Bebek Tepi Sawah : tasty Balinese duck

It was in Bali.

Last December, 2012.

Green field and blue sky.

Happy faces and tummies were dominating, yap, it was a very good lunch.

Another lunch with my family, and we were choosing the only branch of  Bebek Tepi Sawah from Ubud, Bali. We were coming with high expectation, due to a very great lunch we had in Bali. Located in crowded Alam Sutera Mal, we were lucky enough to be seated right away.

                         

It was not next to a paddy field, but the ambiance was a quite reminder to the one in Bali. Dominating by its modern atmosphere, they are trying to satisfy our needs of their famous duck without troubling ourselves to Bali.

Their sambal specialties. They served three kinds of sambal. The left one was sambal matah. It was Balinese sambal made of small slices of shallot ad red chilli. The middle one was slices of red and green chilli. The last one was sambal terasi, which was pretty hot. My favorite was a mixture of the sambal matah and sambal terasi with touch of sweet soya sauce.

A portion of Tepi sawah crispy duck (90k). It was served with warm rice and string bean. The duck was very crispy, but the oily skin was quite a disturbance. The duck itself was tender, and well seasoned. It was delicate, you will end up licking your fingers by eating this!

Another one was bebek betutu (95k). It was served with warm rice and mixed vegetable. Some said it took a day to cook this one. Well, it might be true. The spices was permeated well, a tasty one. The duck was tender. The only disappointment was the skin. The skin was too moist and made it hard to peel. The condiment on the duck was not generous enough to be eaten with the whole duck. I remembered having a better one in Bali. Plentiful spices on the duck and perfectly tender duck.

It was quite nice, but it was not better than the one in Bali, The crispy duck was fine, but I expected more from bebek betutu.

Bebek Tepi Sawah

Living World Mall, ground floor

Jl, Alam Sutera Boulevard kav 21

Tangerang

Rasane : our very own favorite seafood

"Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind."

My favorite quotes from Lilo and Stitch.

Being apart from my family since high school made me appreciate every single time I could have with them. I always spare my time for them, at least for a quick lunch or dinner. I've remembered their favorite food spot in Jakarta and managed to go there every time they were visiting me.

And here it is, one of our favorite seafood restaurant : Rasane.

Rasane Puri Indah is located in the busy street of Pesanggrahan, contributing to the boisterousness of it. They had several branches, but I haven't tried any other of it. Rasane has been our favorite since I couldn't remember and we have our own relish, too!

My brother's liking. Cumi goreng tepung (32.5k). The squid was crispy and palatable. They succeed to enchant us with they crispiness and the tenderness of it. The fried squid was served with mayonaise-like sauce.

My very own delight. Kepiting asap (150k). Wrapped by banana leaves, it was very tantalizing our buds when it was cut open. It was cooked with seventeen kinds of spices, which made the spices seeped into the crab. The fragrant was very luring, and so do the taste. The winner was their sauce on the top of the crab. A perfect combination of sweet and tasty. A recommended one indeed.

A pick from my mom. Kepiting telur asin (170k). The crab was covered by tasteful sauce of salted egg. The sauce was thick and luscious. A pleasant meal, enough said.

My dad's choice. Ikan kuwe bakar(56k). The fish was grilled well and it tasted fine. Sambal mangga(3.5k) would really be a perfect partner to be eaten with!

For me the highlight was the togetherness we had in those meal, our personal liking which brought us to the joyful of the dinner. And of course, Kepiting asap was my another highlight!

What's your fave family resto peeps?

Rasane

Seafood & Ikan bakar

Jl. Raya Pesanggrahan 168N

(021) 58352222

Tokyo Belly : a latter-day Japanese

Modern wooden wall

Dimmed red lampions

Perfectly arranged tatami mats

Sounds of ceramic bowl and chopsticks

Those things describes a latter-day Japanese restaurant, doesn't it?

Welcomed by a big Daruma painted on the wall, Tokyo Belly is serving that kind of modern Japanese food. They were inspired by this traditional Japanese doll to give the authentic touch of Japanese.

 Tokyo Belly is a branch of Jakarta's well known Ismaya Group. Located in Grand Indonesia, they are replacing the former Mr. Curry, which also specialized in Japanese curry. It is a perfect place to join the hustle of Jakarta people.

I chose to play safe. Claimed themselves as a curry specialist, they should really brilliant about it, right? The curry itself came into several four flavors : no spicy, spicy, very spicy, and screaming spicy. No spicy it is. I felt like trying the original one to know the real taste of their curry. My chicken curry with rice was quite satisfying. The curry was flavorful, even though a touch of chilly would be great. The chicken was crispy and tender. A nice one indeed.

The salmon cheese was very tempting. So I indulged myself with another choice of curry rice. I ended up with a plate of very spicy curry to accompany my salmon cheese. The portion of the salmon was quite generous, 4 big chunks of fried salmon. The cheese made it even better. The sauce was really spicy! As a fan of spicy food, I would say this one suited my taste. I wonder how the screaming spicy tastes like, though.

They had new menus to offer, so I decided to give it a try. A hot sizzling bibimbap of beef sukiyaki caught my attention. The preparation for this one was a bit slow, it took them 30 minutes to serve it on my table. It was just fine. The beef was quite tender. Not a real fan of it.

They also recommended the ramen. Tempura was a good company in Japanese food, wasn't it? So my choice was tempura chige ramen. They served it with fried vegetables, fried salmon, and fried prawn. The soup was spicy and the ramen was fine. But it was not a flavorful broth like the one I used to have.

I am sorry for not giving the price because I gave the bill to some kind of promo in the mall. I remember spending 356k-ish due to CIMB 15% discount.

The spiciness suited me, the curry was satisfying, but the service was a bit slow when it comes to their rush hour. I would go back to try their sushi and J-dog, though!

Tokyo Belly

Grand Indonesia, West Mall, 3A

(021) 23581090

Publico : a vintage beauty

My life has been busy recently. Things in my med school was not being nice recently, so I managed to attain some rewards by the end of the week. And what's my reward for this week? Yeap, a treat of pretty lunch!

So I organized a lunch with some of my friends with Publico. A vintage American restaurant ambiance was very dominating and pretty, perfect place for a cloudy Saturday afternoon. The high ceiling and the red brick wall fitted up the prettiness of this building.

I felt like reading a newspaper!

I was tempted to try all of them.

An appetizer came out. A plate of fried wonton called Mulberry Spring (35k) . Basically it was shrimp wonton with sweet chilly sauce. I thought they would offer some kind of variation on the dumpling. Not bad for an appetizer. 

Duck aglio olio (70k). I had never been eating aglio olio with duck so I thought this was something new. The pasta was well cooked, quite chilly, and the duck was just fine. It was a good plate but it was not the highlight of the day.

Southern friedchicken salad (55k). I thought it would be a bowl of salad with tiny fried chicken on top. I was wrong. The presentation was not really tempting, but it turned out quite good. They served mayonnaise as the dressing, and I did not really a fan of it.

The winner of the day: tea smoked salmon (95k). The salmon was generous! The salmon was thick and grilled well. It was tender and well seasoned. The salmon was served with soyu-like sauce. The sauce was so nice, it was salt and slightly sweet. The food was presented with green mashed potato, apple salad, mushrooms, and red beans. The mushroom and red bean were surprisingly delicate. My favorite one so far.

Lunch is not a pretty lunch till it reaches the dessert, right? The chilled mars bar (55k) was made of dark chocolate and the bitter taste was really strong. I liked the crumble at the bottom of it though. A recommended one for the dark chocolate lover.

Pretty place, pretty dishes, and pretty companions. Publico was a pleasant pretty lunch indeed. I would go back for their tea smoked salmon!

Publico

Senopati Raya no. 65

Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan

(021) 5296 4960

Sarang Oci : the richness of Manado

What can Indonesian be proud of?

The food indeed.

 Indonesian food has the richness of the spices you won't find in any other country. The highlight of the spices is surely the spicy taste. We, are proudly used to the fiery sensation to our tongue. Well, most of us. 

Manado is one of the city in Indonesian which has its boldness to contribute their treats. They are well known with their spicy and tasteful dishes. Actually I am not familiar with their cuisine, until a friend of mine brought me to Sarang Oci.

Sarang Oci is located in crowded Jalan Panjang. The restaurant was quite big, a two-storey simple building. I felt like invited to someone's house.

Apparently, the owner did not come from Manado. They have a passion in Manado food and been trying to indulge our tongue since 2004.

Panada (5k). It was one of the renowned food from Manado. Basically it was fried bread with Cakalang fish inside. They served it with the chilly. The chilly was super good. It was scrumptious!

Pari bakar rica (43k). They claimed this one as their signature dish. The fish was so tender and the seasoning was so bold. I was satisfied and couldn't get enough of it. A really recommended one.

Perkedel jagung (15k for 3 pieces). Hands up for this one. It surely was the best corn fritters I have  ever tasted. No kidding. It was crunchy and luscious.

The complement for the corn fritters and panada. The chilly was great. The spiciness was really indulging me. You could ask for free-flow too!

Kangkung tumis jagung (20k). The vegetable was fine. A good companion for those other great dishes.

My recent addiction : balapis (5k). A traditional cake with sticky texture. At first I thought it would be tasted like pudding. I was wrong. Its consistency was more like sticky rice. The taste of chocolate and coconut milk was dominating. It was very good, too.

The food was very satisfying, the service was good, the price was affordable.

Can you ask for more?

Sarang Oci

jl. Panjang no.99

Jakarta

(021) 5329791

Lekker Bekker : a heart warmer in humble green.

I feel homesick.

I need something, like a reminder to the warmth of home.

Sunlight across the kitchen window, humble homemade dinner, nice and comfortable food. I am craving for home.

Luckily, Lekker Bekker offers the humble food I've been longing to. A little solace for my homesick feeling, I could say.

A modest one. I felt like I was welcomed to a classic homely dining spot, with domination of green. The shop was small, but the ambiance was quite nice, offering a flush from the swirl of the mall.

A plate of humble chicken cordon bleu. It was not the best one I've ever tasted. The mashed potato was a bit vapid, whereas I was looking forward to a milky and cheesy one. But I could feel the honesty of the meal. 

Cheese banana fritters. It was sweet and crunchy, with sprinkling of cheese and cherry on top. Quite good. A reminder of my favorite childhood snack.

The highlight of the night : Original bolletjes. Bolletjes was a variation of poffertjes. Basically it was  a traditional Dutch pancake made of yeast and buckwheat flour. The pancake was fluffy with crispy edge. They had several toppings selection like chocolate and cheese. But I played it safe by choosing the original one. This one, once again, could remind me of home.

The food they offered was a humble one. The price was very affordable too. Maybe I would pay another visit for an afternoon tea with their panekoek, poffertjes, and snacks. 

Lekker Bekker

Summarecon Mall Serpong Lt 2.

Jl. Boulevard Gading Serpong

(021) 29310631

School Food Blooming Mari : from street food to pretty dishes

Korean food in Jakarta is dominated by their grilled menu, I was not a fan of those grilled meat so I was expecting for another kind of Korean food.

I remembered the first time I passed this restaurant, I did not have any interest to give it a try. My friend told me it was quite a hype in Korea.

School Food is a Korean chain restaurant specialized in light Korean food. They have several international branches. and hurray! Jakarta is one of those branches. Basically School Food dishes up the kind of foods which remind you about childhood in Korea.

They claimed this one as their favorite dish. A plateful of original topokki (55k). Actually they had many variants for the sauce, such as cheese topokki (I really wanted to order this one, but usually the original sauce is the best, right?) and carbonara topokki. Topokki or tteobokki is a popular korean dishes made of rice cake served with special sauce. The spicy flavor was dominating the sauce, but it tasted great! I could feel slight of sweetness from the sauce too. Chewing the rice cake with the luscious rich sauce, I was pleased.

 Beautiful presentation of omelet rice with shrimp (70k). I did not give it a try, but the look was quite convincing, right?

Mari was a mini kimbap (korean sushi). They offered wide selections of mari like tuna, spam, omelet, and bulgogi. My choice was their tuna mari (55k). A set of mari contained 14 small bites of it. The mini size made it easy to pop. It was a palatable one, though. I could feel the tuna was dominating.

They offered many variants of rice in the menu, and some of them was appetizing. Beef fried rice (75k) was the choice. It was a balance combination of sweet and salty. The beef was well cooked and tender. The vegetable mixture in rice was a good complement to the flavor. The egg was half cooked and the runny yolk contributed the prettiness of  this delicious dish. Be careful it was hot!

I tried new kind of food, I had new favorite on my list, I had a happy tummy.

A good good afternoon indeed!

School Food Blooming Mari

Central Park

3rd floor #202-203

(021) 29200316

Hawaiian Bistro : Aloha from PIK!

What is the first thing pops in your mind when people ask about Hawaiian food?

I have nothing. 

Well, maybe coconut water in the middle of sunny beach?

When a friend of mine told me about this new comer in town, I was so curious about it. I have never had any Hawaiian food before, so I was looking forward to try this one. Good effort from Hawaiian Bistro to fulfill the needs of new variant of food, let see if they make the grade.

Greeting from Tiki Bar, such a refreshment in a sunny day. I felt like having a trip to Hawaii!

Dominated by pillars of wood, this place was quite dim. You would be welcomed by a big picture of a Hawaiian girl.

Excited to see the menu at first, I was confused because they had sushi as a choice of the menu. Apparently, Hawaiian food was affected by many immigrants, including Japan.

A name of the appetizer caught my eye. But it turned out to be a disappointment when the food was served. They said it was fries with their special sauce, it was not so special though.

I chose to play safe. Loco Moco is a traditional food from Hawaii. They must be a specialist on it, right?

Basically it was rice with hamburger patty, fried egg, served with gravy. The patty was quite good, it was tender. But I have tasted better than this.

The pork sandwich was really need an improvement. It was not really a sandwich, anyway. It was more like a hamburger bun with canned pork and fried egg on top. A big no.

They offered cozy place and new variety of food, but they should satisfy the needs of our good meal, right?

Hawaiian Bistro

Rukan Garden House A25,PIK,Jakarta

10620

(021) 29033185