Tin Pan Alley...

Today, I had my lunch at Tin Pan Alley. I've been willing to visit this place since months ago, finally today I went there. Me & my friend came few minutes before the lunch hour, so it wasn't crowded yet. I heard that at weekends, you should RSVP if you don't wanna wait too long to be seated.

The ambience was remang-remang (oh Niya, please decide what language would you like to use!), but cozy (especially if you sit on sofa chair like we did). I think this is a nice place to date (catet : kalo sepi).

What could you find on the menu? From breakfast menu, salads, other interesting appetizers, pasta, meaty main course (chicken, fish, pork, beef), cakes, and of course beverages.

What did we order?

Fresh Orange Juice (25K)
Well, what can I say, just another orange juice :)

Seared Barramundi with Papaya Mango Salsa (95K)
My friend was willing to order Salmon, unluckily, they ran out of salmon. The waiter suggested this Barramundi menu, so she gave it a try. Well, actually this one was pleasing, the taste was just right, the potato wedges were also nice, crunchy, and yummy :D My friend said, the salsa sauce was the highlight.

Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast with White Butter Sauce (65K)
I chose this, since it had the recommended mark, hehe. This chicken stuff turned out to be delicious, every single element tasted good, even the vegetables. I also love the mashed potatoes ♥ But I could barely taste those mushrooms.

Chocolate Truffle Cake (29K)
This one was superyummylicious, aaaah me want more!

Carrot Cake (29K) + Vanilla Ice Cream (10K)
Well, this one was also mouthwatering,and tasted just yum yum YUM!

Overall, we were satisfied with our food ☺ (especially the cakes), also thanks to BCA Credit Card Promo (we got 50% off for main course & 15 % off for other menu, not including beverages --- promo valid til the end of this month).
All prices are subjected to 7.5% service charge & 10% tax.

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Tin Pan Alley
UOB Plaza Lobby, Jl.MH.Thamrin
Tel : + 62 21 30007881

I Believe ☺

Next month, my choir is going to sing this song at our church (have I ever mention that I am a choir member?). Anyway, the lyrics of this song really touch my heart everytime I sing it. Actually I like the choir version better, but I couldn't find a good video of it :)

I Believe He Died For Me

I never saw the cross He carried up Calvary's hill
I never saw that precious blood that my Jesus spilled
I never saw that crying mom that said just let Him die
No I never saw it still I believe He died for me

I never saw the many burdens that my Savior bored
No and I never saw that crown of thorns that my Jesus bored
no and I never saw the lonely hill where He was crucified
No I never saw it but I believe He died for me

Each step He took to Calvary
Every drop of blood He shed
He shed for me
There's a lot of things I can not see
So I believe when He died
He died for me

Have a Good Friday ☺

Areli Coffee House [CLOSED]

Daerah sekitar rumah eke semakin dipenuhi oleh tempat-tempat makan baru, salah satunya Areli Coffee Shop ini. Waktu belum buka, gw mikir, tempat apa gerangan? Abisnya lucu gitu pake pintu kayu, bata2an, pan kalo tetangga-tetangganya yah tempat makan biasa.

Sabtu kemarin, pas gw kebangun pas acara Wisata Kuliner di tipi, eh Pak Bondan-nya lagi plesiran di daerah sekitar sini, mampir juga ke tempat ini, merasa tersaingi donk gw, masa daerah jajahan sendiri belum nyoba, warga Sentul aja udah mampir situ.

Akhirnya tadi sore mampirlah ke sini ma emak ma babe, iseng-iseng aja pengen nyoba, penasaran gitu. Nah masuk-masuk ke dalem, disambut oleh suasana kayu-kayuan, dengan lighting cukup remang-remang (agak salah kayaknya mampirnya ma emak babe), diiringi alunan musik jazz, dan semerbak bau kopi tercium memenuhi ruangan. Tempatnya ga terlalu besar, tapi ga terlalu rame, jadi cukup cozy.

Mari kita telusuri menunya. Karena ini coffee house, jadi halaman-halaman pertama diisi dengan minuman, malah 2 halaman terakhir baru makanan. I'm not a fan of coffee, so I went straight to the food menu, ga banyak pilihan makanannya, sekitar spaghetti, nasi goreng, lontong, roti2 bakar, dan lainnya, pertama cukup tergoda dengan Spaghetti Aglio Olio, tapi pengen juga Mie Kangkung Goreng Terasi (22K), oh well, kali ini selera nusantara menang, I chose Mie Kangkung Goreng Terasi, emak ama babe cuma mau icip-icip doank, dan mas waiternya nawarin Lontong Iga (30K), dan gayung bersambut, they ordered it.

Si Lontong Iga datang, berikut penampakannya :

Secara porsi, yah lumayanlah, secara rasa, oke, cuma icip sesuap sih gw, tapi gak mengecewakan :D

Dan berikut penampakan Mie Kangkung Goreng Terasi saya :

Sekali lagi, rasanya enak, gak mengecewakan, gw pesennya tingkat kepedasan sedang, dan memang sedang, udangnya juicy, porsinya sedang lah (ga segede di Wisata Kuliner :p)

Untuk minum, I ordered Avocado Mix (18K)

Rasanya oke, but nothing really special :)

Overall, tempatnya cukup recommended untuk dikunjungi, terutama untuk tujuan hangout or ngopi yah, karena itu spesialisasinya : kopi. Untuk makanan, dari yang dicoba, enak, harga sesuai dengan porsi dan rasa, range harga makanan sekitar 15-30Kan, untuk minuman 7-30Kan. Oh iya, di sini juga free wi-fi, cocok juga yang sekedar ngerjain tugas sambil ngopi2 :D Anyway, dalam rangka opening, masi diskon 20% sampe akhir bulan ini.

Will be back? I think so :)

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Areli Coffee House

Taman Ratu Indah D11 No 22B

Jakarta Barat 11510

Email: arelicoffee@yahoo.co.id

Jam Buka:

Minggu – Kamis : 12.00 – 23.00

Jumat – Sabtu : 12.00 – 24.00

tokio kitchen...

Last night, I had dinner with some old friends at Tokio Kitchen - Central Park. Tokio Kitchen ini sejenis Urban Kitchen, Eat & Eat gitu lah, food court di mana kita dikasih kartu untuk record pesenan, dan nanti baru bayar pas kita mau keluar. Dari namanya Tokio, memang di sini menu makanannya makanan Jepang semua, dari sushi, don2an, okonomiyaki, segala appetizer jepang, dsb. Tempat duduknya juga dibagi-bagi beberapa section mulai dari yang biasa, sofa, sampe yang model-model duduk di bawah pohon, dengan pencahayaan minimalis.

Kalo untuk harga, price range di sini cukup okay, minuman dari 6K > Hot/Cold Ocha, sampe 20Kan. Kalo makanan kira-kira sekitar 30-60Kan, dessert 15K-30Kan kira-kira.

Pas kita dateng jm 6, masih belum terlalu rame, dan sekitar jm 7an, udah rame banget, padahal hari biasa, mungkin karena pas masih ada promo CC BCA 50% for food on weekdays. Dan karena rame, waktu nunggu makanannya cukup lama.

Below beberapa makanan yang temen gw pesen, yang pertama gw lupa namanya apa, semacem rice bowl or bibimbap gitu, harganya kalo ga salah 40K-an, yang kedua Chicken Katsu Curry Rice (33K). Kalo Rice Bowl-nya kata temen gw sih agak tawar, kalo Chicken Katsu Curry Ricenya lumayan ok, tapi ayamnya kecil sih :D Yah kalo dibandingin sama Taichan sih wajar dari sisi harga yang cuma setengahnya :D

Pesenan gw sendiri Yakisoba Seafood (49,5K), isinya udang, scallop & squid. Rasanya agak mengecewakan, tawar, dan ga terlalu banyak seafoodnya, hehe.

Overall kalo dari pengalaman semalem sih, dari sisi makanan kurang memuaskan, banyak restoran Jepang dengan menu serupa dengan rasa yang lebih mantep (walau lebih mahal jg, hehe), dan waktu tunggu cukup lama, apalagi temen gw yang pesen okonomiyaki sampe kita semua selesai makan baru keluar, kira-kira 45 menitan nunggu, hmm...Tapi berhubung lagi diskon, sedikit dimaafkan lah, makan ber6, masing-masing 1 menu makanan dan minuman kira-kira total spendingnya 194K-an :)

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Tokio Kitchen
Central Park Mall, 2nd Floor
Tel: +622129200028

munchies by sweetheart bandung...

Before I start, let me explain, that this Munchies is different with that Munchies in Gandaria City. So, this Munchies is a sister company of Toko Kue Bawean in Bandung (I've mentioned their famous chocolate wafer here).

It is located inside Mazee area of FX, L6, dominated with wooden furnitures. As it was still noon when I came, the sun burst in directly through the glass windows.

The menu didn't consist of much choices, so, we ordered Fried Mushroom (24K), Chicken Cream Soup (18K), Fish & Chips (29,5K), Spaghetti Aglio Olio (29,5K), and Hot Tea (6K), nett prices. We wanted to order Chicken Wings before, but the waiter said the menu wasn't available at the time.

We came around 12.15 PM, there were several guesses, but there were only 1 waiter and 1 cook, we should wait quite a long time just to order, and with only 1 cook, you could imagine how long did it took to get our food ready. We wait, wait, and wait, until 1.10 PM, there was only Hot Tea on our table, and we already bought movie tickets for 1.15 PM, wew!

Actually we came here because I bought the discount vouchers, and since I already gave it to the waiter, my order couldn't be canceled. I wasn't too hungry at the time, I told the waiter, I'll be back there after the movie, anyway, our order hasn't been processed (untungnya belum laper, kalo perut belum berkicau, eke panjang sabar.)

We were back at 3 PM, there were 4 employees now, oke kemajuan. Disappointingly, the waiter told me, sorry, no more mushroom, I was like, what, another sold out?? So, he offered Bitterballen (24K) instead, and I agreed to give it a try.

This time, the waiting time was shorter (it should be), the waiter served Abang's Fish & Chips, the portion was so so.

Then came our four pieces of Bitterballen.
*Original meaning : Bitterballen (plural of 'bitterbal') are a savoury Dutch meat-based snack, typically containing a mixture of beef (minced or chopped), beef broth, flour and butter for thickening, parsley, salt and pepper.
But these bitterballen were so cheesy (literally), the taste was okay, but not my fave.

Then came my Spaghetti Aglio Olio, it should be spicy (as written on the menu), turned out, not too spicy and a bit plain, but not bad.

And this so called appetizer (ehm, dari judul sih mestinya makanan pembuka yah), Chicken Cream Soup, came the last, oh well...Abang said, it tasted good, but for me, it tasted just like those instant cream soups.

Honestly, I wasn't satisfied with this place, nothing was really special about the food, maybe Bawean should stick to cookies & cakes. Actually the spot was nice just to hangout, having some snacks, and enjoying the free wi-fi, but there were no smoking and non smoking area, all mixed up. But since we used vouchers, the total spending (incl. vouchers) was only 53K, yes, for all those food, we were even Munchies!

To Munchies' management, If you're really serious in running this business, please pay more attention to the food stock, and pls divide the smoking & non smoking area (I saw people were moving to another table because they couldn't stand the smoke), and more cook & waiters pls...

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Munchies
FX, Mazee-L6
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman
Pintu Satu Senayan
Jakarta 10270
Tel. 62 21 9130 7092

♥ Siena ♥ Casey ♥

My current fave tv shows are : Junior Masterchef AU & American Idol 10. Gimana yah cara anak-anak kecil itu masak sejago itu (menunduk malu melihat diri sendiri), and for Idol, nampaknya juri-juri baru membawa warna tersendiri pada season 10 ini. Anyway, dua orang ini adalah favorit gw dari kedua acara tersebut.

1. Siena, 9 years old.

(Junior Masterchef Australia Season 1 Contestant)
Though she did not win, she's too adorable to be true! She cook very very well, dan walo masi kecil kadang ngomongnya dengan gaya kayak orang udah gede gitu. And she is so pretty and cute, aaaaw Siena, me want to adopt you ♥♥♥

Some of Siena's cookings :

Imagine! A 9 years old made all of those food! Anyway the other kids were also brilliant! A must watch & drool show for food lovers!

(pics : courtesy of http://www.masterchef.com.au)

2. Casey Abrams, 19 years old

(American Idol Season 10 Contestant)

At first sight, waktu Casey di-audisi, ngeliat penampilan dia yang ga meyakinkan, gw ga nyangka nih orang bagus, secara agak semrawut gitu perawakannya, tapi I fell in love with him right after he sang in front of the judges for the first time! Suaranya asik, nyanyinya kayak ga ada beban.

Dan ternyata berbagai babak di Hollywood Week pun berhasil dia lalui. Dia juga seorang pemain bass ternyata, di satu sesi, dia nyanyi, bawa bass betot segede gaban, nyanyi Georgia On My Mind, and I just... WOW! I like him even more.

Last week was a shocking moment, since Casey got the lowest votes padahal ini masih sebelas besar. Then he was given an opportunity to sing for the last time to impress the judges (aturan main baru di Idol 10), then he sang. Dia baru nyanyi 2 kalimat dari lagu yang dia pilih (the first song he sang on the audition), and Randy (the judge) stop him, it was the first time, a judge told a contestant to stop singing, semua keliatan bingung, and guess what? The judges told, they didn't need to listen to that, they already knew how good Casey is, and they saved Casey!!! YAYYY!!! Judges cuma punya kesempatan 1 kali nyelamatin dalam 1 season, and it was for Casey, and Casey was in a deep shock (see the picture below), bahkan dia merasa bersalah karena kesempatan yang 1 kali itu dipake untuk dia, padahal masih 11 besar, don't worry Casey, you deserved it.

Nampaknya memang gw langganan TV berbayar cuma buat ntn Star World aja, daripada nonton sinetron, oh yes, I'm really looking forward to the finale of Putri Yang Tertukar, my dad is addicted to that sinetron, sigh... I'm begging you dearest Mr Prabu & Amira, please leave our TV screen, sincerely, a sinetron hater who miss the time when a sinetron only aired once a week, for only an hour.