Paradise Inn

It's still January, yet I've crossed my Food Resolution List for the third time! And this time get ready for chinese.

Last week, Jakarta was hit by massive flood. A lot of area were damaged, and transportation lines were disrupted. Luckily, my area was not flooded, so me and my parents can still wandering around for dinner. We went to Puri Indah Mall aiming fot Ta Wan, but unfortunately the place was closed due to the flood. So we tried Paradise Inn instead.

The place has just opened recently, replacing two previous restaurants, Over Rice and Ajisen Ramen. The interior is pretty much the same as the Plaza Indonesia branch, decorated with wooden furniture, cyan transparent partition, and lots of lanterns. It is a under the affiliation of Boga Group (the same as Pepper Lunch, Ten Ten, Bakerzin, and Paradise Dynasty), so I presume the food will be good.

The first menu that tempted my empty tummy was the Imperial Pork Ribs, but it was sold out that night, unlucky me. So here's what we ordered for the three of us :

Crisp-fried Crystal Prawns with Salted Egg Yolk (S) (IDR 78.000)

Just reading the name could make me droll over it. The shrimp was cooked into the perfect crispiness, and the salted egg yolk was so delicious that I want to lick it right from the plate. But in my opinion, the portion was just too small. We paid 78.000 ++ and only got 5 pieces of shrimp, is it just me or it's really too pricey?

Poached Chinese Spinach with Egg Trio & Minced Pork in Superior Stock (IDR 58.000)

This were also good, I was glad they didn't put many phitan egg since I don't like it. The minced pork made the broth yummier, since I'm a devoted pork eater. The portion was also fine for the three of us.

Homemade Style Fried Vermicelli (S) (IDR 48.000)

It was a dissapointment for us. The vermicelli was overcooked, and as it shown in the picture, it's too oily. The seasoning was actually good, but with the overcooked vermicelli and too much oil, the taste was ruined. And one more thing, they only gave one shrimp for the entire portion. 

Seriously, I wonder are they really stingy on the shrimp, or maybe this was because the flood issue that they reduce the portion? We spent more than IDR 300.000 for the dinner, yet it didn't take us anywhere near full.

Paradise Inn 
Puri Indah Mall Lt.1 Unit #102
Puri Indah
West Jakarta

Momento

Here's another random dinner at Pantai Indah Kapuk area. David was having some bussiness in Pluit, so after that we decided to have our dinner at Momento PIK. 

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the bright white colours of the interior. On the exposed brick walls, the furniture, the ceilings, to the white marble table. There's a huge void on the entrance hall that the place felt big and spacious. And there's super comfy-look sofas in one corner, right next to an artifical fireplace. Too bad the sofas were all occupied that night.

The choice of food was quite limited. My main course was a Barbecue Oven Roasted Chicken, served with potato wedges and veggies. It was originally served with mashed potatoes, but I changed it into wedges. The portion was quite much, they served half chicken, and I'm not into chicken breast, so I gave it to David. But the barbecue seasoning was fine. The wedges was crunchy but I prefer it a little saltier.

As usual, David went with Beef Black Pepper Rice. The beef texture was good and not chewy, but the seasoning is kinda sweet and not spicy. We agreed that Detention Room's black pepper beef was better.

Anyway, the food was okay, but not yet outstanding. I think Momento still need some improvement from the menu selection to the taste of food, but I wish the best for them, since I love the interior and I still want to sit in their sofa-next-to-fireplace someday :)

Momento Restaurant & Bar

Ruko Crown Golf Blok D No. 33 - 35 

Pantai Indah Kapuk 

North Jakarta

Le Jardin - Moovina

Jardin is a french word for garden. That pretty much explains the interior concept of this restaurants. It brings the outside in very well with the plants, the wooden steps, white stones, rattan chairs, all the elements make us feel as we're in the garden, while we're actually in the 3rd floor of the mall. My biggest regret is that I came at night, and I got seated in the outdoor area, which is unfortunately not as beautiful as the inside, so I didn't get any picture of the interior. Surely I'll come again for lunch someday. For now, let's just go straight to the food and beverages.

Le Jardin offered various kind of alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages. We're not into the alcoholic drinks, so we ordered from their mocktail's selection. Mine was Sugarcane Mojito (IDR 45.000), while David ordered Lychee Crush (IDR 45.000). Nothing can go wrong with lychee, and the same goes for this one. The creamy combination of lychee and orange is making me wants to take another sip immediately. In the other hand, the sugarcane mojito is a refeshing combination of sugarcane, lime, mint, and soda. I usually feel that mint beverages taste like toothpaste, but this one actually doesn't.

For our main course, we decided only to share the Champagnarde Pizza (IDR 75.000), since we're not too hungry, and we're saving our belly for the famous dessert. Champagnarde Pizza was listed as the reccomended dish, it was a thin crusted italian pizza with ham, mushroom, egg, and mozzarella cheese as the topping. That was a very nice dish, only we felt that the ham is a little too salty.

The Cheesecake Souffle (IDR 55.000) is what got me curious about Le Jardin. It was served right from the oven, with raspberry sauce and butter cookies. I love cheesecake, but usually it feels too heavy to eat cheesecake after dinner. But this cheesecake souffle is offering the same taste, but with very light texture. Genius dish, I would say.

With the beautiful interior, delicious food and beverages, and great service, Le Jardin really deserves it's position as one of the hippest place in Jakarta right now. For me, that one visit is just not enough.

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Le Jardin Moovina
Plaza Indonesia 3rd Flr. #119
Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30
Central Jakarta
ph +62 (21) 2992 3999
www.moovina.com/

Lekker Bekker

I'm starting to cross my Food Resolution Lists! And this one happened accidentally. 

Last week, I went to Mall Alam Sutera with my parents. The place was new, and it claimed itself as the largest mall in Southeast Asia, so it got us curious. As it turns out, I don't think it's that big, but maybe it was because not many stores were open, so there's not much to see yet.

Anyway, we were just wandering around, when I saw that Lekker Bekker had opened their outlet here. As far as I know, it only got two outlets in Tebet and Serpong, so I got excited immediately and brought my parents to eat there. The place was very homey, decorated with comfortable sofas and pillows, and a cabinet full of cute things in the other side. It served Dutch home style cooking, with a twist of Indonesian delicacy.

We were not too hungry that night, so we decided to share Original Poffertjes (IDR 17.500) and Galantine (IDR. 38.500) for the three of us. They were both delicious. The poffertjes are warm and moist, and the galantine was very delicious. It was crunchy on the outside, but soft and dense on the inside. And it made a perfect combination with the sauce. For me, the only thing lacking is the portion :p

Lekker Bekker  Pannekoeken Poffertjes En Bolletjes

Mall Alam Sutera 

Jl. Jalur Sutera Barat Kav. 16 

Tangerang - Indonesia

The Playground

The Playground has already been in the top of my list since long ago, but I haven't got the chance to try it until last week.

Last week, me and david were just having our usual movie date. We decided to watch The Hobbit, and since it was a long movie, we have to watch it in EX. Yes, in our opinion, EX has the most comfortable seats amongst all theater, with the big comfy sofa and spacious footspace. So EX is our first destination, whenever we're going to watch a long movie.

Anyway, after the long and enjoyable movie (I always find fantasies enjoyable), we were (finally) having dinner at The Playground. The Playground is located in the Plaza Indonesia Extension, separated into two areas by a wide corridor. The interior is elegant, I love their various kind of seating. They have the swings, merry-go-rounds, and also the usual table. Tacky us, we sit on the swing area.

The choice of food was not too much. The food menu was only a piece of paper with the list of the food. No description, no pictures, not designed at all. In the other hand, the beverage selection is wider, the menu is designed beautifully, very contrast.

From the not-too-much selection of food, I chose Chicken Wellington (IDR 65.000) as my main course. And that was a great decision. It was chicken fillet and spinach wrapped in a puff pastry, served with mashed potatoes, a slice of tomato, mushroom, and black pepper sauce. They said that it took 30 minutes to cook the dish, but it was worth to wait. The chicken was juicy, the pastry was also delicious, and they mashed up perfectly with the mashed potato and the sauce. Love it.

David chose Epic Roasted Chicken (IDR 75.000) for his main course. It was half chicken roasted with herbs, served with potato croquette, chilli sauce, and grilled banana. Well that was new for us, never seen any chicken dish served with banana before. The chicken's seasoning was kinda weird for me, there's something tasted so strong, but I don't know what was that. Potato croquette was good, banana was also delicious, but we didn't try combining the banana with chicken or croquette in one bite. Now I wonder how would it taste like?

Bottom line, great movie, great dinner, will be back soon if I feel like playing swing :p

Just kidding, will be back soon to try their wide selection of drinks!

The PlayGround

Plaza Indonesia Extension 4th flr

Jl. MH Thamrin Kav. 28-30

Jakarta

Food Resolution

New year is always related with resolution. I don't always make my new year resolution, but this year I did. And not only what to achieve in my life, I also made my resolution for this blog. I wrote down the places I want to visit, the food I want to try, and the cities I'd love to travel to. I put it on the "MY LISTS" page on the blog, so please check it out and feel free to drop any suggestion.

Happy New Year all! :D