Author: Ardi

Black Coffee Lyrics

Review:

This week’s review comes from a restaurant in the Gold Coast called Black Coffee Lyrics. It was an interesting experience coming into this restaurant. It is actually a tapas-style bar without your usual Spanish dishes (the restaurant name doesn’t sound to Spanish-y, does it?). The restaurant was located in quite a dodgy-looking building in the middle of Surfers Paradise. When we came in it was quite dark with bar-type décor.

And the food… well, you can see it for yourself.

Alto Olives – $6.50 – Marinated, hand-picked and Australian-grown olives.

A simple assortment of olives is always pretty good to start the night with. The added decoration/enhancer orange rind was a nice touch!

Super Crispy Calamari Ribbons – $16 – Caramelised ginger and coriander pesto with fresh green peppercorns.

In line with its name, I think the calamari is super surprisingly good! Definitely one you must order!

Flat Bread – $6 – Charred flat bread, confit garlic, cumin and coriander salt, bocconcini and marjoram.

I actually did not get the bread. However, everyone said it was a really good bread.

Onion Bhaji – $8 – Tempura fried onion and vegetables, curry yoghurt, charred lime and curry leaves.

To be fair, it was a very different onion bhaji than the ones I tasted in Indian restaurants. However, I actually liked this version better. It was crunchy and a lot less dough-y.

Pork Belly – $18 – Vietnamese-style pork belly, coriander, chive, pickled carrot, cucumber and shallot salad, sweet chilli and crispy crackling.

My friends told me that the pork belly was very good and tasted pretty sweet. The crackling was already separated from the meat and there was quite a lot of fat!

Beef Short Rib – $18 – Slow stout-braised beef short rib, coffee sauce, deep fried shallot rings, carrot puree and horseradish crisp.

There were quite a lot of interesting ingredients in this dish: coffee sauce and carrot puree, anyone? Also, whenever you need no extra help from a knife, it means you have eaten a very good slow-cooked dish.

Beef – $36 – Scotch fillet, parsnip puree, beetroots, wilted kale and wholegrain mustard sabayon.

Size wise, it wasn’t that much bigger than the beef short rib (If size does matter, buy two ribs instead of this). However, the scotch fillet was more of a ‘complete package’ when compared to the ribs.

Charred Prawns – $15 – Charred king prawns, corn polenta, oregano, red capsicum and lemon butter.

In a tapas place like this, getting three king prawns for $15 was a pretty good deal. If you are not a big eater, I think this is a decent plate for a night out.

Vegetarian – $22 – Tomato base, confit garlic, caramelised onions, mushroom, spinach, walnuts and chili glaze.

Apologies… Obviously someone has taken one slice before I managed to get a snap! The vegetarian pizza was actually quite nice. The absence of meat actually got us to appreciate the pizza more.

The final verdict for Black Coffee Lyrics

What can I say? Black Coffee Lyrics surprised us… in a very good way!

Did you know?

As a bar, they have quite a few selection of beers and hard liquors.

Rating for Black Coffee Lyrics:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $15 – $36 per dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Shop 41, 3131 Survers Paradise Blvd, Gold Coast

+61 402 189 437

http://blackcoffeelyrics.com.au/

Jan 18, 2016
Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat

Review:

This week, we review a restaurant that has been generating quite a buzz in my hometown, Surabaya – Indonesia. I think most people just refer it to as ‘Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat’. It is a new-ish concept that they introduce by combining two restaurants into one gigantic all you can eat eatery. I am actually tempted to just say ‘Don’t read this and just go to the place’. You’ll know why…

We actually arrived at the Japanese wing of the restaurant. It used to be known as Kizahashi restaurant. There are three big stalls in this restaurant: Tempura, Teppanyaki, and assorted Japanese stalls. The tempura stall also serves udon, whilst you can get Japanese fried rice and okonomiyaki from the Teppanyaki stall. The other stall is the most exciting. You can get sushi, sashimi, sorbet, Japanese salad and some desserts. When we were there, they ran out of salmon sashimi and there was only a white fish sashimi and crab stick.

Japanese Tempura

Japanese Teppanyaki

Sushi, Sashimi and Salad

We now move to the Indonesian wing of the restaurant. I think officially they still use the restaurant name, Arumanis. The stall I was interested in the most was rujak cingur. It’s a traditional dish from Surabaya that use cow’s nose as one of the ingredients with vegetables and peanut-and-shrimp-based sauce. In addition to that they also have other Indonesian and Chinese-Indonesian dishes.

Rujak Cingur

Assorted Indonesian

The fun actually starts outside of these restaurants. They have more than a dozen of small stalls. The two things that I love to try when going to a new Indonesian restaurant (if available) are chicken satay and sop kaki. I am sure you should know about Indonesian chicken satay. Sop kaki is a bit more exotic. They are predominantly a soup made of cow’s leg and other innards (or you can always have the meat part).

Chicken Satay

Sop Kaki

Another dish that I always try to find when in Indonesia is Tahu Tek. It is a traditional fried tofu with egg and peanut-based sauce. It is usually enjoyed with rice cake and crackers. You can also find Shawarma in one of the stalls. However, it didn’t look to exciting for me. You could also find Kikil (a different version of cow’s leg soup) and martabak.

Tahu Tek

Shawarma

Kikil, Martabak and Nasi Bakar

Last but not least, we also tried a few nice desserts. The lightest of all is crepes with sprinkled cheese and chocolate. My favourite, although it doesn’t look apetising in the picture below is sweet martabak. They are very lovely! You can also have an assortment of drinks like Malaysian’s Teh Tarik and Indonesian ginger-based drink called Angsle.

Crepes

Martabak Manis

Teh Tarik and Angsle

There are also some stalls that I did not go to (just because I already felt really full!). Some of the food that I did not get to try: Soba, BBQ chicken, dumplings, steamed stuff, traditional drinks, ice cream, es teler, Javanese fried rice and noodles, and soto.

I have also included pictures of all of the stalls that you can try in Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat.

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The final verdict for Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat

Overall, it might not be the best restaurant in Surabaya. However, the vast number of dishes you can try at Hotel Bumi all you can eat was overwhelming, to put it mildly.

Did you know?

This all you can eat package is actually done by two different restaurants merged together.

Hotel Bumi was formerly owned by the Hyatt group.

Rating for Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $20 all you can eat

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Jalan Jend. Basuki Rakhmat 106 – 128, Surabaya, Indonesia

+62 31 531 1234

http://www.bumisurabaya.com/

Jan 12, 2016
Akane Tokyo Cuisine

Review:

We came to this restaurant for dinner shortly after landing in Jakarta. It was ‘only’ 12-hour journey. Our trusted friends recommended the restaurant and guaranteed it was one of the better ones in Jakarta… So we went along with it!

The restaurant is called Akane Tokyo Cuisine and located in Crowne Plaza. The menu reminds me more of an Izakaya establishment (with a pretty limited number of drinks) than a restaurant. You can obviously nibble through the night with the likes of Edamame, onigiri or shisamo. However, if you want to eat something more substantial, read on…

Yakitori Omakase Mori – Rp 99k – 8-kind charcoal grilled chicken skewers

According to my friend, Akane is famous for its yakitori. They have either the salt or sweet soy sauce version of yakitori. There are quite a few chicken parts you can choose from or you can order the omakase where they showcased eight skewers of chicken parts.

If you are not into chicken, they also have beef and seafood yaki.

Nigiri Sushi Moriawase – Rp 198k – 12-kind hand-formed sushi

The biggest test for any Japanese restaurants in Indonesia is its Sushi and Sashimi. We actually dared to take the risk and ordered the biggest one: nigiri sushi moriawase. They are noticeably more expensive than the rest of the dishes (possibly due to the cost involved in acquiring that level of freshness). However, I think it showcased the ‘standard’ sushi fishes.

We also ordered a couple of other sushi platters below:

Saba Bozushi – Rp 64k – Mackerel Sushi cake

Maguro Zukushi – Rp 113k – Tuna sushi, fatty tuna sushi, tuna roll

Okonomiyaki – Rp 63k – Japanese pan cake

There were generous servings of bonito flakes and mayo on the okonomiyaki. It was actually a pretty good one!

Maguro Misodare Salad – Rp 68k – Semi-roasted tuna salad

Any salad that I want to eat deserved a mention in my blog!

Kiniko Donabe Yaki – Rp 68k – Butter fried mix mushroom in hot pot

It might not look much and pretty expensive for a mixture of mushrooms. However, this dish was pretty delicious and probably one of the good options for vegetarians.

Ika Butter Shoyu – Rp 68k – Butter fried squid

I must say that they give out too much veggies to my liking but it worked well for other dinner guests.

Big Hamburg – Rp 118k – Beef hamburger steak 300g

It was not designed to be ordered on the day. However, I was extremely curious about it – I think it’s the word ‘big’ that got me! When I finally ordered it, I was glad that I made the right decision to order!

Yuzu Iced Tea – Rp 28k and Almond pudding – free

I usually don’t talk about drinks unless they are worth mentioning. I am a big fan of Yuzu fruit and it’s a rarity even in Japanese restaurants. We definitely can taste the strong Yuzu flavour in the iced tea!

The final verdict for Akane Tokyo Cuisine

Akane Tokyo Cuisine served very nice dishes. Their Sushi was also pretty fresh – by Indonesian standard. There was only one big issue…

Did you know?

Akane allows people to smoke in the restaurant and they do not have any non-smoking sections. They would have rated better if they had one.

Rating for Akane Tokyo Cuisine:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $4 – $20 per dish

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Crowne Plaza, Jalan Jenderal Gatot Subroto, Jakarta

+62 21 5268833

Jan 8, 2016
Bandung Culinary Tourism

In the last few years, we reviewed a few restaurants in Bandung. This time around, we would like to write about Bandung’s local food offerings. You could easily find these food in big malls or plazas in Bandung. However, if you want the ‘authentic’ ones that are loved by the citizens of Bandung, we should really hunt for them.

What is Culinary Tourism?

Indonesians love to eat (including me). Their overabundance love of food enables them to create a whole new phrase dedicated to the journey of finding good food. Hence, the term ‘Wisata Kuliner‘ was born. It was hard to find the English phrase for it. However, after brainstorming session with my friends, we decided to use the term ‘Culinary Tourism’ to describe this phenomena because someone has written a thesis about it.

Bandung Culinary Tourism

Batagor

When we talk about Culinary in Bandung, the first thing that everyone mentions should be baso tahu goreng, commonly known as Batagor. Batagor is a deep fried fish tofu that is usually served with spicy peanut sauce and sweet soy sauce. There are two famous batagor restaurants in Bandung: Batagor Abuy and Batagor Kingsley. In terms of taste, we like Batagor Abuy more. On the other hand, Batagor Kingsley is more suitable to have for takeaway.

Batagor Kingsley is located in jalan Veteran 10.

Mie Yamin

Mie Yamin is the Bandung version of Chinese noodles. It is a bit unclear why it was called ‘Yamin’ noodles. We found an Indonesian article about the origin of Mie Yamin in Jakarta. One of the more famous places in Bandung is Mie Yamin Linggarjati in jalan Balonggede. In addition to its noodles, Linggarjati is also well-known for its delicious Avocado juice.

We actually did not visit the Linggarjati restaurant due to the distance. We used the gojek app that is priced quite decently for food delivery service.

Cireng Bumbu

Cireng bumbu is probably the most common dish on this list (you can pretty much buy anywhere and it would taste pretty similar). Cireng is a tapioca-based snack that is deep fried with fillings (usually spicy ones). It is usually sold just outside a restaurant or in food stalls.

What else is available on this Bandung Culinary Tourism?

The following dishes might also be available outside the city of Bandung. However, they have been modified to have the Bandung traits.

Yoghurt Cisangkuy

I’m pretty sure everyone knows what Yoghurt is. The interesting bit about Yoghurt Cisangkuy is that it has been in the same venue for, like, forever! If you ask someone from Bandung, I’m pretty sure the person would know this place. They have a few flavours to choose from and also some light snacks.

Sate Ayam Lavie

Lavie is a name of a baby shop in jalan Imam Bonjol, Bandung.In front of the shop, there is a small stall that sells chicken satay. It’s the perfect place for those of you waiting around!

What I love about Bandung’s chicken satay is the one called ‘sate lemak‘. It is literally just a skewer of fat! Pretty unhealthy I must say, but if you just eat the right amount, they are awesome!

Bubur Sumsum a la Bandung

Bubur sumsum is a rice flour porridge with sweet palm sugar sauce. We bought this from a street vendor usually roaming around the housing complex. What separates Bandung’s from the rest is the use of pomegranate.

Coffee from The Good Life cafe

This cafe might be relatively new when compared to the rest on this list. However, you can’t have a list of Bandung good stuff without a great coffee place! Located in Jalan Anggrek 15, this cafe is pretty obscured and part of a small office house. However, it’s hard to find coffee as good as this one in Bandung!

Obviously, there are a lot more dishes originated from Bandung that we could try. However, we did not have the time to try them all… maybe in the future…

The City of Bandung

Bandung is the third most populated city in Indonesia and is just a few hours drive from Jakarta (depending largely on the traffic!). However, the density of the city is twice as much as the second largest city in Indonesia, Surabaya. That’s why if you want to travel to Bandung, I suggest you to avoid the weekends!

Jan 6, 2016
Hawker Lane
Dining Experience:

We were invited by Sibling Agency and Scentre Group (aka Westfield group) to try Westfield Chatswood’s newest food precinct, Hawker Lane. If the name is not clear enough for you, Hawker Lane consists of 13 Asian restaurants, an ice cream place and a Taiwanese milk tea place.

When we arrived at the venue, we were given a sample of coconut juice topped with marshmallow and cake. They had a promotional at the Hawker Lane: When you made purchases at Hawker Lane of $20 or more, you received the coconut for free. The coconut really stole the show that day.

One Tea Grill – Baoger

One Tea Grill was the first restaurant we went to because we were so curious about their burgers. Their main attraction was the slider burger with three different kinds of burgers: ramen, matcha and rice. They also had three different patties: wagyu beef, teriyaki chicken, and green tea ice cream with red bean.

Cheers Cut

There are quite a few Taiwanese XXL fried chicken stalls in the city. The interesting bit about XXL chicken is its XXL size. It is seriously big! As you can see in the picture below, it is around three times the size of regular Taiwanese milk tea glass.

The rest of the restaurants are:
- Aqua S – Dessert
- Chachu’s – Indian
- China Chilli – Chinese
- Dumplings & Co – It had not opened when we were there
- Gong Cha – Drinks – Taiwanese
- Jim’s Malaysia – Malaysian
- Lamb & Cumin
- Noodle Warriors – It had not opened when we were there
- Madame Nhu – Vietnamese
- Makanai – Japanese
- Mao Cai – Chinese
- Nahm Jimm – Thai
- Sushi World – Japanese
We also tried quite a few other restaurants on the day. The one that really stood out was Lamb and Cumin. We love the marinated lamb satay!

There was one stall that we missed out when we were there because we actually did not see the stall inside the precinct. I have tried the ice cream from the main shop for Aqua S in George Street. They are known for their sea salt ice-cream.

We also did not go to Mao Cai / China Chilli as the queue were ridiculously long on that day. Despite our curiosity, we could not be bothered queuing for it.

Details:

Level 2 Westfield Chatswood, 1 Anderson Street, Chatswood NSW 2067

(02) 9412 1555

https://www.westfield.com.au/chatswood/dining

Hawker Lane
Dec 8, 2015
Surry Hills Eating House

Review:

This week, we were invited to Surry Hills Eating House. The restaurant is located in the corner of Elizabeth and Campbell Streets. It is owned by Sujet Saenkham of five Spice I Am restaurants in Sydney. Spice I am has a pretty good reputation in Sydney and it’s a great opportunity for me to try their other establishment. Surry Hills Eating House is a Thai restaurant that has quite a few seafood options.

Pla Tod Phae – $14.00 – Curried white bait fritter served with house made sweet chilli sauce and crushed cashew nut

I love white bait in Yum cha place. It is pretty interesting to see a white bait in a non-Chinese restaurant. Surry Hills Eating House’s white bait was amazing. It was probably our most favourite dish of the night.

Pad See Ew Chicken – $18.00 – Stir fried flat rice noodle with sweet soy sauce, egg and Chinese broccoli

We ordered this specifically for the little one. The portion was pretty decent and it was one of the best pad see ew chicken that we have ever tasted.

Phuak Neung Tod – $14.00 – Steamed dried shitake mushroom, dried shrimp and taro wrapped in bean curd skin and deep fried then served with spicy sweet coriander sauce

We were not going to order this entree. However, after looking at the first two dishes that came in, we decided to order this one. It was not a bad choice!

Gaen Kiew Wan Nua – $24.00 – Green curry slow cooked beef served with roti

The green curry was pretty good, but pretty spicy. They made the correct decision of serving it with roti. Curry tasted so much better when enjoyed with roti!

Lin Ped Pha Lo – $26.00 – Duck tongue simmered with five spice, served with braised pickle, green mustard and nam som (vinegar chilli)

We ordered this out of curiosity. There are not that many places serving duck tongue. They nailed it in terms of its taste. However, I think they should serve it as a side dish instead of a full main dish.

Cashew Nut Chicken – $18.00 – Stir fried cashew nuts, shallot, onion and chilli jam

For those of you who enjoyed individual serving instead of shared dishes. They have a variety of stir fry dishes. Cashew nut is probably one of the staple dishes in any Thai restaurants in Sydney.

Gaeng Het Pho – $28.00 – Phuket-style curry of bar cod fillet, Thai black mushroom and betel leaf!

This last dish was recommended by the waitress. It was one of the most ordered dishes at the restaurant. I guess it is true when they say the customers cannot be wrong! This curry is less spicy than the green curry we ordered earlier. I also liked the texture of the mushrooms.

Surry Hills Eating House

Did you know?

Eating house is located on level 2 of Triple Ace Bar. It is also within a walking distance to Spice I Am’s other restaurant: House Thai.

Details:

Level 2, 198 – 200 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills 2010

02 9211 8107

Dec 4, 2015