Food and Factory Outlet Hunting Day

Last Saturday I went out of town to Bogor for Food Hunting and
shopping spree with two friends, one of whom is actually a denizen of Bogor but only stays there during weekends because of the work is in Jakarta. These two friends like to eat out at restaurant new to them.

Bogor is an hour's reach by car from Jakarta and it is known as the city of rain because the rainfall is relatively heavy there. Bogor's temperature used to be much cooler than Jakarta's, but don't expect that in current weird world weather, you'll be disappointed. Btw, if you haven't been to Bogor, then visiting Bogor Botanical Garden is A must!! It has a great collection of very big trees, various plants, and better quality of air.

We're lucky there's no rain during our visit there, though it did have rain earlier in the morning as reported by my friend's Mom.  Seems we had the mojo to stop the rain  :-D
We first visited Venus Bakery which is famous for its mini buns called Roti Unyil, then we hop to a nearby shop for Asinan Bogor (salted fruits or vegetables). Finish from there, we stuffed our stomach at Gurih 7, a Sundanese restaurant with open spaces in nature concept. The foods there are ordinary but not disappointing.

photos by:alo7

As our stomachs were tamed and our energy recharged, we went for thrifty shopping spree at Factory Outlets :)) ...but we didn't really succeed and only got one stuff for each of us from three FOs that we visited.

Went again for food hunting, and the next stop was Macaroni Panggang -roasted macaroni, where we ordered for a take away, a medium size of special  Macaroni Panggang cut into half -paid additional charge IDR 3K for cutting it; one half for me and the other for C...we're being thrifty of carbo intake :-P. The special one is the one with additional mushroom other than slices of beef. This Macaroni Panggang seems to have become one of Bogor's prides recently, and its taste does satisfy the taste buds. Hope one day I'll be able to find its original recipe, like last time I got an Original Tiramisu Recipe from my Italian teacher.

Out of MP, we went hunting at two other FOs again, and again got each of us just one stuff. Since it's almost 5pm, we took off for a street hawker seafood stall which receives a good review on one of our national newspapers -Kompas. G said the stall opens at 5pm. We ordered "Crabs in Padang Dressing", "Fried Crabs with chilli" and "Steamed Blood Cockles", and half portion of steamed rice for each of us. As we're about to finish from there, the stall was starting to be overpopulated with its visitors. I didn't find anything special about the cooking there, and I was a bit disappointed and now I have a doubt if that is really the one mentioned by Kompas.

Duped by Potato Head No. 51A

It's no secret to most of my good friends that I have a weakness for potato. Having no other information than the only hearsay by a friend about Potato Head, I suggested Gianti to have our brunch there. It's not really a brunch though, cause it's already close to 2pm when we changed our direction from one Plaza -*read* Shopping Centre, to Pacific Place because I couldn't stop thinking about meeting some scrumptious potato jackets which I have been longing for ages.

The first impression from the outside before stepping our feet there, the cozy atmosphere was in the air already. We couldn't find the menu book that usually some restaurants place on a stand in front of the entrance, we decided to enter anyway. We wanted to pick the seat on the second floor, cause the bridge to go there looks nice and the view from above would be wider. Too bad, the smokers own that level. I asked the waiter of another part in that resto for non smokers. She pointed only the one that she recommended us to take. Strangely and sadly, less than 4 meter from our table, there was one or two men smoking, and by the confirmation from the waiter, we found out that non-smokers only have around 36 square meter as their territory, and it's physically border-less.

 

Photo by potato head

Now, the menu....and this is why the title is duped by Potato Head :)
I couldn't find the many choices of jacket potato that I was imagining before. We then learned rightaway, that the resto's name has nothing to do with the potato in its menu specifically, the menu mainly consists of various western cookery. Disappointed but hungry, I then chose Tuna Spaghetti Aglio Olio (IDR 65000) and Orange Juice (IDR 30000), and Gianti ordered something like jacket potato (around IDR 55000) but I forgot its name, I just remember she squeak a bit, telling me with disappointing voice about the egg inside of the potato that she ordered. She chose not to order a drink cause she had her bottled water, and because the drinks at Potato Head are at least IDR 20000.
 The only available water is a pricey one.

Let's jump to the taste talk...
Not sure if the waitresses and the man in duty noticed it, but it's probably thrice, I was asked whether the food was ok or was anything as expected. Gianti told me to be frank about the spaghetti was not properly cooked, so at the third time when a man in  asked me about the food, I shared my opinion nothing but the truth.....the spaghetti is hard.
Man in duty confidently tried to explain that there is a kind of texture when cooking pasta called Al dente which means it's not soft but firm, but before he could continue any longer Gianti fended by explaining the proper meaning of the term Al Dente..

Gianti: Yes I know what Al Dente is, but this is not Al Dente, this is undercooked. If only the chef gave one more minute to this spaghetti, then it would become Al Dente, just one more minute, trust me.

I couldn't help smiling, seeing Gianti telling the man in duty just like a teacher explaining thing to a student. The man in duty was then apologizing for my meal, he promised that he will tell the chef about it, and he thanked us. He still tried to get my approve of the taste, well, honestly, the taste itself was good, and he looked relieved by my answer.

Gianti knows a lot about Italian cooking because she worked with Italian company, and besides that, she proclaims herself as an avid cook who is able to taste a food or distinguish what are the spices in it just by the smell.

Final thought about the Potato Head No. 51 A....
The interior is fun and I like the using of recycled things for its decoration, but...
I wish there were more choices regarding the table for non smokers, please respect our right for a better quality of air, and puhleassee....how could flies also exist? Judging by the price of the food and beverages there and the location in a high-end Shopping Centre, the place should be fly-free zone. The waitress acknowledged those flies, but didn't provide our table any candle, yet she provided a candle to a table of some expatriates.
Perhaps she thought we Indonesians are already immune to fly..lol.
We didn't leave tip cause the resto already charges 10% for service and 10% for tax from the total order.

Tip Practice

Personally, I don't mind to tip a satisfying service with a make sense tip. In Indonesia, tipping is not mandatory and I think the people who don't tip outnumber the people who tip. Often upon paying the bill at a restaurant, we check first if we need to tip the waiter because at some restaurants, cafes, and the alike usually there is already 10% service charge included on the bill. However if the waiter is very helpful we might likely give small tips in addition to the service charge. On the other hand, we are likely not to leave tips even if there's no service charge included, if the waiter doesn't serve well or if the food are not good.

Although to tip or not to tip is never really a problem in my country, it's already like an unwritten rules to tip at salon. It's not a big deal if it's a small salon, because you likely only have to tip the hairdresser and the shampoo guy/ girl. Having a haircut at a big salon will likely to involve at least 3 people, the shampoo girl/guy, the hairdresser and the hairdresser assistant who's in charge to first dry hair before being styled and having final touch by the hairdresser. The tip for hairdresser is usually up to 10% of the service, while amount tip for the shampoo guy/ girl and the hairdresser assistant is usually up to the customer.

Tipping a taxi driver is not a custom in Indonesia, but some people like to let the driver keep the change or to give some more if the driver drives cautiously and is polite.
Basically people who tip in Indonesia will tip if they get very good service, this is very different from the tipping custom in US, at least from what I read on How to tip like a gentleman. Glad that many countries don't apply tipping like in the US, and a comment from TedinAsia on that article should be taken into consideration, just in case :-)

Photo by greatseth

So Much for Your Promises

Seems I have to start to find another cake shop now after some disappointing fact with Bakerzin service at Plaza Senayan.

I ordered a Mango Mousse cake for my Mom's birthday, but I asked them to make it less sweet. The head of the staff (I supposed that because she's not in uniform) told me that they might try to make it if there's no stock available. Her reply confused me. I thought since the cake was pre-order 24-hours in advance, it should be fresh then.

She said that they stock cakes every 2 days, so they would try to fulfill my request if it's possible. She continued telling that the cake would still be fresh even if it's 2 days old since they put them in a frigde. I still didn't like the idea, because for me logically any cake that is garnished with fresh fruits on its top should always use fresh fruits only. Besides the cake uses some easily spoiled fruit like star fruit, and of course mango.

I told her the reason why I wanted it to be less sweet is because my parents have diabetic –which is true, although mild diabetic- and to be honest, other than that reason –now that I heard that 2 days-old cake fact- I just wanted a fresh cake with fresh fruits.

She quibbled that I better ordered the cakes made especially for the diabetic people, pointing three choices of diabetic cakes. Oh, and so she they could clear off their stock cake? But of course I didn't say that, instead I told her that mango cake was the only cake that we wanted from there, and it's true, we always have had mango cake for most any celebration at home.

I couldn't get her guarantee on the cake freshness, but since I needed it for the next day and I couldn't remember any other cake shop at that moment, so I carried on it.
I only asked them not to put the cake on the display –which they usually do- and this time they didn't argue me but the first response from that manager was funny. She said “oh of course, you don't want your Mom to see it when she picks it up.” Before I was out of my amazement hearing what her just saying, she seemed finally aware of her own weird statement.

The actual reason why I don't want them to put the cake on display before the picking time because once I spotted a flying insect on the display. I already told the waiters there once or twice about my experience since they tried to debate me when I asked them to put my cake in the fridge before I picked it up. It's not a fly, but still this is not a cheap cake shop as it pronounces on its website: It wasn't long before we became well known for our exquisite desserts. By 2000 it became obvious that the time was right to cater to the more upmarket palate.

Of course who said money can buy cleanness? :-P

Actually this also proves my suspicion about the cake and the fruit decorations freshness there because last June this year I also pre-ordered one mango cake and coincidentally my brother bought the same kind of cake from the same place and we picked it up at the same day and they were for the same event. I don't remember which one, but one of the cakes had a fresh mango and strawberries while the other one didn't look so fresh.

So much for your promises. Disappointing.

Saturday Flashback

GG can't take beef cos he is Buddhist, and he doesn't like lamb.
LN suggested Barbados in Kemang, the food was good the last time she went there.
GG was a bit reluctant, for him very few cars around means a bad sign.
But it's also a bit early for the pack since Barbados is usually jammed at very late hours.
And we trusted LN's choice!

The room was indeed empty and dim; we chose the dining table in the sunken area.
Each of us chose the good looking dishes from the menu to order.
Started to tittle tattle about old days back in Manc land.
Then GG started to feel itchy bitchy on his arms.
Mosquitos raid!!

"They have mosquito here?" GG felt dreaming.
Inside a resto?
Not just one or two, a multitude of mosquito!
"Do you have mosquito repellent?" asked GG to a waiter
"Sorry we don't have it"

EN suggested us to move to another table where the light was less dim.
Our main course finally came.
Huge portion, but didn't look as handsome as in the pictures.
"The prawns are so small!" I was disappointed with my Mexican fried rice.
"Not prawns at all, but shrimps!" GG cleared it.

"I don't know there is Emping (traditional Indonesian crackers) in Mexico"
"Probably because they know you're not Mexican, so they serve Indonesian one instead"
It tasted quite like nasi goreng abang-abang, aka fried rice made by the hawkers, but cost 100 times more dearly.
First scoop, second scoop, third scoop and the nexts really needed some efforts for me to swallow.
"Just drop it", they knew I was struggling.

"What's this made of?" GG point 2 round things on his plate.
"Beef" replied the waiter
On the menu: Bali rice with seafood and chicken.
No beef written at all.
That almost commited GG another sin! :-P

LN gave up her burrito.
She ate not even half of it.
I gave up my fake Mexican fried rice.
GG seemed can eat anything, except for the beef.
EN didn't really complain but not satisfied either with his Chicken Hainan.

As the waiter returned the credit card to LN after making the payment,
LN gave him some ‘tips':
"Can we make suggestion for your resto improvement?"
"Could you tell the Chefs to improve their skills?"
It's her birthday and we also wanted to 'officially' welcome GG to Indonesia, of course we were disappointed.