Tony Roma's

Today's gonna be a short post about the super famous ribs place in Jakarta, Tony Roma's.

Tony Roma's is a franchise from the US, conquering pork ribs lover all around the world. Well I gotta say, with that super tender and flavorful pork, who can resist it?

Tony Roma's has 2 kinds of pork ribs. The baby back ribs and the St Louis Ribs. The baby back is the famous one. The St Louis is more meaty but less tender. Over the year, I expanded my choices here... The usual Original Baby Back is getting boring, my new fave is Baby Back Ribs with Carolina Honey sauce, a bit sweet but still savory, goes very well with the ribs.

Don't forget the Onion Loaf, super crispy and addictive. I'm not a huge fans of onion rings but damn... Tony Roma's is yummylicious! Perfectly fried and beautifully caramelized.. Must order when u dine here.

 

Complimentary Bread Basket

Rating: 8.5/10

Location: UOB Building, Jakarta

Around Jakarta

Today's post will be a mix post. Since now i'm too lazy to post a resto review, l'll post dish review hehehe... Let's get it started

The first two dishes are from Hunan Kitchen. A small chinese restaurant in the corner of kota. Just take a left turn after Lindeteves Trade Center and you'll find it in the fork. Offering authentic chinese dish from Hunan region, this place is a hidden gem.

 I actually forgot the names of the dishes but I'll try to describe it. It's basically a stir fry of small pieces of fried chicken, lots of garlic and chilies and spring onions. The taste? Yummy!!! Spicy, oily and crunchy chicken bits that tingles your tongue and sweat ur ass off.

 Second dish is another stir fry consist of thinly sliced pork belly, chilies, spring onion, scallion and of course garlic. Another sinfull yet yummy dish. Similar with the chicken dish but way more oily. 

 Stuffed Chicken Breast with White Butter Sauce (Rp. 85.000)

Chicken breast stuffed with mushroom, spinach and cream cheese. The chicken breast is far from dry and with that yummy stuffing, this is one yummy dish. The butter sauce adds a layer of creamy goodness over the hearty european country style dish.

Grandma's Fried Chicken Dinner (Rp. 85.000)

Tin Pan's rendition of this American Favorite is just great. American classic refined!! The brown sauce tastes sophisticated and light, very nice!

 

 Lime sorbet with fresh fruits

I actually forgot the name but I do remember the lime sorbet is electrifying. The tangy and cold dessert just mesmerize my taste buds after those heavy lunch. Love Love Love it!

 

 Melted Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream (Rp. 50.000)

As a devoted sweet tooth, I always tried a restaurant's dessert. If the place serves delicious dessert, we can be assured that their food are delicious. I tried like 4/5 desserts from Tin Pan Alley (check my previous post) and ALL of the are YUMMY!!!!! This melted choco cake are just like heaven's nectar. It's warm, gooey, chocolatey, creamy yet...... light and crumbly. Oh I'm so fucking addicted to it.

Downtown Bistro

Fresh from the oven... Downtown Bistro!!!!

As usual, Jakarta never runs out of new hip and trendy hang out spot. Meet Downtown Bistro. One of the must try spot for all food enthusiasts, social climbers, alcoholics and gossipers like us :)Went there for my birthday dinner with my besties and had a really really really good time.

Located in Jakarta downtown area, Downtown Bistro offers a cool yet comfy place to blow some steam for all the eksmud in Sudirman Area. The classic library decor with huge old sofa and the old looking books make it more library-ish. The smoking area is exceptionally comfy and invites you to blow some smoke with colleagues and friends.

The food:
1. Purple Pig (Rp. 74.000)

Slow cooked pork belly with some berry sauce (guessing cranberry) with mashed chickpeas and sauteed vegetables. The peas and veggie is ok, nothing special there except the mini portion. The pork is yummy but smells weird in the layer of fat, a part where all the goodness is. The sauce, heavenly :) Pork and berries are a match made in heaven.










2. Mother Vessel (Rp. 57.000)

It's basically fish and chips with pretty plating. The dory is kinda undercooked. Too flaky.... I dunno what went wrong but something is off with this dish. The batter is great, love it. The herbs and dips for the fish is also good but when I ate the fish, the herbs didn't help the fish to shine. Is it the fish? Or the cooking technique? Well for sure, not gonna order that one again. Pudel Perek can't finish this dish.. Too bad huh

3. BBQ Pork Ribs (Rp. 139.000)

A big pork ribs with some bbq honey sauce. Sauce is excellent and the meat is basted wonderfully. Has that burnt taste that makes it very rustic and the meat is tender. Just pull it with a fork and there you are, yummy pork :)













4. The George Sandwich (Rp. 63.000)

5. Country Chicken (Rp. 63.000)

I didn't try the last two dishes, Ratu Iblis and Ciwalit finished them so fast I couldn't get a bite grrrrrr

Well, the food aren't disappointing and more affordable than it's competitor (Otel Lobby, Bluegrass, Skye, etc)  The place is nice and not too crowded. The thing to do is make the portion bigger!!! Geez... The portion is so small, none of us said "I'm full" at the end of dinner. Service tax is 10%!!!!!! Thank God their service is excellent, otherwise I'll go Rambo

 Pudel Perek - dr. B - Asmet - Ciwalit - Ratu Iblis

Rating: 7/10
Location: Landmark Building, Jakarta

Tin Pan Alley

Back with me patients! Sekarang kayanya jadwal ngeblog sebulan sekali nih but i'll try to post more yummy food for you patients and we'll drool together *ngelap iler*

A couple weeks ago, me and mamah went to Tin Pan Alley for dinner. Nah... Secara si Tin Pan ini kan eksis nya uda lama ya, kok knapa skrg baru gw cobain... Karena.. MAHAL. Berdasarkan riset, harganya lumayan mahal jadi gw rada males gitu, takut mahal dan mengecewakan :) Tapii karena ada promo Disdus, jadi dehhhh akirnya gw makan disitu *jogedjoged*


Tempat nya lumayan asik buat nongkrong. Decor ala amrik zaman mafia 1940's gitu deh... With big leather couches and industrial look bar, pas bener dahhhh. Suasananya yang gelap gelap gimana gitu menurut gw lumayan romantis sih xixix

The food:
1 Seared Barramundi with Papaya Mango Salsa (Rp. 99.000)


I would say this one is very very close to being yummy. For me, there's something missing from this dish that makes it not yummy. Barramundi ini bisa diartikan sebagai kakap putih kali ya. Konsistensinya mirip sama snapper atau kakap merah tapi menurut gw sih lebi flaky. Gw agak ngerasa sedikit amis ya. Pas gw rasa rasain en cium cium sih engga tapi kalo lagi dikunyah tuh ada sedikit rasa amis. Yah secara ini ikan laut, gw anggep masi wajar lah...

Presentation keren abis. Barramundi cooked perfectly. Papaya mango salsa.. can do better. Buat orang Indonesia yang uda terbiasa sama tropical fruits en spices, rasa nya menurut gw cenderung bland alias hambar. Mungkin kalo salsa nya lebih nendang, perpaduan rasanya bisa mantep banget. Satu hal yang buat gw agak menganggu adalah porsinya menurut gw kurang gede. Fries nya kurang banyak (atau gw emank terlalu rakus kali ya) dan green saladnya kurang dressing. Well gitu deh, sebenernya enak tapi kurang dikit di sana sini.

2. Pork Chop with Homemade Cranberry Sauce (Rp. 105.000)


Again... Enak sih enak tapi diikiitttt lagi baru jadi yummy. Pork chop nya kurang gede menurut gw dan sedikit keras. Ada a hint of pork smell in there (and this comes from a pork addict) yang seharusnya bisa tercover oleh saus nya.

Untuk cranberry sauce... Well for me, rasanya sih unik ya tapi karena ini pork dan rasa pork yang kuat agak ga balance sama cranberry jam yang rasa nya light. Mashed potato yummy, vegetables is also yummy. Porsi... Yah kurang sih mashed potato nya, dikit benr tuh kentang nya :(

3. Garlic Bread (Rp.10.000)


Kalo mesen entree, kita bisa add on garlic bread dengan harga yang cukup murah. Garlic bread nya yummy! Garing, freshly made dan rasanya nendang. Me likey!!!

4. Apple Crumble


Too bad gw lupa harga apple crumble nya (ato apple pie ya namanya) Seinget gw sih lumayan mahal tapi blm sampe 50k. I LOVE the apple crumble!!!! Yummylicious!!!!! The best apple crumble I ever had in J town so far. Crumble nya garing garing gimanaaa gtu. Uda gitu apple nya manis trus padet. Pie crust nya juga mantep, ga ancur tp kalo digigit ga alot. Es krimnya juga enal (kayanya sih haagen dasz). A perfect ending for a near perfect dinner

Overall, gw masi rekomen sih. Untuk food need improvement. Untuk tempat uda mantep banget deh :)

Rating: 7/10
UOB Building, Jakarta

Pesto

As a foodie, Italian food is one of my favorite. In my opinion, the yummyness of Italian food is unmatched by other western cuisine including french cuisine For me, French is too pretty and pretentious. For the last 2 years, Italian restaurant had been flourishing like mushrooms in the rainy season. We can find all sort of Italian food everywhere. Pesto is one of them. Located in the center of Jakarta, this place is swarmed by expatriates and people who works in Thamrin-Sudirman area.

I went there with Asmet a few months ago for lunch. The place is not that crowded but when we finished, it was full.I kinda like the place. It's simple with industrial touch here and there. It's kinda similar to Loewy actually. Service... Hmm... The guy waited us knows literally nothing about the menu. OMG! I asked bout the specialty and the answer is "ummm, ammmm" I ended of telling him to go and let me contemplate myself about what I'm gonna order.

The food:
1. Bread Basket (Complimentary)

One of the reason I like going to an authentic Italian restaurant is because the bread basket. I'm a huge fan of bread and usually those bread basket is a treat. Pesto's is quite disappointing. We got 3 kinds of bread. A soft roll, a sliced soft baguette and a cheese focaccia. The focaccia is yummy but the rest sucks. Is it that hard to serve freshly baked breadsticks?

2. Rustica (Rp. 59.000)

An Italian style pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarela, cooked ham and mushrooms. The pizza is very very runny. The topping fell of the pizza while I was trying to put it in my mouth, such a turn off. The taste is rather bland, the tomato sauce is a bit to sour for me, not enough mozzarella and the ham tastes like paper. The only good thing is they put quite a generous amount of mushrooms, otherwise that pizza is not worth paying for. The crust is not bad but I had better.

3. Saltimboca Alla Romana (Rp. 72.000)

According to the menu, it's escallops in parma ham, sage blackpepper sauce with spinach and potato gratin. Another disaster!! I don't understand this dish actually. The presentation is good but the sauce ruins everything. When I think of sage blackpepper sauce, I think of a juicy blackpepper sauce with a nice scent of sage. Instead, the pork and ham is drenched in some sort of reddish liquid resembling a thin tomato sauce with blackpepper on top. The spinach is just ok but the potato gratin is nice. A big plate of pork dish and the outstanding element is the potato gratin? *sigh*

4. Papardelle al Ragu (Rp. 69.000)

Finally!!!! There's something worth mentioning here. The papardelle has nice consistency. Blended very well with the tangy tomato sauce. The pork ribs are yummy!!! Tender and juicy, combined with the tomato sauce, it leaves a fresh yet carnivor-ish taste in my mouth. I dunno how to explain the sauce but it was very very yummy, love it.

One thing I hate in upscale places is the price of beverages. They don't sell local brand of mineral water here, instead they serve this Italian imported bottled water for Rp. 28.000. I don't mind paying high price for food but for 500 ml of water, Rp. 28.000 is outrageous. Serve a bottle of nestle for Rp. 10.000 has given your restaurant 600% profit, so why so greedy? The table next to us is an expatriate and he asked the waiter to serve Aqua and not this Lurisia brand. So it's not just me then :p

I don't think I'm coming back here anytime soon unless someone plans to treat me :D For the price they charge, there are lots of places in Jakarta that serves better Italian than that.

Rating: 5.5/10
Location: ANZ Square Building, Jakarta