[Bali] Mama San

Hello! I just got back from a super fun trip to Bali with my high school friends. Got lots of stories and pictures to share, so let's start with Mama San.

Having heard countless stories and rumours of how great the food they serve here, it's only normal that we went here straight away from the airport. It was Thursday afternoon post lunchtime, only a few tables were occupied, and most of the customers were not Indonesian. 

Upon entering the venue, the modern industrial interior is dominating the place. The element of wood, concrete, and bricks are blending well along with the huge painting of 'Mama' figure at the back. Planted pots and standing lamps add more colors to the monochromatic ambiance.

With Will Meyrick as the name behind this establishment (he's also the man behind Sarong and E&O), of course the food they serve here are Asian, widely varies from the rich curries to delicate dim sums. Here's our pick that day:

La lot  (IDR 68.000)
Vietnamese grilled minced pork belly wrapped in betel leaves with nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce). I'm really happy that my Bali trip started with such a great dish. Savoury minced pork belly was seasoned excellently, betel leaf adding textures and aroma, and the Nuoc Cham is sweet, sour, salty, and spicy at the same time in a balanced way. What a good start!

Vietnamese “Pho Bo” (IDR 115.000)

Vietnamese rice noodles served with twice cooked beef, Thai basil & Hanoi chilli sauce. Usually I'm not a big fan of pho, but I have to admit that this one is good. Nice warm broth and generous beef. Enough said.

Green Curry  (IDR 135.000)

In the other hand, curry is my all-time-favourite food. Mama San's green curry of sliced beef with bamboo long bean apple eggplant & Thai basil is one of the best green curry I've tasted so far. As usual, green curry is not too heavy, but still got the curry taste in it. But I hope they could reduce the chilli a little bit since it was too spicy for my taste bud.


To counter the spiciness in Mama San's food, they also have selections of cold and refreshing beverages:

Red Fruits & Raspberry (IDR 35.000)

Red fruit tea raspberry sorbet & lemon juice. Just looking at the presentation could chill me a little bit. It was sour and refreshing, just a perfect companion after dealing with that much spiciness in such a hot day.

Honey Lime (IDR 35.000)

Black tea lemon & honey lime sorbet. This one is a sweeter option if you can't handle that much sourness. Sweet or sour? Your choice.


After tasting all of he food, my favorite is definitely their La Lot. But all of them were great, really worth trying. Thanks Mama San, for serving us such a delicate meal to start our vacation in Bali.

Mama San Kitchen, Bar, and Lounge

Jl. Raya Kerobokan No. 135

Bali - Indonesia

ph. (0361) 730436

web. Mama San

Koultoura Coffee

Koultoura is a new addition in Taman Ratu area, and quite a happening place right now for the West Jakarta's resident. One of the founder is the famous Axioo's photographer Ivan Mario, so no wonder the design is creative. It looks simple but spacious, but they got animal character's pictures and murals on the wall, I assume that each character represents one of the founder. The place was packed that day when I came for brunch with my highschool girls, so I didn't take many pictures of the interior.

Pink Lemonade (IDR 25.000) and Vanilla Iced Tea (IDR 20.000)

The pink lemonade taste sour and refreshing, but it's just like the ordinary lemonade. I can't find what's the 'pink' taste. Maybe just for the coloring. Meanwhile, the Vanilla Iced tea was the 'iced tea of the day'. Apparently they are changing their tea flavor everyday, and getting the vanilla flavor was quite lucky since I love vanilla scent.

Foxie Hangover Cure (IDR 45.000)

I was quite impressed on how they could turn such a simple ingredients into a stunning dish. This was basically pan fried potatoes and corned beef, topped with a sunny side up, but it turned out great somehow. Definitely my favorite so far.

Mr. Big (IDR 60.000)

Sausages, Bacon, Sauteed Mushrooms, Toasts, and Sunny Side Ups. What a complete brunch! And tasted pretty decent too.

Egg Florentine (IDR 45.000)

Sourdough toasts topped with spinach, ham, poached eggs, and poured with hollandaise sauce. Another nice dish, but I hate that they don't even put the same amount of hollandaise sauce to both eggs, it made the left egg taste bland.

Chicken Maryland (IDR 55.000)

Unfortunately I didn't taste this dish, but presentation wise, it looks good! And it looks like my friend was quite enjoyed it.

Koultoura coffee is definitely a nice place to hang out, and the food was quite decent too. I'm not a coffee person and we didn't order any coffee this time, but will do it soon, I hope.

Koultoura Coffee

Taman Ratu Indah blok AA2/33

(Just a few steps away from Pizza Hut)

Jakarta Barat
f. Koultoura Coffee

Marugame Udon

Marugame Udon is expanding their business, opening their second branch in Gandaria City. Just a few days after the opening, I got an invitation to a blogger meet up and break fasting here at Marugame Udon Gandaria City. The place is occupying quite a large area. Still using the same system as the Taman Anggrek outlet, they have a big counter where you can choose your dish, as well as seeing it freshly made in the open kitchen. After that you pay at the cashier at the end of the counter, and eat your meal at the dining area.

 

As the name said, Marugame Udon's specialty is their Udon, which comes in eight different choices to try. Other than that, they also have assorted tempura and also rice dish.

Kake Udon (IDR 33.000)

Kake Udon is served with kake dashi soup (Japanese stock with soy sauce and mirin), which taste very simple and light. The udon itself already has the perfect thickness and chewiness, that it is yummy enough just to eat the udon with the light kake dashi soup.

Niku Udon (IDR 45.000)

Niku Udon is served with Kake Dashi Soup and Sukiyaki Beef. I personally like this more than the Kake Udon, since the beef was very tender, and it also gave a hint of sweetness to the soup. Just look at that gorgeous shiny soup, isn't it tempting?

Mentai Kamatama Udon (IDR 50.000)

It's another way to eat udon, it is served with no soup, but you'll got soft boiled egg, mentai (chilli cod roe), and shredded nori instead. Not my favourite way to have my udon, but it's worth trying though.

Tori Baitang Udon (IDR 45.000)

If you're looking for richer broth, here you go. Tori Baitang Udon is served with white soup and tori balls. The broth is definitely the richest amongst all, and I just love their homemade tori balls. 

Beef Curry Udon (IDR 50.000)

Udon served with sukiyaki beef and Japanese curry. I've always loved any kind of curry, so I will definitely say that this is delicious. It was said that the curry here was made not too heavy to adjust with Indonesian taste.

Tempura is also something you shouldn't miss here at Marugame Udon. They had various kind of Tempura ready to pick on the counter. Their tempura is refreshed every fifteen minutes to keep the freshness and quality.

Beef Croquette (IDR 10.000) and Egg Tempura (IDR 8.000)

Kisu Fish Tempura (IDR 10.000) and Broccoli Tempura (IDR 10.000)

Ebi Tempura (IDR 14.000) and Chicken Chilli Tempura (IDR 7.000)

All of them were served hot freshly cooked, so no wonder they're all good. My personal favorite would be the Ebi Tempura and Chicken Chilli Tempura. The egg tempura is also one of a kind, I think it's the only place in Indonesia where you could find a half boiled egg covered with crunchy tempura. 

So, will I be back? The question is not necessary, since I've been their regular customer since the opening of their first branch in Mall Taman Anggrek. And I've been back there twice since this event held about two weeks ago. So, I'll see you there? :)

Marugame Udon

Gandaria City 

Mainstreet Lv. UG

Jakarta Barat

Publico Bistro and Winebar

Last Saturday, a best friend of mine was holding her birthday dinner at Publico, Senopati. The place is a three-storeyed building, with the first floor as the reception area, while second and third floor are the dining area. All three floor are connected by a unique spiral wooden staircase. The dining area was spacious, it is dominated with the black and yellow furnitures, and they got a huge void above the bar area. Love love love the interior, but too bas it was dimly lit, so I didn't manage to take good pictures.

So let's just go straight to the food.

Thai on Ninth (IDR 50.000), deep fried bread and chicken, served with Thai chilli sauce.

Popcorn Prawns (IDR 50.000), deep fried prawns served with salad with thousand island dressing.

Tea Smoked Salmon (IDR 115.000), roasted in ginger and garlic marinade, served with wasabi mashed potatoes and apple salad (But as you can see in the picture, my friend's plate got no apple).

Black Angus Beef Burger (IDR 90.000), with onion rings, cheddar cheese, and triple cooked fries.

Oven Grilled Stuffed Chicken Breast with Pesto (IDR 80.000), served with butter mashed potatoes.

Soy Glazed Salmon (IDR 115.000), served with garlic ginger rice and sauteed mushrooms and beans.

Miso Marinated Black Cod (IDR 115.000), roasted and served with butter mashed potatoes.

Roasted Spring Chicken (IDR 95.000), served with roasted potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and beans, and gravy.

 

Grilled Barramundi (IDR 135.000), well that's what written on the bill, but I think this more looks like Steamed Barramundi with vegetables.

I'm not reviewing the food one by one, but let me tell you, there's not a single dish that dissapointing us that night. Yes, you heard it right. Well the dish might not be perfect, but everything's delicious and everyone seems to enjoy our dinner that night. As for my dish, the Soy Glazed Salmon, it came in generous portion, well seasoned salmon with crispy skin and tender meat, and delicious rice. Gotta love it.

And as usual, a narcissistic picture to end the post. Happy birthday, Maya!

Publico
Jalan Senopati Raya no. 65
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan
ph. (021) 52964960
f. Publico

Seorae

Korean culture is very happening in Indonesia. I myself am not a big fan of K-Pop and K-Drama, but I love Korean Food, especially Korean BBQ. And that's why I was so happy to be invited to the grand opening of Seorae, a new Korean BBQ Restaurant at Pantai Indah Kapuk. 

Upon entering the place, I can feel the traditional and modern ambience at the same time. As usual, Korean BBQ restaurant is dominated with light wooden materials, but they did a nice job combining it with bold red color to give modern touch to it.

The event started with an opening speech from Mr. Park, the CEO of Seorae. He explained that the first Seorae Restaurant was opened in Seoul on 2007, and he's very glad that now Seorae has already had 257 branch in Korea, and the Jakarta Branch is their 258th branch and 1st branch outside Korea! Quite an accomplishment, isn't it?

In Indonesia itself, Seorae is brought by three best friends: Astrid Wiliandry, Susanna Anggraini, and Augie Fantinus (yes, the actor and presenter). Carrying the "affordable luxury" concept, they are trying to change the 'expensive' image of Korean restaurant and hoping that everybody could enjoy Korean food in affordable price.

 

In this occasion, Mr. Park also did a demonstration on grilling two of their specialty, the Galmaegisal (Pork Skirt Meat) and Woosamgyeob (Beef Belly). You may noticed that the two pictures above were using different grilling plate. Mr. Park explained to us that Seorae is using two different grilling plate to maximize the taste of each meat. And they also change the grill plate immediately if they are about to grill another type of meat to maintain their quality. 

After the grilling demo, Mr. Park was so humble to fed some of us. I was one of the lucky person to try a mouthful of Woosamgyeob, and it was really tender, juicy, and well marinated.  

And finally, Seorae Restaurant is officially open for business!

After the grand opening event, we were getting ready for the food tasting. First, meet the sauce. There were three kinds of condiments served here, from the left is the Sesame Oil with Salt, the Spicy Sauce, and Seorae's Special Sauce. We are free to dip the meat to the choice of sauces, but later I'll tell you my favorite combinations.

As usual Korean Restaurant, first we were served with Ban Chan. Here there were Lettuce Salad with Korean Dressing, Goguma Mattang (Crispy Sweet Potato in Caramelised Sauce), and Red Bean Rice Cakes. My favorite was the red bean rice cakes, but I also love the Salad's dressing.

After that, comes the meat:

Galmaegisal (IDR 79.800)

Seo Rae's signature dish. Pork skirt meat, marinated with their authentic secret korean spices, and grilled to perfection.

Samgyeopsal (IDR 69.800)

Grilled pork belly marinated with the secret sauce. Juicy and tender.

Maeun Dakgalbi (IDR 54.800)

Tender chicken thigh, glazed with the special spicy sauce, then grilled to perfection.

Seoul Bulgogi (IDR 124.800)

Grass-fed beef brisket cooked in their special soup. The portion on the picture above is a sample portion.

All of them were great! I couldn't say which one is my favorite, since all of them is unique in their own way. The Galmaegisal was tender and well marinated, and I like it best with the Seo Rae special sauce. The Samgyeopsal, in my opinion, is best combined with the spicy sauce, but it could be better if grilled until crispier. In the other hand, the Maeun Dakgalbi and Seoul Bulgogi were already great without any condiment. 

Other than the meat, there were also some side dishes:

Tteokbokki (IDR 34.800)

Rolled rice-flour cooked overnight in hot sauce and served with fried fish cakes. The seasoning was delicious, but it got more and more spicy after a few bites. Well I'm not very good at eating spicy food, so maybe it could be great option for spicy food lovers.

Japchae (IDR 69.800)

Traditional Korean rice-noodle stir fried with pork and fresh vegetables. This one contains no pork, considering the fellow moslem guests. I think it could be better if they reduce the pepper, since the pepper was quite overpowering the dish.

Not stopping there, I also got a box of Seorae's merchandise and a discount voucher. Yay! Thank you Seorae for having me in the event, I will definitely come back :D

Seorae
Rukan Garden House 
Blok B no. 19
Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta Utara
ph. 021 29033389
fb. Seorae Indonesia