Marutama Ra-Men Plaza Indonesia / EX Jakarta Review

Marutama Ramen, or written Marutama Ra-Men, located on EX Plaza Indonesia Jakarta, 2nd floor just right across EX XXI. I completely forgot what it was before Marutama. The place located above the bowling arena so if you're seated near the window then you can see people playing bowling.

Arrived there quite early on Saturday evening so the place wasn't really packed. Got seated near the window. There are only 4 choices of ramen which surprised me, since the other ramen place has many choices. But Marutama only offers chicken/pork, vegetables, seafood, and something I forget. For rice menu they offer Japanese Fried Rice and Curry Rice, also many interesting choices of side dish. Anyway it's Google-able and they have official website as well :)

The waitress that handle seating allocation and taking order is the same person O_o And she took it without taking notes. I was worried that she might get the orders wrong but thankfully she didn't.

First came table was empty there's only a small bowl of fried garlic and sesame. Then she gave us chopstick. Which in the back of the chopstick is a customer review. But no pencil provided and I didn't bring any so I didn't fill in.

A very useless picture of chopstick hahaha sorry :|

Cold Ocha's served in Coca Cola glass? This glass was said a collector's item. It was sold in 5 different colors in Singapore and each day only sold one color. ...And in here they just freely provide in the restaurant. Mystery.. for me, at least. Choosing Ocha of course because it has refill :D Don't even bother to look at other drink menu lol :|

Yummy Yaki Gyoza as side dish!!!!!! The dip was weird though, or unique? Tastes sour, salty, spicy.. Undetectable haha.. But the gyoza is perfect! You can choose to have pork gyoza or chicken gyoza. This one is pork. Much better than Sanpachi has.

-Marutama Ramen-

Yes. The name is Marutama Ramen! The very first of 4 choices of ramen. A very soft handmade noodle with seaweed, and 2 slices of pork. (WHY 2?? Lol) The broth has very strong taste of egg? I don't know man it was good! I personally like the noodle and bf likes the broth. He ordered the spicy one, while I had the non-spicy one but he said it's not spicy at all :| I believe him because our spicy level is the same. I just chose to not have the spicy because I wanna taste the original taste.

It also seems that you can add additional topping into your ramen or even had additional noodles. Official Twitter of Marutama usually give away codes for free Tamago (egg) but when I requested one before I came, the admin said they only distributed the code from Monday to Friday. (I requested on Friday late night) so I didn't have it -_- non sense. But however that's their rules. Also if you share your picture while eating there you'll get free Ice Dorayaki! :)

 

For me one word best described Marutama is Authentic :)

I guess it's the nearest ramen in Indonesia that's quite close to those we had in Japan. But I haven't tasted the famous Hakata though ;p

I didn't have dessert because we're in hurry to watch Battleship. Which by the way super awesome and I would like to give rating 11/10. Only 3 movies in this year so far that gets me teary and feel all awesome inside. They are: Battleship, The Hunger Games, and Man on the Ledge. You just can't beat combination of good action with good humor and good love story (couples or family).

Have nice food and nice movie!

BonChon Chicken Jakarta Review

Suddenly this BonChon Chicken popped in few malls in Jakarta. Seems like every mall I go, I saw it lol. BonChon Chicken (written: 본촌 치킨; funny because if you read it, it's actually read BonChon ChiKin lol. It's translated correct though) is a Korean chicken food place. I think it's franchise from somewhere. Probably originally from Korea. Sorry I don't really bother to research first. But I'm sure it also has place in Singapore because I once saw the famous Singaporean blogger, Xiaxue stated that she likes BonChon garlic sauce chicken. (Indonesia doesn't have garlic one)

The day I ate this was by accident. We were passing through many food stalls in a mall, deciding what to eat, then there's BonChon Chicken waitress was distributing free samples. Bf took a bite and he said it's super crispy and yummy so we decided to give it a shot. I don't bother taking samples because I originally thought it would be the same like OMO! Chicken or Kamikaze. But many of my friends messaged me that day asked me to try BonChon. Universe has set me up :|

-French Fries-

Wanted to cry seeing it. Haha.. BonChon do not offer size of french fries as I remember. And it came in this only 14 sticks of fried potato :| It was quite thick than common fries but.. 14.. Yeah I counted it. Few of them even half tall than the rest. So I will never order french fries from here anymore :|

-BonChon Chicken Strips Original Sauce-

...because wings are too mainstream. Haha okay. It's a good point. I'm tired eating wings because of so many bones plus it has less meat on it. I never like wings. Always prefer drumstick. Wanted to order drumstick in here but lazy bf is lazy. Wanted to eat all in one bite apparently.. I don't know. It's easier to eat without getting messy I guess. Though they provided washbowl so you shouldn't be afraid of eating messily :) Rice ordered separately because we ordered the medium size of chicken strips containing 8 strips.

It's not crispy but it is a solid white meat without fat. They have 2 choices of sauce; original and spicy. As I mentioned, Indonesia didn't provide garlic one. We were drinking Coke and Fanta. All costs almost IDR 80,000 which is quite affordable. Also there's 10% discount for student by showing your valid student card! :)

They sell Mochi Ice Cream too but we were in hurry to watch The Hunger Games after eating this and I forget the dessert :( The Hunger Games was awesome btw!

Anyway, beside rice, chicken, and fries, BonChon also provide choices of Chicken Wrap, rice package with choices of chicken (strips, drumstick, wings, etc.), dory fish, and many other choices. For me it's worth to try :)

Calais Tea Supermal Karawaci Review

The first tea place opening in Karawaci!!!!! I'm so excited! Haha.. I think it has really good opportunity there since Karawaci only have Starbucks as a decent place for drinking. Desperately for those who do not drink coffee, we have to go as far to Alam Sutera to get Chatime in our hand. But that's no longer needed because we had CALAIS TEA NOW! :D

I think the only differentiation Calais has with Chatime (sorry I have to compare to another brand) is they don't have option to change the sugar and ice level. Even if they do, I wasn't offered though :| I went there after it was opened for 1 day. I have been expected it since I saw it's built since last month. Last Thursday (it wasn't opened yet), somebody was opening the box of the place while it's still renovated (maybe to give last touch? Lol) and I got to peek at the decoration inside. It's so pretty! Now that it's opened, you get to see the whole decoration! I gotta give a penny for the owner's thought. Not many pay attention to decoration :)

Hello cute lamp decoration! Unlike usual blog post, this post will come up with non-food/drink picture. Sorry I can't help it!! If those leaves are accompanied by flowers I'd probably post twice photos as I do now!

The seating. There are 2 kinds of seating, I sat in the couch kind one. So comfy for lazy-ing lol.

Here's the how the making process place looks like. The one that didn't wear the uniform is the owner :D And those who are seated and caught in camera, sorry wasn't intentional hehe..

-Honeydew Milk Tea with Large Bubble & Chocolate Milk Tea with Egg Pudding-

Order! First impression, honestly disappointed. I've been looking everywhere and jumping around like literally when approaching this place just to know that the pink bubble is sold out. I'm so crazy about pink and it's not available so I have to order the usual bubble which I can get easily at anywhere -_- I placed second order which was my bf's and the bubble seemed to be available only for 1 cup. So I ordered Egg Pudding instead (which is YUMMEH! But still I want pink bubble.) Also, these cups hasn't been holed by straw yet but the amount of the tea doesn't reach the very top. I witnessed the tea making process, and there's few amount of tea which I measured could be enough to fulfill the cup into the very top but they throw it away. Barista why you do that T_________T

Also I've been seeing Calais Tea Facebook for quite long time, they usually write sweet messages and wise quotes on the cup. But I didn't get :( I assumed because this place was really packed.

We personally like the design of the cup also since the moustache thingy is very "in" lately. (I even saw a very expensive plain T-shirt with a moustache on it! Ok irrelevant.) I don't know the meaning of Calais, nor the relation of the name to the moustache. But one thing I can suggest, please provide more pink bubble!! Because there's girl who will just go for something because it's pink!! I was talking about me, in case you hadn't notice. Also this will be a new hangout place for people around here, especially for UPH students. Welcome to Karawaci, Calais! :)




## Update from Calais Tea Facebook page!

Thank you for your writing www.lil-cl.blogspot.com, we are all ears and will improve more. ^^.more pink bubble is available and we will improve on not spilling more tea for our customers. the quoted cups got sold quick, but we will keep up ...our diligent and write more inspiring quotes for our Calaistas in Karawaci. FYI, Calais is actually a city in France, it is a port city and the gateway city from England to France. We choose the moustache as a symbol of France Gentleman that is famous for its courage, honourable character and gentleness.

Burger King Supermal Karawaci Review

Promo by Burger King! Buy one Value Meal of Angus, get free Mini Sundae! :D

Now pic.

Here's the appearance of Angus Beef Burger. YUM! I usually ordered Whooper Jr. though. But for the patty, I love Angus more. It's more fluffy and chewy (I know it's not a doll lol). I don't usually eat Onion Rings and in this burger contained like 2 slices of onion rings but it perfectly fits the burger and I eat it without complain. Super yum!!! Omg I craved it now :|

Value Meal comes along with French Fries (which bf claims is the best french fries in town) and choices of drink. (I chose Nestea) I reckon that I don't need to put a pic of those, right? :p

So here's the Mini Sundae :D

Mini Sundae with chocolate sauce!!!! I was about to be given the Caramel sauce. Caramel sauce is addictive one! But I didn't want it this time. I had it already last week, so I asked for Chocolate hehe.. Background of the photo is bf and his extra salty french fries -.-

We had 2 desserts at last night. Another one was fresh Watermelon from Foodmart Gourmet :D It was downstairs though and we ate at Burger King. No worries we cleaned our own mess before leaving ;)

4 slices for IDR 3,750!! So cheap!! It was 50% discount though. Tips to shop here, usually above 8PM (until they close at 9PM), they discounted few fruits for 50%, so they can cut new everyday to maintain the freshness. Among those sale stuff, one or two have very good quality ones. You just gotta be selective. Like this! Red and fresh and watery! One of our best buy for the night :)

Thanks for reading! Have a good day ♥

Kitchenette Plaza Indonesia Jakarta Review

Ugh I feel so outdated. People have been visiting this place soooo many times and waayyyyyy more frequently than me, while I, who did self-proclaimed as a food blogger, just got a chance to visit this place last week! What can I say I live so far away :(

We visit there around 3 or 4 PM, on weekend. And I can say, we're now officially the part of the hype. Why? Because we got into waiting list lol. While waiting they served free lemonade to those who waited :) I had good service as well. Even though I already put my name into the waiting list, still the waiter from inside come to me and offered to find me table. Which he did successfully! So I didn't wait for so long!! *happy* No I wasn't cutting the queue loh. It's my turn already :p

-Mango and Orange Elixir-

Unlike many other restaurants in Jakarta (like stated in few previous posts), sometimes I find it hard to choose drinks. I always look up for something that's worth the price. But in Kitchenette, I almost ordered 3 drinks. No kidding. I was hit by sunlight that day before reaching Kitchenette because I was crossing the road from Grand Indonesia to Plaza Indonesia, so I really craved for something fresh, sweet, and cold. I eyed the choices of elixir, frozen frappe (and any other frozen stuff, basically), and Creme Caramel by TWG. But ended up choosing this one. Because bf ordered frozen frappe I might just try it from him then.

-Cookies n Cream Frappe-

Not a big fan of whipped cream!! I hate whipped cream. But it tasted quite nice anyway. Bf said he would come back for this but I didn't agree. I was expecting strong cookies/chocolate flavor but then the coffee smell and taste dominated. Well it's frappe after all -_-

-Gateau-

Was ordering Theodore at first. But I didn't know why it's no longer available :( Disappointed. In the menu, it says that it came with roasted potato. What I had in mind that it would come with small rounded potato ball. Not a potato chip. That's too oily -_- The only thing I didn't like from the dish honestly. Beneath those potatoes lies melted cheese and pork bacon (you can choose between pork and turkey). The galette itself is unique. At first you will say it's like the ordinary martabak, but the more you chewed, the more you craved for it!

-Nicholas-

It's quite funny though how they named the savory one with guys' name, while the sweet galette/crepes with girls' name :D This is bf's order. Filled with meat everywhere. Ordered pork one as well. And that round meat is spicy!! For me at least. He likes it so much. I guess he'd make a better food judge rather than me because he said the word "like this food" so rarely.

Anyway, Kitchenette is holding Instagram competition. Stage 1 is until this March 18th!

How to join:
~ Took your picture from Kitchenette
~ Post it to your Instagram with hashtag #instaKitchenette and mention @K1TCHENETTE and @Ismaya.

Winner will be going through few stages and main prize is iPhone 4S! Have fun eating and competing! :D

Mr. Pancake Living World Review

Prepare for cuteness alert~~~ lol.

Few weeks ago, I was visiting Living World with my auntie and grandma. They're both never been in this mall and wanted to try a visit. (ended up disappointed lol. They thought it was a shopping mall at first, while Living World actually owns the biggest Ace Hardware and many food stores. Not fashion stores.)

We were so full kept trying many foods and snacks. Still before leaving the mall, we chose to stretch our legs at Mr. Pancake. Please note that our tummy condition is so full already, it shouldn't be able to receive any more food.

Menu was distributed to each one of us and we saw many choices of pancakes. Therefore, since we were full, nothing catches our fancy. There's a menu saying Savory and Specialty and we order one from there. And grandma picked Banana Split.

First order to come: my Strawberry Juice ♥ It's fresh and sweet but no added sugar! I can taste sugar, don't worry. But what I like the most from the waitress, we first ordered Guava Juice and she said, "It's syrup, not fresh. Is it okay for you, ma'am?" And we're so thankful and asked what other is fresh and she stated Tomato and Strawberry. So we went for Strawberry which is the best decision.
~ Btw, please don't ask why those guys in background making those faces. I have no idea. :p

Butterfly Pancake

Isn't she gorgeous??????? And it's so freaking yummy, fresh, and delicious! (yes lots adjectives with same meaning :|) It consists of 6 fluffy small pancakes which tastes so light and fluffy (obviously). Probably a little bit like Dorayaki from Eaton Bakery. But this one has better smell--the good butter smell? I can't find proper word :( Topped with strawberry ice cream and fresh strawbie. With raspberry / strawberry sauce (I don't really recognize it) with sprinkles, and chocolate sauce. SUPER YUMMY!! The strawberry ice cream isn't recognizable as well. Its taste was so milky, more like milk than strawberry imo. Remember again, we're full and still craved for more of this ♥

Banana Split

This was grandma's order. Topped with fresh fruits and 2 rolls of wafer. Fresh fruits, but not so nice ice creams. But it does look yummy, doesn't it?? :D

Anyway it's a happy experience and food journey though. Coming back to Living World again might have a very slight chance since that mall is so lack of shopping store. But if I got a chance to go there again, I'll definitely come back for Butterfly ♥

All of the orders ended up squeaky clean and I still bought Chatime on the way back hahaha.. :|

Ok bye!! :D

Ninety-Nine Grand Indonesia Jakarta Review

Oh look. A full month not updating my blog here comes new interface on Blogger. I'm sucks on adapting :( Anytime there's new interface of Facebook, Twitter, or any social media, I always post somewhere to rant -_-

Anyway, hi to readers! I've been gaining quite views lately so I thank all of you who opened this blog or just being redirected here by Google. Hehe.. appreciate them all. Hope you enjoy my writing and my pictures, also please comment or criticize because I'm still lack of many things :)

In the mid of February, me and bf went to Ninety-Nine at Grand Indonesia. This is my second visit. First time was in the mid of June 2011, I had beef Steak there. (Tenderloin if I'm not mistaken) but didn't bother to take any pic because the taste of the steak was too "heavy" for me I guess. I mean it's a good way that they sold good meat, but it's just too bold for a girl. Even so, I was eating it with a hungry state which should mean that the food should've been tasted better but it's not. I still recall, however, the mashed potato was superb and I had foodgasm while eating the Strawberry Mille Feuille.

Cute menu! Lol. Special beverage for Valentine's Day (no, wasn't visiting during Valentine's though) was Love Crush. Contains of Strawberries, Watermelon, Grenadine, and Whipped Cream. I'm a big fan or Strawbie and Watermelon, but hating whipped cream. But, Grenadine.. I never know how the original taste actually is because it's always mixed in my drink lol #failedfoodblogger .

Love Crush and Lychee Iced Tea! Bf said the iced tea was too sweet :| My drink was refreshing, but too bad only available for short period of time. The other beverages menu there weren't too appealing for me. We took very long time to decide the drink -_-

 Bakmi Pinggiran

O_O what a name. He said this was the best noodle he had in his entire life. He previously ate this once with his office colleague and decided to order the same food again -_- man..

This order came gazillion years after my food came. (lol okay exaggerating. But it was more than 20 mins.)

My order was Pork.. something -_- (this is what you get when you procrastinated!) Not Pork Knuckle, not Pork Belly, not baby back.. I forget what this is -_- all I know that this is SUPER YUMMY. (this is the very last menu on the pork section on the menu book :D) It came with some kind Potato Salad, Sauteed Bean, 3 onion rings (obvious what), and the pork itself. I ordered side dish mashed potato because: 1) I remember how delicious it is. 2) I thought it will only came in pork and veggies because that's how my steak came last year. Turned out I was wrong. But still, mashed potato here is the best. But now they separated the mushroom sauce. Previously they made a curve in the potato and pour the sauce there. But this was good as well. The most delicious part of this pork dish is.. the bean. HAHAHA. I don't know how they can saute the bean so good! And then the sauce, then the pork, then the potato. I don't eat onions so I gave it to bf.

It was a very nice lunch and I was so full I can't finish the mashed potato. I left like 2 or 3 scoops of it. Because I was saving my tummy for dessert!! I walked to counter just to find out that they no longer sell the Mille Feuille. *heart scattered into pieces* Then decided to go with their Raspberry Red Velvet Slice.

I read a lot of complains from food bloggers that when they eat a red velvet it's usually too sweet. This one, however, fits the description of Red Velvet from Wikipedia. Or maybe because of the raspberry. Because this one is sour :) It is topped with white chocolate and mini white chocolate macaroon. The cream frosting was raspberry cream. But the cake was dry :( Not moist. The sauce was a mix of milk, white chocolate, and drips of raspberry. Cut it from top to bottom, slide it into sauce, then.. NOM NOM NOM ♥ Even bf who hates sweet things and cake, say this is delicious!

End result of my cake:

pic taken with Diana filter

Lol. *shameless* Ok bye! :p