361. Jakarta - The Taste

It was already late afternoon after we have checked in to our rooms. Our dear friend who has been residing in Jakarta for many years, brought us to the nearest mall, Grand Indonesia, for an Indonesian meal.

Nicely presented, I felt.

Not wanting any Avocado juice, she opted for the dessert with bird nest to quench her thirst. And to be exact, jelly strips.

Fish goreng with a gravy very much like the sweet and sour sauce.

This was our second order, and.....the gravy was served in a bowl. Hmmm, so how exactly is the fish served? Everything mixed ready or fish strips and gravy separated?

Egg Telor. A mesh in the interior. Don't know what was in it except knowing it was wholly egg. It was very crispy and went well with the spicy peanutty sauce.

Kid's Meal! The mould the rice in a teddy bear shape. The kid at the table was so fascinated.

What's in there? It was fish roe, mixed with some greens and then grilled. Some liked it, some didn't.

Sambal Squid. There were 8 of us and they served us this one tweeny squid. Does it makes sense? Anyway, the sambal and squid are non-separable, they made a great pair.

Sop Betawi. This one was better than the one at Mangga Dua in my earlier post. Cumin taste was less.

We were all hungry and we didn't much care on what kind of food we were eating because our local friend knows best and decided for us. But, he was very pissed with the service. First of all, the place seemed like having no consistency and order in the way food was served. We asked for sambal chili and they only served it after we finished all of our food. Worse still, the chili wasn't sambal chili, it was just pounded chili. Then, the waiter who took our order didn't listen to what our friend was saying and he walked away when another table's customer called out for service.

Food was decent but poor service. It cost about SGD 80+ for 8 pax if I didn't remember wrongly. Price was reasonable, I thought. However, in my opinion, I wouldn't mind paying more to eat at another place with better service.

The Taste
Grand Indonesia

359. Jakarta - Sop Betawi @Mangga Dua

Sop Betawi

If you visit Indonesia, you will be able to see sop betawi at almost every eating place. It is a very common food. I had sop betawi for a few of my meals in Jakarta. Looked like soup kambing but not exactly the same taste. Instead, it contained beef, with chopped cabbages and chunks of tomatoes, garnished with big spoonful of fried shallots. The soup itself has a rich taste of beef, cumin, cloves and other spices. I felt the cumin content was slightly overpowering. The sweetness of beef in the soup coupled with the cumin content made the soup a tad heavy for the Chinese taste in my own opinion.

The chili sauce had diced cucumber and tomatoes added to it. It was sour, not so much of spicy. The locals have the sop betawi with rice which I think the later really complemented it well. Else, they have the emping (aka melinjo nut crackers) with the sop betawi. The emping is by nature with a bitter taste.

For your info, Mangga Dua is a wholesale complex, full of clothes and accessories and yet in between the messiness, you will find small stalls that sell the local delicacies, like sop betawi and all the kueh kueh.

358. Jakarta - The Cream & Fudge Factory

We were at Grand Indonesia, one of the big shopping malls in Jakarta. The highest levels, level 4 and 5, house the food restaurants. The interior decoration made me feel as if I was in Genting with the palace like lightings, indoor amusement park and tiled flooring. We chose The Cream & Fudge Factory over Haagen Daz, Gelatissimo and others which could be found in Singapore.

Green Apple topped with M&N chocolate @RP 30000 (SGD 4.60)

The green apple taste wasn't very evident. The milk powder taste was stronger. The ice cream texture was a tad too chewy i thought. If it is what the name suggested, then I think it fit perfectly.

Strawberry Shortcake double scoop @RP58000 (SGD 8.90)

Strawberry shortcake was mixed into the vanilla ice cream and topped with strawberry fudge. Too sweet. With the addition of the strawberry shortcake and the chewiness of the ice cream, somehow, I felt the ice cream don't taste cold at all. I didn't like it as much as Haagen Daz. I was attracted to the waffle bowl instead. Similarly, it was with a tad of chewiness but would work perfectly fine with any ice cream, I felt.

The Cream & Fudge Factory

Grand Indonesia, Jakarta