(Closed) Bliss

I always have this sympathy towards Bliss whenever I passed the place. My sympathy was raised due to it was simply located in the busy dining street at Pantai Indah Kapuk just beside the super crowded, Bobabits and other tenants, but sadly Bliss was always seemed to be empty with customers whenever I came across the place during my visits to other tenants beside it.

One day, I spotted a promo by Bliss at Disdus.com and I bought several vouchers to satisfy my curiosity of their food. So several weeks ago, I headed there with my husband and parents. There was only 1 table filled when we walked in. The place was actually designed quite nice and clean with red and black dominated, it really strikes Chinese ambiance agreeable to their cuisine type. 

We ordered Ayam goreng mentega (40k), Cingkong kepiting (40k), Cumi saus padang (43k), Hotplate kangkung sapi (48), Lindung cah fumak (38) and Tomyam soup (40k). The orders didn't take long to be served. Our hotplate kangkung sapi was still sizzling when it was delivered, and it tasted delicious. Tomyam soup was also very nice with the right balance of sourness and I like the cingkong kepiting, it was not oily and delicious. As for the rest of the dishes was so so.

It really took me by surprise that their food was quite good. It was really ironic comparing to the quiet view I saw most of the time. I think Bliss really deserve to have more customers as their foods were not disappointing. Good luck! 

Bliss

Ruko Crown Golf B-03

Pantai Indah Kapuk

North Jakarta

Ph. +6221 85588989

Opening hours: 7am - 10pm

Taste Paradise (Jakarta)

About a month ago, I heard that a popular Chinese dining from Singapore, Taste Paradise opened their first branch at Plaza Indonesia. Taste Paradise is one of restaurant under the famous Paradise group in Singapore and rank second as the priciest among the groups. I once had a dimsum at Taste Paradise Ion and the place was decorated nice. I was very excited to try them when I heard they opened here. So last Sunday I went there with my family.

It was located on the 4th floor above mi item, buzzing with crowds when we reached there. After being on wait list for about 15 minutes, we were seated. The place was huge and nicely decorated. Very upscale Chinese modern dining, it was 3 times more grand than the one at Ion Orchard. I was quite amazed by how they decorated the dining. They were connected directly to Hyatt, so they have two entrance, from Plaza Indonesia or from Hyatt. At Hyatt, it took place on the same floor with C's. 

When I scrolled down the menu, I noticed how the place designed was in line with the price range. Initially we were planning on having a morning dim sum, but we were late and reached there around 11am, so we decided to combine some dim sums with heavy meals. For the dim sum, we chose Steamed shrimp and chive dumpling (19,8k), Steamed shrimp and pork dumpling (20,8k) and Steamed rice roll with fresh shrimp (24,8k). As for the main course, Fried rice with tobikko fish roe (98k), Sauteed live prawns with preserved olives and spring onions (112k), Osmanthus infused crispy roasted duck - half portion (138k) and Braised edamame tofu with mushrooms in duck reduction (88k). 

I actually am the type of person who cannot have Chinese meal without any veggie, I always include minimum 1 plate of veggie when I ate Chinese, but as I looked at the price, the green veggie without any minced meat started from 78k and honestly I thought it was ridiculous to pay such price for green veggie, so I skipped it. Hihihihi

The service was polite but it took forever for our meals to be served. Anyway, we all love the food. The duck was very juicy and tender, while the skin was crisp. Lovin' the shrimp as well, it was sauteed well that we can still feel the crunchiness. However, I didn't like the edamame tofu, the duck reduction was ok not too sweet but the soft tofu felt too mushy for my taste. The fried rice was amazing! It was such a simple dish cooked with fish roe, but it was very tasty. The dimsum was nice, I especially like the steamed shrimp and chive dumpling. 

Overall, I think it was a good dining place. Nice food, nice venue, good service, not so much on the price though. :)
 

Taste Paradise
Plaza Indonesia 4th Flr
Jl. MH Thamrin Kav 28-30
Jakarta
Ph. +6221 29923939

Hops & Malt

Almost two months ago, I bought voucher again from Disdus.com for a meal package of 1 appetizer/ 2 desserts and 2 main course worth IDR 67.000,- at Hops & Malt. After I bought the voucher, I got to know the place was located secluded in the not so crowded area in Pantai Indah Kapuk. Later on, I got to know also that the place focusing more on pub style where they have many selections of beer. Those 2 things have made me a little bit turn off as in my head, place with pub concept usually identical with loud music and so so food standard. Hence, I have been postponing my visit until the last day of the voucher's expiry date which was several weeks ago. 

I truly was not expecting much when I went there with my husband. It was weekday night around 9pm yet the place was full house. The patrons were mostly teenagers hanging out with friends and drinking, I saw most of them have Heineken on their tables. As expected, the place was super noisy with extremely loud music. I passed the waiter my voucher and he handed me a piece of laminated paper with selected choices to be chose, but the waiter quickly informed us from the 8 choices of main courses, only 4 were available that night. Sigh... One of the things I don't like from buying voucher, there's always some unfavorable catch. Suffering from the loud music and the super loud voice from teenage patrons chatting with their fiends, all I want was quickly eat, pay and leave. So we chose Chicken wings for the appetizer, Spaghetti Aglio olio and Half chicken for our main course. Food serving promptness couldn't be said as good considering it took forever for the appetizer to be served, around 10 minutes after we finished our main course, however the waiters were polite. 

The food were surprisingly nice. The half chicken were tender and well seasoned, spaghetti also cooked very nice although very small portion, while the chicken wing was hot and crunchy. So good that we decided to order another main course to share, Chicken fajitas (35k) and Banana fritter (17k) for dessert. Both were delicious. 

Overall, I understood why the place was full house. It was located separately from the all night crowded place at Ruko Crown so it was easier to park, dining was quite nice decorated with brick and wood concept and the food was surprisingly tasty. However, the loud music will definitely make me think twice on coming back, but for people who can stand with loud noise & music, Hops & Malt can be a good choice to hang out. 

Hops & Malt

Ruko Garden House Blok B17-18 A

Pantai Indah Kapuk

North Jakarta

Ph. +6221 29033210

Make a Difference

Yesterday, I accompanied my mom for medical check up. While waiting, there's a picture framed in the wall which caught my eyes. I read the story written in the picture and somehow took me into a wiser perspective. I took my BB and wrote down the story to share in my blog. 

Hope we can have some learning point from the story... :)

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back to the sea. The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again threw the small starfish into the water. He asked old man, "Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?". The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?". The old man looked at the starfish in his hand as he threw it to the safety of sea, he said "It makes a difference to this one".

Bakmi Aluk

One of my favorite noodles in town. I had been coming here bunch of times but only remember to blog about it now. Located in Hasyim Azhari road just several ruko away from a church, so every Sunday it was filled with people having breakfast there after church session over.

What I like about Bakmi Aluk is that they cooked the broth with lots of chicken so it was nicely smell and had this natural chicken broth taste, and the noodle was not over cooked so it was not soft and slimmy. Came with chops of chicken, we can also ask for chicken gizzard & liver if like.

 

Bakmi Aluk

Jl. KH. Hasyim Azhari No. 42

Central Jakarta

Ph. +6221 6342175