Slice of Heaven

Hello!

It's been exactly four months since my last post. How time flies! Got stuck with work and real life that I got no time to play here :)

Anyway, last week I suddenly just miss blogging so much, and that's when I spotted the Slice of Heaven. I was hanging out with my girls at Grand Indonesia, looking for something to eat. And this place was just too cute to be ignored. Decorated with warm wooden texture combined with pastel blue color, it was just the right place to have your meal with your girls.

Actually, the first time I saw their name, "Slice of Heaven", my mind suddenly brought me to a heavenly and sinful slice of cake with cream and fresh fruits all over it. But when we ask for the menu, Slice of Heaven is actually an eatery, serving full course meal from appetizer to desserts. Bad news, they don't have any cakes selection.

But they do have quite appetizing menu selections, from Western to Japanese. Oh and they serve Pork here, lot's of it. Yay or nay? For me, absolut yay!

Bacon Wrap (IDR 95.000)

Choices of grilled chicken or pork wrapped with bacon. Well we chose the grilled pork. Could you imagine the juicy and fatty grilled pork wrapped in bacon and dipped into chilli mayo? Absolutely sinfully delicious! Just don't count the cholestrol, lol.

Tofu Beef Cheese (IDR 85.000)

Oven-baked Japanese Tofu and Minced Beef served with Baked Potato on a hotplate. This is everybody's comfort food, isn't it? Something cooked with bolognese sauce and melted cheese, who could resist? This time it's tofu. But I still prefer pasta though, tofu was too soft to be the hero.

Brownies S'mores (IDR 85.000)

Warm baked brownies with chewy and crispy marshmallow on top. Well I'm a huge brownies fan, I love any brownies! And this one is no exception, love love the texture of the freshly baked brownies which was crispy on the outside but soft and moist at the inside. Taste was a little too sweet for me, but still acceptable.

True Lies (IDR 125.000)

For the drinks selections, they have limited variants of mocktails which is served in a jug, and available to be shared for up to 4 persons. This one was a combination of orange and peach with fresh diced strawberries, which tasted tangy and fresh!

We were quite satisfied with what we had that day. Would love to be back to try their pork pizzas! 

Oh and while the girls are having a nice long chat here, the boys could enjoy playing billiard at Q Billiard next door, which is ran under the same company. 

Slice of Heaven

Grand Indonesia West Mall 5th floor

(across The People's Cafe)

Central Jakarta

Koffie Warung Tinggi d/h Tek Soen Hoo

The fifth floor of Grand Indonesia West Mall is occupied by a lot of new restaurants lately. One of them is Koffie Warung Tinggi, the old coffee shop which has been established since 1878, and now opening it's second outlet with a brand new concept.

Last week when me and my besties wandered around the fifth floor, we were attracted by this coffee shop because of two things: the comfy sofas and the martabak bar. Well it's pretty hard to find martabak inside malls, isn't it? And also the interior looks really nice, it is old and modern at the same time. By the way I didn't bring my camera that day, so please bear with the phone-quality photos.

Not only serving coffee and martabak, Koffie Warung Tinggi also serves selection of  Indonesian main courses like nasi goreng, nasi uduk, and bubur ayam. To place your order here, you have to queue at the cashier and pay it first, and then the waiter will serve the meal to your table when it's ready.

Koffie Peranakan (IDR 30.000)

A friend of mine was asking for their specialty coffee, and the barista recommended Koffie Peranakan, a glass of coffee made of a mixture of arabica and robusta coffee. To be honest I'm not a coffee person, all coffee tasted quite the same for me, only some is more fragrant than the others, and this coffee is certainly the fragrant one, I love love love the smell. You can also ask the barista to serve the condensed milk separately, so you can adjust the sweetness as you like it.

Green Tea Latte (IDR 34.000)

That day I wasn't in the mood for coffee, but I would love to see latte art on my cup, so I ordered the green tea latte. It came in the beautiful green latte art, of course. The taste of green tea was strong and sweet, a little bit too sweet for me, but still enjoyable.

Martabak Ovomaltine Keju (IDR 135.000, Large Size)

We were sold at the first time we saw the ovomaltine word on the menu. Even though it was quite pricey topping, (the price of the plain martabak is IDR 50.000, the ovomaltine topping is IDR 62.500, and the cheese topping is IDR 17.500) we're still excited to try it and put high hopes on it. Maybe too high, because in the end, we were disappointed. Yes, the martabak comes in large size, but the amount topping was stingy. Even though it looks like the ovomaltine was bursting out from the inside on the picture, but in the other part we could barely taste it. And also when it was served, all the ovomaltine has melted, so we couldn't taste the crunchy powdery chocolate milk texture that we expected before. The same happened with the cheese. The martabak itself was actually okay, but for me not as good as the martabak you buy on the street. Maybe we should've ordered the small size, because I'm hearing good reviews on the mini ovomaltine martabak. I presume, because the surface is smaller, the ovomaltine would pile up and not all melted like this, so it would definitely be better than this.

For me I have a quite pleasant time here with my friends, and the service was also great. At first we got seated on the dining table because the sofas were full, but a couple minutes later the waiter came back to us and asked if we wanted to move to the the sofa area, for they already have one vacant sofa. Beverages were also good, but they still should make improvements on the food section.

Koffie Warung Tinggi d/h Tek Soen Hoo

Grand Indonesia West Mall 5th floor

Jl. MH Thamrin no.1

Jakarta Pusat

ph. (021) 235 80312

Paulaner Bräuhaus

Everyone's favourite German restaurant in Jakarta, Paulaner Brauhaus, has been back to business last November, finally! After being closed for quite a long time, now they are back in the new location, ready to serve all of us.

The new place is still located at East Mall Grand Indonesia, but it's still quite hard to reach, due to the ongoing renovation at the moment. To get here, you have to go to Gramedia Bookstore and go down with the escalator inside the bookstore. Or if you have a driver, you could be dropped at the SOHO Lobby and go up from the escalator there.

The interior is still decorated with the Bavarian Bar concept. The venue is spacious, divided into smoking and no smoking area. In the non smoking area you can enjoy live music at the stage, while in the smoking area you can enjoy the beautiful view of Bundaran HI. That night the place was fully occupied so I didn't take any good pictures, but I managed to take a shot of this bar area, where they served the beer right from the tap.

Iced Lemon Tea (IDR 35.000) and Mango Beer 0.3 L (IDR 84.000)

Beer is definitely Paulaner's specialty. I'm not a fan of beer, but Paulaner's mango beer is quite different, it's not too bitter, and it tasted nice and fresh. And the Iced Lemon Tea came in perfect sour and sweetness, love it.

Paulaner Platter (IDR 275.000)

A portion of Paulaner Platter is meant for two persons, consists poached smoked pork chop, 1 Debrecener sausage, meatloaf, 2 Vienna Sausages, 2 Nuremberg Sausages and crispy pork knuckle served with Sauerkraut and mashed potato. My favourite among the plate would be the Vienna Sausages and of course the Crispy Pork Knuckles! The Vienna Sausages are the ones lying horizontally at the bottom of my picture, it was soft but a little chewy, and tasted really good. While the pork knuckle has perfectly crispy skin with juicy and succulent pork meat inside. The other components were also decent, there's also Sauerkraut, fermented cabbage dish which tasted sour but refreshing.

Emperors Pancake with Apple Compote (IDR 55.000)

Perfect dessert to end our dinner date. Sweet, warm, and fluffy pancake topped with raisins and almonds, served with apple compote, whipped cream, and raspberry sauce. Love love everything on the plate!

FYI, Paulaner also has the Reopening Offers, valid until 31 January 2014:

Casual Monday: discount 25% for lunch and dinner and everything in between (every Monday)

Not a Quickie: Order a main course, free starter or soup or dessert (Lunch - Tuesday to Friday)

Midnight Madness: for every Beer ordered, the next is on the house (Tuesday to Thursday from 10pm onwards)

So grab it fast guys before it's too late :D

Paulaner Bräuhaus Jakarta
Floor 2 East Mall Grand Indonesia
Jl. MH. Thamrin 1
Central Jakarta
Ph. 23583871
Fb. Paulaner Brauhaus Jakarta

Opening hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 11.30am to 00.30am
Friday - Saturday: 11.30am to 01.30am

Coco Ichibanya Curry House

The largest Japanese curry house chain in the world has finally made it's way to Jakarta. Yes, it is Coco Ichibanya, everyone's favourite curry, which has more than 1300 branches in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, USA, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore.

Their first Jakarta branch is located at Grand Indonesia. The interior is light and bright, the place is quite spacious but it was almost full even though we came on weekday. As we stepped in, the first thing I noticed is the fragrant smell of their curry. It's very appetizing that I couldn't wait to order my own plate.

The food they serve here is only Curry Rice. None other than that. But you can customize your Curry Rice by choosing the spiciness level for your curry, choosing your rice size, and get additional topping. You can also get additional Salad and Drink for IDR 25.000 or Salad, Ice Cream, and Drink for IDR 35.000.

Chicken Cutlet Curry with Vegetables (IDR 78.000)

rice: 150 gr  ,  spiciness: standard

I always prefer to have my curry rice with vegetables, to make it richer and (hopefully a little) healthier. And I have to say, this plate is such a satisfaction. The curry itself is, as I said earlier, very fragrant, perfectly balanced, the sweet and savoury taste combined nicely on the plate, and the vegetables are perfectly cooked. Also the chicken cutlet is thick and tender, but got the nice lightly crisp on the outside.

Chicken Cutlet Omelette Curry (IDR 70.000)

When you order the omelette menu, you cannot change either the rice size nor the curry spiciness. Well I can understand that if we change the rice size it would be affecting the omelette shape, but I don't know why we couldn't change the spiciness level. Anyway the omelette is also a nice addition to the curry rice. It's smooth and silky and a lil bit runny. Oh and I found that the my friend's chicken cutlet here is slightly bigger than mine. Don't know if it's just her luck or the portion is different.

Beef Hamburger Curry (IDR 65.000)

rice: standard  ,  spiciness: lv.4

Another friend of mine ordered this, and when it was served upon us, first thing that came into our mind is the beef hamburger is small. Didn't give the hamburger a taste since it's already too small for him, but I tasted his lv.4 curry. It was spicy, but peppery spicy. They might used a lot of blackpepper to make it spicy, looking at the colour.

Lightly Crisped Chicken Curry (IDR 65.000)

rice: standard  ,  spiciness: lv.2

This lightly crisped chicken, for me, tasted better than the chicken cutlet. It was seasoned well, and the chicken is more tender. But it is certainly not as thick as the chicken cutlet. Well, such a dilemma.

As a new comer in Jakarta, I think Coco Ichibanya is having a good start. It was such a delightful dinner, and I'll come back for sure. But just a little suggestion, I would love them even more if they also serve pork cutlet, like every other country does.

CoCo Ichibanya Curry House
Grand Indonesia
West Mall - Level 3A
Unit E 01-1
Ph. +6221 23580960

Djournal Coffee

I'm not a big fan of coffee and desserts, but I'm definitely a fan of Ismaya Group. So a couple weeks ago I went to their second newest outlet in town, Djournal Coffee, to try their happening Nutella Cake. Unlucky me, the barista said that their Nutella Cake was not available that time. A little disappointed, I took a short glance at their available cakes selection, and went for their Gingerbread Tiramisu (IDR 22.727). And I also ordered Iced Salted Caramel (IDR 35.455) to accompany my cake.

It turned out that my Gingerbread Tiramisu tasted very good! The texture is soft, and its not too mushy like other tiramisu. The gingerbread itself is well balancing the cake with its crunchy texture and strong ginger taste. I love love love love it! I usually cannot finish a portion of tiramisu by myself, because it's too mushy and creamy (I love creamy food, but savoury creamy, not the sweet one), but after finishing this cake by myself, I think I could still go for second round. lol.

Their Iced Salted caramel was also good, I love that even though it has 'caramel' on the name, the coffee taste still came strong, but not overpowering the salted caramel. As always, Ismaya has never let me down on their food, concept, and ambience. Next destination is Colette and Lola, so hang in there and wait for the story!

Djournal Coffee

Grand Indonesia, West Mall

Jakarta - Indonesia

ph. 021 23581835

f. Djournal Coffee

Tokyo Belly

Ismaya's outlet is always a must-try. I've always adored their creativity in creating unique restaurant concepts and serving delicious food, no matter what kind of food it is. Western, Japanese, Chinese, say it, they've got it all. Now they even reach coffee and soon the cake bussiness too. I wonder will they open an Indonesian food restaurant too someday?

Anyway, this is a late post about my dinner with high school besties at one of Ismaya's restaurant, Tokyo Belly. The outlet is replacing Mr. Curry's place at Grand Indonesia, but looks more open and more Japanese, because they've got lots of japanese murals on the wall.

A friend of mine brought us a box of chocolate truffles from shangri-la. How kind of her :D 

I ordered Hot Ocha (IDR 13.000, Refillable), and it came in such a cute mug. Every property of Tokyo Belly got this red man printed on it.

My Salmon Ikura Horenso Omurice (IDR 58.000) didn't look as appetizing as the picture in the menu. The sauce was almost dried up, I think they took too long before serving it to the table. Taste was fine. I chose the buttered rice, but it was more like chicken fried rice.

One of my friend ordered Chicken Katsu Curry Rice (IDR 58.000). Tasted just like Mr. Curry's.

Another friend of mine ordered a plate of Kiss of Fire Sushi (IDR 45.000), salmon rolled sushi fried with tempura batter, served hot. This one is delicious! I would love to order a second plate if we weren't too full that night.

Great food and great companion, what a night!

Tokyo Belly

Grand Indonesia Shopping Town

 West Mall level 3A 

Jakarta, Indonesia

ph. (021) 23581090

f. Tokyo Belly

Marche

Marche is a Swiss-Italian restaurant located in Grand Indonesia and Plaza Senayan. The restaurant is designed based on the Switzerland fruit market. You can see lots of fresh fruits on the wooden counter, baskets hanging on the walls and ceilings, and barrels! Barrels everywhere.

The place is divided into 5 counters, if I'm not mistaken. There are Salad and Soup Counter, Swiss Main Course Counter, Italian Main Course Counter, Dessert and Rotisserie Counter, and Beverages Counter. We   can order the food at the counter, and the order will be noted on the card that were given to us upon arrival. This restaurant is really my weakness. All the food placed in the counter looks so good, and I want to try everything! Especially the desserts :9

But you know, our belly and wallet can't afford that much, so here's what we ordered:

Rosti with Bacon and Egg (IDR 57.000)

Honestly, I wasn't expect much from this dish at first. Rosti is a traditional Swiss food, made of grated potato as the main ingredient. I wasn't expect to taste a hint of creaminess in the perfectly cooked potatoes. And I wasn't expect the texture of the potatoes to be so rich, crunchy outside but soft and moist inside. That surprised me, and I fell for it right at my first bite.

Roasted Chicken Leg (IDR 39.000) with Mashed Potatoes (IDR 12.000)

It was also good. The chicken leg was big and tender, and the mashed potatoes was nice and creamy. Even David, who usually dislikes mashed potatoes, like it.

Beef Bacon and Cheese Pizza (IDR 45.000)

The pizza was good, but not extraordinary. They were quite generous on the topping, and you can take the parmesan cheese yourself, as much as you want, but for me, the pizza dough was too chewy.

Creme Brulee (IDR 22.000)

Perfect dessert to end our dinner. The texture was soft and moist, the taste was not too sweet, I think I shouldn't share it with David. I could eat the whole portion alone.

In conclusion (like if I haven't make it clear from my writings above), the restaurant satisfied me more than I expected, and surely I'll be their loyal customer.

Marché Grand Indonesia Shopping Town
Entertainment Distrct 3A#03A-D

Jln. MH. Thamrin 1

West Mall - besides Musical fountain
10310 Jakarta
 

Tel: +62 21 23 58 11 26/-27
Fax: +62 21 23 58 11 25

Business hours

Sunday - Thursday

11.30 - 22.30

Friday - Saturday

11.30 - 23.30

Y&Y

 David and I are studying in the same university, same major, and now in the same class. We meet everyday, so usually our dates are only having meals after class, somewhere near. We rarely having saturday night date, because our house is not near, and we've already met everyday. So months ago, we decided that at least once a month in our monthsary date, we will have a proper date, going somewhere we rarely go, eat something new. So last weekend, me and David were having our monthsary date at Grand Indonesia.

So we watched Wrath of The Titans that day, which was surprisingly good for me. I've watched the prequel, Clash of The Titans before, but I had nothing crossed my memory about the movie, so I thought it was bad, and the sequel must be bad too. lol. But after watching Wrath of The Titans, I thought it was pretty good and worth watching, even though I feel wierd that God can dies in the movie *ups, spoiler alert*.

After watching movie, we had our early dinner at Y&Y. Located in 3A floor, the restaurant had a contrast white lighting, compared to the dim warm lighting in the surroundings. I've seen this restaurant lots of time before, but never set my step on it until last weekend. They've got a lot of sofa in the outside section, so we decided to sit there.

They've got various selection on the menu, there's Italian, Western, Chinese, Japanese, and also Indonesian. For me, they've got too much selection that I confused myself of what to choose. But finally, I chose Chicken Blackpepper (50k), while David picked Tempura Udon (75k). And we also shared a portion of Cheese Pizza (60k). Chinese, Japanese, and Italian, wierd combination, to think about it now.

My Chicken Blackpepper came in a big stone bowl that I doubted I could finished it myself. But I love the presentation, the color of  the blackpepper seasoned chicken, combined with the green, orange, and yellow color of the veggies. And when I tasted it, its delicious! The chicken was tender and seasoned well, and the veggie was fresh and crunchy. I don't know whether the stone bowl was actually not that big, or it was too delicious that I ended up finished it myself and still craving for more.

David's Tempura Udon also came in a big stone bowl. I did taste his dish, and the broth was quite nice. The prawn tempura was also good, although not as delicious as Ten Ten's.

The Cheese Pizza was kind of a turn down for me. It was too cheesy, and not crunchy. Eatable, but not satisfying.

Overall, the Blackpepper Chicken was the highlight of the day. I'd came back for it, and maybe tried their Pacific Place's outlet, who knows if the yacht's empty? :p

Y&Y

Grand Indonesia

3A Floor, West Mall

Jl. MH Thamrin no. 1

Jakarta 10350

http://www.y-n-y.com/index.html

Ninety Nine

This afternoon, i went to Grand Indonesia with my high school friends. Yeah, although we've been separated for almost four years, but we always gather every holiday, when everybody come back to Indonesia from all over the world. Today, we had lunch at The Duck King (but i'm too hungry to take pictures. lol), and after that we decided to eat some desserts at ninety nine.

I've been here once, and the atmosphere was nice. I'd really like to be seated in the void area, which designed   like a garden, with lots of trees and white pergola at the center of the void, but unfortunately, that place is always full. So we got seats on the indoor spot, which has dark interior. The interior was nice, but i don't like dark restaurants.

*image taken from google

We ordered Pistachio Creme Brulee (38k), Dame Blanche (46k), and Grand Marnier Crepes (46k). I ate the Grand Marnier Crepes first. It was.. wierd. I think the orange sauce is too much, and the taste is too sharp. And also the crepes and the ice cream was plain, so it makes the orange sauce tasted even sharper. Dissapointing.

Second, i tasted the Dame Blanche. It consists two scoops of vanilla ice cream, and some cookies with chocolate dipping sauce. It tasted fine, not bad, but also not addictive. But the third dish, Pistachio Creme Brulee, was perfect for me. Its not too sweet, and not too watery. And also the ice cream on the top makes it even tastier. Love it! 

Pistachio Creme Brulee

Dame Blanche

Grand Mernier Crepes

So the creme brulee was the highlight of the day, and definitely will come back for it. Luckily, they just opened their new outlet at Ranch Market Puri Indah, near my house. Yay!

Oh and we also took picture there. There's actually more of us today, but they've left earlier. Can't wait to see you again guys! 

Ninety-Nine Jakarta

Grand Indonesia East Mall Lower Ground
Jl. MH Thamrin No.1 Jakarta Pusat 10310
Phone: +62-21 2358 1199

http://www.ranchmarket.co.id/ninety-nine/about-the-restaurant/