Ni Hao

My Mother in law was visiting to Jakarta and on her last day in town, we took her dining at a Chinese restaurant near Pasar Baru area. I didn't even know the place, but my brother in law often came here. The restaurant was moderate with bright light and they were still using this red old chair where mostly founded at small chinese dine place. 

It was weekday night but the place was almost full. I didn't put too much expectation on the food as I never even heard about this place before, but turns out most of the menus we ordered were delicious.

Fried prawn w/ golden salted egg (68k). This one was my favorite of the night. The prawns were nicely cooked so we can feel the crunchiness and the salted egg really blended in.

Whole wrapped salted "Kampoeng" Chicken NH style (140k). It was wrapped in a tin foil and grilled in flame in front us. It was standard. Ok but not to that extend. To me, it was not worth the price.

Bamboo clam with Singapore sauce (48k). This was also favorite of the night. The sauce was delicious.

Braised seafood with homemade beancurd (58k)

String bean szechuan style (32k). It was nice, the string bean was crunchy and fresh.

There was also Fried seafood noodle (39k) but I forgot to took the picture. Overall, it was a pleasant dine. At the end of our dinner, we were given complimentary of ginger pudding, it was quite ok, refreshing. 

Ni Hao

Jl. KH Samanhudi No. 57

Jakarta

Ph. +6221 3800448

Lemon Online Shop - CLOSET 2

Hi hi! =) My second closet is out! It had been a wonderful experiences during my closet 1. The tiredness of mix and match then taking the photos, editing more than 1000+ pics, the anxiety of waiting for customer to purchase my collections or even just asking, the excitement when a deal was closed. I love every second of it! 

This fashion thing had been my passion for a long time besides food. Having to actually make it real was almost unbelievable. Although there still so many things to learn, finger crossed it will last and walk on success road. =) 

Please check Lemon Online Shop - CLOSET 2 complete collections at: 

http://www.facebook.com/lemon.onlineshop

 

Pesto

Me and hubby were having dinner at Pesto with friends on Saturday night. Even it had opened for quite some time, I haven't been there before. The place was quite crowded, luckily my friend had called earlier for reservation. But still we ended to get a smoking section as the non smoking one was only available in another half to one hour. We were hungry so we didn't mind to sit in the smoking area.  

I love the ambiance and the interior design. It was spacious with dim light and they had a big open kitchen near the enter. Since it was italian restaurant, we were given a basket of complimentary bread. We began to order. We skipped the appetizer and straight ordering main course. After we finished ordering, the waiter asked us whether we want to try their pizza while waiting for the main course to come. We said no and regret it later as the main course turns out took quite time to be served.

Mixed grilled medallion and sausage with fresh salad and potato gratin (78k). It was a fillet of beef and lamb with pork sausage. They put the fresh salad inside fried dumpling that was made like a bowl. The dumpling were crunchy and delicious. The beef and lamb didn't suite my taste. It was lump of mincemeat, and the lamb was very smelly, but the pork sausage was nice and I loved the potato gratin. 

Grilled baby pork ribs served with roasted baby potatoes and aragula (149k). I'm not a fan of pork ribs, even the one at Tony's, so I didn't really like this one either, but my hubby and my friend who ordered this said that it was good. The baby potatoes were well fried and well seasoned.

Grilled 200gr rib eye steak with fresh salad and baby potatoes (165k). It came with black pepper sauce. It was good. The meat was juicy and tender. 

 

I must say and that I enjoyed my dinner there and loving the ambiance. I will be coming back to try on their pizza since I saw quite many have pizzas on their table. 

*photos of interior was courtesy of Pesto.com

Pesto

Thamrin Nine, UG floor

Jl. MH Thamrin No. 10

Ph. +6221 29937230

http://www.pesto.co.id/

Lazy Sunday = Korean mini series + Junk Food Day

On a particular Sunday, I was feeling really lazy and was not in the mood to go anywhere. I was watching this Korean drama "You're beautiful" and can't stopped watching it. That's what I don't like about Korean movie, it simply makes you lost your quality beauty sleep. =) I'm not a fan of Korean movie actually, but sometimes when I was in a romantic mood, I like to indulge my self with Korean mini series where mostly the stories were like fairy tale, where a handsome, rich and kindhearted man was in love with an ordinary girl. Such a thing didn't really happen in a normal life, so time to time I enjoyed it on TV life.

I started to watch this drama "You're beautiful" since the place where I always got my nails done played it while I was doing my manicure - pedicure. The next time I went there, I asked them to play the drama starting from the part it ended last time. Another next visit, I still haven't managed to finished all the series until my last pedicure. Since I was a regular customer, they were kind enough to borrow me the DVDs. Yay!

It was saturday evening when I reached home and I have dinner appointment with my friends later night, so I have to hold my fairy tale moment for 1 night. The next day was how the lazy sunday was born. =)

I woke up around 8am and directly turn on my dvd. I was not bother to take shower first until my mom rang me and asked me to drop some things at her place. Sigh! Mommy was hijacking my fairy tale moment.

I got up, take shower and drove to my mom's place . After I drop the stuffs my mom asked for, she and my dad had an appointment with their friends so I quickly went home. Realizing that I haven't got my breakfast yet and it was noon already, I stopped by at the nearest mall to grab some take away. I was torn between my favorite junk food of all time, KFC or a bite of Domino's pizza since I never try it before. I end up with 2 take aways. KFC's 2pcs of original chicken and Domino's pizza Extravaganza 6". =) 

So happy on my way back, thinking about laying in my comfy couch admiring the handsome korean guy while enjoying my junk food. Hahaha! My korean fairy tale finally ended around 5pm and during that time I finished 1 pcs of chicken and 3 slices of pizza. Haiizzzz!

Ya Udah Bistro

It's not a new place but I have never been there due to the location. Previously they were located at Jl. Jaksa before move to Menteng. Growing up in Jakarta since I was 1 year old doesn't make me familiar with the road. Luckily, one of my colleagues quite familiar with the address. We went there on a Friday noon. It was located not in a busy street, it was not on the main road but very crowded street as there were many shops and a mosque right in front of the bistro. It was not hard to find, just look for the bright orange color.

The restaurant was not like what I expected. Calling it bistro, what I had in mind was like a small cafe but nicely decorated. Turns out it was a ruko and the owner didn't bother to put much effort on the interior. They didn't have air-con, only big fan were hanging so the place was kinda hot. 

I heard that their specialty was sausage, but I was not a fan of sausage so I ordered The meat eater's delight (55,5k) so I can tasted three kinds of meat. It was a portion of grilled pork, beef medallion and grilled chicken breast served with plain spaghetti. The spaghetti was very plain and tasteless, the meats was also not satisfying. I'm not sure whether the chef forgot to season the entire plate or it was meant to be that tasteless.

The meat eater's delight

Here's what my 3 colleagues ordered: 

Pork Chop (57,5k). It said that it was a juicy pork chop pan fried and finished on a charcoal grill but when it came, the pork was not juicy at all. It was a little bit dry and burned.

Pork Chop

Farmer Bratwurst (pork) served with German fried (37.5k). I took a bite on the sausage and the fries. I like the fries, it was well seasoned. The sausage was not bad either. 

Farmer Bratwurst

This one also Farmer Bratwurst, the difference was only it was served with Hash Brown. I didn't taste it but my colleague said the hash brown was not good.

All of us didn't finish our meals. I didn't know whether it was just a coincidence that the meals were not enjoyable to eat as this Bistro was quite popular and crowded with people, but coincidence or not, I am not thinking to come here for the second time. 

Ya Udah Bistro

Jl. Johar 15, Gondangdia

Menteng

Ph. + 6221 3140343

http://www.yaudahbistro.com/cms/

Parents' Birthday Dinner @ Xin Hwa

I always find it sweet that my parents' birthday were only 5 days away from each. My dad is 1 year older than my mom, they were born in the same month of May and only 5 days away from each one. This year, their birthdays fell in the same week and in weekdays, so we decided to make it into 1 birthday dinner in the weekend.

My parents always loved Chinese food, so I booked the reservation at Xin Hwa. It was a Chinese restaurant located in Mandarin Oriental. I read a good review about it at Jakarta's Good Food Guide but hasn't got the chance to try it due to the location. I once went to Mandarin when I was searching seminar room for my company's purpose, and I was not happy with the parking lot. It was very small, dark and giving me headache finding way from parking lot to the lobby. To avoid the parking, this time we went for valet.

When we entered Xin Hwa, I noticed the luxury of the restaurant. From the design concept, the table and chair selections, even on how the napkins were folded were represented luxurious. However, I was surprised to see how small the restaurant was. They only had 8 tables in the dining area and 3 private rooms. I loved the ambiance even though it was really small.
I have pre-ordered the menu one day earlier to make sure our selections will be all available. So we didn't bother to look at the menu anymore. 

The Seafood Szechuan Hot & Sour Soup was served first and it was absolutely delicious. The spicy and sour taste blended perfectly. I was enjoying it much until the last spoon.
Our main course came all together: Scallop with asparagus & XO sauce (158k), sweet & sour pork (88k), prawns with oatmeal (105k), braised tofu with seafood (85k), Steamed Garoupa fish in Hongkong style (348k), Xin Hwa crispy roasted chicken - half (78k) and Seafood fried noodle (78k). I wouldn't bother to review one by one on how good were the meals. They were delicious. I especially loved the roasted chicken, it was very crispy. Overall it was a delightful birthday dinner. =)

Sze Chuan Hot & Sour Soup

Sweet & Sour Pork

Prawn Oatmeal

Steamed fish Hongkong style

Braised Tofu Seafood

Scallop w/ Asparagus & XO Sauce

Seafood fried noodle

Xin Hwa Golden Crispy Roasted Chicken

Some of us were feeling thirsty so while waiting for our car, I quickly went in to this coffee shop to bought mineral waters. I asked for 3 bottles and I got shocked when I paid, there it was in the cashier screen... IDR 149k, for 3 AQUA!!!! Not Equil, but Aqua! Jeeeezzzz I was still in shock when my mom came to rush me as our car's coming, so I didn't have the chance to cancel and just quickly handed the money to pay. I was still very irritated of spending 149k for 3 bottles of Aqua for the next 15 minutes, when I finally can let it go and come to 1 point, always ask for the price first. Haiiizzzz... totally ruin my delightful dinner.

Carol blouse + Hannah red bangle from Lemon's

Xin Hwa

Mandarin Oriental level 2

Jl. MH Thamrin

Jakarta 10310

Ph. +6221 2993 8888

Fresh Market Pantai Indah Kapuk

This place had been my recently visit when I am lazy to dress up and feel like eating something good but cheap. In the morning it was a market, but they turned it into places to eat at night. There were more than 30 stalls, most of all were cheap and tasty. Here's what I ate last friday when I went there with my hubby and parents.

Bubur Ayam Cirebon (Cirebon chicken porridge)

This was my must eat food everytime I went to Fresh Market PIK. The porridge was delicious. I usually order half portion with extra glizzards. =) A must try one!

Price: 

1 portion: 10k, 1/2 portion: 7k

Extra glizzard: 3k

Siomay Babi (Pork Siewmay)

This was also a good. It located next to chicken porridge stall. 

Price: 6k/ pcs

Sate Padang (Padangnese Satay)

This one also my favorite and a must try one. I loved their satay, usually I always chose the tongue part, so it's more tender. 

Price: 1.5k/ pcs

Martabak Telur Bandung Jaya 

Tasty. I always loved martabak eggs and this one quickly enter my favorite martabak stalls.

Price: 29k

Martabak: thick folded crepe filled with spices and pieces of meat

Most of my visit to the stalls at Fresh Market PIK was never became a disappointment. I liked the casual environment that I didn't need to worry about dressing up, the price of foods that I didn't have to worry about ripping up my wallet... my husband's to be exact =), the taste that always suited me. 

Fresh Market PIK

Komp. Pantai Indah Kapuk

Jakarta Utara

Lemon Shop's closet 1 - LOOK BOOK

The past 5 days, all I have been doing after wake up was office until 6pm, drive home and start taking photo shoot and editing for Lemon's first collection look book until midnight. So happy and relief it's finally completed. :)

Here are some of the look book. Complete one you can view at FB page: http://www.facebook.com/lemon.onlineshop