicious, the most delicious dish of the night, if we override the burned part. I'll definitely order it again next time, but I'll ask them not too grill the ribs too long.

These were my friend's main course, Glazed Salmon (IDR. 89.000) and Purple Pig (IDR. 78.000). I tasted a litlle bit of the salmon, and it was also good, tender and juicy. Didn't tasted the purple pig since I can't handle the pork lard, but it also looked tempting.

As for the end of the night, we ordered Molten Chocolate Souffle (IDR. 46.000) as the dessert, and as my friend's birthday cake. It took 25 minutes for the cake to came out, and it tasted okay.

By the way, Downtown Bistro serves different menus for lunch and dinner. Since I've tried the dinner menu and it's not dissapointing, maybe I'll go next time to taste the lunch menu ;)

Downtown Bistro 

The Landmark Building GF

Jl. Jend Sudirman No.1

Jakarta

Ph. +6221 52960064

Opening hours: 7am - 9.30pm

www.downtownjkt.com