My Four New Favorite Eating Places in Jakarta [FoodBlog]

Maybe not everyone knows that I have moved back to Indonesia since late November 2012 for good (I think), but I am just gonna update about my food-life for the past two months. Below are the list of food-chains or restaurants from the least expensive to the most expensive that I just tried once in my life, but I am gonna go back again anytime soon, because all of them were scored pretty good based on my taste bud.

1. D' Cost Quick

After they established a fairly good name in F&B industry in Indonesia past few years, D' Cost Group decided to open their new type of food-chain, namely D' Cost Quick. To be honest, I never tried D' Cost Seafood Restaurant before, but when I tried D' Cost Quick in Pasar Festival, Kuningan, I was surprised with the price that relatively less expensive, about 12-22k IDR (~1.4-2.4 USD) per portion even for neighborhood mall and nice taste. Like usual, I tried something with weird name: Mie Cumi Saos Bangbang. Another plus is that they provide dine-in customers with free-flow tea, so drink as much as you want, just be responsible.

2. Salero House
Trying to have "chick" decoration, this eating place caught my friend attention, because we seldom see any Padang Restaurant with this kind of interior design. Moreover, the menu list is all about Padang, even you could find pasta ala Padang style here. I was curious about how the taste of Martabak ala Salero and I was surprised how they changed the filling of it with beef rendang and for me it tastes great! In case you wanna give it a visit, it is in Kota Kasablanka.

3. Caprese Restaurant, Pizzeria & Bar

Also located in Kota Kasablanka, similar with Salero House, this place has a good food and nice staff with great ambiance (or maybe because me and my friends came after lunch hour passed). So far I have tried their pizza, lasagna, and pasta, which in my opinion those three are good.

4. Gyu-Kaku
For this, I should have said thank you to my friend, Dinda, who organized our new years eve gathering in this place, Gyu-Kaku (Pacific Place), otherwise I would not know how good this place is. Gyu-Kaku is Japanese BBQ Restaurant, but the one that I want to highlight is actually their desserts. I tried Coffee Pudding.

Indonesian Cuisines are NOT Only from Ayam Penyet Ria, M Nasir, and Tambuah Mas [Food]

Whenever people in Singapore mentioned about Indonesian cuisines, residents or tourists, somehow their association to it will be somewhere quite well-known places i.e. Ayam Penyet Ria, Tambuah Mas, or Warung M. Nasir. Well, in my opinion those places are fine, but if you want to find somewhere that not really mainstream, perhaps you might want to try these following five other places that I tried before.

1. Warung Lele

With their wide various choices of menu, actually you can try something new that you never heard before (even for some native Indonesian). Located just outside the exit of Tanjong Pagar MRT, Warung Lele is quite convenient for commuters, and not really that crowded whenever I came there during dinner time. So if you thinking to book a place with big group for a dinner, actually this place is one of best choices due to the availability. Price-wise, usually I will spend about 8-15/each person. It really depends on how many menu that you ordered, since the style is more to a-la-carte, or in Indonesia we usually call it "menu tengah" (center menu). Their menu varied from Ayam Kalio to Es Teler.

2. Ayam Bakar President

The name of the shop itself literally means Chicken Grill President. Located in Lucky Plaza, I think they want to perceived that they have a top notch quality in their grill stuffs, which I am kinda agree. This place has the same style with Ayam Penyet Ria. I usually spend about 8-10/person in this place. My favourite menu will be Empal Bakar, Nasi Goreng, and Avocado Juice.

3. Sinar Pagi Nasi Padang

In Singapore, usage of "nasi padang" phrase is overused island-wide. Some of the stalls in hakwer centre use the phrase without any kind of understanding the different between Malay cuisine and Padang cuisine. Well, it is true that Padang people indeed are Malay people, but it does not mean that all Malay people are Padang people, and it applies to food as well. First time found this place was during my internship, and it all thanks to SGEntrepeneurs co-founder, Ms Gwen who brought me here. Located in Circular Road, with nearest MRT will be Raffles Place or Clarke Quay, this place passes my standard as a true blood of Padang people (both of my parents are from West Sumatra, practically Padang foods are my daily food back then in Indonesia), or even I can say one of few places in Singapore that serves good-quality of Padang cuisines. If you come here alone, you always can order "nasi campur" (mix rice) like what I ordered, but if you come here with a group of friends, I will recommend you order "menu tengah"-style. Normally I will spend about 5-11 SGD/person, it all depends again on how much you want to order. Just take note for sensitive stomach person, some of their foods are spicy, although they already tried to adjust it to local standard taste.

4. Resto Surabaya

I tried the branch in Far East Plaza before, but according to hungrygowhere, there is another branch in Lucky Plaza as well. This place has an interesting menu called  Ayam BumbuSate (Chicken Satay Sauce). Well, the satay sauce is not really that Indonesian taste I can say, as they try to adjust it with local taste as well. Perhaps, they could make it become 2 different type of sauces, because in my opinion there will be some people who prefer Indonesian-style of sauce (talking about myself indeed). Price-wise will be similar like Ayam Penyet Ria or Ayam Bakar President.

5. Pondok Jawa Timur

Well, if you know about Indonesia map well, at least Java Island, you might wonder why so many people from this island use city/province names as part of their restaurant names. Well, for Indonesia restaurant, most likely the owner itself is from that location, not because the foods they sell are the cuisine from that region only. Pondok Jawa Timur used to be located beside Plaza Singapura, but the last time I ate here it was relocated to Wilkie Edge, a mall after Pomo, behind School Of The Arts (SOTA). After tried some places around Singapore, the satay here is the one that really close to Indonesian satay taste. The portion of each skewer is quite big, which justify the higher price, on top of the taste of it as well. Beside the chicken satay, you might want to give a try Bakwan Jagung as well. But if you are ordering a set meal, Nasi Kuning Komplit will satisfy your tongue and empty stomach.

Well, the numbering in this post doesn't mean anything, and all of the write-up above are only based on my experiences and my own judgement, so it might be different to others. Hopefully, it will give you more places to go for dinner/lunch next time you are in town! :)

[Food] Where Should NTU Students Eat in Jurong Point?

After wrote a post about what I ate during my internship and the fact this post is considered popular among the post I wrote so far (top 10), with support of another fact that my friends sometimes inquiry to me about where should they eat in Jurong Point (JP), I decided to write this post. Basically, below are the eatery places that I consider nice place and food for you to try and my judgement is a bit subjective, so feel free to comment if you think it is not as nice as I state here. The order is in ranking mode, with number 1 as the highest rank, while number 5 as the lowest rank. And you will notice, I option out foodcourt, but I do eat there of course. :)

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1. Ayam Penyet Ria

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If you go to Ayam Penyet Ria at basement level nearby old FairPrice (old Jurong Point), you should try their Ayam Penyet, Empal Penyet, Soto Ayam, and Rawon. The fact that I am Indonesian might cloud my judgement about this ranking system, because I am still proud to be Indonesian and want to promote Indonesian culture, food and others at my best efforts. But if you like spicy food, you can really enjoyably take the chilli as much as you can, and the chilli is really the spicy. The beverages that I would recommend will be Indonesia Avocado Juice, because the way Indonesia serve it, we put in condensed chocolate milk on top of it or around the inside glass. Deliciously sweet! :)

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2. Ambush

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Located outside challenger, level 2 of old Jurong Point, Ambush will offers you quite wide variety of sumptuous western style dishes. If you happen go here, you should try their Meatball and Chip. The meatball is really nice, which I think it is their made-in-house meatballs, not really frozen meatball from supermarket. But if it is the latter case, then I should ask them where they buy it, because it is nice!

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3. Old Town White Coffee

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The location of Old Town White Coffee is a bit hidden, at Level 2 of New Jurong Point but located all the way behind nearby FairPrice (cant really describe the location well, but you can always ask me if you need help to find it). This resto is come from Malaysia, so you will expect of local and Malaysia food fusion together, which in fact I think both are quite similar. If I go here, usually I will order their nasi lemak, because it is quite filling and the complement dishes (small portion) are quite nice. One of the nasi lemak variation will be Nasi Lemak Special. For the beverages, can try their Spirulina Orange. But well, you can taste the orange since the taste is really strong, but not really for Spirulina. But the temptation to try something new (from the drink name) couldnt be resisted for me. Beside it, you can try their (something) hot chocolate, the taste I can say beat Starbucks hot chocolate, for real!

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4. Bakerzin

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Bakerzin and Old Town White Coffee are actually in the same position in my ranking preference, but since Bakerzin price is slightly higher, so I mark it down (budget-conscious customer). I know Bakerzin should be a place you enjoy your cakes and desserts, but I had meals here before and it was quite good during my visit. Their pizza is quite nice, since I prefer to have thin crust pizza and their pasta quite filling and tasty as well. I tried their Mushroom Carbonara Sauce Pasta where the sauce was just nice.

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5. Thai Express

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This resto can beat Bakerzin if only they can upgrade their service. Instead of Thai Express, they should call themselves Thai Snail I can say. Regardless of their slow service, which I will recommend if you are not urgently hungry and want to have longer chat over your meals, the food are nice and suit my taste, esp their dessert when I ordered their set menu.

So, do you think any other resto that better than those 5 I mentioned above in Jurong Point, if yes, let me know, and I will make some changes if I agree with your opinions. For a moment, enjoy to try all of the above! :)

[Food] Intern who Spent Money for Daily Necessity

My experiences during my internship last summer in SGEntrepreneurs is not only resulting in networking, real-job experiences, and self-improvement, but also resulting in knowledge of food available around SGE office. Located in South Bridge area, the office is surrounded by quite various places to eat at, i.e. circular road, central mall, raffles place, and Funan mall. All of those places are up to 10 mins walk from my office.

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Circular Road

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There are few places that I tried during my internship in this road.
1. Sinar Pagi Nasi Padang
It is so far the best Nasi Padang that I've ever tried in Singpore. Been talking about this quite a lot to my mom, because last time she came here, she had difficulty in adjusting with the food. She is totally an Indonesian, particularly Padangnese, because she majorly only can eat Padang food. So will be happy bringing her to this shop when she comes to visit me again. One of the food variation that I tried.
2. Hawker Centre
There is only one hawker centre in Circular Road. Among all of the stalls, I tried only one stall, The Malay Stall. Typical Malay Stall, it sells foods namely like Mee Rebus, Mee Goreng etc. But, I didnt tried such things, instead I tried more of their type Chicken Rice, starting from their Chilli Chicken Rice till their Black pepper Chicken Rice. On top of that, they also have Fried Rice, which can be considered worth-it to try, since most of the price in this area kinda pricey for an intern. :D
3. Yong Tau Foo Shop
I thought there will be no difference in the taste of Yong Tau Foo, because it is consist of foods that being put into the soup. But apparently I am wrong. Their Yong Tau Foo is the worst Yong Tau Foo that I've ever tried. Well, I only tried Yong Tau Foo in Banquet previously, VivoCity and Jurong Point.

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Central Mall

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There are a lof of resto that you can try in Central Mall indeed, but as intern and limited budget of everyday, here are the places that I went.
1. Burger King
Well, everyone knows how Burger King taste I think. And since it is franchise, they will adopt the same SOP globally, so the taste is supposedly the same. Beside in central mall, there is a Burger King opposite UOB Builiding as well, nearby Raffles Place MRT station.
2. Freshness Burger
As the name of the shop, all of their ingredients are fresh, which indirectly indicating that they are using organic ingredients somehow. Due to the quality of ingredients, you will see the price difference as well between this shop and "normal burger" in the other shop,
3. B1 Level of Central Mall
There are few numbers of eatery in this level. At the shop that selling this Crispy Chicken Cutlet Set Rice, you can find Laksa and some other soup noodles menu with their home-made drinks such as green tea, grass jelly, etc. While at the shop that sells Chicken Katsu Curry Set, you will find that they give you a lot of curry till you cant see the rice.

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Raffles Place

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I did not really try in Raffles Place, because so lazy to walk down there to simply get my lunch. But there are few numbers of resto in Raffles Place such as cedele (one of their nice menu) and TCC (there are other TCC in Funan and Central Mall as well). If I am not wrong to recall, I only bought from Mr Bean above the MRT Station before in Raffles Place area.

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Funan Mall

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Out of numbers of makan places that available in Funan Mall, I tried these 2 places.
1. TCC
It was during lunch hours and was really a busy hour for them, especially when I was eating there, there was an offer 1-for-2. I was eating with a friend, so we use that offers. From taking order to get the food ready took about 20 minutes. And if you ever eat with me, you will know I am the slower eater ever you met in your life. So hence with this, I would not go to this kind of place anymore if my office is really strict about lunch hours timing.
2. Qiji
Located at one of corner in Level 1 of Funan, it is one of my favorite makan place because they served it efficiently, so you can enjoy your food without long waiting time. I will consider eat here if I need a quick lunch as well. And you need to bring colleagues to get the seats while you are ordering the food, because it is really packed during lunch hours. I tried quite numbers of their rice set, here is one of them: Chicken Set Nasi Lemak.

Well, there are quite a lot of other places that I can try on around and there are some places that I ate before but I do not really feature here due to my personal reasons. So which one is your favorite place among those 4 I mentioned above?

My Foodblog Exposures On My Internship

Because of above description on SGE website, few days back someone sent me an email to ask about recommended Indonesian food around Singapore. He asked me on behalf of his Indonesian friend who just moved to Singapore.

Well, my first reaction: what? how did the person know my email? After I read his intro then I recalled again, I remembered him vividly. He is one of people that I met during Echelon Day 0 networking dinner. He is not in my name card list that I put previously, because he never gave me his name card. :(

But I am a nice guy (obviously), then I replied to him, which apparently later on he intro me to his friend. Well, on the replied email I put quite some of recommendation places and of course I did free advertising about my foodblog in that email as well! Where there is opportunity, you shall grab it fast. LOL

Below is the print screen of our earlier email

Do Not Ask Me Again Where You Should Eat For Supper At Town!

One night during hectic school term on weekday.


My Friend (MF): Egi! Where should we go if we wanna go for supper now at town?
Me (M): Ha? You mean now? It is already 10pm, you know!
MF: Yeah.. So where shall we go?
M: Errmm.. Spize?
MF: Eh we do not want to eat there, any other rec place? Do not rec me McDonalds.
M: Oh.. It is kinda difficult because it is weekday, you can try any hawker centre available there, but not sure also which hawker centre that open till quite late during weekday. What about Starbucks?
MF: Oh, which Starbucks that open 24 hours?
M: You can try the one at City Hall.
MF: Okay! I think we will go there.


Yup! Thats the scenario occured to me before. Imagine you are doing your assignments, lab reports, or maybe even watching TV series (the most likely case for me), then one of your friend asks you where shall he and few numbers of his friends eating for supper? Lucky for my friend, I was in good mood that time and picked up the phone, usually I do not pick. :)


Well, at this chance I would like to try give few places that you can go to if you are at town for supper.


1. McDonald

Haha.. Yeah, it is your first choice of all. McDonald maybe just like another meal for those of you who are super hungry. Maybe you skip your dinner or even worse do not eat at all the whole day? McD is located around SG, but only few chain that open 24/7. One of them is at City Hall.


Beside McD, maybe you can try other junkfood/fa(s)tfood brands i.e. KFC, Wendy's, BK, etc. Maybe you think, well we can always order it online, but the user experiences of travelling, order directly, and eat it at the place itself are different. So you should try if you never try before! :P


2. Starbucks

As you can see from the intro convo above, I rec them Starbucks. It just my subsconcious to tell someone during weekday to go to Starbucks if they want to stay at town until so late. Yup, I used to one of guys who camped at Starbucks doing assignments like I bring my own table. :P


But if you go to Starbucks at late hours, the food that left usually cake, cookies, or maybe if you are on diet, there are always fruits salad! :)


For sure if you go there you will purchase their beverages! Their menu on the board is clear enough for me, but you can always ask the barista in case you do not familiar with their menu. Oiya, not forgetting that do not surprise with the logo, because they just changed logo around first quarter of this year.


Basically there are few numbers of Starbucks at town that open 24/7, such as City Hall and Liat Tower. Well for further details, you can view their website.


Similar like McD, Starbucks has their own competitor, maybe you can try TCC and Coffee Bean. TCC for sure they have 24/7 operating boutique, while for Coffee Bean I am not really sure, only went there occasionally.


3. Spize

As a local "makan" place, Spize is famous enough among people in SG. Currently, there are 2 branches. One of it is located at River Valley Road (Map). Yup, I consider River Valley as town because it is quite nearby to Somerset area (I was quite surprised to find out this when me and my friend driving around).


It has built a reputation for its quality, value-for-money authentic Singaporean, Thai, Indian, Western & Mediterranean food. I have tried several menus since my first visit back then about 1.5 years ago, such as nasi goreng ayam tiga rasa and roti john.


4. OldTown White Coffee

Why OldTown White Coffee? Here is the short story behind it:


It was quite late that night when I complained to my friend who fetched me at late night for dinner. Surprisingly my friend did not want to eat at late hour while for me I was totally hungry and can eat a cow meal at that moment.


At first I wanted to strict my diet as well that night, so we went looking for a milk yogurt and my friend suggested a milk yogurt at Cineleisure, Orchard. Here we go, we went to Orchard all the way just to find out that the shop already closed! It was about 11pm and it was weekday if I am not mistaken.


Since my stomach was in hunger and my friend somehow felt responsible for it, so we went around nearby there. And for the first time that night, my friend did his job nicely by saw Old Town White Coffee and I ate there! :)


Basically Old Town White Coffee is a modern street coffee shop where the authenticity is their priority. Started from Malaysia, now they have expanded their business to Singapore. Of course they want you to take break and stay there for long time, because their motto is "Where life is happy because We take our time".  


5. Hawker Centres/Coffee Shops
As you do realize that Singapore foods mainly are supported by Hawker Centres. Can you imagine Singapore withour Hawker Centres? Some parts of Singapore will look like a death region I think. :P


Basically if you want to have supper anytime anywhere at Singapore, you do not need to worry, except for those ulu areas (hello my NTU fellas!). My experiences ate supper at town do not stop only on those four places, of course I also eat at hawker centres! :)


While at town maybe you can try maxwell foodcourt, makan sutra beside Esplanade, and maybe few others shop along selegie road, newton or even around china town area (I am not really familiar tho, so you can explore).