The Baez: 2016

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Tom Tom - Grand Indonesia

Tom Tom is a bustling casual Thai restaurant with an open concept kitchen. I love that! I frequently imagine all kinds of goings-on in the kitchen which kills my appetite. The veggies looked fresh and the chefs looked clean and professional. I also had my ears peeled for any sneezing and wheezing. ^__^ I liked this place already!

We had pineapple fried rice (superb), basil minced pork, tom yum soup with chicken (made bbkin sweat and me glow with the spice. Loved it!), pad thai (too sweet! this is the only dish I wouldn't order again), beef red curry (the gravy is deliciously thick and creamy) and a bean salad (went well with a wedge of lemon. The dressing was a little sweet). Portions are massive, good for 3 to share so we had to doggy bag lots. Guess what's for breakfast? :D Presentation is pretty average and moreover we were hungry baez so I didn't snap any photos, sorry! But I'll be back again...

THE MENU

#TomTom #GrandIndonesia #WestMall #PineappleFriedRice #theBaez

Nomz - Grand Indonesia

Nomz is a chic café with a variety of Western and Asian favourites, We've been here twice in two months. The food is good and portions are huge, but for some reason service charge is slightly higher than most other restaurants - which would be ok but the service wasn't very good ^_____^

Here's what we tried second time round:

Bbkin favourite. Osso Buco with pearl barley risotto. He had this the first time we dined here too! I don't usually like barley but this is very well done. Creamy and delicious, with a firm but not too chewy texture. The meat was fall off the bone tender.

Pulled pork burger with kimchi slaw and shoestring fries. Lots of tender pulled pork, and the kimchi wasn't too crunchy or spicy, which suited me perfectly! The mountain of fries is really filling; it's like 2 x large fries from McDonalds! Bbkin left me to finish it during his cigarette break and raised his eyebrows at my empty plate ^..^

Caesar salad arranged askew; big space on the right side of the plate. The egg was good but there was way too much dressing. The leaves were drenched, and the toast was served at the very bottom of the salad (yes, it's hidden and we only discovered it 2/3 of the way into it), so it was kinda soggy.

Nomz Chicken: the chicken was succulent and tasty, and the sauce was tangy and delicious! Half a fat roast chicken and a hearty bowl of jasmine rice. Thumbs up from the bowbae!

We got the Asian Pork Rice to go - I had that the first visit and it was really good! slabs of pork belly grilled atop a bed of rice. The lean meat is a little tougher than I would cook for myself, but the fat is rendered perfectly! I'm a greedy bastard.

Here are photos of the menu and the restaurant ^_^

I got a salted egg yolk lava croissant some time back and it wasn't worth the calories. It was overly sweet and tasted like gritty cake icing. My first time trying a salted egg yolk pastry of any sort and it'll take some time before I dare try another!

I'd like to come back to try the desserts like Sticky Date Pudding, and the all day Brunch menu! 3.5/5 for the bowbae!

#Nomz #GrandIndonesia #EastMall #NomzChicken #OssoBuco #theBaez

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Jun Njan Seafood restaurant - Grand Indonesia

Dinner was pretty good here. Bbkin and I were in the mood for Chinese food and decided to try it out.

The Food:

The chicken fried rice (M) was big enough for 4 and really tasty with a bit of chilli spice so do tell them your preferences if kids are gonna have some.

The tofu with JN sauce is basically deep fried egg tofu with a light oyster sauce. Very tasty.

The deep fried prawns with mayonnaise are a perennial favourite. I have to have it whenever I dine in a Chinese restaurant! It's not too bad here, quite a hefty portion. I prefer the one at Imperial Lamian.

Bbkin also ordered his favourite Kung Pao chicken. This was deep fried chicken not the usual pan-fried chicken so he's at the gym today. The stir-fried broccoli with garlic was a little on the crunchy side. He liked it.

The deep fried breaded tofu appetizer served with tartar sauce was yummy! Dessert was the fried mini mantou with condensed milk. That was good, but nothing to rave about so I may give that a miss next time.

No photos of the food coz the presentation of the dishes is pretty average. Definitely going back again for the tofu dishes, fried rice, and the coconut pudding which wasn't available that day! 4/5 for the bowbae!

#JunNjanSeafood #JunNjan #WestMall #GrandIndonesia #TheBaez

Koffie Warung Tinggi - Dining with a Fat Rat!

We were wandering around the mall late on a Saturday night last month, and saw that this cafe was still open. It features a variety of coffees and delightful drinks like the hot taro coconut milk I had, as well as a martabak bar.

The martabak wasn't very good. Way too sweet and cloying, even for someone who loves sweets. I had lots of hot water in between each bite and could feel it sloshing around my stomach as I walked home dissatisfied. We ordered the Ferrero Rocher special and the nuts tasted stale (see photo below).

Huge martabak! I have big hands.

Cross section of the martabak

We also ordered the Ovomaltine martabak, which was made and presented quite differently, more like an open-face martabak if I recall correctly. It was also overly sweet and oily, and got more unappealing as it cooled down. Due to the excitement we encountered, it slipped my mind to snap a photo. This is what happened...

The regular coffees took ages to arrive at our table and were lukewarm. I don't know about you but I love my latte extra hot. I wanted to pop it in their microwave and just as I looked up to get the waiter's attention, I saw a rat the size of my shoe (I'm a size 39 by the way) scurry out of the Martabak kitchen window and up the white wall, less than 5 metres from where we were seated. Bbkin saw it at the same time, I let out a squeak and we both jumped up. Our two companions and neighbouring tables looked round to see what the fuss was all about, and Fat Rat made a timely second appearance on the wall behind the fake potted plant. It quickly did an about-turn when I screamed. The staff didn't seem too surprised when we told them what we saw and we hurriedly got the bill. Why do cartoons feature ladies leaping on furniture when they see rats? These rats are like Spiderman; they can scour walls and other vertical planes! You are not safe atop a chair! Needless to say I am not going back again. Sadly it's right next to my favourite restaurant, Slice of Heaven. I hope it was only visiting that part of the mall and not a permanent resident. 4/5 for the taro coconut drink, otherwise sub zero thanks to Fat Rat!

Left: the Martabak bar out of which Fat Rat leapt.

Right: you can see the tables we were seated at, and the wall which Fat Rat scaled to leap into the ceiling area.

#koffiewarungtinggi #WestMall #GrandIndonesia #Martabak #FerreroRocher #Rat #FatRat #TheBaez

Sunday, 27 March 2016

Introduction

Hi!

We're a foodie couple from Singapore and we have moved to Jakarta! We have lived in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Perth and USA, and have explored the F & B scene with great enthusiasm! So we thought we might document our past, present and future culinary adventures here.

I (bbkin) will contribute healthy dining options and my wife (bowbae) will fill you in on the more sinful choices.

So here we go... the Baez collection of reviews! Stay tuned for reviews of restaurants we visit during our travels too. Enjoy!

The Grand Duck King - Grand Indonesia

The Grand Duck King (no pork; halal) has an extensive menu serving all kinds of comfort Chinese food from dim sum and snacks to live seafood, claypot entrees and the usual carb selections.

Saturday dim sum All-you-can-eat Brunch
It has a terrific dim sum buffet brunch menu on Saturdays which includes 3 kinds of congee, the usual dim sum staples like char siew bao (chicken buns), har gao (excellent), siew mai (good), both pan fried carrot cake (so-so), XO sauce carrot cake (delicious!!) and cheong fun (steamed rice rolls; the chicken char siew one was disappointing as there was way too little chicken filling. even a carb monster like me noticed), and different kinds of veggies in oyster sauce (good thing otherwise bbkin wouldn't come with me), deep fried dishes (like the more-ish labu kuning with salted egg yolk. I think labu kuning is some kind of veg of the cucumber/zucchini variety. The deep fried eggplant with chicken floss is good too, and I've yet to try the deep fried chicken), chicken curry, nasi lemak, pot stickers (chicken and chive; a little bit dry and not enough browning on the skin), century egg on cold tofu (I loveeee century egg), deep fried calamari with salted egg yolk (chewy!), duck dishes (not tried yet haha) and noodle dishes.

I've been a few times and the menu varies slightly each time, keeping perennial favourites and introducing new items every so often. The nasi ayam Hainam (hainanese chicken rice) is a newbie and it's pretty good (however the rice to chicken ratio is a bit uneven. Ok very uneven. But I like rice and there is no such thing as ordering the dish without rice from the buffet menu). The 90 minute affair is a la carte buffet style for about IDR 100,000 per pax. This doesn't include steamed rice nor beverages. Service is prompt so don't worry about them dragging their feet. Don't over order as they're pretty strict with finishing the food and you may be charged more than expected if you don't finish your food on time.

You can also order from the a la carte menu of course. I love the battered deep fried chicken which is their lemon chicken dish, but I request sweet and sour sauce instead. I'm not a fan of lemon outside of juice and salad dressing! It is perfectly crispy on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside. It comes with a measly 3 onion rings which thankfully bbkin doesn't really bother with...yay! I also love the Singapore fried noodles (curried vermicelli with veg, chicken and prawns), which was my favourite boarding school Chinese take-out dish! Yup, I never came across it in Singapore but it seems popular everywhere else in the world ^_*

It's a little pricier than average but the quality and portions account for this I guess. The Singapore fried noodles is about IDR 65000 and you might get a similar dish (the fried bihun with pork) at Imperial La Mian at about 2/3 the price. Service is ok, they seem to be a sullen lot but it doesn't matter as they are pretty prompt and efficient. Food sometimes can take quite a while- if you're going for the Saturday brunch buffet, order the deep fried stuff first so you don't scald your throat attempting to gobble everything up before the 90 mins is up! I learnt that the hard way. Overall rating 3.5/5 for bowbae!

#GrandDuckKing #TheGrandDuckKing #EastMall #GrandIndonesia #DimSumBuffet #DimSum #halal #Buffet #theBaez

Imperial Lamian - Grand Indonesia

We love Imperial Lamian, right opposite our other favourite, Itacho. It is superb value for money and is always packed with appreciative diners, locals and tourists alike. The food is comforting and delicious and reminds us of home! Considering it's probably all frozen and shipped over... *_*

Bbkin's healthy options include his usual braised spinach beancurd and braised beancurd with pork mince, as well as spinach cooked with egg 3 ways in soup stock - this is really fresh and tasty, even I don't mind it though I normally shy away from bbkin's healthy menu!

True to its name, Imperial La Mian serves a wide variety of la mian (hand pulled noodles), soup and dry, including beef brisket noodles, pork won ton, sliced beef in chilli oil, minced pork with mushroom etc. Look out for the promotions and also the dim sum fiesta items, which gets you dim sum for IDR 9999 before tax! This month I've tried "gao zi" which is shrimp won ton in sweet and spicy sauce. 3 pc for that price is a steal, and there's no limit to how many you can order (but you can't get dim sum fiesta items to go). The won ton skin is silky smooth and thin, and the filling is generous. Dare I say it's superior to Tim Ho Wan's and at a fraction of the price. But that's another blog, another story!

Portions here are pretty big for the carb dishes. The meat entrees are small which is reflected by the pricing; this suits us perfectly so we can order a variety without over stuffing ourselves! I like the deep fried prawns with mayonnaise or salted egg yolk. The prawns are always fresh and plump! Dishes I would recommend include the pig's ears appetizer, fried rice dishes, Xiao long bao, steamed pork dumplings, fried bihun (vermicelli) would pork, pork won ton soup, braised pork belly, deep fried tofu cubes with salted egg yolk and deep fried glutinous sesame balls dessert. One dish I would not order again though is the bbq pork. It's a sorry little platter of pork that I could (and did) eat in two mouthfuls. This is pretty standard in most of the Chinese restaurants I've frequented in Jakarta though. So be mindful that if you order char siew (bbq pork or chicken) here, it's gonna come tiny and quite unlike the photo in the menu (another common observation across the board so let the buyer beware!). There's plenty of stuff we've not tried like whole deep fried fish, other seafood and meat entrees and the shaved ice desserts.

Service is great, once again probably because we are regulars. Otherwise they're efficient and brusque, and serve the crowd quickly and attentively. The head chef is from Hong Kong and has been living here for a few years. I hope he sticks around for the duration of our stay! Overall rating 4.2/5 from bowbae!

#ImperialTreasure #ImperialLaMian #GrandIndonesia #EastMall #lamian #dimsum #dimsumfiesta #theBaez

Itacho - Grand Indonesia

Itacho is one of our favourite haunts and we have been here countless times! The staff are really friendly with us and can reel off our orders when we step in... just kidding. We always order the same thing though.

Bbkin would have his salmon and lobster sushi or seared salmon sushi, his crab salad (comprising crab stick, cucumber and mayo arranged in a pretty tower), and crab stick avocado salad with wafu dressing (so deliciously more-ish I often ask for more to use as a dipping sauce). Do not try the the negitoro nor the swordfish sushi - both are not at all fresh and made us feel so unwell. On a side note, the staff were extremely apologetic and to be fair they didn't deliberately serve us stuff that wasn't fresh; they simply didn't know! They surprised us with complimentary side salads and dessert upon our next visit. I think they were happy to see us again! :D

I usually have the grilled chicken salad with rice, or teriyaki chicken rice box. Sometimes I get the oyako don mini bowl. I can eat the same thing every day! The lunch menu Mon-Thur features a grilled salmon don which is really good, and other dons like teriyaki chicken don (IDR35,000, a bit cheaper than the a la carte night time option), and gyu don, all with an additional miso soup. There are also set meals like chicken teriyaki with onion on rice served with a small bowl of hot udon/soba, or the tempura set (2 shrimp, tempura, tiny bit of pasta - and by tiny I mean literally 4 bits of macaroni, mini dessert of 2 bits of fruit, and small cup of chawanmushi, steamed rice) for IDR 78000.

It took me a while but I've finally gotten used to the fact that sushi rice here isn't as sticky to what Im accustomed to in Singapore, Hong Kong, or Japan itself. I used to sadly poke at my long grain rice bowl and watch my sushi fall apart when I nudge it with my chopsticks, but that said, we love this place and absolutely recommend it! 4.2/5!

#itacho #EastMall #Grandindonesia #oishi #theBaez

Kiyadon - Grand Indonesia

Kiyadon has a huge menu encompassing sushi, sashimi, bento boxes, salads, udon, ramen, fried rice, fried noodles, donburi, and even features a sushi conveyer belt (one-for-one plates after 8:45pm but we rarely dine so late).

The plain inaniwa udon is good. I can't recall how much it was exactly; about IDR 75000 I think. Some would say that's pricey for a bowl of plain noodles. Albeit a big bowl of noodles. I have also tried the beef sukiyaki inaniwa udon for about IDR 98000 and was surprised by the tiny portion of thinly sliced beef. It looked like it was garnish! The seafood tendon is good - seafood tempura atop a bowl of piping hot rice and egg. It comes with a side salad and miso soup, and you can opt for small or regular (take note, "regular" is pretty big even for a rice fanatic like me) portions. The chicken skewers set was not good value for money. It's probably kampong chicken (skinny chickens half starved and over exercised running away from hunters and predators in the kampong) and so measly that it wouldn't satisfy the daintiest of eaters! I comforted myself by grabbing plates of the conveyer belt. The spicy tuna sushi is not bad and the sushi chefs are friendly and always happy to answer any questions I have (usually "What's this?"). I always have the tendon but have spotted other interesting dishes on the menu like the tempura spaghetti and elaborate sushi rolls, some drizzled with cheese and other interesting condiments!

Kiyadon is pretty pricey but I think it's worth a visit. 4/5 for me!

#kiyadon #EastMall #Grandindonesia #tendon #theBaez

Ikkudo Ichi - Grand Indonesia

They claim to be "Ramen specialist" and sure enough the crowds love this place. We have been here twice and the first time I wasn't too happy but the second time's the charm!

Bbkin had the regular ramen. I'm more of a ricey person so I had to have rice instead. The ma po tofu rice is pretty mild and average. The yakiniku rice too. What stood out for me was the grilled pork cheek and torched tori cha shu. The menu described the pork cheek to "melt in the mouth like fatty tuna" and it did not disappoint! I was secretly pleased bbkin didn't feel like having any and I could have the entire plate to myself. He shared his tori chasu though. The gyoza is very salty and the fried pork cutlet with scrambled egg, onion and sauce was very "crumbly" and kept falling apart, though the flavour was decent. I would go back just for the awesome grilled pork cheek which I would rate 5* and the restaurant 4/5!

#IkkudoIchi #porkcheek #Grandindonesia #WestMall #theBaez

Slice of Heaven - Grand Indonesia

Slice of Heaven is a Japanese Italian café. We have only been once but I wanna go back again. We had cheese fries (average), seafood baked rice (yummy cheesy packed full of fresh large prawns and calamari), Caesar salad (yup, the bbkin healthy option) and my absolute favourite there, the spicy cheesy chicken katsu with baked potato! It was crispy on the outside and so succulent and juicy. I savoured every mouthful and my stomach is growling even as I type! It was served on a bed of shredded lettuce with a side of baked potato & a dollop of sour cream (you can opt for rice instead).

Kids dine for free every Friday from a selection of their most popular dishes including chicken pop (breaded chicken bites) and spaghetti with meatballs (this is next on my hit list). Other dishes in the menu include Japanese curry (omu, chicken, hamburg etc), gyutan (ox tongue, which seems to be popular in Indonesia but not with the Baez), chicken karaage teriyaki (also on my hit list) and pizzas, which deviate from the norm! One which caught my eye was the Hamburg pizza; the photo (see below) sported a pizza with a hamburger beef patty and some fries on it!

We didn't have enough room to try the thick honey toast with a variety of toppings, like kaya, ice cream, fruit, ovomaltine, nutella etc. Maybe next time, though I'm pretty sure I won't leave enough room for dessert again. ^_^

Service was prompt and we were pleased with our meal. Prices are a little bit higher than other cafes around, but that means that you're more likely to get a table even on a crowded Saturday night? 4/5 from the bowbae!

Update: I went back to try the lunch set menu (drink + main + dessert, see photos below). Thumbs up for the Japanese entrees, which were Chicken katsudon and Salmon teriyaki with rice.