CNY dinner at Maystar

So, how's everyone CNY dinner? Mine was pretty great. =)

After having several not so satisfying CNY dinners the past few years, initially my family and I plan to have a personal home cook dishes this year, since we have 2 great chefs in the house, my mom and my hubby. Yes, hubby can definitely cook better than me. Kitchen has never been my best friend. *LOL* 

But then, around 3 weeks before CNY, mom's house helper quit and the three musketeers, my dad, big bro and I who terrified as hell to wash any dishes, forbid mom and hubs to cook. So, I made an impromptu reservation at Maystar Emporium. We thought it would be a perfect fit since it was located in a close distance and happen to be one of our regular place to go for Chinese meals. 

[CLOSED] Little Taiwan

Many things can be done to ease the stress. One of my way is by having my own "me time". I love having a me time. Go anywhere I want, sleep all day, eat anywhere I want, anything I want to do just by my self. One of "me time" moment I enjoy is to go by my self to mall and just wandering around without a purpose. Some of my friends think it was weird to go eat or walk around alone, but I personally find it relaxing.

Incognito

Incognito is an Italian bistro which located at the ground level of Emporium Pluit, shared a connected spot with Han Gang and White Hunter. I have passed this place several times but never really interested in trying them until one day, I was meeting one of my good friend who I know is a fan of creamy pasta, so we decided to have an early dinner there.

Come Buy

Another new bubble drink in town. It was until my 3rd time that I finally can taste this new bubble tea drink located in 2nd floor of Emporium Pluit, as there were always so many people queuing. They have 2 sizes medium and large. I chose 3Q Passion Blast which was passion fruit tea with 3 different kinds of toppings, bubble, jelly & aloe (22k) and my friend chose Bubble milk tea (20k). It was very cheap considering the large size were quite big.

I found my passion blast very refreshing and has the right amount of sweet sourness. Love it and will be come back soon! 

I'm not sure whether it was originally from Taiwan as the queuing line were quite long so I didn't have the chance to ask, but when I went to Macao recently, I saw several Come Buy outlets there. 

Come Buy 

Emporium Pluit Mall Level 2

(In front of Paper Clip)

Jl. Pluit Selatan Raya
North Jakarta

Other branch: Pacific Place, Kota Kasablanka, Central Park

Chef's Table by Din Tai Fung

Last Saturday, I was on my way to one of my friend's house when I passed Emporium Pluit and saw the signage of a new restaurant just opened, Chef's Table by Din Tai Fung. The later night, I went there with my parents and hubby. It was located on the 4th floor across Stickhouse & food court. As expected, new restaurant must be lined up with people, luckily the wait list was not too many so we decided to wait. 

There's nothing really to say about the interior of the place. It was white, sleek and clean. They didn't really put effort to make a special design, and just like other Din Tai Fung, they have an open kitchen only for the chefs making Xiao Long Bao.

Around 15 minutes, we got our table. Originally we were thinking to have Chinese main dishes, but looking through the menu, they didn't have too many selections on it, so we thought we just order their Lamien and Xiao Long Bao, both they were famous of, along with several dishes. We asked for Steamed pork dumpling -6pcs (49k), Braised lion head with salted egg yolk ala Shanghai (38k), Tofu with salted egg yolk (55k), Tom Yum seafood noodle soup (55k), Cha Jiang noodle (43k), Roast duck noodle (58k) and Chilli prawn udon (60k). For the noodle, we can opted regular one or spinach one. My mom and hubby chose spinach one for their Cha Jiang & Roast duck noodle, while dad sticks with the regular one for his Tomyum seafood noodle soup.

The orders didn't took look to be served, and surprisingly the service for a soft opening restaurant turns out to be very good and polite. The Cha jiang & roast duck noodle came first and they put it in a plate instead of bowl, I'm not good with food plating and decoration, but I think it will be nicer if they served it in a bowl. Serving those small portion noodle in a wide plate just making it look even smaller portion. Tom yum seafood noodle came in a bowl because it was a wet noodle. All the noodles tasted quite ok, it was not superb but not bad either, well seasoned not tasteless like the typical Lamian I had at Din Tai Fung. There was no difference though between the spinach and regular one, only the color.

Cha Jiang Noodle

Roast duck noodle

Tom yum seafood noodle

The lion braised and tofu came. I'm not sure why they called it lion braised with salted egg yolk as I didn't see any egg yolk for sure. Mom said that braised lion was a popular dish in Taiwan and she liked it when she ate it there, not feeling the same thing as eating the one they had here. I don't know whether they just can't cooked or my mom just simply had a weird taste with the braised lion she had in Taiwan, as this one was not good at all. As she's my mom, I will just put it simple by saying they were the one who can't cook. =) Basically it was rounded minced meat cooked with oyster sauce. Fortunately, the tofu with egg salted yolk was the hero for our night. I loved the soft Japanese tofu covered in salted egg yolk. Although, I thought that 55k was quite high for a tofu but I didn't complain when I ate 3 of them, it was yummy.

Braised Lion Head with salted egg yolk

Tofu with salted egg yolk

The steamed pork dumpling was nice, after all it was what they were famous for in the first place. The dumpling skin came in the right thickness, not too thick, also not too thin that easily ripped off.

Steamed pork dumpling

Finally, my udon came and it was as expected. On the picture from the menu book, it looked dark brown as how a fried udon supposed to be, however turn out they cooked the Udon with sweet sour sauce, so it tasted and looked like pasta. Me not likey but mom thought it was not bad.

Chilli prawn udon

Overall, with a 20% discount due to soft opening, it was not a bad dinner, it's just didn't came through on my expectation. I might be back for some light breakfast, Xiao Long Bao with Chinese tea. But not for dinner. Well, a plate of Tofu with salted egg yolk wouldn't hurt. 

Chef's Table by Din Tai Fung

Emporium Mall Level 4 unit 39

Jl. Pluit Selatan Raya

North Jakarta

Ph. +6221 29071918

Sushi Tei

Sushi Tei had always been one of my favorite place to eat. I think they really serve a good Japanese meals with affordable prices. 

I still very much remember my very first time dine at Sushi Tei. They just opened at Plaza Indonesia and one of my schoolmate wanted to dine there. At that time, I wasn't really into sushi, and I still remember vividly that I didn't order nor tested any kinds of Sushi, instead I opted for Donburi. But around 2 weeks after that, I was curious so I paid another visit to Sushi Tei and ordered several kinds of Sushi including their famous Jumbo dragon roll. I felt in love instantly both to Japanese food and Sushi Tei. Since then, my dining there had been countless.

I knew that I didn't need to review more about this place as surely almost everyone who like Japanese food must have been to Sushi Tei. But anyway, I will just briefly mentioning what me and hubby ordered several weeks ago when we dined there. 

Salmon sashimi (38k), Sanshoku hana salmon (29k), Salmon skin spicy roll (29k), Chicken karaage (37k), Takoyaki (24k), Salmon skin fried (29k), Mix inari (17k), Chuka chinmi gunkan (12,5k) and Gindara teriyaki (75k).

Satisfying as always...

Sushi Tei 

Emporium Mall Level 2

Pluit, North Jakarta

Ph. +6221 66676388

Other outlets: Plaza Indonesia, Pondok Indah Mall 2, Mall Kelapa Gading V, Plaza Senayan, Senayan City, Central Park, Gandaria City