TUCANO'S CHURRASCARIA JAKARTA

I wasn't plan to write a review on Tucano's at first, because I didn't take my camera during our dinner, but I've received quite many message on instagram asking me to blog this after I post them on my Insta-story. Hence, I decided to do it, but warning ahead, all the pictures taken with Iphone only and they weren't good ones, since I initially took them only for Insta-stories purposes. 

BISTECCA JAKARTA

How anything under Union group never failed my taste buds. I was here at Bistecca last weekend with my girlfriends, in need of good food and we got them. Bistecca is located in the same building as the other establishment of Union group, The Dutch. As soon as we stepped inside, the design immediately reminded me of Union group's signature concept. Except for Casa, I personally always feels every restaurants under the group has similar vibes and ambiance, that New York pub style classic. 

CASSIS KITCHEN JAKARTA

Cassis has always have a place in our hearts. We celebrated two of our anniversaries here. Two good memories. When they recently changing their concept from fine dining to  more of a casual dining with friendlier price list, we, of course need to pay a visit. 

Fukuro Dining & Sake Bar SCBD

I don't have favorite food but I always have more love when it comes to Japanese food, especially when it had to do with sashimi. I honestly couldn't understand how some people can't eat sashimi when it is one of nature's most precious food. Anyway, when a friend of mine told me she just had a pleasant dinner at this new Japanese restaurant at Fairgrounds SCBD, I couldn't help but to go there as early as I can. 

Sanjiken at The Fairgrounds SCBD

It's amazing how social media could connect people nowadays. Like my Sanjiken lunch's story here. I started Ivy's Life with no other purpose except to have a decent platform to write, but it's nice to find how it grows to not just about it, but also to meet new friends. I was here few weeks ago with several foodie friends, Cindy, Daisy & Kato and Hans. From strangers to friends, I guess food does connect hungry bellies.

Tori Ya by Kinokawa SCBD Jakarta

Kinokawa lovers shall be happy for two things; First, Kinokawa finally opens second outlet at SCBD area, side by side with Tori-Ya, a new Japanese eatery proudly brought by the same management which, yes, is the second happy news for Kinokawa-ers. 

Potato Head Garage

About a month ago, I went to the latest addition from Potato Head's group, a slightly upscale semi fine dining located at the ex Bengkel night club. When my friends and I stepped inside Potato Head Garage, we were awed by the beautiful classic hallway; the black & white marble floors along with the vintage candle lamps placed on the side of the alley's walls was definitely stunning. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of it.

PEPeNERO Cucina Italiana

One night, Hubby was craving for thin crust pizza so we decided to go to one of my favorite Italian place, Pepenero. We went to the one located at Sudirman. It was around 9pm when we reached there and the place was not really packed considering it was over dinner time. 

Moya Tapas & Wine Bar

One night, hubby and I were craving for some Spanish. Since there was not many options for Spanish food in Jakarta, we were thinking to go to the usual Tapas Movida until I did some searching and found out Moya Tapas which located in a more strategic location. Without further thinking, we called for reservation and headed there for a 9pm dinner. 

SKYE

A new place to see and to be seen. When I knew it was under Ismaya group, high expectations were raised. From the stylish Blowfish and Social House to the much humble Mr. Curry, I always love the design concept of all diners under Ismaya group. As for SKYE? It took my breath away... 

The first time I went to Skye was after my lunch at Downtown Bistro. Fascinated by their very own private lift which took us to the 56th flr, we were greeted and asked politely on where we wanted to sit. Apparently the entire floor were divided into lounge/ bar where only cocktails, desserts and finger foods allowed to be ordered and dining for a heavy meal. Without knowing that reservation is essential in this place, we were in luck to be seated directly in the lounge area.

Positioned in one of the tallest building's roof top, sitting in the lounge area with spectacular view of J-town surely gives a whole other feeling. It's like for the moment we were there, I forget a bit that I was actually in Jakarta. With comfy sofa beds set in front of a pool looking through the view, the breeze was relaxing. It was a very good place to chat while waiting for sunset.

Downtown Bistro

Several days ago, I went to a recently open bistro located in the heart of Sudirman. Unlike what I had in mind, the place was not too spacious although the outdoor area was quite large, but I do like how they did with the interior inside. I love the bricks on the wall, the dotted floor, the mirror ceiling, and the bookshelves which gave library (slash) intimate diner feeling. The two things bothered me were the way too loud Jazz music and the air-con which freakishly hot.

Outback Steakhouse: An all time favorite

Hubby and I always have a thing for Outback. Since forever, the place had been our favorite dining. We have been together for almost 6 years since the first time we dated and out of that six years, three Valentine's dinner were celebrated here and countless of regular visits to this place had been done. Whenever we are craving on a good juicy steak, Outback had always becoming the safe place we went to as it never disappointed us, either from the food, the ambiance or the service itself.

Several weeks ago, hubby and I were thinking on where to have our dinner. Most of the time, I will suggest to go to a new place we both never went to, but that night we were in a serious need of good comfort food, something that will make our belly happy, so we decided to go for an all time favorite at Outback. 

[REBRANDING] Twenty Eight SCBD

**The review is based on a trip when they are still named as Pad@28.

A friend of mine told me about a diner she frequently passing through which always seemed to have crowds day and night. Since it was located in the intersection of SCBD and Senopati not far from The Goods Diner, we went there right after our short brunch. Pad@28 (read: Pad 28) is a  reincarnation of Brasas, an Argentinan steak restaurant formerly in Pacific Place Jakarta, they moved and reinvented as Pad@28 on Oct 2011 in a big white house turned into a restaurant.

The Goods Diner

Last Saturday, my bestie and I went to the former Bengkel night park located at SCBD which now has transformed to Fairground. Initially, we planned to have lunch in the new Lucy In The Sky, turns out their opening time was at 3.30pm, while we reached there at 1 something, so we went to Goods Diner instead. 

Canteen

Canteen had been one of my favorite place to dine. Nowadays, most of the new dining places were only strong in the great design concept but lack of good menu. As someone who adores food, I love to try up on new restaurants, but rarely back for the second time, as I said most of them give more thought on the design rather the food. In my humble opinion, Canteen is not one of those places. It's one of the place that I had been keep on coming for regular dine. To me, their food and service had never let me down. Although don't come here when you are super hungry as you could fainted before your meal come. One of the thing I don't like about Canteen is the food serving took forever. 

Anyway, I always went to the one in Plaza Indonesia. One night, my husband and I went to their Pacific Place branch. We sat in the front as inside was meant for smoking only. On our way, I knew that I wanted to have their Risotto with duck and mushroom, but when I looked at the menu, it was not in it and the menu book was also not the same like the one at PI. I asked the waiter and turns out some of their menus were different for each branch, and the one I was craving about only available in Canteen PI. The risotto they have was Mushroom Risotto (60k), so my husband ordered it and I chose Australian Sirloin 200gr with baby potatoes (110k). We skipped the appetizer and dessert as we wanted to try the Homemade Lasagna (60k). 

Mushroom Risotto - I don't really like the risotto, it was seasoned well but it was watery and quite mushy. Very different with the one in PI. 

Australian Sirloin - The meat was not that juicy but it was still grilled well and I loved the crunchiness of the baby potatoes.

Homemade Lasagna - I didn't taste the lasagna from the top as it had cheddar all over it, but the minced beef and the sauce was delicious and generous. The pasta layers were not too thick so it was good. 

Overall as I said, Canteen had never failed me but somehow I feel I had better meals in their Plaza Indonesia's branch.

Canteen
Pacific Place Level 4
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 52 - 53
Jakarta
Ph. +6221 57973742

Luna Negra

One day before my buying trip, I managed to squeeze a lunch date with a friend of mine, Merry. We decided to meet at Luna Negra. I haven't been here although the place had opened for quite some time and promptly becoming a must visit dining in town. It was Saturday afternoon and I have made reservation earlier as I heard all the sayings that Luna was always full booked, but when we reached there, the place was almost empty although I did see quite names on the reservation list, and yes the place start too filled up while we were eating. 

Entering Luna, there's a wine cellar on the left side and passing through the bar, we were guided to the dining tables. The place was nicely decorated, with bricks and dark woods where they put two big plastic trees in the center and there were big silver balls hanging between the trees. I loved the ambiance and how they design it. It immediately took place in my heart. 

Source: www.jakarta100bars.com

Like all Italian bistro, we were given complimentary bread while we ordering. Luna served cuisine from Italian, Asian to Western, however the waiter told us that their specialty was Italian. We decided to have Pizza Calzone (92k) and a Tiramisu (48k) to shared. I ordered their Luna iced tea (25k). It was a homemade ice tea, black tea, black grass jelly with fresh mint leaf. I didn't like it, it was typical ice tea and the grass jelly was too thick to be drank using the straw only. However, I loved both the pizza and tiramisu. The value of the presentation and taste was equally balanced... in a positive way. Pizza calzone was a clam shapped pizza with the stuffing inside consisted of smoked beef, sauted mushroom, tomato sauce and mozzarella. The pizza dough was baked perfectly, not too thick, not too thin with a perfect seasoned for the stuffing. The mushrooms were delicious. While the tiramisu was a very smooth melted in your mouth type of dessert. 

 

In my opinion, Luna surely earned the right to be one of the must visit dining place. 

 

Luna Negra 

Plaza Bapindo, Citibank tower, GF 

Jl. Sudirman Kav. 54-55 

Jakarta

Ph. +6221 29950077

Crystal Jade Teo Chew Palace

On the day I was going for shopping trip for Lemon's new collections, I still have the entire morning and afternoon since my flight was late noon, so me and my family went for a quick lunch at Crystal Jade. 

From outside the place looked quiet and small, but when we entered the restaurant, it was quite big and very crowded, the interior was designed black and red with Chinese luxury modern concept. Almost all tables were full. We were ushered to a table next to window and began to order. We chose Crystal jade roasted duck - Half (108k), Baked frog w/ ginger, scallion and chili padi (68k), Sauted prawn with salad sauce (108k), Braised egg plant with minced meat and beancurd in casserole (55k), Braised seafood and beancurd in sichuan style (108k) and jelly fish (48k) for the appetizer. 

Jelly fish

Roasted duck

Baked frog w/ ginger, sacllion and chilli padi

Prawn w/ salad sauce

Braised Eggplant w/ minced meat and beancurd

Braised Seafood and bean curd in sichuan style

Overall the meals were delicious. The duck skin was crisp and the meat was tender, the prawn mayonnaise came in small portions, only around 6pcs but the prawns were crispy and big, the mayo dressing were also very nice, not sour and not too milky taste. It was a pleasant dine although personally I think the price was too expensive. 

Crystal Jade Teo Chew Palace

Pacific Place level 4- 03

Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 52 - 53

Jakarta

Ph. +6221 5140 0437