Things We Found in Keuken: Umabo

Keuken is an annual food festival in Bandung. Today is their fifth edition and it takes place in Bandung City Hall. There are several food vendors opening their stalls today and we have managed to sample several outlets that interests us.

For more information about Keuken, you can go and visit their website here.

Umabo

Umabo is a restaurant originated in Jakarta that is opening their stall in Keuken as special tenant. Their menu is appeared to be a mix of American/ Mexican comfort food. Today we tried their chili fries, corn cornitas and hotdog. They also sells their own special beverage: cranberry crush.

Umabo

Jl. Wijaya 1/22

Phone: +6222 7222063

Web: www.umabojkt.com

Twitter: @umabojkt

Umabo Signage

Corn Cornitas, Chili Fries and Hotdog

Chili Fries and Cranberry Crush

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in November 2013: Breakfast in Pullman

During our stay in Jakarta, we set our establishment in Hotel Pullman. Formerly known as Hotel Nikko, this hotel is famous among Japanese expatriates who are doing business in Jakarta.
The design itself reflects this. Very simple design, but convenient. Very Japanese like.

For breakfast, however, they are apparently going USA, Texas to be exact. All kinds of menu is presented here. Indian, Indonesian, Mediterranean, Vegetarian, and even Japanese is there. And all of them tasted great!

Really making our couple of days of staying there to be an adventure :) Yum!

Enjoy!

Pullman Hotel
Jalan Kebon Kacang Raya No.59
Jakarta, Kota Jakarta Pusat, DKI Jakarta 10350, Indonesia

Phone: +62 21 31921111
Website: http://www.pullmanjakartaindonesia.com/

Salad & Sushi for Appetizer

Pickled Cucumber

Hungry!

Indonesian Corner

Caught in Action!

Somewhere here we can find a Salad

Udon

Beef Bacon!

One of the BEST waffle we've ever tasted!

Balanced Meal?

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in November 2013: Food Louvre, Grand Indonesia

It was our first day in Jakarta. The main objectives is to accompany our sister-in-law who is having a conference in Universitas Indonesia. However, the true objectives is to enjoy a night out in the central of Jakarta. To be exact in the Bundaran HI!

One of the main attraction in Bundaran HI are the malls, and today we are visiting the Grand Indonesia malls. After strolling around and sight-seeing, we finally decided to have our meals.

When traveling with our parents, usually this produce problems. Their taste is slightly more conventional, while ours are more progressive. So, the Food Louvre provides us with a win-win solution.

Our parents choose the Vietnamese dishes, Alia choose the Japanese Ramen, while for myself, I select the Chinese noodle.

Overall experience was great, and we are excited to explore Bundaran HI area more in the following days.

Enjoy!





Food Louvre
Grand Indonesia
Jakarta - Indonesia

Happy Hungry Faces

Beef Rib Noodle

Noodle with Broth (Pho24)

Beef Ramen

Beef with Rice (Pho24)

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Joni Steak Pasar Baru Jakarta

Before we know this place, only HolyCow and HappCow are the only name that comes in our mind when talking about cheap and "real" steak. But now there is one name pops out, and it pops out in a place we never thought about. Introducing: Joni Steak!

You might think: Joni... You mean like in the first name Joni? Does it sound a little bit cheesy you think?

Yes, at first the name does not look supportive enough. But, if you think of it, some of the great chefs in the world are using their name for their brand. From the famous one and only Daniel Boulud to the famous meeting place in Jakarta Mario's Place, where some says power negotiation about the future of our country are often discussed here. So, we think it is ok for Mr. Joni to put his name here. After all, this is his outlet, right? :)

Ok, enough about the name. Let's talk about their food. We think they sell one of the best bargain steak in Jakarta right now. I mean back around 2012, they sell steak for as cheap as Rp 35k (US$ 3.5). The current price has already hike for around Rp 42k - 66k (US$ 4.2 - 6.6), but for this you already got Wagyu with the amenities. Quite a bargain eh?

Surprisingly with that price, they still maintain a great quality for a steakhouse. We never found a quite well steakhouse with old style service using managers who circle around and take orders until we went here. Sure, the place is humbling, but they don't mess with the service quality.

Another great point which we often discuss here is: They can serve a medium rare steak. This is a very rare traits that only a good steakhouse in Indonesia can provide. You cannot imagine countless time we went to steakhouse, ordering a medium rare steak, and then finds that they served in medium well, or worst: well done. -__-".

So, the next time you are around Pasar Baru area, and confused on where to eat or where to take your spouse to eat or when searching for a place for celebration, but with tight budgets, then we think this is the perfect place for you to go. Great steak, good service, and most importantly reasonable price.

Enjoy!

Joni Steak

Jl. Samanhudi 65

Pasar Baru

Jakarta

Phone: +6221 92717294

The Juicy Beef Steak

Simple, but yet Delicious Fries

Another Angle on the Juicy Steak

Happy Face!

Hungry Face!

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Tours Les Jours

French bakery is always famous with their delicate, soft and fluffy bread, and this bakery is not an exception. First introduced to us during our trip to South Korea, we quickly fall in love with their creation, as it always provides us with tasty and fulfilling joy of french bread.

Today's selection including their bread with cheese, chocolate, and other various stuffing. We got a feeling that the bread might not last until dinner time :).

Enjoy!

Tours les Jours
Central Park Mall
Jl. Let. Jend.S. Parman kav.28
Jakarta Barat 11470
Website: http://tljus.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/touslesjoursindonesia

The Bread!

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Omo Chicken

We always loved to eat South Korean food, and after our recent visit there, the appetite grow bigger over time.

So, when we are familiarizing ourselves to this Central Park Mall, we decided to eat in a restaurant that serves a familiar dish: South Korean.

This vendor in particular serves a twist of South Korean food with the presentation of Japanese fast food. Notice the rice balls that look familiar like Onigiri and the use of paper plates? To us, it is very simple. Just like Japanese restaurant.

We ordered their Chicken wings, Pom Pom Potato Balls, and rice balls. Overall the taste is alright, and gives us fuel to make a secondary round trip all across the mall :).

Enjoy!

Omo Chicken
Central Park Level 3 -121
Jl. Let. Jend.S. Parman kav.28
Jakarta Barat 11470
Phone: +62 21 5698.5776
Website: http://www.omochicken.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/OmoKitchen
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OmoKitchen

Full Complete Menu

Potato Balls

South Korean Chicken Wings

Rice Balls!

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Fresh Salad from Ranch 99 Market

Learning our past experience during our abroad trip to Thailand and Malaysia, we decided to implement the same strategy for our lunch menu today. Following what business people likes to eat in Central Jakarta, we decided to ordered the fresh salad from the Ranch 99 Market in Grand Indonesia.

Tasted quite alright. Fresh and healthy.

No wonder most of the workers in Central Jakarta offices looks attractive. It must be because they eat healthy during their lunch :).

Enjoy!

Ranch 99 Market
Grand Indonesia
Jalan Teluk Betung, Kota Jakarta Pusat
Jln. MH.Thamrin No.1 Jakarta 10310
Website: http://www.ranchmarket.co.id/

One Package of Goodness (and Healthy!)

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Come Buy

Another Pearl Tea vendor in Indonesia, and we are never get enough of it.
We really liked tea, and any flavored tea is considered okay with us.
This one is also tasted quite alright, with fresh tapioca pearl and refreshing tea, really brightens up your day.

Yum! Enjoy!

Come Buy
Grand Indonesia
Jalan Teluk Betung, Kota Jakarta Pusat,
Jln. MH.Thamrin No.1 Jakarta 10310 10310
Website: http://www.comebuy2002.com.tw/

The Tea

The Counter

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Bakmi Gang Kelinci Pasar Baru

We are big fans of Mie. Either cooked with broth to become a Mie Ayam/ Mie Baso/ Bakmi, or saute with vegetables to become Mie Goreng/ Kwetiaw Goreng/ Ifu Mie. All of Mie is yummy for us.

However, some Mie stands out among the others. Legendary places are scattered all around Indonesia, and today, we are lucky to be able to visit one of the Legendary mie vendor: Bakmi Gang Kelinci.

Tucked in a small alley called (obviously...) Gang Kelinci, the restaurant offered traditional noodle-based dishes consisted of Mie Ayam, Fried Noodle and Siomay.

The portion is adequate. The taste was great. And the most important part: we managed to tick one of our bucket list of visiting legendary noodle vendors all around Indonesia. Yay!

Enjoy!

Bakmi Gang Kelinci
Jl. Kelinci Raya No. 1-3
Pasar Baru Sawah Besar
Jakarta Pusat DKI Jakarta
Jakarta Pusat
Phone: +62 21 3522288
Website: http://www.bakmigangkelinci.com/

Their Famous Siomay

Their Famous Chicken Mee (Mie Ayam)

Mie Ayam with Meatball

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Ayam Kremes Wayang Pasar Baru Jakarta

When we reached Jakarta, we were really hungry. We think that Pasar Baru area will be opened until 10 PM or something. After all, it is a marketplace right?

It turned out we were dead wrong. Sooooo wrong...

When we decided to go and eat at 8 PM we were quickly presented with a bitter realization: Everything was closed at that time.

Panicking and more importantly, hungry, we searched for a place to eat there.

We finally found a place where it seems everyone are eating and drawn to a same place. And it is fully packed. The Ayam Kremes Wayang.

In front, there is a signage that says: Package consisted of Ayam Kremes (fried crispy chicken) + Lalap (raw vegetable) + chili sauce + iced tea price Rp 15k (US$ 1.5). Is it too good to be true?

When we reached here, we are pretty much game on whatever they are serving. And it is true. When ordering, it turned out we are pretty much ordering the last piece of chicken that they have there.

We ordered 3 Ayam Kremes  + Rice + Iced Tea + Mineral Water. It turned out the chicken was very crispy and good. We don't know what they put in the ingredients but if comparing them with the now trendy Korean chicken wings, this babies are sure can compete. The chili are super hot and the Iced Tea are thick with sugar, Javanese style. A really good way to end your night (with minimum budget).

Enjoy!

Ayam Kremes Wayang

Pasar Baru

Jl. Samanhudi

Jakarta

Yum!

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Jakarta (Culinary) Trip in June 2013: Kopi Oey Tune Hotel Pasar Baru

Our today's purpose of trip to Jakarta is to accompanied me on scholarship interview. The scholarship was provided by the Indonesian Department of Finance, and the location is in the center of Jakarta.

Bearing in mind (and cost), we decided to book a hotel room in Tune Hotel Pasar Baru. The reasons is because of the closeness of the hotel to the interview location, and the magnet of Pasar Baru area as a tourism spot, preferably by our Malaysian friend.

The place that we've stayed have a small coffee shop called Kopi Oey in the ground floor. As we are hungry and tired, we decided to ordered the food from here. The place itself offered various local foods, as well as courses from our neighboring countries of Singapore and Malaysia.

The taste in overall was okay and fulfilling. Now all we have to do do after lunch is go to bed before visiting Pasar Baru at night.

Enjoy!

Kopi Oey
Tune Hotel Pasar Baru
Jalan Haji Samanhudi No.25, Jakarta Pusat
Kota Jakarta Pusat, DKI Jakarta 10710
Phone: +62 21 38902172
Web: http://kopioey.com/

Fried Rice

Take Away Sandwich

The Neat Box

Rice in Pandan Leaves

A Bowl of Noodle

Cool Drink for this Hot Day!

Very Thick Toast!

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Langkawi (Culinary) Trip in April 2013: Bakmi Gajah Mada Terminal 3, Soekarno Hatta

For our post-graduate study requirements in our school, we are assigned to write a paper and present them in an International Conference. As both of us missed the opportunity to attend a conference in Hanoi back in March 2013, we decided to submit our papers to this conference in Langkawi, Malaysia.

As there is no direct flight to Langkawi from Bandung, and considering the current confusing state of Husein Sastranegara Airport, plus as Alia got a good deal of flight price from Mandala Airlines, we decided to go to Langkawi using two flights. First we will fly from Soekarno Hatta to Kuala Lumpur using Mandala Airlines, then continued with flights from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi using AirAsia in the same day.

As our flight takes place on Friday at 07.30 AM from Soekarno Hatta, we went from Bandung using Prima Jasa services at 01.30 AM. Reaching Jakarta at around 04.30, with time to spare (and with accidents of stopping at the wrong terminal -__-"), we decided to pray and then have our breakfast first.

There are not too many option available for breakfast in Terminal 3, and as we will endure a connecting flight, we thought: we should eat something heavy like rice or noodle. After scouting around, we decided to eat at Bakmi Gajah Mada (Bakmi GM).

We ordered their signature Bakmi GM with some meatballs. Too bad they don't serve their signature Iced Tea. After breakfast, we are ready for our trip to Langkawi. Woo Hoo!

Will posted about our culinary trip in Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur in a couple of days. We hope you will enjoy them!

Bakmi Gajah Mada (Bakmi GM)
Terminal 3 Bandara Soekarno Hatta 1st Floor

Their Signature Bakmi Ayam GM

Their Bakmi with Fried Wonton

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Kobe Lamptei at Gandaria City

Gandaria City is a new mall just opened in Jakarta. As our usual route when visiting Jakarta usually ends up in Pondok Indah Mall, Grand Indonesia (which were our first option today), Cilandak Town Square, or Senayan City, it is good to break the usual habit.

The mall in my opinion is HUGE. too huge for me actually. The fun thing here is that you can find a lot of new restaurants. For instance is this Kobe Lamptai.

The restaurant sells Japanese rice bowl (currently it is happening in Jakarta, apparently, after the Rainbow cake and Korean fried chicken fever).

Japanese+Food+New Restaurant+Fever(+Credit Card discount) = definite visit :)

The taste is quite great, and the portion is fulfilling. Yummy!

Enjoy!

Kobe Lamptei 
UG floor #MU-05, Gandaria City Mall 
Jl K. H. Syafi'i Hazami No. 8, Jakarta Indonesia 
Phone : +6221 - 29053326
Opening hours: Mon - Sun: 10:00 am - 10:00 pm

Website: http://www.kobelamptei.co.id/

Ra Yu Chili Beef Bowl Regular Portion

Edamame (Complementary)

Original Beef Bowl Large Portion

Teriyaki Chicken Bowl Regular Portion

The Interior

Ebi Furai and Crispy Cheesy Ball

Miso Soup

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