Nouvelle

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share this particular restaurant I visited last month, Nouvelle at Equity Tower SCBD. I went there for dinner with some friends, to be honest the place was dimly light and I wasn't quite satisfied with the pictures I took that day, but the meal was very satisfying for me that I still eager to share this here even though the photo wasn't so good. 

Anyway, located at the Ground Floor of the Building, the place was quite classy and luxurious with the high ceiling and the wall-mounted wine rack at one side of the wall. The seating was not too much, but they have the semi private room at the mezzanine floor if you come in larger group (Minimum purchase IDR 3.000.000 for up to 12 persons). The food they offer here are unique twist between French and Japanese cuisines.

Escargot Nouvelle (IDR 90.000)

Escargot Nouvelle is served with smoked ham hock dashi nage, truffle sweet corn, and brioche. The escargot was nice and tender, it tasted really good combined with all the elements on the plate. Such a great appetizer to start the night.

Java Sea Bass (IDR 165.000)

My main course that night. Perfectly grilled fresh sea bass served with wakame white onion and roasted squid dashi pearls. Presentation wise it was so beautiful, and it tastes just as beautiful as it looks. Everything on the plate tasted awesome, yet the portion was too small even for a girl like me that deep down inside I don't want to share this meal with anyone!

Line Caught Red Snapper (IDR 175.000)

Grilled red snapper served with cherry tomatoes, fried bean, charred capsicum juice, and curry oil

Duck Aiguilette (IDR 190.000)

Duck meat served with iberico, poached fig, sweet potato puree, hibachi mushroom, and burn orange jus

Well there they are, didn't try all the main courses since the portion were all quite petite, so it's every man for himself, lol. But everyone's enjoying their meal despite the petite portion, and I really thought this was worth sharing with you all.

Great food, great night. Am going to be back here again soon!

Nouvelle

Equity Tower GF Unit B2

Jl. Jend Sudirman Kav 52-53

Sudirman, Jakarta Pusat

ph. +62 21 5151356

Bacchus Bar at InterContinental MidPlaza Hotel

Bacchus Bar is one of the restaurant at InterContinental MidPlaza Hotel that specializes at Asian Food. Last Thursday, I was honoured to get the opportunity to enjoy Lunch at Bacchus Bar.

Located at the Lower Ground Floor of the building, the venue itself wasn't too spacious yet it gave you the warm and private ambiance. Most of the seats are bar stools, but they also have nice comfortable sofas at the back. And they got their own wine storage room with lots and lots of wine selection. 

For the appetizer that day, we tasted two favourite menus from their Pan Flair Asian selections, Thai Beef Salad with Mango and Chilli Vinaigrette (IDR 98.000) and BBQ Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce (IDR 98.000). Their Beef Salad's presentation was such a feast for the eye, isn't it? Really love the bright colors. Taste wise, it was tangy and fresh, it also got a nice dressing, but for me the aroma of Basil was too strong. In the other hand, the BBQ Chicken Wings came in a generous portion, thickly marinated in a nice sweet BBQ Sauce. 

For the main course, Bacchus Bar have two options, you can either order the main course from the Pan Flair Asian selections, or order it from the live cooking stands. The live cooking stands is a collaboration between Bacchus Bar and Deli Restaurants, every weekdays during lunchtime, they served Pasta and Nasi Bakar (Indonesian style grilled rice wrapped in banana leafs). We ended up trying both of them, for they were both really tempting, especially when you see them cooked right before your eyes and you can smell the aroma.

Pasta Set (IDR 90.000 including bread and choice of Iced Tea or Iced Lemon Tea)

Here at the pasta stand, you can build your own pasta! Here's what you need to do:

1. Pick your pasta. The pasta selections varies everyday, that day they got penne and green linguine

2. Pick the sauce. There are tomato based sauce, carbonara sauce, pesto sauce, or simply aglio olio

3. Pick the meat, veggies, and cheese. You can choose up to three meat and veggies available. For the meat they have chicken, prawns, squid, beef bacon, pork bacon, sausages, etc. And for the veggie selections they have broccoli, tomatoes, onions, asparagus, mushrooms, etc. 

Easy right? And only for IDR 90.000 nett, you get your pasta served with bread and butter and also a glass of drink, which is a very nice deal, for having lunch in Sudirman area. That day I decided to have Penne Carbonara, but I was confused on which meat and veggies to choose, so I'll let the chef decide it, and it came with Prawns, Beef Bacon, Sausage, broccoli, mushrooms, and tomatoes! Phew that was a lot of toppings. But the taste was really great. The penne was al dente, the carbonara sauce was amazingly balanced between the creamy and savory taste, and for the toppings, I especially love the generous amount of fresh prawns. Oh I'll deal with you later, cholestrol, for now please just let me enjoy the fresh and crunchy prawns.

Nasi Bakar Set (IDR 82.000 + including a choice of Iced Tea or Iced Lemon Tea)

For the Nasi Bakar, you only have to pick your rice flavor (it also varies everyday), and it will be served with Balado Eggs, Sauteed String Beans, Shredded Chicken and Duck Meat, and Fried Tempe. That day they only have two flavor of rice, Oncom (fermented products of soy beans) and Ikan Peda (Indonesian salty fish). I'm not familiar with oncom, so I play safe and choose the Ikan Peda flavor. And that was a decision I wouldn't regret. The rice was very very fragrant and tasty, and all the side dishes were great and compliment it well. It was spicy but still tolerable for me. Well I'm not a big fan of Nasi Bakar before, but I am now. This dish was really satisfying for me, even better than the pasta! The best Nasi Bakar I've tasted so far!

I'm really impressed that their simple yet humble live cooking stands could create such an awesome food. Thank you InterContinental and  Catrina (Social Media Officer of InterContinental MidPlaza) for inviting me and being a really nice lunch companion! I definitely will come back to this place :D

Bacchus Bar

InterContinental at Jakarta MidPlaza Hotel

Lower Ground Floor

Jl. Sudirman Kav 10-11

Jakarta - 10220

ph. (021) 2510888 (front desk)

Panna Cotta Etc

Merry Christmas everyone! How was your christmas? Mine was celebrated with my college besties at Pacific Place. At first we were going to have lunch at the newly opened PAUL at Galleries Lafayette, but as expected, we're already on the waiting list when we got there at twelve (PAUL didn't open for reservation). So we put our name and phone number on the waiting list -- the waiter said that they will SURELY call us when our table is ready -- and off we go to another new place in Pacific Place, Panna Cotta Etc. Dessert before lunch? No problem!

Located on the 4th floor just across Aksara, the outlet is simple and modern yet comfortable. They have 11 panna cotta variants to choose from and they also serve limited selections of main courses and beverages. And for this christmas season, they are serving two christmas special panna cotta, Toffee Nut and Gingerbread. Each panna cotta is sold at the price of IDR 30.000. We were kinda curious and hungry that time so we ordered 6 panna cotta variants for the four of us.

DELIGHT -- Tiramisu Panna Cotta with Coffee Sauce

SENSATION -- Cheese Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

SEDUCTION -- Banana Panna Cotta with Hazelnut Choco Sauce

CELEBRATION -- Toffee Nut Panna Cotta with White Cream Sauce

INFATUATION -- Classic Panna Cotta with Butterscotch Sauce

ADDICTION -- Classic Panna Cotta with Baileys

From all 6 variants we tried, my favourite is definitely SENSATION (cheese with raspberry), followed by ADDICTION (baileys) and CELEBRATION (Toffee Nut). The cheese and raspberry was good and refreshing, really stood out compared with the other sweet panna cottas. I was expecting more from the butterscotch taste, but it tasted way too sweet for me. All panna cottas came in great smooth and silky texture, but slightly-too-small size.

Anyway, we were having our lovely dessert time here for about an hour, and then we went back to PAUL. And guess what, our name has been skipped on the waiting list and they didn't even give us a single call. So we asked if we could have a table in the outdoor area, and they said that the outdoor is only for take away. Such a waste of space and disappointing service. I ended up taking away their cakes and eat it at home. They were great, but still, PAUL needs a serious improvement on their service.

Panna Cotta Etc.

Pacific Place 4th floor

Jl. Jendral Sudirman no 52-53

Jakarta

Instagram: @pannacottaetc

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