HELLO KITTY ORCHID GARDEN SINGAPORE - CHANGI AIRPORT TERMINAL 3

Bond with the trending and there I was at one of the most (if not the most) talked about new cafe in Singapore at the moment: Hello Kitty Orchid Garden cafe in Changi Airport Terminal 3 (first floor). I arrived at the airport exactly 4 hours before my departure schedule just to have a glimpse of this, and hopefully I can understand the vibe, well I guess I pre-understand it because it's Hello Kitty for goodness sake, the fact that it's Hello Kitty and the overall cafe is cute and well-decorated.

NG AH SIO BAK KUT TEH SINGAPORE: THE BEST BAK KUT TEH IN SINGAPORE

If you follow me on Snapchat or Instagram, you probably know that I am currently in Singapore, and at the very moment, I am trying to sleep but I can't, and I feel like talking to people, you might not respond to this blog post, but as long as I know you are reading this, I am still pretty happy :)

HAPPYFRESH #BULANJARAMADHAN

A while ago I attended the press conference of HappyFresh. To be honest, I have never heard about it until they invited me to come to the press conference and the curious me wanted to know more about this. The press conference was held in the Ogilvy office in Senayan, talking about Ogilvy, it's a digital agency which I personally has been collaborating with for some projects then and now, they're just professional and I love working with them, this was my third time visiting their office, I don't know if "office" is even the proper word because it's almost like a creative working space and they even had their own slides in it (in case they're too lazy to take the stairs LOL).

Of course before I actually attended the event, I briefly looked online for informations about HappyFresh, turns out it's actually a professional grocery shopping service and as this post is written, it has been around the scene for one good year and also active at countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Philippines. Their service is aimed primarily for working housewives and moms who have hard time sparing time to do grocery shopping, so just by downloading the app or do the transaction via website, they will be helped by professional grocery shoppers to do the chore. Honestly ABC easy.

Before we get to the event, I want to quickly show you how to use HappyFresh service, simply a part of their "I GROWcery with you" campaign that has been running for the past a year.
1. First, you must download the "HappyFresh" app from either AppStore (iPhone users) or Google Play (Android)

2. Before you start ordering, your basic information is required including information of the nearest supermarkets around your neighborhood. HappyFresh is teaming up with top supermarkets so their range should be huge!
3. Place your orders and pay after they hand you the items (cash on delivery)

I know some of you might wonder what exactly is the main quality that differentiates HappyFresh to their so-called competitors to let's say GoMart? After listening to the explanation throughout the talkshow, I think the main quality of HappyFresh is the appointed professional grocery shopper, and how they guarantee your products to be delivered to your house for one hour after you submit your orders and the right for you to object the items if you're not happy with certain items.

In the event, they played a very touching video (which I hope I can embed here) about family quality time, so the video was basically separated parents and kids interview and there was only one main question: "if you want to ask anybody to break your fast with, who would it be?", the parents' answers range from their favorite celebrity to certain characters, but the kids' answers were plain "parents". The emotional part came when the parents watched the kids' video and found out that all this time the kids really want to break the fast with the parents, have some quality time but realizing that their parents are too busy outside.

Ms. Maria Hermina, Head of Offline Marketing and Partnerships HappyFresh Indonesia giving a brief speech. She is a beautiful preggy woman and she was so energetic.

The talkshow brought Elizabeth Santosa, a family psychologist who's also a mother of two. She claimed that it's normal for adults to have the desire to go outside and hang around with old friends, but when it comes to kids, adults really need to know how to spare some quality time with their kids, simply because everyone's not getting younger, and childhood is the most precious time of the life, also the moments where kids start to understand the surrounding.

Elizabeth then told us that when it comes to quality time, even a two-minute meet up is a quality time, only if the two communicators locked eyes to each other and actually talk, and she loves referring that 2 minute and quality time as undivided attention. It's not a quality time when you are with your friends for two hours but both are stuck to their freaking mobile phones without any conversation. Kids need that and kids appreciate that gesture. There are a few other forms of quality time together with your kids (and I believe more): cooking together, helping them with their school chores or dining together, or simply these five forms: eye contact, touches, motivational words, humors or listening.

In this month of Ramadhan, some forms of quality time include breaking the fast with your family (with no phone or gadget on the dinner table), praying together and deep conversations, but when it comes to the idea of breakfasting together is a struggle here in town. Face it, we live in Jakarta where traffic is bloody hell, breakfasting is at 6 PM daily, office hour starts at 8 AM and ends at 3:30 PM daily (during Ramadhan), and sometimes it's almost impossible for arrive before 6, and to cook or even to shop added pressure to your mind, and you don't just cook food in the morning and heat them at night and mirroring from the unfortunate possibilities like this, in this month of Ramadhan, HappyFresh is offering a solution for housewives and moms out there with their fresh daily grocery shopping matter and they call it "BulanJaRamadhan". It's honestly just clicks away.

Also on the show, a mother of two and a celebrity Herfiza Novianti (who happens to be the wife of famous Indonesian actor Ricky Harun), she shared with us that her busy schedule often took the biggest burden to have quality time with her big family, in laws, husband and kids at home, or simply to make the best out of Ramadhan, but with the help of HappyFresh, it's now even more possible, at least for making her less tired.

Q&A session, good questions at this session. I love how the press is so critical. I am a good listener (at least).

After the talkshow session, a little game was on, it was quite easy as the contestants were asked to place their order of the mentioned items by the MC. The fastest won shopping vouchers from HappyFresh hmm.

I think the object was "Es Buah" and they were asked to input some fruits like mango and strawberry (as seen below).

Group picture: Ms. Maria Hermina, Herfiza Novianti, Elizabeth Santosa

Herfiza Novianti and her kid <3

...and then of course the event was closed by breakfasting together! Quality time lol.

I don't know about most people, and I am not a parent yet, but taking what my friends told me (those who are married and have kids), they all told me that being a parent is fun, but it's a real struggle, especially the early days of the kids where you can't control their emotional explosions and they learn more than we think they do, but my POV of friendship and relationship is pretty much the same, yes quality time two-gether is important and communication is everything. I think it's one of the most sacred formula of long lasting relationship.

All this time, maybe the ultimate modern luxury that everyone's been looking for is simply spending quality time with the family over material possesions and holidays *smile*

SHOPPING WITH HAPPYFRESH

Moments ago I actually tried shopping with HappyFresh (and do note this is a sponsored shopping spree) to measure their specifications. My order came less than one hour, it was like 40-45 minutes. I ordered from All Fresh Puri Indah and boy do I recommend shopping because they were indeed all fresh!

 Shopping bags!

 All fresh! How can I not enjoy the service, ordered quite a lot and flawlessly delivered.

 Enoki mushroom and cucumber

 Melon, vegetables and lemons

After all, I would definitely recommend HappyFresh for my readers, logically speaking it's not hard to explain the advantages it can do to us, or me personally, I HATE doing grocery shopping, and I always have people doing it for me, so as simple as that, it's a total yes for me. DOWNLOAD THE APP NOW AND HAPPY SHOPPING!

MORE DETAILS ON HAPPYFRESH -> CLICK HERE

and oh, I forgot to greet you all on the previous posts, so here it is...

SELAMAT BERPUASA TEMAN-TEMAN!!! Gotta make the best of everyday, but let's make this month even more special. Blessings for you.

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MAPLE AND OAK JAKARTA

Maple and Oak, doesn't Maple and Oak sounds like a convincing place to have brunch at? I have been anticipating the opening for quite some time, so when I heard they finally opened its door for public a few days ago, I wasted no time to come on the early days of the opening and had a lovely brunch here with my sister, more importantly, I came to support my friend aka the famous chef Odie Djamil who heads this little brunch retreat in Menteng.

A JOURNEY THROUGH SUMATRA & NUSANTARA AT ARTS CAFE - RAFFLES HOTEL JAKARTA WITH WILLIAM WONGSO

First of all, I am not being arrogant, it happens that this month I received so many (when I say "many" I mean almost every single day) breakfasting invitation from restaurants, cafes and hotels. I still don't know the correct way to say "buka puasa" in English, is it really "breakfasting", "breakfast", or "fast breaking", but anyway I happened to turn down all of them (like 99%) and only went to this particular event at Arts Cafe, Raffles Hotel Jakarta. This is my second time going to Raffles Hotel Jakarta, the first time was my sister's wedding (yes she got hitched here), but it was my first time going to the Arts Cafe.

BUCKETLIST: HASSELBLAD X1D: THE WORLD'S FIRST MEDIUM FORMAT MIRRORLESS CAMERA!

Photo: The Verge

When I first heard about the news I quickly checked out their Instagram and was super thrilled, welcoming Hasselblad X1D the world's first Medium Format mirrorless camera! This camera is retailed at $8895, I know I know it's not cheap, but I am so going to save up for this hot little baby!

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INDOMIE REAL MEAT

Who else here grew up eating Indomie throughout their childhood? Indomie will always have a special place in my heart and to me, Indomie is just my kind of "vitamin": one that keeps me very happy as a child, and now that I am a growing adult. Indomie is just so popular, and the branding is so strong that coincidentally when ones say they want to eat Instant noodle, they often say "Gue mau makan Indomie" or "I want to eat Indomie" instead of actually saying "I want to eat instant noodle".

CASSIS KITCHEN JAKARTA

A couple weeks ago I dined at the "new" Cassis Kitchen, by new I mean the changed concept (a more casual dining) and a bit of extrerior tweak here and there. I had a good history with Cassis on my first visit here when it's still known as a French fine dining restaurant, the food was delicious and it was personally one of my favorite fine dining restaurants in town. So after all these changes does Cassis Kitchen still owns my purple heart? Keep reading.

The most significant changes happens to the logo design, followed by the al-fresco area of the restaurant. The logo has this youthful and less formal feel to it compared to the previous one, and the outdoor color scheme turned to a chic monochrome, and as far as I remember, nothing really changes with the interior design besides how they stop using white table clothing in conjuction to the rebranding, oh talking about rebranding.

Visual tour coming. Embrace yourself with the elegance.

One of the questions I oddly receive on Snapchat about Cassis is whether you need to dress up (and trust me I have long conversation with my Snapchat friends). In a way yes, and I think it happens that Jakartans mostly care about dressing up wherever they go, but no you don't need to use the fanciest dress, a sporty casual look will do.

Cassis accommodates three private VIP rooms for special occasions if you fancy celebrating events that needed more private vibe to it such as birthdays, arisan, baby shower or more. Minimum charge should apply.

My favorite VIP room is the one located at the back near the kitchen area, once I stepped inside I automatically feel like "this is the one I'm going to throw a private event in the future at", I imagined good lighting in the day.

The menus they're trying to pull off are indeed in a way more relaxed, it's not as "fancy" or atas as how it was previously, and the price list was clearly more pocket friendly even though it's still the Jakarta posh cafes standard pricing where it's medium above. Price range for food starts from IDR 45k-550k and drinks around IDR 30k-100k (alcohol).

To be completely honest, the changes that they've done didn't bother me at all, and they are not that significant except for the pricing (which I think might be pretty significant for most of us), but after all the casualness, I was still super fond of their top notch service, the server and waiters were very attentive in taking, presenting and clearing up our orders. The dining session kicks off with fresh complimentary bread and butter, followed by an amuse bouche: raspberry granita to warm up our palate before getting down to the mains, it was refreshing with the right acidity and sweetness.

They have wide collection of wines too. I love having Moscato here and they sell each bottle at a very reasonable pricing.

Amuse Bouche - Raspberry Granita (took this picture on my second visit to Cassis Kitchen - also sharing the lunch experience below).

Fresh & warm complimentary sourdough

Pan Roasted Alaskan Scallop - IDR 150k
THIS WAS ONE OF A HELL SATISFYING APPETIZER. As far as I can remember, it's probably one of the best Scallop dishes you can find in town, particularly casual diners. The scallops were fresh, thick and juicy, and they were cooked so beautifully with golden brown color on the surface and light salt & pepper seasoning, you just can't go wrong with fresh ingredients let me tell you. I recommend having one whole bite to experience the natural sweetness of the scallop mixed with the seasoning on the surface, it's like a burst of flavor in your mouth.

The second trial, you have everything with the beach mushrooms, boiled edamame and citrus brown butter, that's even better. Talk about the play of texture, flavor and all that juicy bites.

Spicy Tuna Tacos - IDR 75k
Another highly recommended one is this spicy tuna tacos. The bite size corn tortilla tacos holds the spicy tuna tartare filling and the picked red onion. The tuna tartare was fresh, delicious, creamy and juicy with simple seasoning. They recommend having it with a full squeeze of lemon but since I am not a big fan of that idea, what I had was delicious enough.

Cobb Salad - IDR 95k
I am never a big fan of Cobb Salad since I never find it very special hence I tend to skip, but I weirdly wanted to try theirs and it was a right thing to do, yes it's simple but it was indeed fresh too (I could tell in a single glance of ingredients toppings). The mayo dressing was light and didn't over power and over cover the other ingredients, but you know me, I put the cheese away.

Foie Gras Duo - IDR 225k

The Foie Gras Duo consist of two kinds of Foie Gras textures served on a single plate: the pan seared foie gras and the mousse. I've always loved the classic pan seared (and theirs was beautiful), but the mousse one was pretty delicious as well, and together they're served with caramelized apples, blackcurrant, white grape chutney and fluffy brioche.

Angel Hair Mentaiko - IDR 185k
Feeling pasta that night and having this was just a nice little fulfilment to my craving. The pasta came in a pretty huge portion meant for two. The angel hair was cooked perfectly without ending up like a meesua texture. The overall seasoning from the mentaiko and garlic was generous and even to the portion, and not to mention, fresh fresh fresh blue prawns. Overall addicting yet satisfying, both to the eye and my palate.

After all, nothing can go wrong with a beautifully cooked pasta and a great amount of fresh Mentaiko. Nothing.

240 gr Steak Frites - IDR 350k

Being formerly known as a top notch French fine dining restaurants in town, that somehow makes ordering the steak an essential thing to do here. Had this appetizing looking Steak Frites completed with a pile of french fries and salad on the side. The steak was cooked perfectly medium as how I wanted it to be (I mean say hello to that pink center) and melted garlic butter on top of it. My idea of good steak is a light seasoned one where I can still sample the natural beautiful flavor of the meat itself, and this surpassed my standard. Definitely a must try.

Roasted Black Cod - IDR 275k

Pescetarian or not pescetarian, this is a dish you should NOT miss here! The cod fish was very soft & silky with the perfect crispy skin. I like how they combine this beautiful protein with beautiful root vegetables such as carrot, brussel sprouts, beetroot, potato and glazed with tasty red wine sauce.

It's true that we first eat with our eyes, then our palate, and moving to the array of desserts, we kicked off with something "chill". This is their signature dessert here: ZERO CELCIUS. A bowl like shaped from carved ice topped with various kinds of fruit cuts, some scoops of lime sorbets and poured with fresh sparkling white wine. Every element of this dish complements each other nicely. You got that sparkling sensation from the champagne, the sweetness and crunch from the fruits, and the sweet & sour from the lime sorbet. If you don't fancy sour at all, order this to appreciate the beauty.

Banana Chocolate Sphere - IDR 108k

This kind of dessert is trending at the moment, more and more cafes are trying to make their very own version of melting chocolate ball. Cassis Kitchen's version is basically a chocolate ball with banana ice cream inside and served with chocolate soil, mint, raspberry and served with salted caramel sauce. Some might find this a tad too sweet, but since I am a certified sweet tooth I found this  well composed and beautiful.

NY Cheese Cake - IDR 118k

As someone who's not into cheese, this cheesecake is tasty, but light and perfectly creamy at the same time, and most importantly I can still take this. The only downside is that I think for a cheesecake dessert, the price tag is a little high for this one.

After the good food, the good wine and good wine all you need is a good love making.

SECOND VISIT
The ambiance here in Cassis Kitchen is just very versatile, on dinner time you can get this romantic private ambiance while on lunch time you can enjoy dining outside surrounded by the homey ambiance and the green-ess of the plants. I look at Cassis Kitchen such a nice little retreat located at the busy Sudirman street. Went back a couple of days ago to have lunch here and enjoyed the ongoing promotion: IDR 150k LUNCH SET WTFFFFF so freaking affordable after one appetizer + one main and one iced tea.

They were kind enough by spoiling the customers with delicate lunch options, you'll probably find yourself stuck for 5-10 minutes deciding what you want because everything was potentially nice. You can opt for soup and salad for the appetizer session, to burgers, pasta, chicken schnitzel and fish & chips for mains, and oh, they still going to serve you their complimentary bread too say what!

But worry less as you can always opt from the ala carte menu if you're too hungry.

Tomato and Mozarella
Marinated tomatoes, fresh mozarella, basil and balsamico

Mushroom Soup
Potato gnocchi with fine herbs

THE FULL SET. IDR 150k for all this is so damn cheap man.

Parmigiana Chicken Schnitzel
Breaded chicken breast with homemade tomato sauce topped with mozarella cheese and mixed greens // Perfectly thick batter covering the tender chicken and coated with the tomato sauce and beautifully topped with mozarella cheese.

Cassis Kitchen Burger
First of all can we all appreciate the effort to make this burger look so good? The beef patty was thick and juicy and served with crunchy onion rings. If you notice the sauce underneath the patty, a treasure must be revealed because that shit is the bomb!

I have gained 12 kilos ever since I started blogging, if that's not the love of food I don't know what love is. Holy moly so many food in this single post I look back and couldn't believe I ate that much.

They're building the Lounge Area and it will be opened very soon.

The new Cassis Kitchen is certainly not disappointing in any way, from the beautiful space to the nice food and supported with the service and ambiance for days. Some of you might miss the old Cassis, but I don't, I like it before and currently. I seriously have high hopes for Cassis Kitchen, and so far I guess this is one of the best meals I've had in 2016. Do come at the lunch time to enjoy the great deal they're having at the moment (the affordable lunch set), a dinner for two will cost you IDR 700k, but you'll have better varied food to choose.

BEST OF LUCK!

Cassis Kitchen
Pavilion Apartement Retail Arcade Kav. 24
Jl. K.H. Mas Mansyur
Karet Tengsin, Jakarta Selatan
021 - 5794 1500
Opening hours:
Lunch: 11 AM-14:30 PM
Dinner: 6 PM-11 PM
Dresscode: sporty casual
Average spending for two: IDR 600k-700k
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM

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Map for Cassis Kitchen