Juli 2013 - eatandtreats - Indonesian Food and Travel Blogger based in Jakarta

Hello dear my lovely readers!

It feels great for me because I've been updating pretty often lately while I am still in my busy days, but anything to keep in touch and share with you, I'll gladly do!

So I got an email and it was a lunch invitation for a private casual lunch session with Dill Gourmet Cafe, this is certainly what I love about casual yet private lunch, I got to chat more and more with the authorized accounts behind a restaurant, while definitely having lunch, it just feels great for me. Exclusive while yet not in a super glamorous kinda way.

Dill Gourmet Cafe is an invention from the Culture Royale Catering, this catering is pretty well known for its upscale costumers for they mostly handle upscale events, mostly relating to the socialites' event, and they're trying to make a new invention for a more general market with this cafe. Dill Gourmet is located just across "Fat Burger" on the LB floor. The area of this venue's not spacial, but it's pretty comfortable for a coffee time and lunch. Let's tour this place.

Okay, you're probably going to be shocked about this one. Despite the upscale clients they're having for its catering company, the food and beverages served here are (relatively) cheap and affordable. If you're expecting a cafe with a kitchen, then this might not be something you desired. They're selling food from their catering office that's being freshly served as your order. If you're starting to get a little confused with my explanation, then it's good, because I'm getting more detailed!

This cafe doesn't have any kitchen and they're serving food that needs to be heated with the oven. I know some of you might think of this as a friggin cheap food you can find at grocery stores or supermarkets, I can totally relate, because I had that in mind too at first, but wait until you try the food here yourself, you might change your perception of this kind of food, again we learn that it's not always okay to judge a food from its packaging.

Spinach Canneloni
IDR 30k

Surprisingly, those need-to-be-heated food actually tasted adorable. This was my first course to try and you can see for yourself that this food doesn't look bad, ehm, it's not because of me who took the pictures but I'm just capturing the fact here, you can even see that the tomato is still pretty fresh. I love the taste of this food, it fits vegetarians who want to have pasta for their daily cravings, the spinach's so fresh, the canneloni is nicely cooked, the cream's sort of cheesy but not in an overpowering way, this whole course is simply my new love growing from the lunch.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich
IDR 38k
Okay, second round. Just when I unwrapped this sandwich, the aroma of the grilled chicken just tortured me, trust me, you won't feel the greasiness from the mayonnaise and the bread. Thumbs up for the nicely cooked and seasoned grilled chicken! The bread's almost sort of semi-moist which is good because you're probably in a rush in the morning and you need something express while wanting the stomach to hold it for another few hours, that bread can fill you up.

Dill's Mini Breakfast Pizza
IDR 34k
Looking for a personal pizza for breakfast? This one might be in your consideration. It has a thin crispy layer with beef bacon toppings and half-done Sunny Side Up. Sunny Side Up in the morning is always exciting for me.

Hot Tea
IDR 28k
Just when they told me they're using Ronnefeldt tea, there was a little smile. Ronnefeldt has a very great selection of teas yet with a very nice scent! They gave me this "Morgentau" flavor to try and I can say that this is probably my new favorite tea flavor. Very calming, for this kind of tea, I don't want to overpower it with tons of sugar for my liking, just a little sugar and let the original flavor soothes to your soul.

Hot Cappuccino
IDR 33k
The cappuccino package is served with two Dill Gourmet signature flavored cookies! I got mine in "Matcha" and "Double Chocochip". The cappuccino is light, proper for you who doesn't like a strong taste for coffee. Not a huge fan of the burnt stuff on top (guessing it's like creme brulee), but it's their style of presentation so what can I say, the burnt stuff itself is not affecting the taste much tho.

Chocolate Pie
IDR 16k
For a sweet tooth like me, desserts are some things I just can't say NO to. One glance at this Chocolate Pie and I knew I wanted to have a bite. It's rich in chocolate, I'd recommend having this with a cup of coffee to balance the sweetness :).

Red Velvet Cake

IDR 30k

Apple Crumble Pie
IDR 16k
Had this during another visit, just another reason to earn happy fats! Overall the pie is pretty moist and decent, the apple filling's too.

Tiramisu Mango Pudding
IDR 8.5k/each
A little sweet treats for you, just in case you're not feeling for the cakes (but who does that). I am fond of the Tiramisu more than the Mango Pudding, I was expecting the texture to be mousse-like but in fact it's jelly-like.

DILL rewarded me with their famous cookies for me to take home. Double Chocolate Chip Cookies to be exact. The cookies are not the moist and fluffy ones but certainly the delicious ones. I kinda love this cookies.
IDR 75k/can

DILL is just a perfect place for you to have your coffee or tes time or a private meeting with your co-workers or relatives. The ambience fits the versatility, you can get rather casual or formal here, it's a place to sit back and relax for me. If you want to work on your projects? High speed WiFi is ready for you, why do I feel like WiFi is like the main menu of a restaurant lately?

BY THE WAY,
Dill Gourmet Cafe is having a promotion right now!!! For every purchase of Tea/Coffee, you'll get 50% OFF THE DESSERTS! (cakes, puddings, pies). Such a nice deal right for those beautiful cakes! Another 50% off for every cakes passed 19:30!

Come and visit Dill for a day to relax while sipping on your favorite coffee, and oh, I also love their Mocha Cafe (IDR 39k), I didn't manage to take a picture of my latest visit, but that's worth to try :)).

Until the next post!

Dill Gourmet Cafe || FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM
F43, Level Basement
Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav 28-30
Jakarta 10350

Opening Hrs: 08.00 - 22.00

FACEBOOK || TWITTER || INSTAGRAM

email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com

Dill Gourmet Cafe Plaza Indonesia

by Hans Danials on 21.34.00

Hello dear my lovely readers! It feels great for me because I've been updating pretty often lately while I am still in my busy days...

It was such a pleasure for me for being invited by Altitude The Plaza for an exclusive Food Blogger Breakfasting. I finally got to share some of Altitude's food and place for you guys, that's totally the key: SHARING. I wouldn't lie that I am happy because I got invited, but it's happier for me because I'm eating the food and sharing my readers the pictures and my thoughts of the food. That's why I am always on a mission to make you guys hungry, by the way, I am crazier when it comes to sharing on my Instagram, so do follow me if you want to surf the world of culinary!

If you're not familiar with this restaurant, let me tell you a little background of this restaurant... This restaurant was publicly introduced to the general audience on April 2013 and Altitude consists of three restaurants that you can choose depending on your preference. Three restaurants with one similarity: located at the 46th floor of The Plaza tower! Dining in the sky? Tick!

Salt Grill by Luke Mangan
Salt Grill is a restaurant owned by world known chef: Luke Mangan. He already had two restaurants: one located in Australia and another located in Singapore. To be honest, this restaurant is certainly the top-notch dining spot! Everything is so organized and fancy looking, I guess the mood is like the downtown fine dining restaurants where you can spend the night with your loved ones, together juggle in the romantic mood, Later I'll be showing you guys how the restaurant looks like at night for a preview..

The kitchen in Jakarta is headed by Executive Chef: MJ Olguera who has been working for Luke Mangan for more than a decade.

GAIA by OSO Ristorante
GAIA by OSO Ristorante gives a major touch of Italian fused with a little France to Altitude, and yes they're serving The fusion of Italian and french culinary to the tables (majorly Italian). The area itself is very neat, awesome for dinner time and private events with (of course) fancy touch, well the whole room rings fanciness to the next level, no wonder, Altitude is a fine dining restaurants so what else do you expect.

The left one is my favorite area, it's just a perfect small table for four, or else you can cut it for two, next to the window, it'll be so romantic. I am crying my lonely self. How pitier can I be?!?

A view of Jakarta from the restaurant. I'm sorry for the traffic below but from up here, everything looks pretty, it's almost like a structured dashed line.

ENMARU Japanese Restaurant
You can find a little touch of fancy Japanese culinary here at ENMARU, they serve premium quality Japanese food to your tables and even some sauce and meat is FRIGGIN imported straight from JAPAN! Can you imagine? It's almost like you don't need to travel to Japan to taste a little bit of the country, still not entirely the truth, I still wanna go to Japan no matter what!

FRESH FISH ready to be served!

Meeting rooms, and Gathering Venues

COMPLIMENTARY BEVERAGES
Iced Lychee Tea
Generous amount of Lychee is a positive thing!

Virgin Mojito
Nothing cliche, but this Virgin Mojito is my favorite beverage of the visit, it's so fresh, not like the common Virgin Mojito I've had so far.

Passion Fruit Ketel One Vodka (alcohol beverage)

Not a huge fan of alcohol drinks but I still need to have a little sip to experience the chemistry of Vodka + Passion Fruit. It's impressive!

APPETIZER!
Foie Gras Chawanmushi by ENMARU Japanese Restaurant

HANDS DOWN! The best and I mean, THE BEST Cawanmushi I've ever had in life period! Everything is so smooth and melts in your mouth, it's almost like eating a very soft bean curd instead of a Cawanmushi, and that's a good thing. I love how the managed to cook the Foie Gras to be extremely smooth. It was exactly the first scoop and that's enough for me to fall in love. This complaint might be funny, but I wished the portion would've been bigger, doesn't matter that this is an entree. I am a man with a bottomless pit of stomach, the bigger would be better for me.

Assorted 5 Kinds of Sashimi by ENMARU Japanese Restaurant
Credits given to the presentation! I love when they put a little effort of the presentation, somehow for me, aesthetic is important, at least for the eye if the food is freakin bad. I'm impressed so far with this dish.

The sashimi consists of Kinmedai, Ootoro (Tuna Belly), Kanpachi (Yellow Tail), Uni and Tsubugai. They were so heavenly delicious! You can tell that it's freshly cut and served.

Impressive presentation!

Photos below are the same course, just different style of presentation.

MAIN COURSE
Fish to Share: Stir Fry of Crab Meat, Shitake Mushrooms, Charsiu Sauce, Sugar Peas and Confit Eschalot by Salt Grill by Luke Mangan

Tip to do: squeeze the lemon juice on the uber delicious Barramundi for a fresher eating alternative. I love the juiciness of the fish together with the truffles! They also add an unbelievable experience to this dish, the way they cooked them are just genius. Two thumbs up for this dish. Probably going back for this one, and uh, don't forget the super yummy mashed potato! Incredibly smooth and addicting.

The side for this dish beside the incredible Mashed Potato, is the Heirloom Tomato Salad, Burrata cheese with basil red wine dressing.

Boneless Chicken Leg Stuffed with Porcini Mushroom by GAIA Ristorante
I started from the filling of this dish, which is the Porcini Mushroom and it was good, when I started to have the whole thing, it's so delicious! The chicken is in between soft and crunchy but overall super juicy. The asparagus somehow a matching companion to this dish. I have been giving compliments to the food so far, but they do deserve them! Maybe for my liking, I am not a huge fan of the Asparagus' aroma, but that's just the way they smell, it's unfair that I don't like them for what they are. Okay, stop being so dramatic, Hans.

Look how tender and juicy the meat is!

DESSERT
Pannacota, Tiramisu and Orange Cake by GAIA Ristorante
Out of these three, my favorite one must be the Pannacota! It's a milk-pudding Pannacota, I would put it on my list of the best Pannacotas I've eved had E V E R! It's so smooth, literally melts in my mouth. I want more than just a cube size, I'm going back for more and be more abashed of myself. I also love the Tiramisu cake for its smooth consistency and light cream. The orange cake is decent, however not fantastic good for me.

WAIT! I GOT ANOTHER DESSERT from Altitude!
IT'S A BIRTHDAY CAKE SURPRISE!!! I was taking pictures of the outside scene and suddenly a birthday song is being sung! Isn't it nice when someone actually remembered your birthday and I'm so gladly thankful, grateful and happy for it. Another (larger) slice of Tiramisu Cake just for me. That night was just fine :").

So, after a great dining session, will I come back to Altitude? Hell yeah! Definitely! I still want to surf more and more menus from each of the restaurant, especially the desserts! For a fine dining restaurant with a certain class, I don't really like to judge whether the courses here are pricy, maybe for some, relatively expensive, regarding to the concept of fine dining experience, the venue, the premium ingredients, I would still consider this pretty reasonable.

Will I recommend Altitude? Definitely as well, it's a great great place for you to hangout, if you want to have a little cocktail date with your loved ones, don't miss the top lounge, Mezzanine bar, the more private and reserved spot.

View of Altitude during the night. Left: Salt Grill by Luke Mangan || Right: GAIA Ristorante.

Going to leave you guys with a photo of Jakarta night view from Altitude. 46 floors above and Jakarta's so beautiful during the night and from the top. Again, feeling sorry for the traffic down there, but in the same time thanks for creating an awesome view of the night.

PS: They're setting a little heaven, 3 floors above, can't wait for the 49th floor bar!