WakuWaku Japan Cafe at Kaffein

 

New place to hangout in Jakarta, it's WAKUWAKU CAFE! If the name WakuWaku reminds you of the popular Japanese TV channel you watch on your cable TV at home, then you're guessing it right. WakuWaku Cafe is presented by WakuWaku Japan, an entertainment channel which brings you popular Japanese programs, such as Japanese dramas, movies, animations, culture programs, etc. Not only bringing Japanese culture on the screen, now WakuWaku Japan is also letting people to taste the real Japanese food here at WakuWaku Cafe.

Taking place at Kaffein Cafe at Gandaria City, WakuWaku did an amazing job transforming the place so you can feel the traditional Japanese ambiance inside the Cafe. The dining area is separated into the indoor and outdoor area. The indoor area is beautifully decorated as a sakura garden with a small tatami area. Having your meal here feels like having the real hanami (sakura party) in Japan.

 

The interior at their outside dining area is lighter and brighter than the inside. It's simply designed with light wooden colour combined with paste pink and green colors with Japanese texture. And there's also a wall mounted cabinet which displays lots of cute Japanese ornaments at one side of the outdoor area. So simple yet comfortable!

 

The food they serve here are the authentic Ochazuke series. Ochazuke is the type of Japanese dish which is made by pouring Ocha (Japanese green tea ) and Dashi (fish stock) over rice and some savoury toppings.

Tempura Chazuke (IDR 120.000)
 The first Ochazuke series comes with assorted tempura as the savoury toppings. It has Ebi Tempuras, Fish Tempura, Squid Tempura, Mushroom Tempura, and Spinach Tempura as the toppings. After the ochazuke soup poured into the bowl, the taste of the tempura became crispy and soggy at the same time, yet so good. And of course I love the rich and unique taste of the ochazuke soup, the combination of ocha and dashi is not something you could easily found in Jakarta. Must try!

Tai Chazuke (IDR 120.000)
 If you love to have your fish raw, this might be the right dish for you. Tai Chazuke is one of their best sellers, using only the freshest snapper fish as their topping. Well for me, I'm not a big fan of raw fish, usually I would avoid eating any dish which contains raw fish such as nigiri sushi or sashimi, but I tried this dish and I must say that it was pretty good. It has that chewy texture, but it's not smelly at all. Combined with the ochazuke soup, well, ochazuke soup makes everything better! Lol.

Sake Chazuke (IDR 120.000)

The last dish of the ochazuke series, it comes with shredded grilled salmon as the topping. Well now this is something I love! The combination of the salmon, rice, and soup was so warm and comforting. The kind of comfort food that I would love to have over and over again.

Chirashi Sushi (IDR 150.000)

The last dish was not a part of the ochazuke series, but don't worry, it's just as good as the others -- if not better. Colorful seafood and vegetables over vinegar rice, it feels like you're eating sushi, in a bowl! It's pretty and tasty, highly recommended.

Last month on November 28-30th, WakuWaku Japan was also holding a grand opening event for WakuWaku Cafe. The event was held at the Piazza at Gandaria City, and you can enjoy Japanese games and culture there. You can also take picture with Ultraman Mebius (it's one of my childhood superhero!) or wear your own yukata. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures.

FYI, WakuWaku Japan Cafe will only be here for a very short time, only until January 28th 2015, so you better be on your way now before it's too late! Thanks BBlog and WakuWaku Cafe for the authentic Japanese experience :D

WAKUWAKU JAPAN CAFE

Gandaria City

Mainstreet Dining UG

Unit #MUC33

Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda No, 8
Jakarta Selatan 12240

WAKUWAKU CAFE

OpenRice Meet the Chef Event with Hog's Breath Cafe and VMAD Vegetarian Restaurant

Got invited to OpenRice event: "Meet the Chef" at Central Park Mall last Sunday. Well who doesn't know OpenRice? I bet you've at least heard of them, as they're the 1st culinary site in Indonesia, providing an online dining guide written by local people, featuring more than 71.000 dining places in Indonesia. This time, collaborating with Central Park Mall and Local Taste ID, they are organizing "Meet the Chef" event, a live cooking demonstration by restaurant's head chefs. Not only the visitors could learn how to cook a restaurant quality dish, they can also taste it on the spot, for free!

The first cooking demo was held by Chef Anto from Hog's Breath Cafe. Hog's Breath cafe is a chain of steak house restaurants which originally came from Australia, and now they've opened their first Indonesian outlet at Central Park Mall. Not only specializing in steak, they're also serving choices of burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas.

Aussie's Burger (IDR 89.000)

Time to judge the book by it's cover, guys, because this burger tastes as good as it looks! Hog's home made all beef patty in BBQ sauce topped with cheddar cheese, crispy beef bacon, lettuce, beetroot, pineapple, tomato, onion, and sunny side up, served with soft bun, salad, and curly fries. What's not to love? Me personally, the thing I love most -- other than that thick juicy patty in BBQ sauce of course -- is the pineapple inside the burger, which is unusual, but gives the burger the fresh and tangy sensation.

Prime Rib Steak Sandwich (IDR 149.000)

Tender prime rib char-grilled steak with cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion, and hickory BBQ sauce on a toasted Vienna loaf, served with salad and curly fries. Another jaw dropper, I just love everything on the plate.

Virgin Mojito (IDR 40.000) and Strawberry Mixed Smoothies (IDR 38.000)

Both of them were so good and fresh, a great companion for the meal in such a hot day. The mojito has the perfect balance between the lemon and mint flavor, while the smoothies is tangy and sweet. Oh please note that this glass is not their actual servings.

The second cooking demo was held by VMAD, a Vegetarian Indian Restaurant located in Sarinah and Sunter. I know some people are being skeptical when they heard the word "vegetarian". They immediately judge the food to be plain and tasteless. Well I was one of them, to be honest, but lately I've tried some vegetarian restaurant, and I even tried the vegan diet for health purpose, and not all vegetarian food is plain and tasteless. I found some of them to be delicious and addictive too. VMAD here is also trying to let people know that vegetarian food can be as good as the non vegetarian food. And they're obviously healthier.

Hakka Bakka Noodle (IDR 49.000)

Fried yellow noodle mixed with sauteed vegetarian chicken and mixed vegetables, and gently mixed with black pepper sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce, and olive oil. Even though it looks like a normal fried noodle, the taste was not just normal. It was BOLD. It's sweet and savoury and peppery in the balanced way. The vegetarian chicken they used here are actually made of soya bean, but it tasted quite similar to chicken.

Murtabak Ceylon (IDR 29.000)

Thin crusted pancake stuffed with spicy minced vegetarian chicken filling, served with Indian curry sauce. As expected from Indian food, this one's also bold and spicy. Nicely done, love the crispy outer layer and also the spicy chicken filling.

Jamaican Cooler (IDR 36.000) and Green Fantasy (IDR 35.000)

Jamaican Cooler is made of mocha syrup, vanilla ice cream, milk, and cashew nuts, while Green Fantasy's ingredients consists green veggie, lime, and pineapple. Both are cold and refreshing, but I love the Jamaican Cooler more as it's sweet and creamy but not heavy.

Thank you OpenRice for inviting me to this event :D 

Oh and for you who loves to capture your food and share it with others, you can now download OpenSnap for free. It's OpenRice's mobile apps which let you share your food experience with lot's of foodies from all across Asia! Download now on your AppleStore or Android PlayStore. Because sharing is caring, rite? ;p

Hog's Breath Cafe
Central Park, Tribeca Park, GF, Unit 15
Jl. Letjen. S. Parman Kav. 28, Slipi
 ph. (021) 29200114 

VMAD Vegetarian Madness
Jl. Danau Sunter Utara Raya Blok R No. 46 - 47 - 48, Sunter 
ph. (021) 6516075
Sarinah Building, Jl. MH Thamrin no. 11
ph. (021) 3903533

New Dessert Creations at Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop

For me, the name of Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop began to be heard often since last July, when they became the first cake shop in Jakarta who serves the famous CRONUTS! From back then until now, the Mandarin Oriental's cronuts still remains as one of the best cronuts in Jakarta, and now they also create more variants of cronuts.

And not only cronuts. Now that their pastry chef, Chef Wita Girawati, has completed an intensive training at LeNotre Culinary Institutes in Paris, she and her team has created the hotel's new dessert menu that will be offered at the famous Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop. And last week, I happened to be so lucky to be one of the first people to taste her new dessert creations.

The food tasting session was held in Cinnamon, Mandarin Oriental's buffet restaurant which is also connected with the Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop. The restaurant was facing the garden, it was warmly light and quite cozy. At the center of the restaurant, there's this huge dessert table, offering us not only the new dessert creations, but also their favourite and best sellers too.

The new dessert menu itself is ranging from the high end desserts to some innovative eclairs and handmade chocolates. Most of them are served in the Individual Portion at the price at IDR 50.000 and Whole Cake which starts from IDR 340.000. The portion they served us that day was actually the bite-sized portion, it's smaller than the Individual Portion. They made it special for this occasion, because there were so many desserts to taste.

Caramel and Apple Tart

Caramel chiboust cream with caramelized apple on the top of almond crust tart. Creamy, crunchy, and sweet. It was such a lovely dessert. Love the texture play and it has the perfect sweetness that match my tastebud.

Piemonte Hazelnut Cake 

Chocolate caramel mousse cake with hazelnut bavaroise on hazelnut biscuit. Presentation wise it was such a beauty. Got tempted immediately by the look of it, both the bite sized and the whole cake. But too bad I'm can't handle too much chocolate mousse. It was so good at the first bite, but at the end I'm getting overwhelmed by the creaminess and sweetness. It might be a good choice if you are a chocolate person though.

Alliance Apricot

Apricot and mascarpone mousse with sable breton biscuit. Now this is more suitable for me. Even though it's a mousse, it has the tangy taste from the apricot so it's not overwhelming for me. I was expecting hard and crunchy biscuit at the bottom and found out that the sable breton biscuit was actually kinda soft, but it actually tasted good together with the mousse at it's top.

Matcha Goma Cake 

Layers of white chocolate mousse, green tea biscuit, and sesame seed jelly. Another decent cake with strong green tea taste. 

Other than the whole cakes, there are also eclairs, lime and raspberry macaroon, cassava cake, and of course their famous cronuts. All of them were so lovely that I'm getting sugar high! Never eaten that many desserts at one time before in my life.

Anyway, to enjoy their lovely dessert, you can simply drop by to the Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop, or enjoy the Afternoon Tea Package at Cinnamon. For IDR 130.000+, you can enjoy one of this high tea package.

Classic High Tea

Assortment of finger sandwiches (egg, smoked salmon with cream cheese, cucumber)

Home baked scones served with strawberry jam and clotted cream

American chocolate cake, tiramisu cake, and strawberry tart

Oriental High Tea

Basket of dim sum with char siew chicken bun

Prawn and siew mai dumplings with chilli sauce

Indonesian kue klepon, lapis legit, and banana cakes

Wait no more and get your sugar fix at Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop now! 

Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop

Jl. MH Thamrin 

Jakarta 10310

ph. (021) 2993 8889

fb. Mandarin Oriental Jakarta

Bakerzin Plaza Senayan Reopening

Bakerzin has renovated their outlet in Plaza Senayan and came back with a brand new concept: Dessert Bar. Now you can have your favourite dessert in a sophisticated bar, isn't it great?

At the first day of their opening, I got invited to their press and media event. The outlet is quite spacious, separated into two areas, which the inside is for smoking customers and the outside area is for non smoking customers. The ambiance is kinda more casual and warmer than before, love the combination of patterned floor tile, wooden furniture, and the stone on the wall.

image taken from google

image taken from google

The place was quite crowded, lots of media people and other invitations came that day. On the event, everybody is served with choice of main courses, the new dessert creations, and beverages. But before that, we were also served with the overflowing canapes.

Salmon Steak (IDR 90.000)

Grilled salmon served with sauteed baby potatoes and vegetables. Everything is cooked with perfection. Fresh and tender salmon, and perfectly seasoned baby potatoes and vegetables. Love everything about this dish.

Veal with Pesto Linguini (IDR 120.000)

Pan-fried veal with homemade pesto linguini and tomato vinaigrette. Another satisfaction. I'm actually not a big fan of pesto, but this one was actually nice. The veal also tender and beautifully seasoned.

Sliced Beef with Crushed Potato (IDR 160.000)

Tenderloin slice served over mixed vegetables and potato crush. Probably the only drawback we found that day. Actually everything's good, except the rubber-textured meat. It's just too chewy no one could chew it. Too bad since the sauce is delicious.

Classic Oxtail Soup (IDR 90.000)

Bakerzin's signature oxtail soup served with steamed rice and melinjo chips. Didn't expect much from this, but I found it the best main course of the day! Tender meat, rich soup, warm rice, Indonesian food at it's best.

Drinks, clockwise from the left: Iced Tiramisu Caffe Cinno (IDR 35.000), Sweet Peach Sparkling Fruity Tea (IDR 30.000), Iced Honey Lemon (IDR 33.000), Blue Passion Macaron (IDR 35.000)

Red Velvet Lava (IDR 55.000)

If you think chocolate molten lava cake is good, then this dish is a genius! The cake itself looked dry from outside, but actually it was kinda crunchy outside, but moist inside. Take a bite of it with the vanilla ice cream and cream cheese, and you'll find yourself drown in delicacy.

Deconstructed Foret Noir (IDR 55.000)

Another great choice for chocolate lover. Nice warm brownies, served with chocolate mousse, dark cherries, and vanilla ice cream.

Iced Puma (IDR 55.000)

The last dessert of the day. Chocolate mousse served with meringue and berries. Not a fan of chocolate mousse, but love the meringue.

Bakerzin is definitely one of the leading restaurant in Jakarta, especially in the dessert section. I've been a loyal customer of Bakerzin since long ago, and I'm going to visit it more and more now for the new dessert creations. Thank you Bakerzin for having me on your event. 

Bakerzin
Plaza Senayan Level 2

Jl. Asia Afrika No. 8 Senayan - Jakarta 10270 Ph: 021.5790 0408 Fax: 021.5790 0409facebook