You Come, You See, You Eat at Rasa Restaurant

At Rasa, you plan what to eat as you enter the restaurant because you’ll be walking through endless indulgence. By the time I’m sitting down, I know exactly how my meal is going to be like: delicious.

This is Fiona’s adventure at Rasa.

Located at InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza Hotel Jakarta, Rasa translated as “taste” and is serving a creative blend of European and Asian food. Open kitchen and live cooking stations has become their signature to entertain the guests dining there. As I enter, there are big areas, each with chef ready to offer their creations. Prepare to be amazed with what’s inside each station and select what you’d want to eat first. I was overwhelmed with choices, but all the good choices.

Finding Burger and Pizza in One Box

Yes, the two equally delicious dishes had always give the same problems, be it on family gathering, girls movie night or even a lazy dinner date at home after a long hours at the office. Oh, talking about office, we have this debate every lunchtime now that’s its raining and we don’t want to go out: What to Order?

The Real Cheeseburger Pizza

Good news come to us from PHD when they announced they have The Real Cheeseburger Pizza on their menu to relieve our Hunger SOS. Now, If you think you’ll never see both names on one sentence, think again. The Real Cheeseburger pizza is combination of pizza and burger. It’s like a gathering of the best possible ingredients out there. It comes in 3 types, Personal, Regular (84k) and Jumbo (126k). 

Roger Mooking and Flavors From Around The World

Roger Mooking served delicious dishes combined with easygoing personality on a special dinner with Asian Food Channel at Bluegrass Bar & Grill last month. The Man Fire Food host cooked his special creations to special guests from Indovision and bloggers.

We didn’t know what to expect when the invitation reached us a while back. Being a fan of Asian Food Channel, we’re definitely curious about this one chef. Our little research pointed out that Roger Mooking is a Canadian chef as well as recording artists and book author. He’s the host of Man Fire Food and co-creator of Everyday Exotic, both are food TV shows aired in North America.

The list of dishes, expected to be served in the next hours got us excited. It’s a personalized 5-course meal with vegetarian option. Then we get glimpses of the chef as he made final preparation for the night’s event. He was vibrant, lively and seemed to be excited about everything. Then he finally stepped out into the spotlight.

 

He admits he enjoyed encountering new ingredients. “Duck egg, for example, is something familiar in Asia, but in the U.S., we have to look around for it.” But cooking often placed people together in one plate. He pointed out the pillow bread (we assumed he’s talking about kue bantal) that is also a common dish on a different side of the world under another name. “I love how everyone in different parts of the world are doing the same thing.”

So here are what’s on our menu that night:

First Course: Steamed Duck Egg with King Oyster Mushroom, Sesame Oil and Razor Herbs
Hold the crackers, spoon the soup (which is actually the steamed duck eggs) over the mushroom and crackers before you let them all inside your mouth. The first bite, with all the flavors coming together on your taste buds are incredible. But overall, we would love to have more bread to finish the duck eggs. The eggs are too simple and lack of textures when they are eaten alone. The first course really set the base of what we expect from Roger’s around the world experiments.

Steamed Duck Egg with King Oyster Mushroom, Sesame Oil and Razor Herbs

Second Course: Green Coconut Curry, White Fish and Moo’s Chutney
Soup is a surprise because it comes as fish curry. Served by pouring off the kettle, this “soup” has strong spicy flavor that amazingly doesn’t kill the fish and noodle flavor. Easily washed down with water, its Asian taste makes the second course a real complementary for the first one.

Green Coconut Curry, White Fish and Moo’s Chutney

Third Course: 5 Spiced Floats Salad of Micro Greens, Pickled Carrots, Ginger and Braised Lambs
When the menu said salad, we expected a bowl full of greens with colorful garnishes on top. Instead, a sandwich sitting comfortably on a bed of greens is served on our table. So this is where the pillow bread is used. Stuffed with greens, carrots, lambs and a hint of ginger, everybite is heavenly. “These are things I never cooked before,” he admitted. Somehow he has succeeded in infusing an Asian flavor on every dish.

5 Spiced Floats Salad of Micro Greens,
Pickled Carrots, Ginger and Braised Lambs

Fourth Course (Main): Beef Tenderloin with Blackbean Shrimp and Broccoli Dust
It’s just natural that we expect a lot from this Man Fire Food host. Grilling and meat are supposed to be his specialty. And this one is specially prepared too because he showcased the process in front of us. “Surf and turf Chinese Style,” he described the dish as he combined the meat and seafood in one plate. Chinese fermented black beans are used along with sweet soy sauce. Another surprise because even in Indonesia, we didn’t encounter much of sweet soy sauce being used in Western style steak. 

Broccoli dust is a compelling concept. Peel the skin off, dust and break up the larger pieces with hands into crumbs and dice the stems. “You’ll notice that when you cook vegetables, there’s a change from pale green to bright green. That’s when you get the maximum color, maximum flavor and maximum vitamins,” he shared. This seemingly simple main course is apparently rich in flavor. But Roger insisted that “simple is always the best.” If simple is like this, then we couldn’t agree more.

Fifth Course: Mango Lassi Ice Cream, Honey Rosewater, Pistachio and Indian Puffed Rice
Whoa Lassi! Yes, we both love lassi. So when the soft-textured dessert arrived covered half in pistachio and half in puffed rice (which is familiar to us as Jipang the puffed rice cakes), we were overjoyed. A sweet and sour ending to the feast. We’re glad Roger decided to go with something light to close the dinner with.

Mango Lassi Ice Cream, Honey Rosewater, Pistachio and Indian Puffed Rice

Roger takes everything into perfection. From the first to the last course, we saw him pushing every details and hands on to fix things. Watching him preparing each dish in the kitchen is indeed another pleasure. He was throwing instructions to the Bluegrass team, making sure that everything from plating to garnishing goes on smoothly. Roger seems to always go with texture and color with his dishes, adding his cheerful personality as he stopped by each table to greet the guests and gather feedback.

We can safely say that it was a 5-course dinner well done.

Grand Dinner at Grand Cafe

It's Friday night at the end of the month. Our office postponed a grand project so we thought we need a grand break to refresh. We gathered several of our best buddies and laughed the night out at Grand Cafe, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Jakarta.

What's popular on our table?
Sashimi (both salmon and butterfish are lovely) and oyster. The raw seafood seems to receive much love tonight. Then meat is always popular. The tenderloin with BBQ or mushroom sauce goes second. Go for BBQ if you can't decide over which flavor to pour.

Moving aside, cheese and bread attract Ruth right away. Brie and Comte paired with dinner roll instead of crackers. But don't cross over to dessert just yet. Trust us, we're still a long way from the final sweets. Instead, cross to the traditional Indonesian food or order a pasta. Shawarma is served generously too. If you fancy Chinese, Grand Cafe has wide selection ranging from duck and noodles to dim sum. We were slightly distracted by the spices decoration next to the assorted Chinese table, so we took a peek while our noodle got prepared. 

The chef arrived with a complimentary Angus steak for our group. Medium cooked, served with sauce that tasted sweet. The night can't get any better. It was juicy, tender, and cooked to perfection. You'd know they don't compromise the beef quality because it's something you'd fall in love with at the first sight. Fiona even doesn't need to mix the sauce in. 

Finally time for desserts. Hurray! While aiming for the sweet potato kolak, none of us ended up with a bowl of that dessert because we're distracted with the neatly arranged brownies, tiramisu, blackforest, pound cake, cheesecake, Strawberry shortcake and assorted traditional Indonesian cakes. Ice cream makes the perfect end of our filled-with-laughter night. Coffee ice cream rank first (According to Ruth), even though chocolate, jackfruit and pandan are calling out our curiosity.

We parted goodbye with happy tummy and a recollection of the best dinner ever. It was definitely grand.

Where is this?
Grand Cafe
Grand Hyatt Jakarta
Jl. M. H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30, Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta Pusat 10350
(021) 29921234

Typology's Font and Food

Passing through the Wijaya area, we always noticed the glass building that looks like so much fun from the outside. It sparks our curiosity. So when the place, Typology, sent us an invitation to stop by, we didn't want to miss the chance.

Turned out Typology is a working space/eatery in one roof. When we arrived, we saw mothers with their children in one corner and people with laptop on the other end. The interior is fun and homey, with word plays on the wall as well as alphabets peeking out from the decorations. Its books and large shelves, plus the large table by the glass window remind Ruth of her college library.

Typology opened in June 2014 and soon become popular spot on weekdays as well as weekends. A little different from other cafe-like spots, this place doesn’t put coffee as its main attraction. Instead, full-course meals and sweet blended drinks are what they suggested on the menu. Well, lunchtime is here and we have that two hour time-limit from the office, so let’s get started on the food.

Look! The food has font as their names!

The first dish arrived on our table is Marlett Creamy Macaroni (Rp38k). In the typeface world, Marlett is the foundation of the maximize/minimize icon, you can see on the top right side of your windows. In Typology world, Marlett is a baked macaroni dish served with smoked beef, sausages, mushroom, creamy sauces and melted cheese. It's the kind that you can't stop eating once you gave it a try. 

Then the second dish arrived. Hobo Oxtan Rice (Rp68k), an ox-tongue cooked in Teriyaki sauce and served with steamed rice. This dish is as unique as its font name, which is best known for its singularity of having no straight lines and descender. Deliciously soft ox-tongue with teriyaki sauce that isn't too dominant comes in the right portion for lunch. This dish is a must-try.

For dessert (they called it Sweet Course), Medio Fried Oreo (Rp32k) is selected. Fried Oreo served with powdered chocolate powder. It's a surprise in every bite, although we wished there's an optional ice cream to add on. We also spotted Bario Fried Beng Beng (Rp32k) on the list and determined to give that a try next time around. Or maybe it's Helvetica "O" Pannacotta (Rp28k) just because this blog uses Helvetica font.

Both of us aren't sweet tooth, so we're more than happy to find the drinks (although they're blended) don't get overload with sugary aftertaste. Perfect for kids too! Choco Cocoa Smoothie (Rp38k) comes with Oreo on top and soon becomes Fiona's favorite. Peach Berry Smoothies (Rp38k) looks sweet and perfect for those who prefer fruity ending.

Parking is relatively easy during lunch hour, plus they have extra space in the basement if needed. Typology is also open for gatherings, small meetings (they have separated meeting room) and presentation (they have projectors and screen on the main area). It has word games too, so coming here with your children is a possibility.

While the concept of working space is quickly becoming the trend these days, we have to say that Typology does have a concept and they are sticking to it. Selecting the dishes is like choosing what typefaces should be used for a document. All done in a homey environment (especially comfortable when it rains). Whether you prefer Serif or Sans Serif, Arial or Times New Roman, once you've been here, you’re gonna spread the word.

Where is this?
Jl Wijaya I No. 5C, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan
(021) 29126149

Lapar Pagi: Breakfast at Sate Khas Senayan

As breakfast is arguably the most important meal of the day, it's nice to have good food to start with. Heading to the nearest Sate Khas Senayan, we found out they are now serving breakfast too. The restaurant, which can be found in convenient locations around office area, is opening at 8 AM.

The breakfast package, called Lapar Lagi (27k), consists of food and drink, selection includes Nasi Jenggo (salted fish/Teri, chicken or beef) or Nasi Kucing (Bandeng fish, chicken or beef) served with Orange juice, unfiltered coffee or potted tea.

Before you're frowning, trying to figure out the dishes, let's tell you about them. Nasi Jenggo Teri is yellow rice plated together with Kemangi leaves, slices of egg, salted fish with peanuts, and spicy chilli. So Orange juice is the perfect fit for soothing the chili taste.

Nasi Kucing Bandeng is a unique dish. Stir the rice together with the side dishes, which is fish meat (Bandeng), slices of egg, Kemangi leaves. serundeng (shredded coconut meat) and sambal of course. Both dishes are on the perfect size for breakfast. Order tea in a pot (teh poci) to this one.

Traditional taste to early risers definitely worth more than just Rp 27k!

If you're used for a big start, order something from their regular menu. Sate Khas Senayan has Nasi Kuning ( traditional yellow rice set with side dishes) ad fried rice in the breakfast menu. So what are you waiting for? Breakfast menu is available at Sate Khas Senayan fX Sudirman, Citywalk Sudiman, Bintaro Sektor 7, Pakubuwono and Salemba from 08.00 To 10.30 EVERYDAY.

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Calling all food enthusiasts!
Sate Khas Senayan is encouraging you to have breakfast and share it with them. Join #satekhassenayanquiz with the theme of #yuksarapan during 16 - 27 Maret 2015 

T&C
1. Follow Instagram @satekhassenayan
2. Post your favorite breakfast pic on instagram and tag @satekhassenayan
3. Write on the caption why the food is your favorite.
4. Don't forget the hash tags: #satekhassenayanquiz #yuksarapan #LaparPagiSKS
5. Winner will be announced on 31 Maret 2015

First Winner will get voucher Rp500k and Second Winner will get voucher Rp300.000

Dinner Date at JJ Royal Brasserie

Hello this is Ruth,

When I heard about JJ Royal, what came to mind was coffee, from Robusta to Arabica and Luwak lining up on my supermarket shelf. But here I was, sitting at a brasserie (a small French café with relaxing ambiance) called JJ Royal at Lotte Shopping Avenue, Jakarta one night, ordering dinner and dessert.

Chipotle Burrito

The benefit of tagging along with a Lotte Shopping Avenue expert called MJ is that we know the best offer around the clock. MJ is one of our co-workers who is also a food (mostly dessert) enthusiast and a frequent third person in our lunch-dates. (Psst... you can find MJ on her instagram @tritamj) We arrived right at 8 PM when the buy 2 get 3 dessert promotion started. The waitress suggested we picked the three sweet items right away before they ran out for the night. Knowing that the mall is lacking sweet shop, dessert at JJ Royal Brasserie is apparently quite popular. 

Left to right: Success, Heavenly Cheesecake and Hello Pretty

“Cronut is highly recommended,” MJ said. Unfortunately they ran out of cronut for the night. Bad luck, but we moved on and selected 3 desserts: Success, Heavenly Cheesecake and Hello Pretty originally cost 39k each. Success was my picked and MJ selected the last two. She’s a huge fan of cheesecake and Hello Kitty. Success is a very thick chocolate and hazelnut blend. Despite its delicious taste (thankfully not as sweet as its look), it’s hard to finish this dessert because it’s filling. I would order this other time with a black coffee. Heavenly Cheesecake is topped with berries, and Hello Pretty (actually almond tart, white choco mousse and fruit jam) is too pretty to eat.

Enough of the dessert, we’re moving on to the main courses. Browsing to the menu, I was tempted to try their burrito (been craving for Mexican for a while). So I ordered Chipotle Burrito (75k) while MJ chose Fettuccine Chicken Broccoli Alfredo (70k) from a section called “Cosmopolitan Flavors”. Surprisingly none of us ordered coffee, probably because it’s too late.

Fettuccine Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

JJ Royal Brasserie has manga-inspired interior with modern and colorful indoor seating. The restaurant also has outdoor terrace, facing the busy Dr. Satrio street. At late night, the place is popular for hangout. Next time, because there will be next time, I’ll visit during the day, ordering their coffee break set or simply just enjoying their outdoor section.

Where is this?
LOTTE Shopping Avenue LG Floor, A01-02,
Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio Kav. 3-5, Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan,
(021) 29888980
Opening Hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 10:00am - 11:00pm
Friday - Saturday: 10:00am - 12:00am