Union : talk of the town

Established in 2011, and people keep coming back. The lines in front of the reservation table are not gonna lie. Phone reservation is highly recommended, or you will end up joining the line.The place is packed most of the time, either for a pretty lunch or a boisterous dinner. Union at Plaza Senayan, is still one of the most crowded place in town.

The huge window is one of the highlight of the place, I guess. Either it is a bright sunny day or a freezing-cold rainy day, the scenery is still pretty. It is an enjoyable feeling to see the wide screen of nature.

Nachos Con Carne Grande (70k)

A big plate of everyone's favorite. Generous portion of golden yellow crispy nachos with melted cheese on top? Not to mention the jalapeno dipping to dip with. This surely was a good appetizer indeed!

 Escargot in Garlic Butter (95k)

Tempting and delicious portion of escargot in a pan. The seasoning was perfect with those fried garlic allover the plate. The oily thingy under the escargot made it even better. Totally recommended for a perfect starter.

Carbonara with pork bacon.

When in doubt, choose pasta. Al dente fettuccine, with good seasoning of carbonara sauce, and crispy and salty pork bacon on top. The bacon itself was my favorite park, such a perfect combination to be wrapped around the pasta. 

Pan seared barramundi (130k)

Prett plate of barramundi fish with roasted scallop and xo vinaigrette. Good seasoning of fish, tasty scallop, and enjoyable sauce on the bottom. The crispy skin on top was surely a surprise! 

 Whole roasted baby chicken for 2. (120k)

The chicken might be ugly on the eye, but the taste was great. Such a surprise in a good way. The chicken was really tender and the seasoning was just right. The potato wedges was a good companion to be eaten with. A fulfilling dish indeed.

No, you never been to Union if you haven't tasted their scrumptious bakery. It was worth in every bite!

All of their cakes came in big portion. Don't hesitate to share!

 PB & J (70k)

Peanut butter and jelly. It described it much. Layered cake with peanut butter in every slice, with hint of crunchy peanut, and strawberry jam on top. The cake itself was good and moist, like the way it should be. The peanut was such a highlight but I found the strawberry was less dominating 

 Red Velvet (55k)

The famous red velvet cake. It was like a main course here, something you have to try at least once. The moist cake, the yummy cream cheese between the layers, and the peanut on top was really a signature of Union. Such a pleasure in a plate!

The talk of the town.

Union's really own flaky doughnut. Available in cinnamon sugar, chocolate vanilla, and caramel peanut. The texture of their flaky doughnut was great. Crispy outside with layered fluffy texture inside. The sweetness from the cinnamon itself was a bit overwhelming for me, though. On the other hand, the chocolate vanilla was really a pleasant one. Chocolate on top with hint of sweet scented vanilla inside really made my day.

Prettily glazed chocolate vanilla flaky doughnut.

The service was good, the food was great, the dessert was the highlight. Union is surely worth the visit!

Union Brasserie Bakery and Bar

Plaza Senayan Courtyard

Ground Floor (inside Sogo dept store)

021 5790 5861-62

PIM 1

Street Gallery Terrace

Ground Floor

021 2952 9781-82

Frangipani Cafe : tiny pleasure

Small can do great things. Big things.

Well this one applied to this teeny tiny cafe around South Jakarta, considering the little corner they had to serve those hungry people. It was not huge, but famous enough to be filled by the loyal customer. Turned out it was a spa a first, until the idea of making this cafe popped up. The humble ambiance, warm decoration, and comfort meal are surely all the highlight they have to offer.

Corner with lotsa frames. Caught my attention. Mostly they are photos of the owner, the famous Rianti C.

Menu on the wall. Bites and desserts are their mains.

The dessert seems to be the highlight, the crumble pie to be specific. They had cherry crumble,pie crumble, and others kind of cake like crispy white chocolate to satisfy the sweet tooth. Unfortunately, that day they only had the cherry crumble in store. This pretty cherry crumble laid on the every single table.

A slice of cherry crumble (28k) served with whipped-cream.

The texture was great, the fillings was rich with a pinch of sourness along with the sweetness. The crumble on top was there to make it perfect. I was not fan of the cream, but the cream gave its own uniqueness on it. I would go without the cream, though. Vanilla ice cream as a substitute, maybe? 

Such a sweet, sweet evening. The pie was great, the chitchat was awesome. This place was surely something! Quality over the quantity!

Frangipani Cafe

Jl. Cikajang no. 63

South Jakarta

Torta Dolce Cake : sweetness overload!

I remembered the excitement when I did receive the invitation for Torta Dolce Cake and Next Digital. It was one fine day and I was spilling some words to my blog. An email came through and turned out it was a high tea invitation. I was so keen about it! I could imagine those beautiful fresh pastries with colorful cakes around. Such a joy just to think about it.

 Apparently they are an online French Patisserie which established in 2011, very well-grounded in this area. The owner used to serve these beautiful cakes to hotels, and they do want to start something new on their own. Inspiring much?

Too bad I was late for the previous session due to the pretty traffic jam in Jakarta. It was Saturday and it took me almost 2 hours to reach the place (I know it was crazy, right!). All that I could do was crossing finger, hoping that I wouldn't stuck that long. They were ready to try the food by the time I reached the place. Well it was really worth the wait! Those pretty colors on the tables was such an pleasure, such a diversion to the tired mind!

Set of high tea. Red green and yellow are prettify the plates!

I feel like the fruit tarts are calling me while I wrote this. Kiwi, strawberry, and peach on the top of sweet scented mini tart are surely my faves!

Drolling much?

Choices of pretty good ol' chocolate cake. Sugar rush!

Beautifully tempting. This kind of dessert is light and fresh with a hint of mango.

The main reason to be here : The Croido.

Torta Dolce Cake is ready to spread their wings. They keep innovating and surely this step showed us that they are joining the cronut craze! They have 11 flavors for the croido with various (pretty) toppings.

The making of the croido. They surely gave the generous fillings in it!

The croido had its crunchy layer outside with quite good texture inside. I wish it could be fluffier though!

The original one was very humble with its cream filling. And the filling was good, too! The cinnamon one was easily enjoyable with the sweet scent of the cinnamon. The popcorn caramel one, which was my favorite, was very rich. The combination of the fillings, the layered texture, and caramelized popcorn on top was such an enjoyment. The maple cheese one tasted unique. Sweetness from the maple syrup while dancing with the generous cheese was quite a surprise.

Fave croido so far. Pretty as well.

The surprise haven't finished yet. The owner, Mr Harry and Mrs Fanny was such a sweetheart. They generously gave us the hamper to be brought home. A big hamper containing 2 cookies, 3 cupcakes, and 1 loaf of raisin bread. The cupcakes were decent with moist cake, the cookies were easily lovable, and the raisin bread was my such a joy. Have it for your Christmas present, people! Mr Harry as the president director of PT. Anggana Catur Prime also gave us a package of their product, including the widely known Dua Belibis chilly sauce and Koepoe-Koepoe kitchen ingredients. Gonna have some activities in the kitchen for sure!

Overall it was such a sweet, sweet afternoon with those pretty cakes and awesome fellow blogger. Not to mention the friendly owner and pleasant people from Next Indonesia. Thanks for having me!

Torta Dolce Cake

order here : www.tortadolcecake.com

Jl. Pluit Raya blok C no 20-21

Jakarta Utara 14440

(021) 6681919

@tortadolcecake

Honey Bean and Tong Fu : dessert on bowl

Pantai Indah Kapuk is surely one of the easy destination for those hungry people. It is spacious, reachable, and offer lots of choice for food. The only setback is the hot air around. The sun is like burning, heating up the skin. A bowl of cold dessert with shaved ice seems nice in this kind of tropical scene. Lucky to us, these two newbies are here to offer the needs!

Tong Fu

A fruit-dessert on a bowl. This is surely the kind of dessert for those who love fruits, a lot! Their soup is made of fruity shaved ice which is dominated by sourness. They have many selections for the soup base, like watermelon, dragon fruit, and mango. I ordered the one with mango.

A bowl of mango shaved ice with cuts of fresh mango and popping boba on top. The mango was a bit sour, just the way I liked it. The popping bobba was kinda surprise. I did expected something more on my bowl. It was actually big and satisfying with its portion. But most of my bowl was dominated by the mango-flavored-shaved-ice. Pricey for a bowl of 40ish.

Nutella almond waffle (20ish)

A small plate of waffle with hazelnut chocolate sauce on top and sprinkle of almonds. It was a bit crunchy instead of crunchy-outside-fluffy-inside-kind-of-waffle, the way a good waffle should taste like.

Potato pompom (forgot the exact name)

An easy bite recommended by the waitress. Tasted okay, seasoned right. Reminded me to Mcd hash brown.

Honey Bean

They are the newest addition to the boisterousness at PIK. A competitor to the famous oriental dessert around. (Well, you know who). Honey bean is located exactly next to Tong Fu. Stepped inside, and the sweet scent is dominating the whole room, an enjoyment for a sweet tooth like me.

Left : Passion Pudding (38k)

A bowl of grass jelly,coconut pudding, and mixed fruits.

Right : Lovely Jelly Crushed Ice (38k)

A bowl of grass jelly, egg pudding, mix ball, pearl, and matcha ice cream.

I loved everything on the bowl. The coconut pudding was surely the highlight it. It was fluffy and tasted really good. The coconut scent was wafted, too! The grass jelly was good and soft. The pearl is chewy and sweet. The taro ball is decent. The egg pudding is softly sweet. Tell me how to say no for all these treats.

Mango Land Fruits (48k)

A bowl of mango, pearl, coconut jelly, mango pudding, and popping boba.

It was like having all the freshness on top with sweetness of the soup on the bottom. The mango pudding tasted nice and the popping boba was such a pleasant surprise in mouth. 5 cuts of fresh mango was such a balance to all the sweetness offered. Love love love!

Strawberry Milk Ice (59k)

A huge bowl of strawberry milk crushed ice with longan, strawberry, coconut jelly, and popping boba.

Came in a family pack, it was really big! Actually it was tasted like having shaved ice with syrup poured on top with all the complements around it. The shaved ice was really soft, such an enjoyment to be eaten with those fruits.

Anyway, Honey Bean are having an opening promo : buy 1 get 1 until 20 Nov 2013. Go get them!

Tong Fu

Rukan Garden House blok b25 PIK

021 29033265

Honey Bean

Rukan Garden House blok b23 PIK

021 29033623

Fook Yew : An eccentric Chinese

Chinese food. One of the biggest diversity in food industry. You could find the kind of grandma's old recipe on it, or the one that has been deconstructed into a modern one. Nowadays Chinese restaurant is easily discovered in shopping malls, while in old days those restaurants was spotted in certain area of Jakarta.

Colorful and bold. Eccentric. Bold. Those words are perfect descriptions for this modern Chinese restaurant. The old-fashioned table is really something, it was like spotting the obsolete thing among the modernity. The name itself is really ear-catching. Fook yew. Everyone could easily remember it in a second.

Pretty red cages. So Chinese, huh?

Crispy egg corn (36k)

An invention for a plate of easy bite! Basically it was a bowl of rice crispy cooked with salted egg-corn.The combination of  crunchiness was really enjoyable. But somehow I found it hard to eat those tiny bites with chopstick. I demand for more salted egg-corn on it!

4 Flavor dumpling (20k)

4 pieces of wonton-like with the vinegar sauce The filling was different for each color. The green one was filled with chicken and chives. The purple one was chicken and beef. The chicken and shrimp was in the orange one. Too bad I could not recall the white one (It was chicken with something). The taste was okay, but I could not really tell the difference among thos fillings.

Chasiu chicken bao (20k)

A plate of goodness! Fluffy bao with tasty chicken chasiu inside was beyond my expectation. The pinch of sweetness on the top of the bao was adding the delicious taste. I could really eat it everyday as my breakfast, or the companion for my afternoon tea. It was love at the first bite.

My most favorite of all : Shanghai honey toast (30k)

It was like having all my favorites on a plate. Fried bread, honey, egg, and peanut butter. Yes, their version of honey toast was with peanut butter inside, interesting, isn't it? 3 generous big slices of eggy-fried-bread with thick peanut butter inside and showered with honey. Not to mention the pinch of butter on top! The taste was really overwhelming. It was tasted paradise when the peanut butter and honey melted in your mouth. (I am such a peanut butter freak!)

The place was easily caught my attention. The creation of the modern Chinese food was such an stride innovation. Gonna back for sure!

Fook Yew

Gandaria City Mall

Main street, Ground Floor

 Jl. KH. M. Syafii Hadzani No.8 Kebayoran Lama.

(021) 29007897

Ron's Laboratory : ice cream in the Lab!

I am a busy bee.

My thesis due date is approaching. I am going to enter the next phase of my medical school stuff. Big exams are on my schedules. Textbooks to be read.

What to do during this hard time? Dessert it is!

Introducing Ron's Laboratory. It's not an ordinary ice cream, it's made of liquid nitrogen. Some kind of molecular gastronomy, where the technology meets the food industry. I've seen some of them in Australia and USA, and now they are invading Jakarta.

Some cozy corners, colorful chalks on board. Ron's Lab is surely trying to offer the fun in the lab!

The making of my ice cream. Added some few things, cloud of smoke, and here come my ice cream! Felt like a magic, huh?

Red velvet ice cream. (60k)

Not a cup of usual red velvet, a gelato! Look at the syringe of cream for the topping! Such a cutie for the eye. Sweet and soft. Creamy as well. One scoop, and the feeling was overwhelming. 

Lemongrass sorbet (45k)

The surprising sensation on top, freshness of the sorbet, the sweet and sour of the ice cream. I love every spoonful of it. The taste was just right. This cup was such a bliss. A kind of dessert you wouldn't wanna miss in those hot sunny days.

However, it was quite an expensive cup. Could it be the next 'it' thing?

Ron's Laboratory

Grand Indonesia West Mall

5th fl. ED2-12B