Soto Barokah, Pertanian Intersection

We were on our way to Farra's school when we were wondering about breakfast. Suddenly I recall this Soto stall in Pertanian Intersection. Soto is somekind if Indonesian soup. It is vary in between regions in Indonesia, so basically there are many types of soto in Indonesia.

The one we're about to have for breakfast is Chicken Soto and Meat Soto which come from beef. The name of the stall is Barokah. It is well known in Eastern part of Jakarta. My wife orders Chicken Soto while I order complete meat soto, complete means it consists of beef, lung, and other gastro parts of cow. Unfortunate for me, the meat soto stall is not ready. So I finally have tha Chicken Soto, but request a plate of fried lungs as condiments.

The Chicken Soto is well cooked, and taste even more savory when I add lime juice to it. The taste is just right without adding anything else ( even better with fried lungs). 

The price for a portion of Chicken Soto is very cheap, only IDR8,000 or USD0.73

For your information, Chicken Soto have different type of soup with Meat Soto. Chicken Soto have yellow soup, which come from turmeric. While Meat Soto have a clear soup. That's why they usually have separared stalls.

Peach Garden, Chinese Cuisine...

I found this restaurant by accident. I was attending my mom at MRCCC Siloam hospital Semanggi and looking for meals. This seems to be the only restaurant available on this building. The picture of tofu on the front was so inviting so I guess I will give it a shot. Honestly, I keep my expectations low.

At a time of starvation, I made a quick pick of Minced Beef Fried Rice. The portion was quite large (to my delight surprise), and the taste was good. Not really a strong tasted kind if fried rice but more of soft spices light fried rice you usually found in Singapore.  

Later on, my sister offered me take aways and I ask her to buy me a Stir fried kailan with sliced beef, as sugested by someone on Foursquare. That was the correct order. The taste of the sauce was just right and the beef is so tender and mild. My sister orders Fried Mushroom in Salted Egg sauce, and to our surprise, the salted egg and the mushroom blended perfectly.

Two days later, as my mom still being treated in this hospital, I went there with my wife and daughter. All three dishes we ordered, Chicken Feet Dim Sum, Won Ton Soup, and Sea Food Fried Noodle, were perfect. I like to take note on the fried noodle, it is thinner than usual noodle, which makes it tastier.

An incident brought me back to the restaurant later that day, where my aunt and her family is having lunch, she invited me and I had a taste of the Roast Duck and Pepper and Salt Fried Tofu. I concluded that most of the food here are well made...

Takarajima: A budget Japanese Restaurant

It was the first time for me to take a train home from work, and amazed by the crowd by the train station in University of Indonesia. I was planning to take a cab right away when I spot this little joint. It is called Takarajima, claimed to be a cheap Japanese restaurant. From outside, I expect the food to be more like Hoka-Hoka Bento. But when I entered I was wrong.

The restaurant is quite small, with 2 tables on the terrace, and 3 tables with capacity of 4 people and 2 tables with capacity of 10 people inside. Looking at the menu, I was furious to see that they actually serve various type of fushion sushi, along with ramen, udon, and set menu of rice and meals. The price was also very reasonable. The question, as anyone would wonder, how's the taste. Since I was hungry, I decided to order a set menu of Beef Teriyaki with Rice. While I was there, it would be great to have a taste of sushi. There are 3 things that I see in a Japanese restaurant. Miso Siru or Miso Soup, Mayonnaise use for the fusion sushi, and the Salmon. So I decided to have Gunko Salmon Spicy. It is a sushi with salmon on top mixed with spicy mayonaise.

When the food arrived, I started to take a closer look. The bento might not as impressive as those you find in a fancy restaurant, but it surely complete. The beef was stir fried with slices of carrot and pepper. On top of the rice there were black sesame seed. It also have japanese salad (as I called it, since I saw it in most of Japanese restaurant) consist of carrot, cucumber, and radish, dipped in vinegar. Also they have this potato croquet. As for the salad, I think it need more vinegar. The croquet was not so bad. But, the most impressive is, the taste of the teriyaki sauce. The first time I dipped the beef slice into it and put it in my mouth, I never tought it will taste that good. The strong taste of teriyaki in a very thin sauce. It goes well with either the beef, the carrot, or the pepper.

The sushi is quite good as well. WIth it's price, I never expect a really fresh salmon to be served. When I ate it, I am not quite sure how fresh it is, but they mixed the mayo and chilli very well, that it blends perfectly with the salmon. Great taste for the price. The last, but not least, I drink the Miso Soup. Although I have those three indicators above, Miso Siru always been the best indicator in determining whether a Japanese Restaurant is worthy to dine or not, just like I usually did with Tom Yam for Thai restaurant. The Miso Siru was OK, so, it's passed the test as one of Japanese restaurant worthy to try.

As I went to the cashier, she told me that the restaurant was just opened for a month, and it's a branch from the same restaurant located in Kemang. So, if you happened to be in Margonda near to the alley that went to UI train station, please drop by.



Dining Experience:
Gunka Salmon Spicy: 7.5 out of 10
Miso Siru: 7.5 out of 10
Beef Teriyaki: 8 out of 10 (could be 9 if they add more beef and less carrot)
Service: 7 out of 10, not too quick but not too long either
Response: 8 out of 10
Price: very reasonable

Cakwe Medan: Pleasure Companion in between meals

Cakwe is widely known in chinese cuisine as a companion for rice porridge, but usually it came in small sizes (diameter of 0.5-1 inch), and cut into small pieces to be mixed with the porridge. There is also another kind of Cakwe, we called it Cakwe Medan.

There's no significant different in taste. Mostly in size and crispiness (is that the correct term for level of crispy?). Cakwe Medan can sized up to 2-2.5 inches in diameter, and length up to 15 inches. The basic ingredients are wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. The right amount of the ingredient will form a tender crust Cakwe which will crush and melt perfectly as you bite and chew it. That's how I feel about Cakwe Medan that I bought in Jalan Dharmawangsa, near to Panglima Polim and Wijaya Grand Center, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta. For me it was one of the biggest cakwe that sold on the street, with 2 inches in diameter and 13 inches in length. The crispy also stays up to 6 hours after it's been fried, while mostly it only lasts for 2 hours. Cakwe usually came with a sweet and sour sauce which lighten up the plain taste of the cakwe.



Dining Experience:
Cakwe & Sauce: 9.5 out of 10

*Great to accompany your morning or afternoon with a cup of coffee or tea
*You might want to lay it down on a bed of tissue before eat it, because it contains lots of oil

Kempi Deli: A Cozy Place to Blog...

This is my second visit to this place... The last time I was waiting for my wife to catch a birthday dinner. Now, it's a dillema between going to the Gym, or stay here spending my time blogging. At the moment, I am more on the last one...

What I like about this place, that it's setting which give the ambience of old time bakery or deli that offers bread, sandwich, sausage, etc, with additional service of serving hot and cold beverages. The interior really emphasize on calmness and welcoming atmosphere. With a strong combination of black and white for the walls and floor, the Deli's equipped with brown high-chairs with round marble tables. It has around 6 tables with total of 21 chairs. The place also equipped with free Internet and total of 3 electric plugs for the guests.

From the way it is build, the Deli seems to have more visits from people buying bread, sausages, or cheese to take home than to dine in. Although at certain hours I found the place quite full with people meetings or just killing time.

For now, having a Hot Chocolate earlier today, and also a Coffee at a meeting before, I decided to order Pepermint Tea. They are using Ronnefeldt Leaf Cup for the tea. The tea itself comes with 2 pieces of cookie. To accompany the Tea, they offered me a special package with Strawberry Mousse Cake.




Overall Dining Experience:

Tea - 9 out of 10, it tastes better than other peppermint tea I ever tried in a cafe or coffeeshop (or tea shop)
Cookies: 8 out of 10, it's free, but seems like is one of the top grade cookies. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a cookie person
Strawberry Mousse Cake: 9 out of 10. Taste sooo good, with a taste of real strawberries lasts in your mouth, not just an essence.
Cleanliness: 9.5 out of 10
Waiter/Waitress: 8.5 out of 10, a bit too much for a Deli this small.
Price: a bit expensive, since it's part of Kempinsky Hotel, so it's a hotel price