Buying trip

Here I am... Back from a pleasant dine at Crystal Jade and suffering from eating too much. I will be off for my second buying trip and still have some time before I need to go to airport so I turn on my laptop and starting to write... 

It wasn't long ago since my first buying trip, and I have been so caught up with works that I just realized it yesterday how excited I am to go for another buying trip. The thoughts of all those beautiful things displayed and just waiting for mama Lemon to adopt them. :)

When I graduated from college, I sent quite applications for fashion buyer position in some companies behind my favorite brands, but neither one were getting call back. I knew it was a long shot since brands like them will definitely hired someone with experiences or even if they were going to hired a fresh graduate, it will be someone who have fashion background in their studies. I, on the other hand is a fashion enthusiasm who somehow got lost in Economic major. Up till this very day, I am still confused why I can end up choosing economic at that time.

Anyway, while my shopping addiction is nothing compared to Rebecca Bloomwood from one of my favorite readings "Shopaholic", I do admit that I am a spender and my biggest expense would be in clothing and shoes! I love shoes! (Will share about shoes in another blog).

Some people got their adrenalin popping while doing bungee jumping, while mine will be popped just good by something simpler and less terrifying. Shopping! I always had this thought about how great it will be to become a fashion buyer, where I can release my passion in shopping and make a living out of it. Isn't that great?

In summary, I am very happy to finally have a chance in becoming a fashion buyer, even double happy since I can do it for my own little online store. My baby was just launched for 2 months, and tell you the truth, I don't even know how the future of my baby will be... will it last, will it not, nevertheless I am very proud that at least I have made the baby steps on pursuing my dream. *finger crossed it will be walking in a road of success*

Ok enough writings... Time to go to airport. I'll be back on Aug 6th and Lemon's CLOSET 3 will be launched soon after that. Stay tune! I promise to bring home amazing stuffs ;)

PS: A special thanks for a certain someone who is a senior in online shop business. I don't know her personally but she is kind enough to gave me several kind advises. There are people with big hearts in this crazy world. For that certain someone (you know who u are), thanks for that little tap at my back. :)

Ten Ten

I have always wanted to try Ten Ten but their first branch was at Pondok Indah Mall where it was simply too far for me, so when they opened at Plaza Indonesia, I was very excited to try since PI was only steps away from my office. Luckily my colleagues were always kind enough to accompanied me on trying new places. :)

We went there on Wednesday afternoon for lunch. I was not really familiar with PI, but according to my colleagues, Ten Ten occupied the place where previously was Bakerz In. It was not big and the interior was designed more or less like Sushi Tei with light woods and yellow lights. I loved the ambiance and the cute little things they put on the table or the display cabinet. The waiter told us they were in the same management with Sushi Tei, Sushi Kiosk, Rakuzen, Pepper Lunch, Bakerz In and Paradise Dinasty. 

We started to order. I saw they had Takoyaki on the menu and usually if I went to a place who served Tako, I will definitely try but this time I didn't as I was still quite full from earlier breakfast. Looking at the menu, I was drooling as they were all looks tempting. It was written on the menu that we can make our own tempura. They have selections of ebi, shitake, carrot, onions, eggplant and many others with very affordable prices for us to make into our own preferable  tempura set. They have 3 options for the tempura from original, spicy and black pepper. 

As both of my colleagues chose the rice set, I wanted to try their Udon, so I chose Niku Udon (50k) and create my own tempura set with 1pcs of ebi (10k), eggplants came in 2pcs (5k) and shitake also came in 2pcs (5k). While my colleagues chose Mini tempura + Beef teriyaki set (50k) and Mini tempura + Ebi yose katsu set (50k). Both were served with miso soup and a bowl of rice. For the beverages, we ordered 2 glasses of Blueberry with jelly (18k) and Kyoho grape cooler (18k). 

Niku Udon

Mini Tempura + Beef Teriyaki set

Mini Tempura + Ebi Yose Katsu set

The waiter told us that it would take 20 minutes for our meals to be served, but I think it was more than that. However, it was worth the wait. My Udon was delicious, I loved the well seasoned broth, not too salty and the beef was generous and tender. The portion was not big but it was fulfilling. Same as my colleagues' rice sets, they came in a tray and the portions were not big but at the end was very fulfilling to each of us. The rice set came with smaller tempura (mini one) while my "make your own tempura" came in regular size. We loved the tempura. It was served hot and crunchy, along with all the vegetables and mushrooms were very yummy too. Overall, we all think it was a pleasant lunch and the value paid was worth the meals.

Ten Ten
Plaza Indonesia Level Basement unit 16-19
Jl. MH Thamrin Kav 28
Jakarta

d'palm

 

As we had Chinese for breakfast and western for brunch, we decided to go for Indonesian for our lunch, Sundanese to be exact. The two Sundanese restaurants I ever tried in Bandung, Bumbu Desa (at that time, they have not open at Jakarta) and Sari Sunda were both satisfying. I was hoping this recently opened Sundanese restaurant named d'palm would be satisfying too. 

Unlike mostly Sundanese restaurant, this one was designed modern. The place was quite big with indoor and outdoor spot. I loved how they decorated the outdoor. It was designed like garden with fish pond and eight Saung (gazebo). The saung was also designed with modern touch. Too bad all the saungs were full, so we sat inside and start to order. 

We ordered Gurame goreng kipas (60.5k), Ati ampela goreng (9k), Ayam bakar (16k), Jambal roti goreng (7k), Pete bakar (10.5k), Sop buntut asam pedas (39k), Lidah goreng (16.5k), Babat goreng (14.5) and Es kelapa (15.5k). Overall, it was a pleasant lunch. Bandung was really a place to eat Sundanese food. =) 

d'palm

Jl. Lombok No. 45

(From FO Heritage Riau, go straight, in the right there's KFC, turn right)

Bandung

Ph. +6222 4261623

Maja House

From Poka Tiam, we went to Maja house. Maja house was an outlet located uphill with 2 restaurants in the same management, Maja Suki and Sugar & Cream. Maja Suki served shabu - shabu while Sugar & Cream was a rooftop restaurant served International food. 

We chose Sugar & Cream as we were only heading for beverages and light meals. Sugar & Cream had this open air spot with comfy beds where you can directly see the view of Bandung. The beds were meant for people to lay down comfortably while hanging out with friends, too bad that the beds were all quite dirty so personally, we only sat there without laying down.

We chose Apple Mojito (35k), Bajigur and Fried calamari (25.5k). My mojito was very good, it had chunks of green apples and the mint leaves was very refreshing. One of the best mocktails I had in years. The fried calamari was also satisfying. The Bajigur could be better if it was served hot, so make sure to let the waiter know when you order. 

Maja was definitely a good place for hang out with friends and family. If you intend to come at night, make sure to do reservations first especially on weekend as they are often booked for private party.

Maja House

Jl. Sersan Bajuri No. 72

Bandung

Ph. +6222 2788196

http://majahouse.com/

Mie Dorokdok + Poka Tiam

Last Sunday, me and my hubby went to Bandung. It was an impromptu trip so just the two of us. We reached there around 9am something and went straight to Pasir Kaliki. I read in one of food blogger's blog about a street vendor that sells noodle which she loved, so we headed there to give it a try. The vendor was located at the front of Poka Tiam, a Singaporean kopi tiam. We decided to order 1 bowl first incase it wasn't good. The noodle was called Mie Dorokdok (13k). We can choose dry or wet, served with meatballs, beef tripe and tendon topped with cowhide crackers. It wasn't bad but very standard noodles, the difference was only at the crunchy crackers. 

After that, we went in to Poka Tiam and ordered Fried pork kwetiau (25k), Fried samcan with chilli salt (32k), Siewmay (16,8k), Ice barley (8,8) and Soya milk (8,8k). The kwetiau came in a very oily presentation, and I didn't see any pork, they just put pork sausages inside and small chopped of char siu . It was indeed oily and wasn't good at all, tasteless and unseasoned. The siewmay was like those frozen siewmay which you can find in supermarket. The fried samcan was quite ok but definitely not good enough to make me want to come back. Luckily there was 25% discount using certain credit card to at least make me felt better about the unfavorable breakfast. 

Poka Tiam

Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto 

(d/h Pasir Kaliki) No. 64

Bandung

About a wonderful woman named MOM

I know that everyone will always say that their mom is the best. I also one of those everyone. My mom is amazing. She was born in 1940s, in times where things were not as easy as now. I'm not saying that life is getting easier, but it surely was not easy for my mom back then. Having born in a simple family, my mom's childhood was not exactly a fairy tale. Being the 4th from 5 siblings was not making her as a spoiled daughter. Since she was a teenage, my mom had been a hardworking person. At the age of 17, she managed to have a store and a car on her own, not a single Rupiah from my grand parents. My mom is very independent and had I told you that she is very hardworking and smart? Her business mind is excellent. She is a great business woman, a great wife and an excellent mother. She could managed to be great in each aspect. So proud of her.

When my brother was born, my mom know that she had to give up her business career to take care of her son. She took a decision to change it to home business where she could still run her business and taking care of my brother and I. Knowing my mom, I know that it was not an easy decision for her to change path to a home business, but I always grateful for her to chose us above her business. Nowadays, when people asked me do I have a good child hood, I did. I get to see my mom every morning when I woke up and every afternoon when I got back from school. It was priceless!  

Since my brother and I were a kid, we were always taught that family comes first no matter what. My mom always said to us that people might change, but family never will. Despite all the challenges or horrible mistakes, family is the one place you can always turned to.

My mom often said that I look like her... personality side. I would like to believe that I am. I might not be as hardworking as she is, or as good cook as she is, or as smart as she is, but my mom and I shared the same priority in life, FAMILY. Same as her, to me family always comes first. Growing up in a small family, we were very close one another. I don't share a lot about my personal life to my dad, but our relationship can be consider close. My relationship with my brother was also quite close. On the other hand, my relationship with my mom is very close. I told my mom everything. Sometimes, I like to keep the "not to good" part of stories from my mom to keep her from worrying too much. But many times, I always run to her for a good comfort when I was facing a problem. I'm not saying that we get along all the time, we're not. I often got into quarrel with my mom, but we always managed to get over it. We can't stand to not talking to each other for too long. Even now that I am married and had moved out, I still call my mom almost everyday and visit her several times in a week, sometimes sleeping over there, of course my hubby is coming with me when I spent the night there. 

Now that I have another "job", being a wife, I gained even more respect for my mom. I never really went to traditional market in my single life, and I certainly never cook. I even told my husband at that time to not expect to see me a lot in the kitchen except for cooking instant noodle. But somehow, after I got married, things change. As there are only my husband and I staying together, that makes me the only woman in the house, like it or not, I have to picked up new responsibilities that I never bother to care about, from small things like going to market, getting to learn to pick fresh veggies and meats, until the part to wake up every week day at 6am to cook for my husband then rushing go to office.

The last part is even shocking to my self. In my entire life, I never thought I will be that girl who cook. I didn't even know how to put season, how many salt to use, how many ketchup to use, gosh I didn't even know how a raw meat could turn fried! 

My husband never forced me to cook or to do any of the things above, I even never thought I will end up doing that, but somehow I begin to enjoy my new "job". My mom always said "whenever there's a will, there's a way", and it surely is. 

Anyway back to the one we were talking about, it was certainly uneasy to wake up every weekday at 6am to cook and then rush for work. That was what my mom did and still do until now... and I applaud her for that. 

Being a business woman, a wife and a mom certainly aren't an easy task for my mom but she is like this super woman that nothing is impossible for her. Thank you, mom! 

My love, my rock, my forever friend! =)

Monolog

From de Luca, we were actually very full already, but I really wanted to try their Palmier since I read the review on Jenzcorner. My poor hubby were sleepy and wanted to just go home and sleep, yet I still forced him to seep a glass of coffee first. 

Unlike de Luca, Monolog's ambiance was with light wood & bricks and bright lights. They had pastry selections displayed so we can see and pick the pastry our self. The place itself was very modern looking, minimalist and good for place to hang out.

We ordered Flat white (28k) for the coffee and Iced chocolate hazelnut praline (38k). For the pastry, they had buy 1 get 1 promo starts from 8pm. I of course chose Palmier (10k) and for the free one, we chose Almond financier. Palmier was like Genji Pie from Monde which you can find in supermarket, but this one was thicker, bigger and 10 times more delicious. Loved it so much that I regretted why I didn't bought some for take away. The financier was served cold since it was almost 10pm, and perhaps will be nicer to eat if it was hot. My iced chocolate hazelnut praline was not good at all. The waiter told me that their chocolate was handmade and melted with hazelnut, but the chocolate was way too much that it was too thick to drank. I asked them to put more water inside but the taste was still too viscous that I ended only took 2 seeps. However, I will be coming back for their delicious palmier and other pastries.

Monolog

Plaza Senayan parking lot P1

Jl. Asia Afrika 

Jakarta

Ph. +6221 5725144

http://www.monolog-coffee.com/

de Luca

Saturday night, me and hubby went to Plaza Senayan for a dinner & movie date. Both of us were movies addict and seriously devastated when imported movies were banned into XXI and Blitz. I mean, how ridiculous was that? Even now, I noticed some travel agents put up a package to go see movies in Spore and KL. I do really hope this issue will solve up soon. In the mean time, so excited that next week I will be going for buying trip for Lemon's, so I can catch Harry Potter and hopefully Transformer 3 will still be playing there. *finger crossed*

Anyway, we were planning to see Larry Crowne but we reached there 8.45pm and the latest show before midnight one was at 9pm. So we canceled movie and went straight for dinner. I noticed for some time that the furniture store at Plaza Senayan's parking lot had been shut down and recently turned into restaurants. 

There were 2 restaurants there, one was Italian named de Luca and one was coffee shop named Monolog. Both were full house. Lucky for us, de Luca still has 1 table left for 2 persons. The place was not big but they put tables outside the restaurant along the alley. It was designed with dark wood and dim lights. 

I wanted to try the across coffee shop after dine so we skipped appetizer and go straight to main course. I was craving for pizza and the waiter recommended me Americano pizza (68k). It was delicious! The pizza was thin crust with beef sausage, mozarella, tomato sauce and fried potato. One of the best pizza I tasted. My mind was even already planning to come back for other pizza selections. My husband was a meat lover, almost every time we dine he will opted for steak. He chose Veal alla milanesse (128k) served with mashed potato and aragula salad. The veal was butter crumbed and pan fried, it was tender and tasted quite ok but winner of the night really went to the pizza. 

Complimentary bread

 

de Luca just opened end of May and turns out they were in same management with Monolog, the coffee shop across them along with Immigrant and Rustique. For restaurant that just opened 2 months, the service was excellent. Even crowded, but the food serving was fast and the waiters were all very promptly when we asked for something. 

From the food and service, I will surely be back to de Luca. Very very soon! 

de Luca

Plaza Senayan Parking lot P1

Jl. Asia Afrika

Jakarta 

Ph. +6221 5725144

Ocha & Bella

Last Friday, I went to Ocha & Bella with my colleagues for lunch. I saw from the other food bloggers' blog that it was located at Citadines hotel in Menteng area, but when we drove there, we didn't see any hotel with Citadines name, turns out they had changed their name into Morrisey hotel. It was a boutique type hotel, not big but designed minimalist modern.

 

Ocha & Bella was located at the entrance of the hotel. It has indoor and outdoor spot. The place was very nicely decorated. The interior's floor was with parquet while they have big door from glasses separated indoor with outdoor. The outdoor was decorated like mini garden terrace. Very comfy with rocking chairs and sofas. The whole concept was very chic and stylish. Nicely done. 

 

 

We sat inside to avoid the sun heat and start to order. The menu was from paper and clipped in a piece of board. I noticed many new restaurants now use the same method for their menu book, more or less like Pesto & Kitchenette. Innovative and cost saving. 

Anyway, Ocha & Bella was an Italian restaurant so they have many pasta selections, although they also serve light meals of Japanese food. And like most of the italian restaurant, we were given complimentary bread for starters. Back to the menu, I chose Tagliata (180k), it was Australian striploin grilled with rocket salad, suppose to come with Balsamic sauce but I switched to mushroom. They have selections of side dishes to pair up with steaks with additional of 40k. My steak was too ordinary compared to the price, the meat was dry and wasn't tender at all. The rocket salad was fresh and they put little tomatoes that was also very fresh, but the meat was a disappointment. My colleagues chose Ravioli al ragu di carne (90k), a homemade ravioli filled with potato, parminiago and served in bolognese sauce, while the other one chose Pappardelle e salsiccia (80k), we thought that the pappardelle (type of pasta) will be stuffed with pork inside as the stuffing as it was written at the menu that the dish came with pork sausage. Turns out the pork was minced and stir with the pasta and it was chopped too small that almost unseen and untasted. I didn't try their pasta as I never into anything dairy and creamery but according to my colleagues, both failed the expectations. However, their food presentations were lovely.

Complimentary bread

Tagliata

Ravioli al ragu di carne

Pappardelle e salsiccia

On the other hand, the beverages were satisfying. We ordered 2 glasses of Homemade ice lemon lime tea (25k) and 1 glass of Floral w/ peach & lavender ice tea (35k). The lemon tea was absolutely refreshing, it came with 1 scoop of mint ice cream. I can say their homemade lemon tea was surely a must try. The Floral w/ peach & lavender ice tea came with too many shaved ice so it was a bit hard to drink.

Homemade Ice Lemon Mint Tea

Floral w/ peach & lavender iced tea

Despite the not so favorable dishes, I will be paying another visit to Ocha & Bella as I just loved the way they decorated the place and the way they presented the food. Hopefully next time, I will not only be satisfied visually. =)


Ocha & Bella
Morrisey hotel
Jl. KH Wahid Hasyim No. 70
Menteng
Ph. +6221 3105577

Guilty Pleasure

I have many guilty pleasures in my life. Things that I know I shouldn't do but somehow pleased me when I did. This one was certainly one of my guilty pleasures.

I was driving to work this morning and odd things happened. No traffic at Daan Mogot & Roxy where the streets were always jammed every single day except Sunday. Realizing I still have many time, I stopped by at 7 Eleven. I had always wanted to try Slurpee (soft drink with shaved ice sold only at 7 Eleven), but I was never really a fan of soft drink, or at least I do my best to not drink it as I know it was not good for the body. This morning, I was tempted. I went in and bought my self a medium Slurpee with Root beer flavor (10.5k) and a box of Chicken Katsu (12k). 

I know that was totally not recommended for breakfast but sometimes you just can't say no to a tempting guilty pleasure. Happy Monday! =)

Seven to 7

8.30pm, I was just getting back from work and finished shower when my husband asked me out for dinner at Abuba steak. I was actually planning to just stayed at home waiting for Masterchef Australia, my recent most favorite show to watch so I was not eager to go. But my husband know me so well, he knew that I always very curious and excited to go to places I never tried before, so he changed the venue to Seven to 7. I was tempted and quickly said yes. I could just wait for the Masterchef's reruns. :)

Seven to 7 was located at Pantai Indah Kapuk and had opened for quite some time. The place was not big, it was a 2 storey's Ruko. We sat at the first floor. They opened from 6am - 11pm, but the last order was at 9.30pm. Offering selections from light breakfast, sandwiches, spaghetti, shabu-shabu and steak. The waiter told us for steak preference, we could select the meat options and how many grams that we want directly from the freezer. It was quite unique, they combined the restaurant with meat shop and small mini market. So we could order in from the menu, or we could go to the freezer to see the selections of meat, sausage, potatoes, hash brown and asked them to cook for us with cooking charge of 10-20k.

 

We were both craving for steak. I chose Australian Organic rib eye priced at IDR 38,700 per 100grams, and my husband chose Australian Grainfed rib eye priced at IDR 47,700 per 100 grams. I asked for 200 grams with mushroom sauce, while my husband took 250 grams with same sauce. The waiter asked us whether we want to add 50k for fresh salad+mushroom soup+fries+mango pudding, we decided to add the 50k for my hubby's portion.

The mushroom soup came first. It was quite nice, not too creamy and milky. The salad was typical ordinary caesar salad with thousand island at the top. Then our steak came. It was perfection. Very tender, very juicy, cooked perfectly. We liked it. We will definitely be coming back, but I will not add the 50k for my next visit. It was not worth it, as all came in small portions and turns out we can just add fries for 9,7k. 

 

After our meals, we bought some things from the mini market. Hash brown, potato wedges, teriyaki sauce and baked beans. On our way home, we just remembered that they didn't serve us the mango pudding. :( But I was still very happy to found another good place to enjoy steak.

Seven to 7

Ruko Cordoba Blok G No.21-22

Bukit Golf Mediterania

PIK, Jakarta Utara 

Ph. +6221 56983504