Category: Global Cuisines

All About Food Blog loves trying different cuisines from all around the world. Sometimes food has the same name but completely different look and taste.

Choco Corner

My Choco Corner Experience:

Located in Mal Artha Gading (North East Jakarta), I must admit that I would not normally visit the area as I tend to stick to Central or South Jakarta (due to the traffic). However if you are around the area, I can say that Choco Corner truly worth your visit.

Established in 2010, Choco Corner have quite a large variety of food on their menu, from classical Indonesian, Indonesian fusion, Spanish, and other – what Indonesians called – the ‘Western’ food.

Beef Nachos Grande might not be as ‘grande’ (large in Spanish) as one would expect. However, it was actually big for Indonesian standards. When you order Nachos in Indonesia, you usually get a few pieces of tortilla with half-heartedly put tiny pieces of meat. So looking at this serving made me quite happy.

Beef Nachos Grande – 43.9k

Our next entree is a hidden gem. It is also appropriately named as the Exotic Delight! The image might not do justice as it only showed French fries and capsicums. However, I can tell you that they are not your usual French fries.

Exotic Delight – 34.9k

I ordered Nasi Goreng Kambing (lamb fried rice) because I wanted to make a comparison (that might sound a little bit unfair) to the legendary Nasi Goreng Kambing Kebon Sirih. In terms of aesthetic, there was no doubt that their fried rice fared a lot better than the legendary site. It was still a good alternative if you didn’t want to travel to Central Jakarta.

Nasi Goreng Kambing – 35.9k

They also have decent-sized ribs, such as Iga bakar balado or Rib original barbecue. Iga bakar balado had quite a unique taste to it as it was meant to be hot and spicy (not your typical ribs, eh?). Rib (notice that it is only one rib) original barbecue on the other hand resembled your typical ribs with slightly juicy twist, Indonesian-style.

Iga bakar balado – 78.9k

Rib original barbecue – 78.9k

The dish that I actually ordered myself was smoked chicken with creamy mushroom sauce. You get nearly half a chicken with a hint of salsa and green veggies at the top. The chicken was perfectly cooked (well, in this case, smoked) and I was impressed with the combination of mushroom sauce and sweet and sour. They also have other flavours for the smoked chicken you are welcomed to try!

Smoked chicken with creamy mushroom sauce – 69.9k

I didn’t get to try the next two dishes. Its Spaghetti Bolognaise was nicely presented with two edible curiously-looking things sticking out of the noodles. If you look at its Lasagna alforno you have to admire its juicy and messy feel to it! Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty in it!

Spaghetti Bolognaise – 36.9k

Lasagna alforno – 36.9k

The final verdict for Choco Corner

All of the dishes were beautifully presented and done at Choco Corner Mal Artha Gading. Our favourites of the day were the Exotic Delight and Smoked Chicken. They were exotically different than other dishes I’ve eaten in Indonesia.

Did you know?

Choco Corner was a brainchild in 2009 of a reunion of classmates from Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB – Bogor Agricultural University) that wanted to promote cacao commodity. From a simple coffee corner, they expanded to full-blown restaurant service without leaving their core cocoa values!

Details:

Mal Artha Gading – Ground Floor

+62 21 458 641 99

Oct 24, 2014
Java Restaurant

Review:

I have wanted to go to this week’s restaurant for as long as I could remember, but we just kept delaying it… until now. Located in Randwick, Java Restaurant (the name is quite easy to remember, isn’t it?) is quite unassuming and you can easily miss it because of the old decor.

We were quite optimistic about the place because as we went for an early dinner, there were people already dined there. Sometimes good restaurants can simply be seen by the number of patrons eating there at odd hours of the day.

While we were there, we skipped all the regulars that we could find in other Indonesian restaurants around Sydney, with the exception of fried kwetiau. There were still quite a bit to choose from and we tried to order as much as we could eat them!

First off is Nasi Goreng Babat. It was Indonesian specialty fried rice with beef tripe (cow’s tummy). This dish came with traditional Indonesian crackers (melinjo), egg and sliced tomatoes. I have this guilty pleasure of enjoying quite about everything even when they are not the healthy option, because that’s where most of the great taste comes from!

Nasi Goreng Babat – $11.90 – Indonesian style fried rice with beef tripe and tomato slices

For the second dish, Semur Kepiting Sokak, I do not think the name reflects the description given. Traditionally speaking, semur is a rich, soup-based dish. Whereas this dish is deep fried soft shell crabs with sweet soy sauce and lots of onions and capsicums. It is still a great dish, but I think it should be named Kepiting Soka bumbu kecap (Soft shell crab with sweet soy sauce) instead of semur.

Semur Kepiting Sokak (Soft Shell Crab) – $20.90 – Lightly battered fried soft shell crab pieces topped with shallots, onions, and capsicum slices in butter sweet soya sauce

At the end of last month when we went to Ester, I was quite disappointed that they did not serve bone marrow. So I quickly made up my mind at the first sight of the word “bone marrow” in this restaurant. Better yet, it’s salt and pepper bone marrow with chopped chilli! They called the dish Sum sum Goreng.The Indonesian word for bone marrow is supposedly sumsum.

Sumsum Goreng – $14.90 – Salt and peppered lightly battered fried beef bone marrow pieces with cut chilli

Sumsum Goreng – $14.90 – Salt and peppered lightly battered fried beef bone marrow pieces with cut chilli

Kwetiau Goreng was our last dish of the day. It is quite a well balanced dish with good amount of chicken, fish cakes and prawns atop the thick rice noodles.

Kwetiau Goreng – $11.90 – Stir-fried thick rice noodles with chicken, egg, vegetables, fishcakes and small prawn pieces

Last, but definitely not least, Indonesians love to have avocado for desserts and/or drinks. Es Alpukat is a shaved ice (the menu said ‘crushed ice’) dessert with fresh avocado, coffe and condensed milk.

Es Alpukat – $5.80 – Fresh avocado pieces in coffee and condensed milk with crushed ice

The final verdict for Java Restaurant

There are quite a few ‘interesting’ descriptions in the menu at Java Restaurant. However in terms of taste, I must say they were up to my expectations!

Did you know?

A couple of months ago, my Dutch colleague asked me a question that he assumed every Indonesian should know: Where can I get a Rijst Tafel in Sydney?

Very clueless, I replied “What is Rijst Tafel? “. Apparently rijst tafel is a kind of extravagant, old-fashioned Indonesian meal that they have in the Netherlands that people spends countless hours preparing to impress their guests. They cook several Indonesian dishes and prepare them as a banquet-style meal where people share and enjoy the dishes together.

I knew NOTHING about it.

Amazingly, Java restaurant managed to actually have rijst tafel in their menu. So, I am even more impressed with them!

Rijst Tafel menu

Rating for Java Restaurant:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $10-20 for main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

151 Avoca Street, Randwick

+61 2 9398 6990

www.javarestaurant.com.au

Oct 14, 2014
Boemi Joglo

Review:

For this week’s review we travelled up and down mountain side in Bandung to a place called Boemi Joglo. It is quite an interesting name choice that can be translated into ‘The World of Joglo’. Joglo is a traditional house of Javanese people. You can read more about Joglo in Wikipedia as usual.

Boemi Joglo has this fantastic one-page listing of stuff you can eat and drink. It is very simple with no pictures. So, you kind of have to know what you want to eat.

The first thing you have to order is Tempe Mendoan. Tempe mendoan is a deep fried soy bean cake with yummy spices. The difference between regular and great tempe mendoan is its ‘sambal kecap’ dipping sauce. This restaurant has a pretty tasty dipping sauce to complement the dish!

Tempe Mendoan – 7k

Their ‘signature dish’ is Nasi Liwet. There are two options of Nasi Liwet: Nasi Liwet Ikan Asin or Nasi Liwet Ayam Jamur. You need to order the nasi liwet based on the (perceived) number of people on the table. It has a serving for 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 people. Nasi Liwet Ikan Asin has salted fish as its core ingredient. They put quite a few vegetables in the dish, but I don’t really mind it this time.

Nasi Liwet Ikan Asin – 35k -140k

Nasi Liwet Ayam Jamur’s core ingredients are chicken pieces and mushrooms. I guess this one is for the less adventurous people that have ‘regular’ taste palate. The rice is cooked on a clay pot. Clay pot cooking presented a nice dimension to the rice you are eating.

Nasi Liwet Ayam Jamur – 35k -140k

What I love the most about the place is its Sate Maranggi. This satay has 1/3 of fat content in every stick -> Yes, it’s crazy fattening but incredibly yummy! Sate Maranggi is usually served with chopped chilli, sweet soy sauce and vinegar.

Sate Maranggi Sapi and Kambing – 23k

Sate Maranggi Sapi and Kambing – 23k

The next one might be good if you have fussy eaters: Kentang Sosis, which translates into Fries and Sausages. Nothing can go wrong with fries and sausages… or can it?

Kentang Sosis – 16.5k

This last dish is pretty good if there is only a few of you. Nasi Timbel Joglo + Sayur Asem is the name. You get a pretty good deal for this one: A quarter of grilled chicken, two pieces of Tempe Mendoan, rice cooked in banana leaf, chilli sauce, some vegetables and sayur asem. Sayur asem is a sweet and sour vegetable soup with tamarind as its main ingredient.

Nasi Timbel Joglo and Sayur Asem – 26k

Teh Poci – 15k

The final verdict for Boemi Joglo

Being Javanese I do not normally eat these dishes, except maybe the Satay. Moreover, I usually pass on Nasi Liwet, let alone eating them. However, Boemi Joglo delivered such a killer Nasi Liwet that I cannot get enough of!

Did you know?

Dago is quite a large (and famous) part of Bandung. They have shops, cafes, boutiques on the lower part and restaurants with nice view of the city at the Northern part, called Dago Pakar.

One small warning though: Going there on a weekend would seem like a struggle, because of the tiny road being run over by millions of people.

Rating for Boemi Joglo:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $3 – $5 per person

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Jalan Rancakendal Luhur No. 17, Dago Bandung

+62 22 250 1344 / 9112 1679

Oct 3, 2014
Ester Restaurant and Bar

Review:

Mat Lindsay, Ester Restaurant and Bar Chef

Ester was named new restaurant of the year in this year’s Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2015, so we are obviously here to put the claim to the test! Thanks to Miss Piggy on her review about Ester, we already have pre-defined list of what we want to eat there.

What we were not aware of was the fact that the food in the menu is meant to be shared for the whole table! They have the option of a la carte or a banquet menu of seven dishes for $65 pp. The six of us decided to have the a la carte option that ended up costing us $60 pp including drinks. We had four entrees, four main dishes and two desserts.

Entrees

Order the house baked bread if you do not plan to order chicken liver pate, because the chicken liver pate came with the house baked bread. I encouraged you to order this dish as the liver pate was smooth and tasty. They provided sliced beetroot to balance the strong pate taste.

house baked bread 3 p.p.

chicken liver pate 17

I had a mix feeling for the next two entrees. We had a massive expectation for the roasted oysters (you can order one, half or dozen). However, I think my expectation was a bit too high when comparing it to Tetsuya’s Oyster Vinaigrette. It’s still a nice oyster with quite a lot of garlic.

roasted oysters 4/22/40

The lobster sausage sanga on the other hand was awesome! Served on top of warm white bread, the sausage was incredibly juicy and obviously sharing one plate was not enough!

lobster sausage sanga 9 each

Our last entree was ricotta gnudi with lobster sauce. Gnudi is a variant of gnocchi with ricotta as its filling. I love the fluffy texture of the gnudi and they mixed really well with the strong tasting of lobster sauce. For the complete experience, I suggest you to order this dish with the next one on the main dishes part.

ricotta gnudi / lobster sauce 16

Main Dishes

King prawns, with brown butter and capers, is the name of the dish. They gave you three gigantic prawns per dish and you can also opt for an additional prawn depending on the number of guests on your table. The prawns were grilled to perfection and I think the dish was perfectly priced.

prawns / brown butter / capers 26

The only vegetables dish of the day came in the shape of cauliflower with almond and mint. The cauliflower was grilled maybe a bit too much but the mint sauce and almond worked quite well. It was actually quite refreshing!

cauliflower / almond / mint 16

As there were quite a few of us, we decided to order the whole snapper rather than the fillet. The snapper came with saltbush and vinegar. Luckily we have a skilled debone person in house, so we had no problem eating the fish.

whole snapper / saltbush / vinegar 45

The last main dish of the day was a special, off-the-menu item: Crispy Roast Duck with burnt honey and fennel seeds. I wonder why he doesn’t make this the mainstay on the menu because it was incredibly tasty! The duck was perfectly cooked with very crispy skin and very juicy meat. I really couldn’t get enough off it! I think this is the best value for your money!

Crispy Roast Duck / burnt honey / fennel seeds 39

Desserts

I hope you save your tummy for desserts as the two that we ordered were excellent. First we had three milks. I know the name sounded really lame and unappealing with a little hint of curiosity. “What is ‘three milks’?” might probably be the most frequently asked question at the restaurant. Three milks is a combination of dulce de leche (aka caramel), panna cotta and sheep’s milk foam. You get the crunchy caramel and crumbs, nice and sweet panna cotta and sour and airy sheep’s milk foam. If you love desserts, you would NOT want to share this!

three milks 11

Last, but definitely not least, is the salted caramel semi-freddo. I thought when they talked about freddo, it’s that frog from Cadbury. Semifreddo is an Italian word for half cold or semi-frozen. The salted caramel was quite sweet and flavoursome.

salted caramel semi-freddo 4

The final verdict for Ester Restaurant and Bar

There is no mistake that Ester Restaurant and Bar was crowned the 2014 Best New Restaurant in Sydney by Sydney Morning Herald. Everything we had there was terrific! Three milks is the one that you must order when you are there!

Did you know?

Ester changes their menu depending on the seasonal availability. Keep an eye on Bone marrow dish if it’s available at the restaurant when you dine there. We were unlucky as the dish was not on the menu when we were there.

Rating for Ester Restaurant and Bar:

8.5 / 10

Taste: 8.5 / 10

Price: $50-60 per person or $65 banquet menu

Place: 8.0 / 10

Details:

46 – 52 Meagher Street, Chippendale

+61 2 8068 8279

http://ester-restaurant.com.au/

Sep 29, 2014
Dish’d Launch Event with Jacques Reymond

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]

One day, an email came into my mail box with a subject: dish’d and Jacques Reymond invite you to experience a delicious evening of discovery… And my first reaction was: Who is Jacques Reymond?

Upon Googling for more information, I discovered that he is a very famous chef who ‘retired’ from his self-titled restaurant ‘Jacques Reymond – Cuisine du Temps’ in Melbourne last year. Over the last 27 years, he managed to collect 80 hats (that was no small feat!).

Dish’d Launch Event with Jacques Reymond

I came into the event pretty early as the expected traffic jam along the way did not really happen. I quickly realised that there were quite a few famous people amongst the crowd. I didn’t really know their names, except maybe a select few like Justine Schofield from Masterchef or Rosie Henshaw from The Voice. Yes… I was getting a little bit starstruck here!

There were three big stalls (five if you include the two bars) setup during the event.

The Comfort Stall

This is the stall I frequented the most when I was there. They had a very yummy Spinach and Mascarpone Pizza. They also had the Lamb backstrap perfectly combined with Chimichurri rice.

Seafood and Pasta Stall

I love the idea of chilled pearl couscous salad combined with marinated scallops.

Dessert Stall

Dessert Stall – Crepe Suzette, Love Apples, Black Pearls

By far, the biggest stall of the night. It had loads of goodies. Despite the irresistible smell of the Crepes Suzzete, I was only able to eat its Tiramisu al mascarpone.

Dish’d: The Story

Dish’d Food store started in Melbourne back in 2011. They delivered a full range of meals from finger food to mouth-watering cakes and tarts.

Their food is delivered for free if you spend more than $80. Obviously, you could microwave it for instant result, but it’s best to follow the other cooking instruction.

Jacques Reymond

Beside Tetsuya Wakuda, Jacques Reymond is probably the only other three-hat chef I’ve ever met. We have not been in luck with the other chefs when we visited their restaurants.

As I mentioned earlier, for almost 30 years, he has won countless awards and hats. 17 of those years were spent as a three-hat chef! His restaurant is now called Woodland House, operated and run by his chefs Thomas Woods and Hayden McFarland.

He joined the dish’d team in February 2014.

[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”flexslider_fade” interval=”3″ images=”3192,3194,3196,3197,3198,3199,3200,3201″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” title=”Dish’d Launch Event with Jacques Reymond” img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Sep 23, 2014
Ria Galeria

Review:

Ria Galeria is famous in Surabaya for its vast array of dishes in their arsenal. It is one of the few good restaurants in Surabaya that doesn’t consist of only one champion dish. Established in 1985, Ria Galeria is trying to live up to its slogan ‘authentic taste’.

There are two dishes that we always ordered: Tumis Lurjuk and Sate Sumsum. Unfortunately they ran out of marrow for the satay sumsum this time around. Stir fry ‘lurjuk’ in sweet soy sauce is a rarity dish that you can only find in a handful of restaurants in Surabaya. It is a seafood-based and taste pretty exotic. Read more about lurjuk on the ‘Did you know?’ section below. Seriously, you must order this dish as you would never find anything like it in any parts of this world.

Tumis Lurjuk – Stir fry ‘lurjuk’ in sweet soy sauce – Rp. 42k

Tumis Lurjuk – Rp. 42k

Still from the seafood department, we have Gurami Asam Manis. Gourami is also quite a unique fish from South East Asia. On this occasion, we wanted it to be deep fried with sweet and sour sauce. It’s quite similar to sweet and sauce condiments in Chinese food, but usually Indonesians add shredded carrots to the sauce.

Sweet and Sour Gourami

We also ordered Kepiting Gembos Dadar Telor (soft shell crab omelette) and Deep Fried Calamari. Considering that Surabaya is a port city, there is bound to be loads of fresh seafood products.

Kepiting Gembos Dadar Telor – soft shell crab omelette – Rp. 50k

Deep Fried Calamari

Moving away from seafood dishes, we have Sate Ayam Ria Galeria. They claimed it to be the ‘special’ chicken satay. As I have been eating it for a very long time (every time I visit the restaurant), I have grown accustomed to its unique taste. From the beef department, we have Sop asam-asam Iga, loosely translated into spicy sweet and sour ribs soup. Although the name is sweet and sour, this version incorporates quite a distinct flavour compared to the gourami one above.

Sate Ayam Ria Galeria – Special “Ria Galeria” Chicken satay – Rp. 55k

Sop Asem-asem Iga – spicy sweet and sour ribs soup – Rp. 65k

They also have varieties of green vegetables and bean sprouts which I would normally care less about. The important thing about eating all of the dishes above is when you eat them with steamy rice and ‘sambal pencit’ (for those of you who eat spicy stuff).

Nasi Putih and Sambal Pencit

Last but not least, it’s the refreshing taste of Es Siwalan Special. Most people mistaken Siwalan as ‘young coconut’ but, it is a very different fruit altogether.

Es Siwalan Special – Sweet young coconut drink – Rp. 35k.

The final verdict for Ria Galeria

Ria Galeria put decent efforts in keeping up with its ‘authentic taste’ slogan. They also offered several hard-to-find dishes originated from East Java, such as Lurjuk.

Did you know?

Tumis lurjuk is quite an interesting delicacy native of Surabaya and Madura island that is pretty hard to find in restaurants even Surabaya. Some said that it derived from ‘kerang bambu’ (bamboo clam), but I don’t think it’s quite right as lurjuk is typically a lot smaller than that.

In addition to the dish above, people deep fried lurjuk for snack!

Rating for Ria Galeria:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $3-5 for main dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Jalan Bangka 2 – 4, Surabaya

+62 31 5030181

Sep 9, 2014