Food Tasting Invitation : White Asparagus Season at Bengawan

It's White Asparagus season! If you didn't know what's the difference between the green or white one, the difference is only by how they grew it. The green one using light / sunlight to grow, the white one was covered in soil so there's no contact with the light. It is said that the white asparagus is considered to be slightly milder in flavor and a bit more tender than the green one.

Since it's not available throughout the year, usually white asparagus can be available around April to June. Chef Lamberto Valdez Lara, the Executive Chef, told us that they flew the white asparagus from Peru all the way to Jakarta! So ..  shall we start ?



Cold Starter : White asparagus Salad, Slow Poached Yabbies, Red Peppers Coulis,Garlic Dressing - IDR 220.000. This one is quite yum. If you didn't know what Yabbies is, it's a type of crayfish. Has similar textured like shrimp. It was cooked perfectly so it gives a nice crunch to the salad. 

Hot Starter : Beef Bacon Wrapped White asparagus with Cepes, Poached Quail Egg, Black Truffle, Hollandaise Foam - IDR 235.000. The beef was very tender, and it's quite nice to mix the asparagus with quail eggs. But I think it need more of the Hollandaise though.

Soup : White Asparagus Cream Soup, Alaskan King Crab, Black Caviar - IDR 250.000. If you had asparagus, you make an Asparagus soup isn't it? :D The soup tasted very light, and the white asparagus gives a nice crunch texture to it. Chef Lamberto also told us that they're use a high grade Caviar, which is Osetra. There are 3 grades of caviar which is Sevruga ( the not so expensive and has the smallest form ) , Osetra ( medium form and more stronger flavor), Beluga ( the most expensive and also the largest). 

Main Course : I chose 200gr Wagyu Rib Eye Steak with Vegetables and Layered Potatoes in Red Wine Sauce. The meat cooked perfectly and sauce was totally yum.

The other bloggers chose Australian Wagyu Beef Fillet 180 gr served on a bed of white asparagus, Pan Fried foie Grass, Roasted Baby Potato, Port wine Jus - IDR 700.000.



And for the dessert Chef Lamberto make an interesting dish! White Asparagus Kefir Pannacotta with Ginger Compote - IDR 160.000. This is my first time having asparagus as my dessert :D Not like the usual Pannacotta that is silky and smooth, this one has textured more like pudding to me. More firm, and tasted sour. It's interesting that Chef Lamberto said he didn't use any Lime/Lemon in it, but it tasted fresh with lemony-like taste.

For the drink I chose Mixed Berry Ice Tea. Also refreshing with generous berries in it!

 Wanna know more about Bengawan Restaurant? Go check out my previous post here. Last words, Thanks Eka and Keraton at The Plaza for inviting :)

Room with a view !

Bengawan Signature Restaurant
Keraton at The Plaza
Jl. MH Thamrin Kav 15, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Phone      : ( 021 ) 50680000
Facebook : Keraton at The Plaza
Twitter      : @KeratonJakarta

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Food Tasting Invitation : The Flavours of Philippines at Satoo

Couple weeks ago I was invited by Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta, to taste some of the Philippines ( or we can say Filipino ) food promotion during 15- 25th April 2013. Supported by the Philippines embassy, we also can enjoy some of their traditional dance, which is Bayanihan dance. It was a great experience for me! Since I only knew Halo- Halo ( Filipino's dessert ) ;D

BayanihanFolk Dance !

Jeepney! Their traditional transport :D

 Yes, even though our country not that far away, I'm kind of wondering why we don't have many Filipino food around here. We have so many Thailand, Malaysian, Singaporean even Vietnamese food around here, but not Filipino. I'm starting to have interest in Filipino's food since I have so many Filipino's friends from Instagram. And from them, I also knew that we do have much similarity both in our languages and also our food :D

Filipino's cuisine are a mixed of  Malay, Spanish, Chinese and American as well. So sometimes the taste was quite familiar to us, but some is not. So I bet you're curious too about Filipino's food right? Shall we start? ;)

 

The dinner start with some Filipino's Appetizer. There's Silken Tofu with Prawns, Kilawing Lapu- Lapu ( Fish Salad ) , Talong at Kamatis at Itlog na Maalat Salad ( Tomato and Eggplant Salad with Salted Egg). The Silken Tofu with Prawns was really yum. It's just taste like chinese one. The Kilawing Lapu- Lapu was quite sour and chewy. The Tomato and Eggplant Salad with Salted Egg was quite strange to me. Popping flavor.


  
Then, Lumpiang Ubod ( Fresh Eggroll with Heart of Palm Filling ). The wrap was taste like crepes, the filling.. I think they use Bamboo Shoot instead the heart of palm and also shrimp. With pomelo on the side and sweet thick sauce pour on it, I don't know... I can't say I like it, but I can't say I hate it either ;p The flavor was quite strong, sweet, sour, salty. 
 
Seafood Sinigang ( Seafood Sour Soup ). Seriously, this soup can make your eyes popped! When you see it, you thought it's gonna taste like Tom Yum, but it's not! The pink soup was made from Guava ( interesting huh ), but the taste was too sour and salty in my opinion. 

  
Hinurnong Talangka ( Baked Crab ). The filling was savory.

Beef Kaldareta ( Filipino's Beef Stew ). This one is really yum! The beef is tender, sweet and savory at the same time. 

Lechon Manok ( Roasted Chicken ). Cooked perfectly!


And from the buffet, I also tasted Pork Knuckles Humba, Chicken and Pork Adobo, Beef Kare Kare ( Beef cooked in Peanuts Sauce ). All is Masarap! ( delicious )

 And for the dessert, Choux Pastry with Yam, Peanut Cake, Pandan Gelatin in Sweet Milk. All is yum! But my most fave is the Pandan Gelatin in Sweet Milk. 

 
And also, I can't miss the Halo - Halo. This one is similar to our Ice Campur , but the different is they also add corn, ube ( purple yam ), Leche Flan ( Caramel Flan ) and some ube Ice Cream. Too bad that time they're running out of the Leche Flan and Ice Cream :(

 But overall, I really having great time trying this new cuisine that I never had before. So if I go traveling to Philippines I'm not that clueless anymore ;p So thanks once again for Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta for inviting :)

Satoo Restaurant 
Shangri-La Hotel, Kota BNI
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 1, Jakarta
 Facebook : Shangri- La Hotel, Jakarta
Twitter     : @ShangriLaJKT

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Food Tasting Invitation : Fook Yew

When I was 'check-in' on facebook when I came to this restaurant, my friend immediately comment 'really??'. Haha...  Despite their provocative name, I think they're really took the fun side of languages. 'Fook' is a chinese word for Fortune and 'Yew' means Friendship. A beautiful meaning behind it, wasn't it? ;)


As one of the establishment from Ismaya Group, Fook Yew's interior also please the eye. Spacious with it's indoor and semi-outdoor seating area, bold vibrant colors & vintage 'old-town' chinese decor, you can tell it's not the-usual chinese restaurant. Attention to detail.

 
Food Tasting

The food tasting starting with their signature Spicy Beef Sheng Jian Bao. Sheng Jian Bao is a typically breakfast item in Shanghai, it's actually a buns but it's pan-fried, and the filling was like a Xiao Long Bao, which has soup in it. This Spicy Beef Sheng Jian Bao from Fook Yew was tasted a bit sweet though, and there's no soup in it. The skin was quite chewy, bit similar like eating mochi. 

Chicken and Prawn Sheng Jian Bao.

Black Sesame Sheng Jian Bao. The black sesame filling taste quite nice. 

Fook Yew Fried Rice. A typical chinese fried rice ( not using the sweet soy sauce like ours ), quite enjoyable.
 
Ni Chang Sweet and Sour Chicken. This was the winning dish. A succulent chicken bits with it's sweet and sour taste. Yum!
 
Macau Fried Seafood Noodle with Egg Sauce. I always love this kind of food! Mixed texture of crunch and soup. The egg sauce was perfect!


Two Flavor Hongkong Kailan. To me, this one was quite a new way of presenting Kailan. The leaves was fried until really crisp and the stem was sauteed with garlic. I really love the savory-crispy Kailan leaves!

For the drinks, Fook Yew also concentrate in Bubble Tea. Yes, Bubble Tea phenomenon are everywhere now! This one is Kungfu Hustle and The Return of The Condor Heroes. Familiar with the name ? ;D Oh yeah, they're also serves the Alcoholic Bubble Tea one!

Last words, I really do having a great time. Thanks Fook Yew and Ismaya Group for inviting ;)

Fook Yew
Gandaria City - Mainstreet GF, Unit MG 25
Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda 5 No. 8,
Jakarta Selatan.
Phone : ( 021 ) 29007897
Twitter : @fook_yew
Facebook : Fook Yew

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Ten Ten Tempura Cooking Class

I loveeee cooking! and if I ever got a chance to join some cooking class, I'm definitely in ;D Not only because I love to cook, but sometimes it's good to learn the 'right' technique and recipe, since I'm only learning from Youtube ( uh huh! )

Taking place at Ten- Ten Plaza Indonesia, the event starting with Chef Dian presenting how to make the Tempura Omurice. Ten Ten already well known with their yummy tempura, so it's nice to learn how to make it from them. After the cooking demo is done, then we had a mini competition to make our own Tempura Omurice. Team up with Umi, AnakJajan and Food Venturer, we do had fun making the omurice together! ;D Wanna know how to make your own ? I will post the recipe after ;)

After the cooking class, we've also been served with the yummy food from Ten Ten. Starting with Ebi Yose as an appetizer. This one is a prawn cake with Teriyaki sauce and mayonnaise. It is sooooo yum! Bit crunchy, savory and you really can taste the prawn. Winner!

Then I had Tenbara Donburi for the main course. A crispy bits of tempura ( there's prawn, mushroom, etc) with their signature tendon sauce and rice. Quite enjoyable.


Then they also served Foret Noire and Cookies & Cheese for dessert. The Foret Noire had texture like mousse with strong chocolate taste, and Cookies & Cheese tasted like oreo cheesecake, but lighter. 

So that's the overall event that I attend, and once again, thanks to Indonesian Food Bloggers Group & Ten Ten for inviting :) 

Our Creation! :p

 Tempura Omurice

Ingredients :

Tempura :
2pieces Prawn 
40gr Sweet Potatoes
8gr Green Beans
2pcs Carrots
52gr Japanese Pumpkin ( Kabocha )
70gr Nissin Tempura Flour
140ml Cold Water 
 Vegetable Oil for Frying

Omurice : 
15ml Oil
10gr julienned carrots 
10gr green beans
10gr corn
10gr onions
180gr Rice
20gr Butter 
2 eggs
2gr corn starch mixed with water

Directions : 

To make the Tamagoyaki, Mix eggs with cornstarch and water, whisk. Heat oil on the pan, and pour the egg mixture to the pan evenly. Cook until done.

To make the Butter Rice, heat oil on the pan, saute the onions, carrots, green beans and corns until cooked. Put in rice, salt and pepper to taste, mix well. Add butter and mix again. 

To make Tempura, Mix Tempura Flour with cold water, put all the ingredients into the batter. Heat oil on the pan, with low heat, deep fry the ingredients one by one. Swirl some batter onto the ingredients to make extra crunch ( which I love ;p ). Take it out when it turns to golden color.

To assemble, spoon the Butter Rice into the Tamagoyaki and fold gently ( you can use the omurice mold as well ) , put tempura on the side, serve with chili/tomato sauce on top of the rice. Usually they also use Demi-glaze sauce for the omurice, but since they're not explaining how to make it, so I didn't write it on the recipe above :)


Ten Ten Tempura House 
Basement Level unit 16-17, Plaza Indonesia
Phone  : ( 021 ) 751 23 69
Facebook : Ten Ten Jakarta 
Twitter    : @tentenjakarta

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Femina Foodlovers Blog Competition 2013

Hi guys, I’m joining a competition from Femina Magazine, so for this post only, I will write on Bahasa Indonesia. Hope you didn’t mind and wish me luck ok! ;D

 

Street food atau ‘makanan pinggiran’ selalu ada tempat tersendiri di hati saya. Tumbuh besar di kota Jakarta dimana berbagai pendatang dari daerah-daerah memberikan pengaruhnya tersendiri, sungguh melatih lidah saya untuk menyukai keragaman kuliner Indonesia. Asin, manis, pedas, asam, berkuah, dibakar, semuanya ada. 

Bisa dibilang makanan- makanan pinggiran inilah yang selalu menjadi kebanggaan saya ketika berbicara dengan teman- teman dari negara lain. Apakah yang membuatnya berbeda? Saya bisa menjawab ……. sensasinya! Sensasi makan dipinggir jalan, ditemani polusi udara yang tidak terkira. Sensasi kepanasan dan keringatan, karena hanya menggunakan ‘AC alami’. Sensasi antara makan duduk tanpa meja ataupun tidak duduk sama sekali ( oh yeah! ). Sensasi perut kenyang, padahal uang yang dikeluarkan hanya Rp.10.000 ( plus es teh  :p ). Adakah yang bisa menandingi sensasi seperti yang disebutkan diatas?? Saya rasa tidak ada :D

Dengan beragamnya rasa dan jenis masakan yang ada di seluruh Indonesia, rasanya tidak cukup waktu untuk bisa merasakan semuanya. Jujur, keliling seluruh Indonesia dan mencicipi semua masakannya, masih ada di ‘bucket-list’ saya. Karena masing – masing daerah mempunyai ciri khasnya sendiri, bahkan kadang ,jenis satu masakan yang sama bisa menjadi suatu masakan yang berbeda di masing-masing kota. Contohnya, Soto. Soto Madura berbeda dengan Soto Betawi, Soto Betawipun berbeda dari Soto Lamongan, Soto Lamonganpun  beda dengan Soto Kudus. Soto Kudus pun berbeda dari Soto Padang. Soto Padang pun berbeda dari Soto Medan.

Dari nama- nama soto tersebut diatas, tahukah kalian perbedaannya masing- masing? Saya yakin tidak semua orang mengetahui betul perbedaannya masing- masing, sayapun juga begitu awalnya. Banyak kalangan muda sekarang lebih berminat kepada makanan- makanan berbau barat, dibanding makanan negeri sendiri. Lebih pilih pizza daripada makan gado- gado, lebih pilih burger daripada makan sate.  Kalau perilaku seperti ini diteruskan, akan berbahaya pastinya dikemudian hari. Warisan kuliner yang sudah turun temurun dapat saja hilang atau bisa – bisa diambil lisensinya oleh negara sebelah ( oops !).

Soto Kuning Bogor

Seberapa banyak dari kita mengetahui apa itu Tengkleng? Atau Kapurung?  Atau Sego Kucing ? Kadang kalau saya pergi makan sama teman- teman dan memesan Tinutuan ( Bubur Manado ) yang suka ada di food court mall, masih ada saja yang terheran dan menanyakan, “ itu apa?” Yah mau bagaimana lagi, kita hidup di masyarakat yang punya pola pikir, budaya luar tuh lebih keren, budaya sendiri mah ‘tidak asik/ gaul’. “Mana keren malem mingguan nongkrong diwarung pinggir jalan?”, mungkin itu yang ada di benak kita masing-masing.

Tengkleng Solo

Sate Padang

 Sewaktu ada kesempatan tinggal selama 1 bulan di luar negri, saya jadi menyadari bahwa tidak ada yang dapat menandingi kuliner negri sendiri. Dengan keseharian makan steak, keju, salad, membuat lidah saya bosan dengan rasa yang itu- itu saja. Rata- rata hanya asin, gurih atau manis. Beda dengan jajanan atau makanan yang ada di Indonesia, pagi saya bisa makan makanan yang asin gurih, siang saya bisa makan yang pedas, malam saya bisa makan sesuatu yang manis, keberagaman dan variasi inilah yang membuatnya saya selalu rindu.

Kalau ditanya apa makanan favorit saya ? Saya akan jawab, Bakso! Haha… Saya selalu suka makanan- makanan yang berkuah, maka dari itulah bakso adalah makanan favorit saya. Kalau lagi hujan, pengennya makan bakso, kalau lagi pilek pengennya makan bakso, kalau lagi tidak mau makan berat, pengennya makan bakso juga. Perpaduan panasnya kuah bening namun gurih dengan tekstur bakso yang kenyal, belum lagi ditambah sambal yang pedas dan juga… cuka ( personal preference ), selalu bikin nagih. Dari Bakso Solo,  Bakso Malang, ataupun Bakso Singkawang, bisa jadi saya santap minimal 1kali seminggu. 

Seperti contoh yang sudah saya sebutkan diatas, saya juga penggemar berat Soto. Soto Ayam Ambengan dan Lamongan adalah favorit saya. Gurihnya bumbu koya selalu menambah sensasinya tersendiri. Saya punya satu tempat langganan makan soto, yang setiap kesana saya boleh dengan bebas menambah koyanya. Heaven ! Membicarakan makanan pinggiran juga tidak lepas dari seafood pinggir jalan. Kebetulan didekat rumah ada sebuah tempat seafood yang terkenal, yang rasanya kita sudah pesan berbagai menu sampai kenyang, pada akhirnya kita hanya membayar Rp30.000/orang. Sungguh sebuah hal yang patut disyukuri apabila tinggal di Indonesia :p

Sop Kambing

Pada akhirnya satu hal yang menjadi perhatian adalah masalah kebersihan atau kesehatan. Saya suka dengan celetukan seorang teman yang masih saya suka pakai sampai sekarang “Gembel aja engga mati”. Haha… Kalau yang tidak mengerti, maksudnya adalah para pemungut atau yang tidak mampu saja tidak apa-apa ketika makan makanan yang kotor, apalagi kita? :p Kadang kalau makan makanan pinggiran, kita hanya bisa menutup mata ( “jangan lihat dapurnya “) dan pastinya membaca doa sebelum makan, jangan sampai perut menjadi sakit sehabis makan makanan tersebut. 

Banyaknya oknum-oknum yang mencemari kuliner kita dengan memakai bahan- bahan kimia berbahaya hanya demi keuntungan pribadi, juga sangat mengkhawatirkan. Yah seperti halnya pemakaian boraks pada daging bakso atau pemakaian pewarna pakaian pada makanan, hal – hal tersebut lah yang bisa membunuh kuliner dan juga penduduk kita secara perlahan-lahan. Sangat memprihatinkan. Tetapi apa daya apabila masyarakat kita ini belum teredukasi dengan baik, dan sekali lagi tidak ada wadah bagi para- para pedagang makanan ini.

Saya masih suka merindukan bebek goreng yang waktu dulu dijual oleh seorang bapak di jalan Gardujati, Bandung. Sayang sekali karena sang bapak sudah dipanggil yang di Atas, tidak ada yang meneruskan resep yang dia punya. Inilah permasalahan yang juga sering kali timbul di hasanah kuliner kita. Keterbatasan modal, tenaga maupun ilmu manajemen yang baik seringkali membunuh para pedagang –pedagang ini, padahal mereka adalah ujung tombak kuliner kita.

Nasi Kalong

Pada akhirnya kita hanya bisa berharap pada pemerintah untuk lebih lagi memperhatikan warisan kuliner nusantara berikut para pedagangnya. Agar kemudian hari kita bisa mencapai kualitas dan mutu yang baik disetiap makanan kita, sehingga suatu hari kuliner Indonesia-pun bisa lebih lagi dikenal masyarakat dunia. Dan kita sebagai warga, apakah yang bisa kita lakukan? Dengan lebih mencintai dan mengapresiasi  berbagai macam makanan Indonesia, dan tidak malu untuk menunjukkannya pada dunia  ( lewat social media contohnya ), saya rasa sedikit banyak dapat membantu menjaga warisan kuliner negri ini. Last words, Aku Cinta Masakan Indonesia! setuju ? :D

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