Smokey Ribs

Last week, I managed to meet up with my college friends Abby Limantoro, Elia Kurniawan and Dewi Fransiska who also known as Trio Kwek-Kwek of TIB'96 Trisakti. Haha. We were struggling to choose the meet up place at PIK as this area has many restaurants and hang out place. Our choice finally fell to Smokey Ribs, because we were looking for the restaurant which only exist at PIK and Elia was craving for a one fine Ribs after a fail restaurant meet up at Sizzler.

Actually, I've already aware of this restaurant since the moment PIK was not very known as a new hip culinary area. I always want to try, but never had a chance. Now I heard they successfully spread their wings to Medan. First impression when I enter the restaurant, it was quite cozy, reminds me of the old TGI Friday's at Aston Hotel at Kebon Kacang in the 90's. Quite love the ambiance here. We order two appetizers as well as two main courses to be shared among four of us.

Chicago Beef Ribs - IDR 239K++ (Large)

The meal was consist of three cuts of short beef ribs. Actually, I never like short ribs as it's quite difficult to cut and the meat is not much after so much effort to cut it. Also I feel that short ribs has bones larger than the meat. So, not one of my favorite. The only plus was that the BBQ sauce as a dipping was quite decent.

Smokey Baby Back Ribs - IDR 240K++ (Large)

Baby back ribs is my fave dish if I dine at Tony Roma's. I know it was not fair to compare between these two because of the price, however, I can tell that baby back ribs here was not good enough. The meat have less fats and it made the meat was too dry. But compared to the Chicago Beef Ribs, I prefer this Baby Backs.

Service was good. I was in the situation when the electricity went off, and the waiters was sending an apology and explaining the situation. Although the food was not meet my expectation, I always remember the old saying of "Good friends and good laugh always make a good food".

Thanks for the talks and sharing, girls!

Food - 6/10
Cleanliness - 10/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Price/Value - 5/10

Smokey Ribs
Ruko Crown Golf, Blok B No. 10-11, Bukit Golf Mediterania
Jl Marina Indah Raya, Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta Utara
+62-21-70710955
Business Hours : Mon to Sun 11am - 10pm

Paradise Dynasty

There are not many restaurant which served nice Xiao Long Bao or Shanghai Steamed Dumpling. One of the best we had in Jakarta is at Paradise Dynasty. Although not to forget to mention that Din Tai Fung also served fantastic Xiao Long Bao, but I am quite disappointed that Din Tai Fung in Jakarta is not serving pork Xiao Long Bao. The nearest if we would like to have pork version of it, we have to flew to Singapore.

Paradise Dynasty is a Shanghai cuisine restaurant chains from Singapore. They are famous with the Xiao Long Bao as well as their La Mian or simply translated as pulled noodle, because the way they prepare the noodle is by pulling the dough until it become noodle. I was not ordering the La Mian this time as I already have it too often here.

Dynasty Xiao Long Bao - IDR 88K++

This is the signature dish from paradise Dynasty. It consist of 8 Xiao Long Bao with 8 different flavor, such as Foie Gras, Black Truffle, Szechuan, Cheese, etc, with different color each of them.

How do we eat this Xiao Long Bao? According to the rule written in the chopstick cover, we should eat the Xiao Long Bao in below order to ensure maximum taste. To start with Original and end it with Szechuan flavor.

I'm sure most of us know the way to eat this tiny delicious dish. Pop a small hole at the below part of the Xiao Long Bao while holding it in the spoon so that the broth comes out, sip the broth, stuff some ginger and black vinegar inside the Xiao Long Bao, and then eat it as a whole. The different flavor of each pieces gives different experience for our tongue. Fantastic!

Deep-fried Chicken with Salad Sauce - IDR 72K++

The second dish that I tried this time was their deep-fried chicken. Although this dish was simple, it really surprise me when it was served in my table. The smell was very fragrant (was it shrimp paste fragrant?). And for the serving size was very generous with 8 big chunks of chopped chicken thigh (yes, all of them were thigh part!). The skin was crispy outside and the meat inside was not dry. It was fried to perfection. Love it very much!

Pork Dumpling with Hot Chili Sauce - IDR 45K++

This dish was actually more suitable to eat along with noodle. I just love the perfect combination between the steamed dumpling with the chili oil sauce. It was a bit too hot for me though, but generally the taste is nice.

It was quite a decent experience dining in this restaurant. I love the ambiance. It was cozy, well lighting with enough light, nicely decorated and the dining situation was not too noisy. For your information, they are in the same management with Paradise Inn and the more premium Taste Paradise.

Food - 7/10
Cleanliness - 10/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 9/10
Price/Value - 6/10

Paradise Dynasty
Central Park Mall
LG Level Unit 139-140
Jl. S. Parman Kav 28
Jakarta Barat
+62-21-29704981
Business Hours : Mon - Sun 10am - 10pm

Restaurant Trio

As this weekend is a long weekend, I used this opportunity to explore new spot a bit far from West Jakarta. This time, I visited the nostalgic area of Jakarta culinary at Gondangdia-Cikini-Menteng. This area has a lot of heritage culinary spots. One of them is Restaurant Trio.

Restaurant Trio is famous as one of the heritage Chinese food restaurant in Jakarta. According to some sources, the interior and exterior of this restaurant was never changed since its first opening in 1947. Green painted wall outside the restaurant is the unique identity of this place. Inside, the interior is so oldies including the cabinet, wall clock, posters, etc.

Among the crowd who swarmed this restaurant dominated by Akong and Ama (this what we call Grandpa and Grandma in Chinese language) with their son/daughter along with their grandchildren. Either they feel fit with the dishes here, or they eat here for the good old time sakes. The oldies 70s and 60s music accompanied us while eating in this restaurant through old bass speaker hanging on the wall. Surprisingly, the music was western, not chinese ones.

Looking at their menu was so confusing with lots of variety of dishes. Surprisingly, they also have premium Chinese cuisine dishes like Shark's Fin and Roasted Duck. I was relying on my guts when I choose what to eat, also based on my experience eating at Pecenongan area, since I was thinking the way of the cooking will be quite the same. So I choose Ayam Goreng Mentega (Butter Fried Chicken) and Kangkung Hotplate (Hotplate Water Spinach).

Ayam Goreng Mentega - IDR 45K

Almost all of the food was served on aluminum plate. I also found this way of serving at the heritage Fajar Restaurant. For this dishes, this was what I call the real original Ayam Goreng Mentega. It was not using too many Worcestershire sauce, and the taste was mainly depends on the butter that they used. The chicken itself was so crispy, though I feel it seems a bit dry. Taste wise, this chicken dishes was delicious and reminds me of the good old times.

Kangkung Hotplate - IDR 65K

Kangkung Hotplate was one of the famous dishes if you are visiting Pecenongan area. If we compared with here, it was a bit dry with less of sauce. Served with thin slices of beef, quail egg and cashew nuts. The cashew nuts was a surprise, since usually Kangkung Hotplate in other restaurant didn't have this. I personally prefer Kangkung Hotplate at Pecenongan. Actually, this dishes was in the last list in their menu, maybe means less favorite. I choose this dishes only for the sake of comparing. It was a complete missed.

I learned something if I want to visit this restaurant again next time. Actually, instead of looking at their menu book which contains lots of dishes, you can choose only the favorite menu on the wall near the cashier. It will make you choose easier. One of my next target will be Lumpia Udang Khas Trio. Maybe next time, for the good old time sakes....

Food - 7/10
Cleanliness - 6/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Price/Value - 7/10

Restaurant Trio
Jl. R.P Soeroso No. 29A
Gondangdia, Central Jakarta
+62-21-31936295
Business Hours : Mon to Sun 10am - 2pm and 5pm - 10pm

Lapo Ni Tondongta

Let's review something different and extremist this time. This time I'm featuring Bataknese food. Why I call extreme food? Because some of their dishes are made from dog meat and cooked with its blood. Yeay!

The Bataknese food is usually available at what they call Lapo or Warung Makan in Bahasa. Simply translated as small restaurant in English. Because usually the place is indeed a small restaurant and sometimes doesn't have sign board, because they serve dog meat and pork which are haram food for Moslem. The most famous Lapo in Jakarta is Lapo Ni Tondongta, simply means Warung Sahabat or Best Friend's Restaurant. The main branch is located at Jalan Pramuka, but I am their regular customer of the other branch in Puri Indah.

As I mentioned before, their dishes are mainly dog meat and pork. But they also have others like fish, chicken and vegetables, but not popular. The locals call the dishes by B1 and B2, where B1 is dog meat and B2 is pork. My favorite dish here is Saksang B2. I tried Saksang B1 once long ago, but I didn't like it because the meat was a bit tough.

Saksang B2 is pork, chopped in cubes, and cooked with its blood, made the appearance is a bit like rendang in Padang food. Taste soooo delicious. I don't even smell the blood taste. The blood actually enrich the taste in my opinion. A must-try dishes for pork lover. Other famous pork dishes here but I don't really like is their Panggang B2 or Roasted Pork Chop. In my opinion, Chinese roasted pork in Chinese Mix Rice is more delicious. But for others who don't like or disgusted by the blood, they usually come here to enjoy Panggang B2. Both Saksang and Panggang B2 was priced at IDR 20K per portion.

Their other dishes are Sop B2 (pork soup), Arsik (fish, similar to fish curry), chopped cassava leaves, etc. And I heard that their dishes are using Andaliman leaves as one of the ingredients, which only grows at Bataknese home land in North Sumatra. Anyone dare to try this extreme food? Well, I'm a fan of them.
Food - 9/10
Cleanliness - 5/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Price/Value - 7/10

Lapo Ni Tondongta (Puri Indah Branch)
Jl Pesanggrahan No.9 Puri Indah
Jakarta Barat
+62-21-32462758
Business Hours : Mon to Sun 11am - 3pm

Ya Udah Bistro

This year's holy week of Easter was a very long weekend for me. And this gave me chances to explore new eatery places. After a long pending, I finally visited the famous pork place Ya Udah Bistro today.

I have heard about this restaurant about two years ago when my ex Indian boss and my ex colleague (Yes, you, Theresia Pelengkahu) told me about this restaurant almost at the same time, made me think : "Are they a new hip hangout place in town?". My ex boss was a fan of pork and at that time he suddenly summoned me to his chamber just to tell me that he found a good and very affordable pork restaurant. Hahaha.

Basically, Ya Udah Bistro is a German food restaurant. There was no sign board in front of the restaurant saying that this is Ya Udah Bistro. You can spot the place by it's bright yellow color building with big red round shape painting at the top part of the front building, almost like a Japan flag. Have no idea why they make restaurant sign like that. They offer many varieties of Bavarian dish such as varieties of pork sausages, Bratwurst, Leberkase, and not to forget Haxen or Pork Knuckle. And along with lots of German beer brands. Particularly for the Haxen, they need approximately 2 hours of preparation time before it ready to serve at your table, so I skip ordering this dish for this time although actually Haxen was my target menu today.

Pork Neck Steak with Mashed Potatoes - IDR 79K

I chose this dish in order to compare it to the one I had at Paulaner Brauhaus. Appearance wise, it was very simple like a home-cooked Bavarian dish rather than the one that served at restaurant.

The meat was tender, but less juicy and too dry. However, the seasonings was absorbed till the inside of the meat and it was very nice. There was nothing special about the mashed potatoes. I know it is not fair to compare it with the one I had at Paulaner because of the price, but I prefer the Paulaner one. Maybe because Pork Neck steak at Paulaner already marinated with beer for 24 hours before grilled.

Original Milanese Pork Picata with German Fried Potatoes - IDR 61.5K

The second dish that I ordered was the Picata, with the choice of chicken or pork. It was an easy choice that I select pork. Hahaha.

This dish consist of two pan fried of pork loin battered with flour and cheese. And the German fried potatoes was stir-fried with onion. Personally, I prefer the Picata rather than the Pork Neck Steak, because the taste was more complex and the pork loin was more tender. The side dish was okay.

Apologies for the low quality of the photos since the place was quite dark. Maybe because this is a bistro bar, a place for people to hangout and having beer. Oh, and there was no air-con in this restaurant.

Overall, I'm not very impressed with the food. It was okay. I'm not saying that the dishes was bad, not at all, but just nothing special. The plus point for Ya Udah Bistro was that the price is very affordable for this kind of dishes, and the food is not bad. If you ask whether I plan to return for their Haxen, well, let's see.

Frohe Ostern und bon appetit!

Food - 7/10
Cleanliness - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Price/Value - 9/10

Ya Udah Bistro
Jl. Johar No. 15 Kebon Sirih Menteng
Jakarta Pusat
+62-21-39090100
Business Hours :
Sun - Thu : 8am - 12am
Fri - Sat : 8am - 2am

Soto Betawi H. Mamat

There is one soto at Serpong area which I called a heaven soto. And this soto is already famous not only to Serpongers, but even to Jakartans. Yes, it's Soto Betawi Haji Mamat. Don't get mixed up with the one at Muara Karang area. That refer to different person since Mamat is the common name for Betawi-nese.

I usually visit their branch at Gading Serpong. Their main branch is actually located somewhere in BSD but I don't know exactly the location. This Gading Serpong branch is run by his son.

The restaurant is always crowded, swarmed by the locals no matter in weekdays or weekend. They only serve one dishes, Soto Betawi, with two different varieties. One is the ordinary Soto Betawi that we already know, and the other one is their signature dish called Soto Oseng. Soto Oseng means the meat is stir fried beforehand and served separately with the soup. We can chose the soup with or without coconut milk which usually we call it by Bening and Santen. Other than the main menu, they already have side dish menu such as Potato Cutlet (Perkedel Kentang), Corn fritters (Perkedel Jagung), Tempe Mendoan, etc.

As for the meat itself usually it is beef but they also have chicken which is less popular. We are free to chose only the meat or mix it with innards. For the innards itself we can also chose which innards. So, basically when you order your soto you can shout like this to the Abang : "Bang, one oseng. Mix. Santen. But I don't want the intestines. And give me a lot of rawit." Of course this kind of special order need longer time to prepare since they have to oseng it first. Usually I only order mix without specific order to make it faster.

Although they open until 5pm in the afternoon, but make sure you come early if you want to have their Soto Oseng. The Oseng usually sold out very fast after lunch time. So get ready to get disappointed if you come late. The price for their Soto Oseng is IDR 30K with rice. Quite expensive for just a soto but it worth the taste. For me, this is the best Soto Betawi that I ever had. Very tasty with perfect seasonings. If you call yourself a foodie, make sure you try it before you die!

Food - 10/10
Cleanliness - 7/10
Service - 8/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Price/Value - 8/10

Update July 23, 2015 : They have already invade mall with the opening of AEON Mall branch (2nd floor food court area)

Soto Betawi H. Mamat

Jl. Bulevar Gading Serpong Blok AA4 No. 23 

Gading Serpong - Tangerang

+6281318642362

Business hours : Mon to Sun 8am - 5pm  

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh 松发肉骨茶

Last week, I finally managed to try this famous Bak Kut Teh restaurant. Why only now? Because during the first months of their opening, this restaurant was always crowded and swarmed by culinary lover. I heard from a friend that to be able to have table you must queue for the average of 1.5 hours during lunch and dinner time. But now, you don't have to queue anymore to dine here. Two hypothesis. One, they already open their 2nd branch in Jakarta at Hayam Wuruk area so people are split into two location. Second, people are already fed up with the taste.

This restaurant is originally from Singapore. The first time I heard about this restaurant was at around 2010 from my friend who lives in Singapore, Julius Kho. Basically Bak Kut Teh means pork ribs in tea flavor soup. And typically, Bak Kut Teh from Singapore is divided into two style. The first one and the most common in Singapore is Teo Chew style Bak Kut Teh, where the taste is dominated by garlic and pepper and have white soup. The other style is Klang style Bak Kut Teh, where the soup is brown and full of herbs taste. Song Fa is a Teo Chew style one where you will find peppery taste of the soup.

Bak Kut Teh with Pig's Kidney and Liver - IDR 98K++

The first impression of the appearance of this dish was normal and nothing special. It consist of 2 pieces of pork ribs and bunches of sliced kidney and liver, also 2 pieces of whole garlic with some green garnish. The soup taste was very refreshing. What would be the plus point here was that you can ask for free refill for the soup. The pork ribs surprised me. It was so tender and juicy and made from good quality of meat. Even the meat can be easily pulled of the bones. And as a fans of innards, I really adore the generous portion of kidney and liver.

I'm not sure whether what I ate when I was in Penang was Klang style Bak Kut Teh. Maybe that was just the common Malaysian style of bak kut teh. You can see what I ate in Penang in below picture.

Braised Trotters with Intestines - IDR 60K++ (Small)

The second dish that I tried that day was the braised pork leg. It was so hard to find good and delicious pork leg in Jakarta. I can count pork leg in Song Fa is one of the best. The meat was succulent and the skin was fatty. Really a perfect sides to accompany the pork ribs soup. But the intestines was a bit tough and dry. If you want to try this dish I suggest you have it without the intestines.

Overall, I was having a decent experience dining here. The food was delicious and the service was quick. I don't see any issue of having back to dine here in the future.

Food - 8/10
Cleanliness - 10/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Price/Value - 5/10

Song Fa Bak Kut Teh 松发肉骨茶
Ozone Mall, L01 - 05 & 05A
Jl Pantai Indah Kapuk Utara 3
Jakarta Utara
+622129673670
Business Hours :
Mon - Fri 11.30am - 9.30pm
Sat - Sun 11.00am - 9.30pm