.Carnivor (The Meat Company).

Sunday afternoon. It's not my favorite time to go out, I'd rather be on my bed, watching some tv series, munching some chips and enjoying the last moment of freedom before the new week appears. Basically, that's what I do every weekend :P

But that day, after few weeks full of weddings schedule, I felt exhausted and wanted to redeem myself with my favorite date : a movie and finished with a nice restaurant. Mind you, we rarely do that.

I was in the mood for some steak (another rare thing I would do), and I remembered I heard about this place from Ivy, so there we went. It was quite hard to find the place since it's located on the new real estate area, Sunter Icon. The place itself was spacious, with high ceilings and big window on almost every side of it, which brings sunshine to your table, such a perfect environment to shoot a picture :)

As for me, I chose the Virgin Mojito,28K for my love of mint + lime combination. It was lovely, just the way mojito should be.

Mr Chubby ordered Iced Lemon Tea, 10K. It was refreshing :)

I was in major hungry so I ordered the Mushroom Soup, 18K. It was a big portion, almost twice the usual serving I got on any restaurant! And it surely tasted good and rich, yummeh!

Mr Chubby ordered the Spicy Pork Belly Pasta,30K because who couldn't? It had me on pork belly and pasta ;) It was quite good, the flavor was there, but for me the sauce would be perfect if paired with seafood rather than protein like pork, or chicken. Still for that kind of price, it's a good deal :)

As for me, I was supposed to order the steak, but the Peri-Peri Sauce on poultry section had my name. I ordered the Rosemary Chicken,60 K. You can choose the side dish (Potato Jacket, Mashed Potato, Mushroom with Garlic, Butter Rice, or French Fries) and the sauce (Spicy BBQ, BBQ, Black Pepper, or Peri-Peri Sauce). I opted for potato jacket with, of course peri-peri sauce.

When it came from the kitchen, I was shocked with the portion. It's half medium-sized broiler chicken cut, served with a big potato jacket, alongside some salad. I was hoping for a good replication of the famous Nando's peri-peri sauce, but no, this one ain't like nando's. It super spicy, it's like sambal rujak with vinegar, the level of spiciness was alike with sambal dadak (sundanese chili) which made your tongue burning and went numb. Despite the killer sauce, the meat itself was quite good, with the crispy skin, but slightly dry on the inside.

I was hoping for some banana crepes, too bad it wasn't available yet. There's only Bread Pudding and Chocolate Molten Cake available for dessert at that time hiks. Overall, I think it's quite a lovely experience, I should be coming back again ;)

Carnivor
Sunter Icon Food Point
Jl. Griya Sejahtera, Sunter Agung Jakut 14350
Ph. (021) 29376276/ 29376274

.Merica.

It was mid-week and after a long day at work, we were quite hungry. Mr Chubby asked us try this restaurant. Located on the Kelapa Gading boulevard area, I frequently passed this restaurant but I never put any attention on it. Maybe because of the signage a bit messy for me ;)

 The interior was screaming 'quirky' for me. The wall was filled with many cows statue from all over the world, the star-shaped lamp, the 2 big LCD screens showing Phil Collins (or Yanni) concert in HD, and the addition of chinese song from level 2, all of them was a strange environment for me, but I found it cute in a way ;)

Upon arrival, we were given menu and a bowl of popcorn, or asinan if you like (another quirky thing). I love how they put attention on small thing like this (they even had reservation system on their website), and the customized bell on each table was showing us a good service. And it was a good service. During our time there, new customer always showing up, no wonder.

The menu was big, they served so many dishes from asia (thailand, indonesian, japanese) and western dishes as well.

 I was in the mood for chicken so I ordered the Grilled BBQ Chicken, 39K. It was very good! The chicken was crispy and perfectly coated with sweet and spicy BBQ sauce, while the meat was still moist and succulent. The rest of the dishes were also good, the vegetables were perfectly blanched to it still maintained the sweetness and crispness. The potato came in 2 versions, fries and chips. Both of them were excellent! The corn also good, it's lightly-grilled and sweet :)

As for Mr Chubby, he ordered Pad Thai, 39K. Again, a generous portion and tasted good of course. My only comment was the sugar and lime component were missing from this dish and the beansprout might be needed blanched a bit.

For dessert we had the Chocolate Sundae, 24K. 3 scoops of rich chocolate ice cream (they use Diamond brand), topped with Coco Crunch and crushed peanut and chocolate sauce...yummmehhh ;)

Definitely will be back! :D

Merica Asian Food Restaurant

Jl. Boulevard Raya
Blok TT2 N0.7-8 Kelapa Gading
Ph. (021) 45858433
http://www.merica.co.id/kid.php

.Aperitivo Ristorante e Lounge.

It was a stormy afternoon. Initially I wanted to go home, but the storm was hitting Jakarta. The rain and wind were so big that we couldn't even see the road, so I asked Mr Chubby to Aperitivo, as I remembered we haven't use our voucher there. I'm sorry I lost the bill so I don't quite remember some of the dishes name and price.

The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived, and we were seated on non-smoking area, which is only separated with small cupboard with smoking area. The ambience was calming with audiophile music on the speaker but the big projector with MTV on but no sound was a bit weird for me.

After ordering, a basket of warm bread was given to us, along side with a cheese (or pumpkin?) sauce. The sauce was weird, it's slightly sweet and slightly salty, the rest was bland. I prefer my ordinary olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Since we were quite soaked at that time (no basement parking :( hiks.. ) I ordered hot Earl Grey Tea (20K-ish). It was perfect for a rainy afternoon..

 As Mr Chubby ordered the Peach Ice Tea (also 20K-ish). I love they put many chopped peach in it! :)

For starters, we ordered the Mushroom Soup. It was perfect, it's rich and the addition of croutons even make it better.

I ordered the Ravioloni di zucca e granchio, it's pumpkin ravioli with crab meat filling and served with tomato sauce. The ravioli skin was too thick as for the crab meat, it wasn't fresh and too sweet. And the sauce was too sour, so each of the component wasn't balance and attacking each other. We struggled to finish this :(

I forgot this dish name, I remembered I ordered something with Arugula, Olive and Parma Ham. But seeing the picture now, where's the arugula? But anyway, it was super good! I love the dough, it's crispy but chewy enough and the parma ham was amazing. It's moist and not too savory like bacon, so the sweetness of the jam (the black thing on the center) was spot on. The addition of olive was also my favorite part of it. We can't finish it all, so half of it was taken home. This morning, I heat it again on the microwave, and it's still super good. 

Definitely one of the good pizzas I ate lately ;)

For dessert, we had Caramel Flan. We were in the middle of a good talk so I don't put any attention, until I saw this picture. This is a disappointment. I remembered on the menu it was consisted of lychee, but I couldn't find it. Instead we got a not-so-smooth caramel pudding with chopped pineapple and strawberry and topped with fresh basil. It was so-so for me.

Aperitivo Ristorante e Lounge
Telkomsel Buiding, Atrium Mulia GF
Jl. HR Rasuna Said Kav 10-11
Kuningan, South Jakarta
Ph. (021) 52892304

.Happy Day.

The traffic jam at Jakarta is surely killing us. After conquering the Monas area, it was past the dinner time. Me, Mr Chubby and Mr M were hungry so I suggested we try the Happy Day, t was an old restaurant located at Djuanda area. Mr M remembered back in the old days, they had their outlet on Sabang area, but now it closed. The restaurant was buzzing with the customers and waitresses, the interior reminded me with Marche but with super-lower price!

I ordered this Penne Arrabiatta, 23K. It was a perfect portion for me, and it tasted good although the pasta slightly undercooked.

As for Mr Chubby and Mr M, they are big eater, so they ordered this Monster Cheese Burger, 50K. It was super big! If you think Carl's Jr burger is big, I think it's 1,5x Carl's Jr size! The patty was quite juicy although too mushy in my personal opinion, but for that price and portion, it's a nice deal ;)

We also ordered French Fries, 14K to share. Big portion!

Mr M also ordered Es Campur, 14K. It looks apetizing ;)

I should be coming back, I heard their Chocolate Milkshake was good!

Happy Day Restaurant

Jalan Insinyur Haji Juanda No 19, 10130
Ph. (021) 380 9230

.Loewy.

It was a gloomy friday and I wanted some dessert for that night. This place is always crowded every time I was passing by, I can't even put reservation for 18.30 that afternoon on friday morning! Had to move it to 19.00 but it's okay for us since we were planned to had dinner somewhere else.

When we arrived the restaurant was quite full, with more expatriates customer rather than locals. Nice place for cuci mata ;P Well anyway since we already had dinner (and we planned to had our booze and dessert session part 2 later) ;p we only ordered a main course and few side dishes to share.

 Miss F ordered Cammomile Tea, 25K. I love the presentation with a glass full of brown and white sugar :)

I ordered my usual Peach Ice Tea, 25K and Mr Chubby ordered Apple Juice,25K. The apple juice tasted not like fresh juice, even though we asked for a fresh one. I'm pretty sure it was canned one.

Mr Chubby ordered Escargot, 40K for share. Half-dozen of escargot baked with garlic and olive oil, what not to love? ;)

Miss I ordered this Mac and Cheese, 80K. It said on the menu "Mac and Cheese - with gruyére, smoked beef & truffle oil". I don't know which ingredient whom made it tasted a bit weird, it left bitterness and gasoline-like taste on my tongue. I only touch it once.

 And me ordered this French Fries, 20K because who doesn't order it on friday night? :)

Me and Miss I shared this Loewy High Tea (Absolut Vodka, Martini Bianco, Fresh Corriander, Basil, and Lychees) , 80K. The basil was overpowering, I couldn't taste any lychee nor coriander. Well anyway vodka is my favorite liquor so it's still a winner for me ;)

finally, the ultimate Mille Feuille, 40K. You can choose the filling between Chocolate, Hazelnut, or Vanilla, we went for Hazelnut this time. I super love this dessert! It was crispy and the cream was oh-so-good, paired with the milky sauce and ice cream...HEAVEN! Eventhough you're not a sweet tooth, I think you will still enjoy this, it's worth every calories in every scoop ;)

Ended the night with some bailey's and moon cake, along with a good conversation, now that's what I call a friday night ;)

Loewy

Oakwood , Jl. Lingkar Mega Kuningan Kav. 6-8 Lt. G, 12950
Ph. (021) 25542378