De'Excelso

This is not something new, and I guess all of you familiar with Excelso Cafe or De' Excelso, since they have many branches spread all over malls in Jakarta.. As their name is familiar with a coffee brand, so I think this is only a coffee shop.. Well I was wrong about it, it is not just an ordinary coffee shop..

The first time I visited De' Excelso is in Plaza Indonesia with my fam, we were here just for the drinks and had some snacks..


I had this refreshing Summer Splash (37.5K), blueberry juice with blueberry sorbet.. It's perfectly cold and refreshing..


My bro love something creamy and milky, he ordered Floating Island (37.5K).. This is their signature drink, an avocado juice blended with coffee served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate shavings.. You can ask whether to put coffee or not to blend with it.. Mmm soo nice..


As for the snack, we opted Banana Wrap Cheese & Chocolate (25K), sweet crunchy fried banana topped with a lot of cheese, chocolate and condensed sweet milk..


The next visit, I was back with E.. We went to De' Excelso in Senayan City to had a dinner this time..


The place here is bigger than in Plaza Indonesia, with a separation smoking area behind the glass, nice..


Dominated with dark furniture and open kitchen concept..


E tried D'Amour (57.5K) for the drink, as I remembered it's a blend of coffee and vanilla ice cream topped with whipped cream.. I don't know what makes this drink so expensive, it tasted just OK..


We had the De' Excelso Nachos (42.5K), tortilla chips covered with melted cheese, beef chili sauce, and Mexican jalapenos chili to kickstart our appetite..


I choosed Triple Decker Sandwich (50K), three layer whole wheat breads with quite a lot of smoked beef, grilled chicken, egg, veggies, and french fries on the side.. It's nice that we can choose our bread preference, it's really a filling meal..


E ordered Lemon Butter Dory (50K), pan fried dory fish served with fettuccine drizzled with lemon butter sauce.. It's tasted nice and not fishy at all, but the portion was a bit small for E..


We really had a complete dinner that nite, we finished off with Crispy Cassava with Chocolate Ice Cream (31K), fried cassava spring roll covered with cheese, chocolate, and sweet milk.. I swear I am not exaggerating here, but it was lip-smackingly good! I certainly had not expected it to be that good..

We're really really full, can't finished it all.. Overall we're satisfied enough, the foods meet our expectation and for the price is still a value for money dish.. And fortunately we got 50% disc from Standard Chatered Bank promotion, good deal yaa :).. I've been to this place for couple of times and I don't mind going back again sometimes


De' Excelso
Plaza Indonesia
Basement #61 A
Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30
Central Jakarta
Tel. (62 21) 31927059

Senayan City
Lower Ground Floor #L-20
Jl. Asia Afrika Lot. 19
South Jakarta
Tel. (62 21) 72781187

Sinou Kaffee Hausen

After read some recommendation on magazine and several reviews on blogs about the unique interior and good foods from this place, we were curious to visit it.. Sinou Kaffee Hausen is a chic and unique cafe located in Panglima Polim area..


The place is full of vintage style furniture.. As their unique name, the place really designed in different ways from others cafe we usually visit..


With a wire fence as a separator, I felt like eating in the under-construction industrial warehouse.. A cool place to hang out, but unfortunately there are no separation for smoking and non-smoking area.. I felt suffocated with the smoke..


And this is their best spot, as stated by one of magazine that we read.. Seems like it's true, it's reserved when we arrived.. You can enjoy the atmosphere on the sidewalk in Paris here..

When it comes to the food, we tried all their best dishes, marked with two stars on the menu..


Started with a Cheese Stuffed Mushroom (27K), baked portobello mushrooms stuffed with minced beef and covered with cream cheese.. Hmm it looks yummy, and so does it tasted..


I ordered a Peach French Toast (27K), two slices of homemade toast served with peach sauce, peach cubes and vanilla ice cream.. The golden crusty toast was crispy on outside, soft and fluffy inside, it really went well with peach and ice cream.. Yummy..


As for E, he ordered a Club Sandwich (39K), the smoked beef topped with fried egg, sliced cheese, melted cheese, and lot of veggies stuffed into two thick breads served with french fries.. What a filling meal, very generous with the ingredients on it and their bread really has a nice texture, fluffy and soft..

I reckon the prices here were pretty reasonable with the taste of food being served, worth every cent.. If you are curious with this place, do drop by..



Sinou Kaffee Hausen
Jl. Panglima Polim V No. 26
South Jakarta
Tel. (62 21) 7258568

Beard Papa's

When it comes snack cravings.. E really love this cream puff, Beard Papa's.. I think Beard Papa 's is the most delicate cream puff (or simply we called it kue sus) I found in Jakarta..


One of their outlet in EX.. At Beard Papa's, you have a choice of cream filling like chocolate, vanilla, cappucino, and green tea flavors.. Our fave is the green tea one, but it's so difficult to get it.. The green tea flavor is not always available everyday..


Like this time E still can't get the green tea one, so he goes for the Cappuccino Cream Puff (11K), a crispy puff pastry filled with a generous cappuccino cream filling.. The puff pastry has a consistent and most appealing filling that is pumped into it and freshly prepared as you order..



The puff pastry was light and airy with delightfully crispy crackly crust, the cappuccino cream filling was delicate flavored.. It was a bit messy to eat but sooo good.. Mmm..


And this is one of the Beard Papa's stations in Hong Kong.. It's all about freshness, they bakes cream puffs and fills it immediately..


Looks in Hong Kong they have many varies menu much different with their menu in Jakarta, looks so tempting and tastes delicate..


Surely, we choosed the Choux a La Creme - Original with Green Tea filling (HKD 12).. It always available everyday there.. Looks the oozed green tea cream filling, it was excellent and it tasted wonderfully smooth, delicate, and not too sweet.. Love it..

Really this is the most delicate cream puff I ever eat.. Nyummm..


Beard Papa's
Entertainment X'nter L2 # B-03
Jl. M. H. Thamrin Kav. 13
Cental Jakarta
Tel. (62 21) 31900787

Mall Artha Gading Ground Floor #B1-1
Jl. Boulevard Artha Gading Selatan No. 1
North Jakarta
Tel. (62 21) 45863852

Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar

Back from Singapore, I just found that how Singaporean fancy the Japanese foods.. There are many Japanese restaurant in Singapore, you always can find Japanese restaurant in every mall in Singapore.. It varies from the ramen house, traditional Japanese restaurant, and the fancy Japanese restaurant.. We were tempting to try them all, but of course we can only try some.. And this is one that attracts us the most, because of its uniqueness and we haven't it in Jakarta yet.. Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar..


Located at the basement extension of Raffles City Shopping Centre, Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar is not a usual restaurant that you imagined, it's more like food court but not exactly.. Hmm so what is it? It's a self-service Japanese Restaurant.. If you familiar with Marche Restaurant concept in Plaza Senayan or Food Kulture in Plaza Indonesia, so here's another version of it.. Shokudo shares the similar concept like Marche, having several cooking stations, barcode card payment system, and themed dining area..


The colorful entrance.. Upon entering, you will be given a barcode card (just like Marche did), which is used to swap when you ordered the food and it used to calculate the bill on cashier when you are going out..

Let's see what is inside..How they looked like?


The place is like a Japanese market with several stalls sell different Japanese foods..


The oden cooking station.. Oden is Japanese one-pot dish which is consisting of several ingredients slowly simmered in light sweet soy sauce based soup.. Oden is known as Japanese winter dish.. You can choose what ingredients you like, it varies from processed fish cake, tofu, vegetables, konyaku, and many more.. It's fresh and has many varieties..


Japanese-style omelette station..


Seems Singaporean really enjoy dine here, and so do we hehe..

So how about the food? In here you can taste all the Japanese food like sashimi, sushi, oden, teppanyaki, udon, ramen, bento, Japanese dessert, and many more.. In addition to traditional Japanese food, the foods also varies to some fusion Western-Japanese food like Japanese pizza, burger, pasta, and more..

We were wandering through some melange of various cooking stations, and we didn't know what to eat.. We're really spoilt for choice..

Finally, we decided what to eat for dinner..


I ordered this Salmon Onion Omelette (SGD 5.80), salmon wrapped in Japanese omelette with delicious mayonnaise drizzled generously over it and topped with bonito flakes.. The omelette was very rich in flavor, it tasted a little sweet, a little salty, and its smooth.. I'm not exaggerating here, but it was really good! Although its just an ordinary omelette but the mayo really blended well with the egg, it was a lip smackingly good!


This was what E opted for, Chicken & Ham Okonomiyaki (SGD 8.90), a Japanese-style pan-fried batter cake with chicken, ham, and shredded cabbage drenched with Japanese mayonnaise and sweet brown sauce.. I found that it was a good choice, with a mix of sweet and savory flavors also the soft textures of the batter..


Tako Ball (SGD 3.50), a grilled octopus flour balls/takoyaki.. These takoyaki was served hot from the pan, they're still heavenly taste and succulent.. The bonito flakes added a touch of savoriness to the soft takoyaki, a tasty snacks indeed..


If you are in the mood for something more conventional, go for their Japanese Sukiyaki.. My friend ordered Sukiyaki Beef (SGD 9.80), a mixed veggies, tofu, sliced beef, and shirataki/Japanese konyaku noodle in a light soy sauce based soup served in little hot pot to keep it warm.. This is a light, warm, and savory soup with a wonderfully delicate ingredients, the ingredients were cooked evenly in the sauce, the thinly sliced beef was also quite tender. Its really a good dish to keep your body warm..


Chukka Kurage (SGD 2.50), a seasoned jellyfish.. I'm not fancy eating jellyfish, but my friend said it's a little spicy, a little sweet, and the texture is crunchy, the bits of sesame add some taste to it.. It totally thrilled her hehe..

If you are a fan of Japanese food, you should give it a visit and you may like it here.. You can really enjoy the wide array of Japanese food here, it gives you so many choices for what to eat, and its taste delicate.. E gives 5 out of 5 for his own rating haha, so we definitely looking forward for our next visit when we come to Singapore again..


Shokudo Japanese Food Bazaar
Raffles City Shopping Centre #B1-44E
252 North Bridge Road
Singapore
Tel. (65) 68373793

Brussels Spring

There are so many good places to eat in Bandung, and everytime I visit Bandung there's always has another new restaurant sets up and open up for business.. It attracts me to visit..

Our next stop in Bandung was Brussels Spring situated in Sumatra Street.. It's a nice place to hang out in Bandung..I've been curious to this place since our last visit to Bandung, and now my curiosity was paid off..

Check out their menu, the food varies from the small bites food like sliced cakes..


Waffles and pancakes.. We like their menu, which has colorful pictures hehe..


Ice Cream.. They not only served the sweet dishes, they also served the main course like pasta, steak, fried rice, and many more..


Simple and minimalist indoor dining area.. Or you prefer to seat outside..


Nice place, we seated in their balcony.. A good spot to enjoy the Bandung fresh air..

Surely, we ordered their specialty here.. Waffles.. We tried the savory waffles, Milanesse Cheese Waffle (35K), crispy waffle topped with minced meat, spinach, mozzarella cheese, and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.. It's so cheesyyy.. Yummy!! The waffle was crispy outside but soft inside.. the topping also a perfect match with the waffle.

And had their Coccain (17.5K).. Haha relax peeps it's not a cocaine as an illegal drug in a real meaning, Coccain in here is a suckao.. "Suckao" compound of two words 'suck' and 'cocoa' , its a small thick & smooth hot chocolate drink.. The suckao serves in a suckao cup with a tea light candle pot and also comes with a special spoon which at the end of the spoon serves as straw, you can sip your chocolate from it..

This is a DIY (Do It Yourself) drink, so you prepare, decide the proportion of chocolate vs milk suit to your liking, and drink it.. You can choose what chocolate you like; dark, white, or milk one.. We went for the dark one.. Mmm this is a must for chocolate lover..

The two dishes we ordered above are their recommended menu, and all of them turn out to be delicate.. Brussels Spring is a nice place to enjoy small bites or main course with a cozy place at affordable price in Bandung.. We heard from the waiter that they will open their branch in Jakarta soon.. Waa can't wait to visit it to try their other menus..

Brussels Spring
Jl. Sumatra No. 30
Bandung
Tel. (62 22) 4264104

Warung Kopi Purnama

Old and classic, it reminds you in the old times sipping a good cup of hot tea or coffee and munching your favorite toast.. Yum..yum.. Who says old-style food is not nice?


Here's what we got when we're in our short trip to Bandung.. The first stop in Bandung, we began with having a light breakfast in this old-style coffee shop/kopitiam, Warung Kopi Purnama - Purnama Coffee Stall..


Stepping into this coffee stall, make me feel like if I've traveled backwards in time.. The owner has retained the stall original antique furniture.. The place is far from modern concept, with wood panel style building..


The place served a variety of drinks and old-style breads with various toppings as their main menu, but you also can find heavier meal like fried rice and some local foods from various street vendors outside the stall..


Since we were too early that day, we only can find this one Kembang Tahu (Bean curd Soup) street vendor.. Ok we gave it a try, Kembang Tahu - Bean curd Soup (6K).. The texture was not really soft but we really liked the ginger soup, it's good to warm up your stomach..


Need something sweet in the morning, we ordered Roti Srikaya - Srikaya Jam Bread (9K).. This old-style bread was so soft and fluffy, but i think it wasn't a toast bread, it spread with homemade srikaya/coconut milk jam.. I think they made it using palm sugar.. Tasted soo delicate


Not only tasted the sweet bread but we tried the savory one, Roti Dadar Ham - Egg and Ham Bread (13.5K), it's just an omelette egg with pork ham on it.. Although it was just an ordinary foods but it still pleases me.. It sure did bring back my childhood memories

Warung Kopi Purnama
Jl. Alkateri No 22
Bandung