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