I Love Taimei Central Park Jakarta

News to share: "I Love Taimei" is officially opening in Jakarta!

I noticed this brand on my last trip to Singapore a few months ago around Bugis area, by the time, I wasn't really keen on trying it in the first place because of the long queue! But now it's finally opening its first outlet in Jakarta, to be exact in the Tribeca at Central Park Jakarta *smize*. If you don't have any idea about "I Love Taimei", here's a little story to tell... "I Love Taimei" is a joint that sells Taiwanese food, the products are ranging from the famous Taiwanese street food (comfort food) to casual dining like rice or bento. Here, the menu was divided into three: main courses (chicken cutlet creations, side dish and beverages). Was honored to be the first people to try out some of their menus just today and I couldn't wait to blog it so here I go!

Picture below (left) is the owners: the left one is Mr. Kurniawan and the right one is Mr. Darius. Both of them are still young (around 25) and now running a business. It's always fascinating to see so many young people with money passion opening entrepreneur work fields, I definitely wish the best of luck for "I Love Taimei". The event started with the Q&A with Mr. Darius and he seemed like a very passionate business person and I don't mean it in a strictly serious way, but he seemed smart from the way he answered questions and explaining everything about the brand.

Super Milk Caramel

IDR 22k

"I Love Taimei" claimed that they are the first to have this kind of drink which I also believed I have never found one before. Technically it's a simple beverage from the idea and the execution, and as you guys probably know, I am not a big milk person, more like "dislike" actually, but this one was whole milk with caramel sauce and grass jelly as additional topping, but I pretty much found it decent. The milk wasn't really overpowering my taste bud and the grass jelly was soft and smooth just how I liked it. This one I would recommend you guys trying.

I Love Taimei Wintermelon
IDR 18k
Don't misjudge the appearance, this is NOT a tea beverage and no tea was actually added so it's pure wintermelon essence. I honestly still found a hint of tea flavor, maybe it came from the wintermelon itself. It was good, but I didn't find it out-of-the-world good.

Mango Popz
IDR 22k
This beverage's called "Mango Popz" because there were popping bubbles (ones that pop in your mouth and burst of syrup popping off the bubbles). This beverage was another decent one, I was fond of how they pretty much concocted the drink just how I expected it to be (50% sugar). It was pretty refreshing and I got like double mango shots from the drink and the popping bubbles!

Selina Chicken
IDR 32k
The main menu that they're selling here are the chicken cutlets and the inspiration of the naming came from the Taiwanese girl band S.H.E (Selina, Hebe and Ella). This one is the "Selina", it had a pretty unique and revolutionary cooking method: firstly, it's being marinated in the BBQ sauce for some time, after that it got a light deep fried, remarinated with the BBQ sauce and then grilled on a low fire for around 15 minutes. The chicken was ultimately tender and juicy the skin was semi-crispy which I found lovely. Eating this with rice was probably just dreamy! Another thing I love about this is that the cuts were slightly thicker than some other brands I've tried before.

Mr. Darius also told us that the highlight of the chicken cutlets sold here were not the dry, deep-fried ones, even though they still have it on the E (Ella), their cutlets would be a little more moist, juicy and rich in ingredients and sauce marination.

Chicken Skin
IDR 18k
The chicken skin was actually included in their "Side Dish Menu" and there were around 8 side dishes to choose from depending on your preference. They were crispy but I found it to be a little too crispy, I would love that to be a little juicy and chewy, but that doesn't mean they were bad, only I probably would like it better that way.

Sweet Potato
IDR 18k
Another menu from the "Side Dish" categories is this very lovely Sweet Potato. The cooking method was "deep-fried" and they were coated in the frying dough before. Aside from how simple this dish was, it actually was one of the impressive ones of the day. I love how the sweet potatoes were not too soft and too hard in consistency and they were appropriately seasoned. They were just lovely and I couldn't keep my hands away from picking them.

Shan Cai Bento
IDR 32k (bento only), 50k (with one medium drink), 58k (with one medium drink and side dish)
Just what I have mentioned to you earlier, besides the comfort food, "I Love Taimei" is also offering you a "heavier" but still casual dining like this bento. If you're wondering if the Shan Cai I'm talking about is the one from Meteor Garden, then you're right! To be pleased or not, Shan Cai Bento is only available in Indonesia outlet only, so there's none in Singapore.

Technically, the bento consists of (again) chicken cutlet, which you could choose either S, H or E. I went with the H (Hebe) which applied the same cooking method as Selina, only the sauce was lemon butter, while the E (Ella) was the good-old deep fried one (didn't try that because I found it way too often from some other brands). The chicken was tender and well-seasoned, having this with rice was just great! To complete the bento, there were also one egg and french beans. French beans were delicious while the egg was just okay.

It's nice to see another Taiwanese gastronomy joint making its mark to Indonesia. In a nutshell, I think "I Love Taimei" serves decent food, not all spectacular but they were decent. Would really love you guys to have the S.H.E chicken cutlets and the side-dishes. They also have "Tofu Fries", "Chicken Tails" and "Sotong Balls" but unfortunately they were not ready that day. What about the service? Improvement needed. No matter how great the food is if the service doesn't support it, it could be unfortunate, but since it was the grand opening and it was damn crowded, I kinda took it as fine.

They're having an ongoing promotion, IDR 8k OFF for every purchase until January 2014, just make sure you have the flyer or simply ask the staff to hand it out to you.

I Love Taimei
Tribeca at Central Park Mall Level UG-06
Jl. Letjen S. Parman Kav. 28
Jakarta Barat 11470
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