Street Food in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Ben Thanh market is definitely the center point for tourist as well as locals in Ho Chi Minh. With a complete range of daily needs in here, from vegetables, fruit, coffee, to the tourist artifact, such as paintings, T-Shirt, it is where all the people flock, either for shopping or just to kill time.

There are many traditional Vietnamese food stall inside the market, which is definitely for the strong stomach. And if you still around once the market close at 5:30pm, the road circling the market transformed into night market, complete with street food vendor.

Bánh Bèo Huế: Vietnamese Rice Cake, Huế style, served with spices, slice of ham and cut of sausage. Taste a little bit bouncy and refreshing.

Bún bò Huế, another Huế-style dishes. Served with rice noodle and, as with other Vietnamese dishes, generous amount of vegetables.

Chao Tom, shrimp paste rolled on sugar cane stick. It is served on top of server, and eaten with lettuce, mint, and rice paper. There are many variant of this food

Cỏi Cuốn, a typical Vietnamese Spring Roll

Street Food in Hanoi, Vietnam

With the richness of Vietnamese's Herbs and cuisine, it was so hard to resist the temptation to taste Hanoi's street food. Be warned, however, that this is only for one with strong stomach.

Pho Bo: Vietnamese rice noodle soup with slice of beef, served with mint leaves


Bo Bia Got: Sweet and Crunchy, perfect for dessert. You can find the seller near almost any market, standing beside his/her bicycle.


Thit Bo Kho: The name translates to beef jerky meat. However, they put in pork meat. Delicious and refreshing, though. This on is from the alley next to the water puppet show. Look for one with the most patrons.

A Serene Brunch

What kind of brunch do you like? I like noisy session with sizzling egg corner, scent of charcoal on toasted bread with butter, and smells of fresh orange juice on hotel buffet. But despite of that, simply private brunch are good choice either. You tend to focus on less menu which awakened your sense to enjoy the food until last bite.

I was dreaming to have lovely brunch at SoHo, all just because my friend tell short story about their egg benedict and my mouth keeps watering ever since. But when the chance arrived, somehow i change my mind due to certain moods craving for delicious street food. He throw another idea and later i start searching and locating places near by and remember one name, Pastis. I heard the name few times, again mentioned by my friend in her blog.


Their facade reminds me of classy restaurant: full height glass window with wooden white blinds inside and french style logo stamp in front. Located together with suites residential, this restaurant applied white fancy chair style for dining and few high chair on bars. A green backyard on the right wing with few parasols and lazy chair under suddenly made our eyes relaxed. An exceptional in the middle of the busy business district.

Soon as we were seated i could not wait rushing on their brown menu book. They served brunch, Asian, Italian, international menu and of course: dessert. Not to mentioned special daily menu written on movable board served by the waiter. Since it was still 11.30am, we decided to have brunch menu (served until5.00 PM) instead of ordering heavy one. Our previous roti jala as appetizer was enough to forward us to next destination.

They served egg benedict, but i can’t decide which menu to order. I was too excited to try anything that i keep flipping the menu book over and over. My friend was tempted enough with my story about egg benedict that she decided to have one, leaving me with no interesting brunch menu afterward. Last surrender, i ordered warm almond crepes for my sweet tooth. Next, he executed turkey sandwich served with deep fried toast bread and mozzarella.


Bamboo steam basket served for appetizer bread , dipped in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Nice small chopping board with baking paper replace small serving plate. Not for long until our dishes appeared enticingly. Her egg benedict feast our eyes with its bright yellow tone, garnished with coleslaw and yellow sauce poured over. Beneath the egg lies thick layer of sliced thin meat atop plain bread. I was drooling enough to drag her plate to my side but sure we are going to have tough battle. Instead, i chopped her egg generously as if i want to have it by myself. A good chef know how to execute boiled egg perfectly : delicate boiled white side smoothly brushed your tongue while the yellow ones bite deep with its soft crumbly texture leaving intensely sense. Salty delicatessen meat combine with bread and yellow egg sauce added richness to the whole which makes me crave for more.


I put my warm crepes aside because i was too blind for another menu except mine. His turkey sandwich looks plain but the golden brown rosti was too hard to resist. I dip my fork upon and started to scoop little by little. Ou la la, crunchy grated potatoes with golden brown side upper combined with moist texture inside and very nice butter smells tickling my mouth that i could not stop digging more and more. However, the turkey sandwich tastes just ordinary.

Satisfied with my invasion to another, finally i spoon over my crepes as the last stop: the only sweet dishes on this table. Surprisingly this one also impressed me much. Pale color but has soft texture, little bit dry on edges with marmalade jam spread inside. Generous almond bits and icing sugar topping surprisingly made perfect companion. I try to forget mister benedict for a while and focusing my sense on this lingering nutty crepes.

It was a perfect serene brunch until bunch of kids jumping around the room to attend some kind of birthday party. The moment turns out to be cheerful children afternoon which left us no further privacy. We enjoyed some times while thinking to order another dishes but seems our belly was full enough. The serene was over and it was about time to start another useful activities. Leaving a promise to dine in here for another brunch session.

Pastis
The Kuningan Suites Lt. Dasar
Jl. Setiabudi Utara Kuningan,
Jakarta 12920.
Phone: +62(21) 5260260

Brunch: Bakmi Asoei BSD

Flea market would never be a wrong place for a brunch. With so many men and women flocking there every morning, food would be perfect to replace the energy burnt to hunt the fresh food ingredients.

Our case was slightly different. Due to some business on Saturday morning, we end up near BSD's Pasar Modern (Modern Market). "There is a nice noodle restaurant that I want to try", Kiko said. So we pulled near the entrance. We never been to the restaurant before, so we just tried our luck, which seem on our side that day. Crossing few shops, we saw the name: "Bakmi Ayam Asoei".

Don't be tricked with the chicken noodle written in the name. Once seated, we can tell that they served more than chicken noodle; there are foods with pork in the menu. We ordered a bowl of chicken noodle and fried kweetiau. While waiting, we enjoy nipping the Pork Siu May.

We have a good time our food as well. The noodle is resilient, but delicate, almost pass all the criteria of al dente. The kwetiau is less smoky for those who fancy one. It was cooked with seafood, which is fresh enough for me who normally defy anything cooked with seafood.

Not long after that,we were back in the car, energized, despite of early start for the weekend

Bakmi Ayam Asoei, BSD Modern Market
Ruko Pasar Modern Blok R No. 52
Phone: +62 (21) 53158365
Mobile: +62 (815) 9618008

Brunch at Olio

In case you are wondering, yes, I'm back to Olio. For a different time of day though. In my last visit, I was tempted with their breakfast menu, so I'm back on Saturday morning for Breakfast.

The shop has jsut opened when I came in, around 10:30 am. There are 3 breakfast menu set, called Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3. It is actually same menu, though, with different content. Set 1 is toast bread or plain croissant, jam, and a cup of coffee or tea. Set 2 is Set 1 plus selection of egg and toppings, and Set 3 is Set 2 plus a glass of orange juice.

I ordered Breakfast Set 3 with toasted bread (they ran out of croissant), omelet with cheese, mushroom, sausage and beef bacon, and a cup of coffee. I certainly wished that they have the morning newspaper, or maybe I'm just to ignorant, because I end up with my laptop.


Overall it was a good brunch. The juice is cold and refreshing, although they would better use a fresh one. The bread was perfectly toasted, crunchy outside, with soft inner part, perfectly eaten with honey jam. The omelet is moist, with enough mushroom and sausage. But somehow I can't trace the taste of the cheese. Coffee served is Americano, made from Espresso.

And they would definitely better if they have more selection of breakfast, and smoking-free area.

A Fair Pasta Lunch at Olio

In a sunny Saturday, 2pm in the evening, we were forced for a very late lunch. I turned my car into the parking space of Plaza Kuningan, where Olio rstaurant located. It is a small restaurant, conveniently located in the office building, and always hard to find empty table during weekdays lunch time. But on the weekend way after lunch time, we're the only patron.

There are one reason why we end up at this deserted restaurant: They served the most reasonably priced homemade pasta in town.

The menu contains vast selection of pasta, from standard Spaghetti Bolognese, to the complex Gamberoni Grigliati Con Spaghetti All' Alio e Olio. Creative patron could improvise, to mix certain their favorite pasta, with any sauce available plus selection of beef, sausage or seafood toppings. Some selection of Italian antipasti and soups are also available. But beware, they don't serve pizza.


We ordered Zuppa di Fungi and Caesar Salad to start with, and 2 pasta course. The soup was excellent, thick, creamy, with decent aroma and texture of the mushroom. Unfortunately, the salad is nothing to tell about.


Our 2 pasta dishes was served with matching tomato-based and cream-based sauce. My lasagna is topped with fresh tomato, cooked and moist, and leaving me wondering on how to made one. My last experience with fresh tomato left me with dry tomato and very moist pizza dough in the oven. Refreshing is better word than sour to describe the taste of the sauce.



A word of caution though, once you taste the cream-based ravioli, never go back to tomato. The thick heavy cream sauce make the tomato sauce sour. It is a perfect cream though, especially combined with spinach ravioli. Eat the ravioli in whole, and on the first bite, the spinach will burst with the cream sauce, filling in your mouth, triggering an exquisite sensation.


I drink my cup of Capucino, just to make sure I didn't fall asleep after such relaxing lunch. We were slightly distracted with the smoke coming from the cigarette of a lady behind us. It certainly would be worse during crowded weekdays lunch time, so it would be better to eat on the weekend, when you can have the restaurant all by yourself.

Our bill came with less than Rp. 200.000, a fair price to pay for such great lunch.

Olio Cafe Italiano
Plaza Kuningan South Tower
Phone: +62 (21) 5206654

SoHo Addict

In the world of sophisticated technology, no news means bad news. Nowadays, the wall of communication become more thinner, and being socialized through the net is the lifestyle. It was all started when my friend updated her twitter status by mentioning egg benedict she had for breakfast, continued with some sinfully dessert with relaxing Jakarta view from certain level.

Having proper or fancy breakfast always intrigued me. As a rusher on morning, I do not have breakfast at home since early child. But things went different when I’m outside. Morning breakfast at hotel or catch local breakfast in town or another city are always fun and worth to try (as long as it’s start > 8 – 9 am).

I can’t stop drooling thinking about her egg benedict, and when I cannot stop thinking usually I drag myself persistenly to the place. So, on one afternoon (well I still haven't gained my breakfast here) I spent the next 4 hours sitting here with my friends. All we did were ordering sinfully savories and desserts while seeing the icon of Jakarta, a welcome statue with water fountain.

Sweet desserts ordered were profiteroles with vanilla ice cream topped with blueberry sauce and sinfully crème brulee. All tastes nice and the chef did the right execution on presentation. On savories side, we have baked potato with chorizo and peking duck pizza. The potato somehow reminds me of chicken pot pie, but the peking duck pizza slightly tastes stench. I vote CPK better than this.

Homemade grandma ice lemon tea surely is the winner. My friend was crazy about this drink but she told me it was ice mint tea. The recipe should be simple but extra topping makes this drink extra fresh. Served on frozen highball glass, this ice lemon tea garnished with mint leaves and lemon slices, topped with lemon sorbet. You have to swirl the sorbet first with the tea to gained the new taste.

Another thing, i love the interior of this place. They designed it with warehouse/winery themes but it still feels lovely. Not mentioning the great view you'll acquire from their huge windows facing Bundaran HI. Also, the design is perfect for any time, either you have morning breakfast, cozy afternoon, or late night cocktail.

After long chit chat and exchange 'busy time' with my notebook, we left at 9.00 PM. 4 hours since late afternoon and I still feel happy. I'll try my best next time to have breakfast here, see if it's really worth to try :)

http://www.ismayagroup.com/socialhouse
Social House
Harvey Nichols - Grand Indonesia
Jl. MH. Thamrin No. 1, LT. 8
Jakarta Pusat 10320
Ph. (021) 2358 1818

08.00 AM - 01.00 AM - Bar, Winepost
08.00 AM - 10.30 PM - Mon to Friday + Sun (Restaurant)
08.00 AM - Midnite - Fri to Sat (Restaurant)

The Icon of Eid Mubarak

Every year in Indonesia, Eid Mubarak celebration become a full festive of the nation. People get busy on preparing anything: new clothes, new shoes, and not forget the tradition itself: feast food fiesta. Traditional Indonesian rice cake made from young coconut leaves is the icon. My friend, a science geek, describing the rice cake in sentence like this: “High density agglomerates of steam-expanded high moisture rice grain.”

The plain taste of rice cake would not be complete without other dishes. There are vegetables and meat dishes which every local has their own style cooking, but the renowned name you could mention are opor ayam (traditional chicken cook with coconut milk and spices) and rendang (extended heating of beef muscular protein in coconut extract emulsion, another scientific translation).

When we are in town, mom usually like to cook these dishes with her own style. This year she cooked bunch (and i really mean a bunch) of rice cake with papaya vegetable also cooked in coconut milk and her tasty tahu tauco (fried tofu cooked with fermented beans and chili in soya soup). Meat dishes were taken from our local Padang restaurant. Usually she cook chokoes (something like squash) vegetables but i asked her this time to made it from young papaya fruit.

Later on, a day before the celebration, i could not help myself drooling while seeing my friends updating their cooking status of this rice cake. Fortunately mom arrived home not for long with her dishes. I prepared my plate in sudden, divided the rice cake into pieces then i poured the vegetables together with tahu tauco served with beef rendang aside. And finally, kering tempe (stir fried tempe with chili and soya sauce) as topping. And this time, somehow her cooking taste much better with young papaya vegetables. I could not help myself eating this for the next 3 days in a row :P

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel

I'm fall in love with it. Pretzel has been around for very long time, some say from 600 AD. What was a reward to children for their prayer has become fancy food, sold at the stall in shopping mall. The taste has been varied as well, from standard cinnamon sugar to Parmesan cheese.

It didn't look difficult to make, so with Pizza dough experience on my belt, I start working on Pretzel dough. Problem come when I feel that the dough didn't raise as expected. Either I didn't give it enough time, or I'm kneading too much. I was left with slightly tough dough.

Nevermind, I thought, dividing the dough into 4 batches, each for 4 pieces. The more I rolled and knotted, the better it is. For the last batch, I manage to make a bigger knot, good enough for a nice looking Pretzel.

I went with standard topping, cinnamon plus sugar, and salt. My suspicious came into reality when the pretzel didn't raise in the oven. It didn't taste that bad, although a little bit tough. The cinnamon mix very well with the sugar, sweet enough with the pretzel.

I have told few things to improve on the look, hopefully it wouldbe better next time.

In the Mood for Yum Cha

"In the Mood for Yum Cha", so the words written on Kiko's status. That night, when she called me, she instantly propose to brunch at Samudra Restaurant. Samudra Restaurant has been our favorite place for Yum Cha because of its great taste and reasonably priced menu. In fact, it is so reasonably priced that we never wan't to cook the Dim Sum ourself. The taste might not worth the money and effort.

Translated into "Drinking Tea", Yum Cha is actually refers to the overall dining experience. But what we were after are the Dim Sum, the bite size Chinese dumpling, served in unusual way. Instead of the waiter taking your order, he/she will push a cart full with those Dim Sum. Wave your hand, someone will come to your table, and you can point on the dishes you're interested in. The dish, normally with 3-4 pieces of Dim Sum, is soon served on your table. The waiter will then mark a piece of paper on your table, which is basically to track on what you picked.

We ate alot, from Puff Char Siu, Scallop Siu Mai, Pork Siu Mai, Cheung Fan, Ha Kau, Kumis Naga. In between, we took few sips of tea; yeah, we want to experience the original Yum Cha experience.


We are full, but the dessert is hard to miss. We had Gui Ling Gao and Almond Puding to complete our brunch. As we walk to the parking lot, I can see the smile from the tip of Kiko's lip, a satisfied smile...

Samudra Restaurant
44-46 Jalan Jenderal Sudirman Kav. 44-46 8th floor BRI II, Center Park
Jakarta, 10210
Phone: +62 21 571 3572

Original Padang Food

Kiko just returned from trip to Padang, West Sumatra. Along with her is various Padang Food, very famous and versatile food available almost anywhere in Indonesia. It is a special one, originally made in Padang, and probably by Padang people as well, with original spice.

The jerky meat (known locally as dendeng) is always my favorite. Padang has so many type of jerky meat, the thin crispy one with red chili called dendeng balado and the soft brown one with green chilli known as dendeng batokok is easily available here. Kiko bought the later, and another one that I've never seen before: dendeng baracik, served with raw tomato and slice of shallots.


But that's not all. There are a piece of duck, dipped in green pepper, called Itiak Lado Ijo in local language. Although look spicy, the taste was just nice, not as spiy as it look.

And finally, the one I asked her to bought: Pale Bada. Bada is some kind of fish, wrapped with shredded coconut and cassava leaves. Finally it is wrapped with banana leaves before being steamed until cooked. It is sweet and spicy, perfect complement for the cassava leaves.

Don't forget to eat all of them with a hot, just-cooked rice, with your hands. It will be your perfect dining experience

@ Sumber Hidangan, Bandung

"Was it a factory before?" The old lady behind the counter grin. "This building has been a bakery shop since 1929." She then look to the man beside me. "And I've been working here since 1964. " Forty five years working in the same place, selling the same stuff. And the shop is another amazement by itself, having survived the test of time for 80 years.

The sun shine brightly outside, scorching the town of Bandung, despite of cool breeze of wind. But once insideSumber Hidangan, all the hot weather is replaced by cool air, thanks to the high ceiling. The building has a narrow 2nd floor, which I originally used by the landlord to watch over the worker, and made me thought that this was a factory. "That was only to help cleaning the ceiling", the old lady said. She is friendly indeed, and will happily explain all the cookies if you asked.

Two glass of Ice Cream were served before us, perfect for such hot weather: Cafe Glace and Chocolate, both topped with crushed peanut and canned peach. The Ice Cream is not so special, with rough texture and slightly less sweet, but combined with the peanut, they are perfect! We can see people come and go while eating, some buy the classic cookies (such as Speculaas, Jan Hagel), other ordered a bowl of chicken noodle, and eat by himself, while probably drifting back through time.

We were reluctant to leave this cozy place. Besides, the evening sun makes this place even nicer, with the only light source coming from the front door. I soon ordered a piece of cake, and glass of coffee. My Speculaas is packed, so I took one as a company for the coffee. We spend another 1 hour just to talk about few unimportant thing, while watching people come and go.

And still afterwards, it is with hesitant that we pay the bill and leave, promising that one day we'll be back, for a piece of mind.......

Fried Champignon Mushroom

Due to canceled recipe from last week's cooking session, I have a lot of Champignon Mushroom leftover, sadly starting to rot inside the fridge. "Why not fry it with ready-made flour for frying Chicken?", Kiko gave a suggestion.

I have another devilish idea in mind when stumbling upon a pack of Flour that near its expiration date, and a pack of new Rice Flour. The soft fried Tempe Mendoan with thin soft flour coating sounds better than ready-made Chicken flour. Half from googling, the other half is from follow-your-instinct, I started mixing the following ingredients:

• 1:1 Flour and Rice Flour
• Salt, pepper
• Scallion, chopped
• Water

As you can see, the only measurement did was the 1:1 Flour vs. Rice Flour. Other are added based on follow-your-instinct thing (or maybe follow-your-taste would be more appropriate).

The Mushroom is then chopped, dipped into the mix, and fried in hot oil. Some might prefer crisp fried, but I prefer soft fried - when it start to turn brown, strain.

Thankfully my taste was properly tuned this evening. The overall result made me wished to have a piece of Tempe Mendoan to be fried with the leftover flour mix. Hmmm..... maybe next week?

Ya Udah Bistro - Quality is Understatement

Saya pikir tidak ada salahnya mencicipi semangkuk wurst kase salat yang berisi potongan german bratwurst, daun selada segar, ditaburi parutan keju cheddar yang memutih di suatu malam di penghujung minggu.

Saya kira saraf lidah dan tubuh saya sedang meradang untuk sebongkah daging dan lemak hewani yang saripatinya bisa meluncar dalam mulut dan lidah lalu serta merta melepaskan endorphin dan menggantikannya dengan kesenangan saat itu, dan memori yang akan dijadikan acuan nanti.

Sebab bagaimanapun juga ekspektasi sedang bermain main nakal dengan sejumput kenangan yang menyenangkan. Di masanya, pernah saya mendapati sepiring steak lengkap dengan siraman mushroom sauce yang sungguh menggelitik lidah. Belum terhitung sarapan pagi yang mengenyangkan dan menggembirakan. Hash brown dan scramble egg yang hangat ditemani foccacia bread yang menguarkan harum dedaunan segar, dilengkapi dengan secangkir kopi atau teh panas.

Lalu, apakah semua itu ingin membuat saya kembali?

Saya lebih rindu akan deru ceiling fan berdebu dan kursi rotan anyam yang ringan sebab rangkanya cukup dari besi tirus saja. Saya lebih nyaman duduk di tengah pengunjung yang juga bersantai dan sibuk dengan urusannya masing masing, lalu saya bisa mengamati mereka dari sudut dimana saya duduk. Dengan para pelayan yang terlatih dan bersahabat dengan tamu tamunya. Saya mengira waktu bisa berkompromi untuk berhenti sejenak lalu membekukannya dalam kesenangan.

Jika kini ia bermetamorfosa di sebuah tempat yang lebih luas dengan inner courtyard, kursi dan meja yang sama, seragam yang sama, lalu pantaskah saya berceloteh tentang terampasnya suasana dan kenangan yang pernah hadir dulu? Jika kini bongkahan daging yang hadir di depan mata ternyata terlalu kering dan asam, apa yang bisa digugat dari semua itu?

Saya pikir sejumput kenangan bisa tinggal tetap walau hanya secuil...

#Reason num 27 why you should visit Ya Udah#

The Search for Coffee Siphon is Over

Its all started from my first patronage to La Tazza Coffee Shop, just across my office few years back. Among the coffee shop, they are the only one using the antique coffee making tools, which looks like an hourglass. Later on I know that it is called Coffee Siphon. It extract the best part of coffee, resulting in the thin light nice bodied cup of coffee, with the original taste of the bean.

Since then, I've been been wandering not only in the country, but also across the ocean, to find a place that sell the Siphon. I've been to the local kitchenware close to home, Ikea in Singapore and Hongkong, patronizing Kitchen Magic in Hongkong and Jakarta with no luck. Then on one evening in Bandung, Indonesia, after a nice coffee evening, we stroll along Jalan Braga when we came across the shop: House of Culinary.

Then I stroll to the coffee making isle, and amazed with the completeness of their coffee making tools. Espresso Machine (Saeco), Vietnam Drip, Plunger, Moka Pot, and..... YES.... the Coffee Siphon. My search is finally over......


One week since the Bandung trip, we were at home, 3pm int he evening. The Coffee Siphon is brewing a cup of Excelso coffee, freshly grind. The fire is out, and the black liquid has started sipping back to the lower chamber. I took a piece of Strawberry Cheese Cake as a company, and took a sip of Coffee. Thin, light cup of coffee, with unmistakable acidity of Kalosi Toraja....

Caterpillar Roll

If I worked at Japanese restaurant, I would be fired immediately for making this dishes. This thing was never been a favorite dish, even in form of Sushi. Well, my intention is to make another attempt for Dragon Roll, but I can't argue when my friend came up with the name: Ulet Roll, or in English: Caterpillar Roll


Learning from previous experience, I bought a relatively large Udang Pancet (Black Tiger Butterfly Prawn) for the tempura fillings. Cutting the tail of the first one, I arrange 2 of them in one roll, so that the head of the first prawn, and the tail of the second prawn will extrude from sushi roll.

It would be easier to use Tobiko, but inspired from Sushi Cooking Book I read few days ago, I decided to experiement with Ainori, crushed form of Nori sheet. We bought a ready-to-use one, which is not crushed, but shreded. Rolling the sticky sushi roll on top of the Shredded Nori.... there we got the Caterpillar Roll.

Well, at least we are successfull in making the head and tail of the Dragon, and it was a good experiment as well.....

(Suppose to be) Dragon Roll

We're not really in the mood for sushi actually. I strolled through old photos, among them are the Sushi Photo Session several years back. Then it came, a very inviting dragon roll. Tempted, I propose to make one to Kiko, which she agreed.

Rice were prepared as usual, but the Prawn was not. The recipe books make it easy to straighten a prawn for Tempura: using a toothpick. We only find out latter that toothpick was too short. Nevertheless, out of 10 prawn, we manage to fry 3-4 prawn, straight enough to be rolled in sushi. The rest of it goes with a traditional chili sauce :D.

Kiko laugh when I told my idea of using half tobiko, half sesame to cover the reversed sushi. "Martabak?", she said, referring to traditional food, where we can order different fillings for each half. I wasn't moved, and goes through with the plan....


OK, it wasn't look like a proper Dragon Roll. The prawn wasn't long enough for its tail and head to pops beyond the sushi. But as we chew it in, the taste made us happy enough. The white sesame is not a perfect match, black sesame might do better. The prawn, fried with a ready-made tempura flour, was great.

We still have another plate of Gyoza after that, plus some tempura prawn....

Scarcity of Nori

It might not makes the headline on the news, but the scarcity of Nori sheet last January has made us a little bit panic on one evening. We have Salmon and Chu Toro Sashimi freshly cut from our favorite sushi shop, and fresh Tobiko in hand, all might be wasted without Nori.

But this Japanese food are proven to be the most versatile food. Using a small leftover sushi, we made a small hand-rolled, topped with mix of Tobiko and Mayonnaise. When all Nori has been used, we made Nigiri Sushi - not the best Nigiri, but well, practice make perfect.


Kiko even make a hearted-shape Nigiri sushi, from the rice leftover :D. At the end of the day, we happily finish the plate.

Happy Jive Birthday!

Still remember when was your first time cooking took place?
(S) Kiko made me a Lasagna, which is great. Here is the pic :D. I wish she will make another one when her mood is right :D
(K) Err, early June 08 i think. We made garlic bread and he wrote the posting instead, but i guess we did another cooking at my home. (and still can't remember what it was)


By who's idea?
(S) Well.... I took the credit for it.......
(K) Scal, of course. I'm a moody amateur cook, only cooking when i really want or craving for something or get tempted by mouth watering pictures and recipe. Which can happen only once or twice a year if you're lucky.

How was it? The process and the result?
(S) Satisfactory... could be beginner's luck
(K) The garlic bread suprisingly turns good with tips acquired from online recipe. And another dishes were the same. There were recipes we tried up to 3 times because we did not get in the line, but there also one time test and we've made it. Most of our dishes tastes acceptable, but we still have to learn for better presentation.

Why blogging? What's the meaning behind the name?
(S) Why not?
(K) At the beginning we wanted to make a documentation about coffee review, one of his interest but turns out we agreed more on cooking since it's more easier. The name just pop out that way. Jive means dancing cheerfully, we guess that we wanted to make cooking as a fun activities together, as well as we loved foods themselves.

Who's taking the pictures?
(S) Mostly me, but there are some pictures which I can't take myself, particularly when I'm rolling a sushi or tossing pizza dough :D
(K) Scal. I'm not very patient to do that while cooking :D


What's your most remembering cooking?
(S) Two in one Tomato Soup, and the Tiramisu
(K) Scal's tomato soup. A lot of laugh and a remarkable taste.

What was your favourite cooking?
(S) Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Farfalle, Lasagna, Penne, Fusili.... did I miss anything? Oh, and pizza!
(K) I used to love wok dishes and few casseroles but now i discover my fond of Italian cooking, the tiramisu and those kind of pasta, ugh and pizza. And Japanese also. (too many my dear)

What was things you wish to cook but not yet?
(S) At the moment it is the traditional Dutch snacks, for tea time, and some fancy coffee, maybe when I have my own espresso machine. One that came into mind is Stroopwaffel. And I put Black Forest on Kiko's list :p.
(K) I want to cook steak and apple crumble pie. Our cooking time reduce since 09 i guess...

What's the funny thing crossed your mind when you do the cooking?
(S) What would it turns out? Edible? Side effect?
(K) Ummm, can i answer that later? :P

What’s Your Cooking Personality? (take this quiz http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/whats-your-cooking-personality/)

(S) 2 (a) and 2 (c), so its a tie. But at least I'm not competitive :D
(K) I have 3 (d) and 2 (b), so can i describe myself as "methodical competitive" (oh well, that sounds preppy)

b) Methodical: Talented cooks who rely heavily on recipes. The methodical cook has refined tastes and manners. Their creations always look exactly like the picture in the cookbook.

**my comment: i'd always curious about chemical reaction includes food, that's why i like to explore and experimenting recipes. i used to compare few recipe available and search for any special ingredients which i think might bring extra value to the dish. my enjoyment involves adjusting ingredients composition like: "you think 250gr flour vs 100gr sugar will be too sweet or not?" after that, modified and practice! so yes, i rely on MY own modified recipes based on experienced, but no, my creation did not look exactly in the picture. i still have to learn more and more :)

d) Competitive: The Iron Chef of the neighborhood, competitive cooks have dominant personalities and are intense perfectionists who love to impress their guests.

**my comment: i'm not the iron chef (yet) but looking at my other habits when doing something else perhaps yes, i (tend) to intense perfectionist especially when dealing about best material you can have. And quite hard to negotiate about that :p

What's your plan next for JiveKitchen?
(S) More cooking posting. We haven't been cooking so often lately, so most of our posting is about the food we ate somewhere.
(K) I'd love to re-design the layout and content if possible. We were dreaming of compact and user friendly menus which accessible by everyone. And, i wish i could have more time to post any food activities we had. By the way, you think we should suggest JiveKitch to tweet? :p

** this quiz was made to celebrate one year of Jive Kitchen **
** Lots of fat, spice, and fun **

Kiko's Birthday @ Java Bleu

Among international cuisine patronage in Jakarta, Java Bleu is no stranger. Owned and manned by French Chef Antoine Audran, he and his restaurant specialize on French Cuisine. Kiko has been here before, when they were still at their old place, few blocks from the current one. She was enthusiastic when telling the story about this place, so I welcome her invitation to celebrate her birthday.

The air is warm inside. An Asian couple sat in the table close to the door, and few westerners occupy a table across the room, which left us to choose among 3 empty tables. "That one is quite hot, it is close to the kitchen", the waiters said when we point to a white table for 2. The table at the center is too big for us, so we choose another table close to the door instead. Once we're seated, the waiters move a blackboard to face us. That's the menu.


We were quite undecided for some time, but thankfully the waitress was very helpful and good at describing the menu, except for one. We made our order, few starters, main course and drinks. A little disappointment came when ordering a cup of coffee. They only have espresso and latte, but hey, it is French restaurant, not Italian.

Still my disappointment with the coffee when it came flat. But not for long, as our appetizer was served: Mushroom soup with bread, and Quiche Lorraine. The soup is great; the blended mushroom adds taste and the chopped mushroom complete the texture. The quiche is perfect, with generous amount of ham.

The same waitress offered to serve our main course once the soup finished. Pork Sausage and Ox Tongue both served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The Ox Tongue was cooked with Red Wine, which unfortunately dominate the food. The mashed potatoes worth a note, though.

Finish with the meals, the waiters turns the blackboard to us again, offering desserts. We ordered Chocolate Melt, which looks like a muffin. It is topped with a scoop of ice cream and icing sugar. Overall, it wasn't too sweet, just nice to end the dinner.


But the night is not over yet. The Asian couple and westerner are still there, apparently enjoying the night as we did. I ordered another drinks, we have a lot of chat about her recent trip, until they are closing.

We parted at her office, after saying: Happy Birthday My Dear..... *Hugs

Java Bleu
Kompleks Golden Plaza Blok E 24
Jalan Fatmawati No.15, Jakarta Selatan
Ph: (021) 750 79 02
Fax: (021) 765 02 12

Bandung Getaway

Most of us, the Jakartans, might be bored when people mention and telling stories about Bandung, the cozy and hype city near 130 km away. But for me who seldom make the visit, going for a trip to this city mostly lift up a content feeling, quoting my friend: “Returning to Jakarta after staying in Bandung is like returning to your spouse after a romantic affair. Me and Jakarta have a somewhat abusive but comfortable relationship, while Bandung serves as a calm and serene part time lover who’s always there whenever I need calming down.”

If i had to choose, terms of being calm and serene are enjoying shady afternoon in open air space with greeny vistas and forget everything but now. A cup of warm drinks and any sweet or savory desserts will be perfect for mood booster. (No noisy crowds and annoying waiters are important, too). Curling with books or magz, just doing nothing but enjoying fresh air, or draw some sketches, everything will be priceless then.

“What I like doing best is nothing. It means just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering." – AA Milne

However, those thing won’t be complete if you can't have proper foods, all comfortable foods that may turn your straight upper lips into broad smiles. And to locate each of the seller always become our problem since there are too many places to visit but ours only have tiny and tight times: so little time, so much to do. Two days in a row are very ambitious but at least we could make decent visit to (almost) we’ve been planning for. Here we go:

1. Lapo Siagian, Location: Next to Telkom Bld, Jl. H. Hasan 19 A, Ph. (022) 253 4478
Bataknese version of roast pork. Thin slice of crunchy and crusty pork belly with smoky hint. Rough but tender, stiff but juicy it gives you full sensation from the beginning you taste it until you realize you’re chewing the last bite. Served with crushed green chili and lemon juice, the sour and spicy taste enriched the whole serving. Heavenly!

2. Kopi Selasar, Location: Jl. Bukit Pakar Timur No. 100, Bandung (www.selasarsunaryo.com)
All this time, i've been told by my friends whose keep talking how comfy this place are. Years and years waiting, now my turn has come: I'd visited this place finally! A perfect place for afternoon tea: under lush tree with greeny hill view, slightly windy, and raining for one moment. Smells of grass and dirt accompanied perfect dessert: banana with cinnamon sauce and vanilla ice cream served with ginger tea and hot choco. Strong buttery taste from cinnamon sauce combined with chewy bananas, gave the complete mouthful taste. Playing cards is prohibited here since the owner thinks it is not a productive activity.

3. Ceu' Mar, Location: End of Jl.Cikapundung
Local honest and popular street food used to sell to newspaper boys in midnight. Now Ceu Mar rent (or owned?) a kiosk while she is still sitting and counting every plate and dishes everyone had taken. Our recommendation: tempe goreng tepung (fried tempe), cincang kambing (diced lamb stewed with curry spice), empal (shredded boiled beef and fried), tumis buncis (stir fry string bean), and most of all her home made hot chili sauce which make you crave for more.

4. Martabak Nikmat Andir, Location: Jl. Jend Sudirman 415, opposite Andir market.
This place become our "must visit" place everytime we are here. Their sweet martabak with corn and cheese filling is the best you can have. Since we offered our friend to bring any while visiting her, banana and cheese filling is on the next favorite list. Fluffy and sweet, the one you cannot resist.

5. GOR Pajajaran, Jl. Pajajaran – Bandung
A siesta place with many street vendors displaying mouth watering dishes from dimsum, roast pork, ambo kueh (local Bandung traditional snacks with pork meat and brown sauce), noodles, traditional cake, congee, and the list may go on. Choices of our breakfast: fish congee with roast pork and char siu, famous fluffy fried cakwe from Lie Tjay Tat, continued with misoa soup suggested by Tante Liana. Next, hop on her kiosk to take away all time favourite dishes : pepes bandeng (steam milk fish with local spice wrapped in banana leaf, pepes telor asin (steam duck egg wrapped in banana leaf), and sambal ulek (raw belacan chili and tomato). New dishes has arrived: abon cakalang (spicy tuna floss) and gadon daging (steam minced beef wrapped in banana leaf).



6. RM. Linggarjati, Location: Jl. Balong Gede No. 1, Alun Alun – Bandung
The best avocado juice in town. Served with mocca syrup and crushed ice, you still can find bite few avocado meat in luscious silky texture. Famous for their mie babat (noodles and beef tripe), but my favourite only their avocado juice.

7. PT Rasa, Location: Jl. Tamblong
Recommendation: avocado and banana ice cream, poffertjes, and some cakes (forgot the name)

8. Bakmi Rica, Location Jl. Kejaksaan No. 7, Bandung
Delicious spicy pork noodle, perfect for dessert and snacks. Free roaming either take away or dine in, the flavor goes well in any temperature you're still every bite you chew. Suggestion: better served with no soup when reheat.

9. Batagor Kingsley, Location Jl. Veteran
Famous long time batagor seller in town and the taste consistent until now. Those street food stall in front of this place gives more temptation from durian ice cream to es sekoteng, from mie kocok to keripik.

10. Toko kue Sweetheart, Jl. Bawean No. 4, Bandung
Their cakes always sweet and delicious. All time favorite: nougat cake roll (mocca cake with peanuts and rhum flavor), swiss cake roll (chocolate cake with custard cream and rhum), picnic roll (similar to sausage brood), kaas roll (cheese cake with shredded cheddar filling). The rhum flavor gives extra sensation to the whole cake serving.

What a lovely and happy belly trip, which he said: "too much of good things might kill you."

Chilidog.org

I thought I'm one of the few who obsessed with Chili Dog. Have eaten a Chili Dog sandwich few weeks ago, I'm intrigued to make one at home. Then upon searching for recipe, I found this website dedicated for Chili Dog: http://www.chilidog.org/. Having a dedicated website for Chili Dog... what a obsession.

The small number of recipe didn't make it easire to choose. After a short discussion, we finally pick Conney Island Chili Dog. On the next morning we have all the ingredients ready to cook. It is a little bit too late when we realize a problem: What we have is not beef sausage, but a pork German Bratwurst. Well, the show must go on, so we cross our finger and serve it anyway.

Simmering the Chili Dog didn't took much time, since it is quite dry. In fact, we must turn in several time to prevent from burning. But on several turn, we can smell a strong flavor of beef. The Chili Dog is ready.

The Bratwurst was still grilled in the oven - the electric oven took more time than expected. So, while waiting, we prepare the bun, which was grilled before. Once the Bratwurst ready, it goes on the halved bun. Next the Chili Dog, then a streak of Mustard and Jalapeno Sauce.


It wasn't look so bad. I have a little problem with presentation, but it will be another lesson on another session. But then it turns out that the Bratwurst wasn't really match the beef taste of the Chili Dog. But then it would be a good reason to make another one next time, right? :D

A Promise Fulfilled

"Promise me that we will go to Lapo Siagian in Bandung". That conversation ended up in me promising her to go to Bandung, visiting the famous Batak traditional restaurant. More than one year later, I pay my debt, in an eventful trip.

The place is not hard to find once you are int he area, despite of its non-obvious location. Just follow where the smoke came from, with the smell of pork roasting. You will find the restaurant, down in an alley, under lighted with few neon light.

To our delight, they still have roasted pork to order, despite it was almost 2 pm. We just start a small talk about the plan when the food is served. Then suddenly it became silent. Only the crunch of crispy pork heard.


Instantaneously, all the exhaustion gone. The flat tire I have this morning, the 4 hour road trip, which is normally took 1 hour, and the low fuel on the highway that left us without Air Con for the last 30 minutes, all replaced with a happy smile, a familiar smile I saw almost one year ago, during our first trip.

We still kept silent, enjoying our meals, with crushed green chili, soured with squeeze of citrus. We ate, until nothing is left in the plate. Temptation to order another portion surge into our mind, but we decide to end the meals while it still taste good.

We pay the bill, and leave.... happy that a promise finally fulfilled....

Comfort Lasagna

I used to cook bolognaise sphagetti in my school years. The recipe taken from my cousin, adopted Indonesian version of bolognaise sauce : tangy, slightly sweet and cheesy. Seeing lasagna sheet on supermarket rack always encourage me to think if someday i will have the time and passion to cook this dish. One day i hook on San Remo Instant Lasagna and read recipe behind the pack. The ingredients quite similar to bolognaise sauce but the most important thing is you can use lasagna sheet without boiling first like usual. I said to myself the recipe worth trying as it sound quite impressive. Few times trying this at home, the recipe never fails. So here’s San Remo version of lasagna with little modification :

Instant Lasagna with Meat Sauce
Serves 5

•250g San Remo Instant Lasagna

Meat Sauce
•3 tablespoon olive/vegetable oil
•1 medium onion, finely chopped
•1 clove garlic, crushed
•500g beef mince
•400 gr canned tomato
•100 ml tomato sauce/ketchup
•4 fresh medium tomato, chopped
•2 cups chicken stock
•2 pack (150 gr) champignon mushroom
•100 gr cheddar cheese, shredded
•Oregano, dried bay leaf, salt, pepper and pinch of nutmeg

Cheese Sauce
•2 tablespoons butter
•2 tablespoons plain flour
•2 cups milk
•Salt, pepper
•125g mozzarella cheese (cubed or grated)

Meat Sauce
Heat oil in a medium saucepan, add garlic and onion until soft cook. Add mince and cook stirring, until brown. Add mushroom and stir in chopped tomato, tomato sauce and tomato paste follow with chicken stock. Put few bay leaf and season with crushed oregano. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and shredded cheese. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cheese Sauce
Melt butter in medium saucepan, stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes over gentle heat. Remove from heat and gradually stir in milk. Return to heat and stir until thick and smooth. Season with salt and pepper, add mozzarella and stir over low heat until cheese melts.

Lasagna
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Pour 125ml meat sauce into base of lightly greased baking dish. Alternate layers of lasagna, meat and cheese sauces, ending with cheese sauce layer. Sprinkle top with grated parmesan cheese if desired. Bake in oven for 35 - 40 minutes. (Test by pricking with fork) Let stand 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

Happy baking! I wonder if Garfield is around the town...

*San Remo website : http://www.sanremo.com.au

A Tavola : A Journey Through The Year

“It must be Monday. It’s cold, it’s dreary, it’s raining, even inside the house.” (*)

Sound of heavy rain splashing through my foggy-damp window office that afternoon, picturing complete moaning Monday. Few days back, we made appointment to meet this day after his two weeks business trip but still arguing for comfy place to talk, laugh and serve good food for sure. I was not craving for something like i used to, so i throw the sizzling ball to him. On surge, he reminds that we have not tried any Italian food recently. I quickly search my database trying to zoom any worth Italian restaurant nearby.

This small restaurant has draw our curiosity lately for their almost invisible existence over years. Fonts on billboard somehow gave the impression of cozy interior shop rather than Italian restaurant and gourmet. We did some ‘googling’ and fortunately found dedicated website of their own. The products list seems quite promising : they sell particular cold cuts, pasta, cheese and spices. However the menu likely to be more simple and sounds homey : from spinach ravioli to salami and cheese, from Lavazza espresso to limoncello. Few comments and review mentioned of soothing ambience and great taste, but we also find one review explaining the food was not as great as expected. Well, in the end noone will get hurts either if we decide to try, so there we off to that evening.


The narrow space won’t fit many tables as they have to share room with cold display cabinet and cashier. Except for hanging LED on clear glass panel and front door, lighting was so intensely warm with lesser downlights and candles on every table. The ambience reflects of homey bistro, added with brown square pattern tablecloth. Seems only two persons available to serve and explained while we discussed the menu, but their attentive service should received compliment. I ordered Dolce Vita platter for small bites as prosciutto had raised my appetite, while he chose mushroom soup and gnocchi with cheese cream. I was torn between another pasta or grilled side for main course and finally made my decision to Saltimbocca, meaty veal served with zucchini, pasta and carrot.


Cracked wooden chopping board looks appealing with sliced of dried red meat with white fat layer upper and diced grana pradano cheese served with green olive and balsamic dip. I haven’t taste prosciutto previously, no relate comments would available but the texture was too dry and off putting, i thought. Not to mention annoying lingering salty taste even after few bites of foccacia bread. Grainy grana padano cheese tastes almost similar, only left itchy trace around my tongue like i used to have when taken pineapple too much. Is it the real taste as it should or there were something improper with their storage? I should answer the question next with another trial, i guess.

Another dishes still far from expectation : Zuppa al Funghi, the mushroom soup, somehow tastes heavy. Blended mushroom and cream were stand alone and resemble slight uncomfortable earthy tone. It was not that terrible, but compare to another we found nothing special with this soup. Now we started to lower our expectation for upcoming course. My grilled veal cutlets has brown spots and well done tone color on surface, i sighed aloud inside my brain and prepare for the less. Minimalist taste were translated precisely : lost of juicy texture, absence of flavor and seasoning between salty and meaty, definitely one turn off main course.

His gnocchi was better, at least. Creamy gorgonzola sauce act nicer with home made gnocchi in three colors and potatoes but gnocchi texture were overcooked it feels so mushy. Our favorite restaurant did better execution on this kind of pasta. Taking pictures and enjoy the ambience brings another amusement to the ‘minimalist’ food session. He still offering dessert, but considering the previous session I’d better thought of moving somewhere else. I still feel sorry for this place, not because of my high expectation but this kind of restaurant should develop better taste, and they can work it out if they willing to. Everything mostly in proper, except the oppressive taste. And perhaps they forgot this is the important one.

We continued the night by having martini and margarita here. Only to have small celebration this year, smiling and greeting each other in the end of the night by saying, “Happy Anniversary”

Feb 2009, (*) quote from Garfield

A Tavola
Jl. Kemang Selatan Raya no.125
Jakarta Selatan
Ph & Fax: +62 21 71793580