Yo Panino : Tailor Your Own Sandwich

Hello everyone,

I love Instagram. I do. I can devour myself in luscious food pictures and beautiful people. One day I spotted Wulan Guritno, one of Indonesia's famous celebrity ensemble a mouthwatering sandwich right on the stove. Later I found out that the sandwich place is called Yo Panino and it's so close to where I work. Located in Plaza Indonesian Extension, the decor is bright and colorful, slim chance that you will miss them when you pass by. Yo Panino is originally from Singapore, it's a place where you can tailor your own sandwich to suit your appetite.

Here are the steps :
1. Choose your sandwich and sides

There are so many types of sandwich you can select. Our orders that day was Grilled Chicken Sandwich (35K), Angry Prawns (63K), and Tuna Mayo (43K). You can make a combo by adding another 15K for value combo or 30K for premium combo. You will get selections of side dishes and drinks to go with your sandwich. Side dishes selections are Java Slaw (coleslaw with peanut sauce, I didn't like it), Fries, and Cookie. If you are not that hungry opt for the cookie!

2. Choose your bread
    There are 4 types of bread : Multigrain, Turkish Pide, Brioche, Farmhouse Artisan.

I chose turkish pide which is chewy and flavorsome, while my friend  chose brioche which is a bit sweet and has very soft texture.

3. Choose you veggies

All veggies are free of charge so go ahead eat your greens!

4. Choose your sauce/dressing

5. Go ahead pay your sandwich and have a seat. They will bring your sandwich to you :)

And you can get a free cookie if you follow Yo Panino and mention them in your tweet! I got two cookies that day. My favorite is the almond cookie. It was so good! :) A fresh crisp cookie with the right amount of sweetness and a heavenly smell of cinnamon. LOVE. Maybe I'll go back for their cookies soon!

Will I come back? Yes, I want to try all the bread and cookies! Thanks for staying with me on this post. Till then :)


xoxo, Jessica

Quickreview Chandara : Fine Thai Cuisine

Hello everyone,

How was your day? I just wanted to do a quick review. Since I didn't really take pictures of the interior of the restaurant and all. But the food was good, I feel like I need to share with you all. Last night me, mom, and my auntie went to have dinner at Chandara in Plaza Indonesia. They serve fine Thai cuisine. And I must admit their Thai food is one of the best I've tasted in Jakarta so far. Last night's dinner was very tasty and such a pleasure for my tastebud. Price wise they are on the expensive side, being located in one of the most upscale mall in Jakarta. But I tell you, the food and service were not disappoint. Usually when I want to know whether a Thai food restaurant serves good and authentic food is to order some of world widely known Tom Yum and Pad Thai. So that's exactly what I did last night.

Tom Yam Goong (with King Prawn) 60K. Super yummy soup! Tangy, sour, tasty, spicy!

Very nice Pad Thai (65K) sour, sweet, tasty, refreshing!!!

And for the drink I ordered the Butterfly Pea tea (20K), from the herbal tea range. Taste just like your normal green tea. The color was very interesting though.

We also ordered the grilled chicken (Gai Yang) 60K, unfortunately I forgot to take picture of it because I was so busy eating haha. If you love Thai food, this place is definitely worth visiting. Oh, they also charge a 10% tax and another 7,5% for service. So get ready to have some extras on your bill.

Thanks for reading and staying with me on this post. Have a good day readers :)

xoxo,
 Jessica

Kwang Koan : Superb Bao and Coffee

Hello everyone,

How was your weekend? Hopefully you all have a wonderful one, like I did. Last Saturday morning, I woke up quite early in the morning for a purpose. I wanted to try having breakfast in an old kopitiam like place in Kelapa Gading area. The place sits on the corner of the street and occupied a small building, jam packed with people at 8ish AM in the morning. The street outside the premise is also packed with cars and bicycle. It is also well known as a post workout hang out place for the bikers. The place is called "Kwang Koan". It is basically an old kopi (coffee) house, Hainan Style, that only sells Bapao (Bao), half boiled eggs, and coffee/tea. Your typical local kopitiam.

The Bapao will cost you 8K, the skin is fluffy and soft while the inside is pretty generous topping. I liked it. The size of the Bao is quite big, one is big enough for me.

 The coffee and tea tarik will cost you 7K, the coffee i think is superb. I loved it. I ordered my 2nd cup right away. While the tea is also decent. They also serve Milo and Iced Coffee. Both are pretty decent. Come on! They use sachet Milo, what's not to love about Milo? :P

That morning I ordered both Peanut Bao and Minced Pork Bao. Both are good. I had a very fulfilling breakfast that day. Will come back soon to have more coffees and Bao!

If you happen to live nearby or thinking about having a good old style coffee in the morning, go here. Although you have to fight for your seat. Take away also available. And there are also many other food stall under the same roof with this kopitiam, such as Pempek (Palembang fish cake with vinegar sauce), Sotomie, and Medan cooked food. Thanks for reading, enjoy your stay!

Kwang Koan
Jalan Kopyor Raya Blok Q1 No. 1
Kelapa Gading
(behind WGP Apartment)
Opens from 06.00 AM until sold out (2 PM)
xoxo,
Jessica

Jun Njan - Urban Kitchen Plaza Indonesia

Hello everyone,

Most of you must have already heard of Jun Njan, the famous chinese restaurant that has been around since 1956. Wow, if they have survived for more than 50 years in such a rough competition, they must serve good food that lure people to keep coming back. And today, my colleagues and I went to Jun Njan in Urban Kitchen at Plaza Indonesia to have lunch. I think the plus point about Urban Kitchen is the fact that they have many varieties of menus and the design of the this food court deserves a compliment. It has a vintage feeling which I like. The minus point is the circulation of the air/exhaust, you have to carefully pick your seat location otherwise you will smell like cooked food for the rest of the day :(

Now onto the food, we ordered the lunch package which already include rice, selections of meat, and iced/hot tea. Price is pretty affordable, ranging from 34K - 56K. This time we decided to order these menus:

Chicken with butter sauce (Ayam goreng saus mentega). One of Jun Njan classic. Crispy juicy chicken in butter sauce 38K.

Rice with roast duck (Nasi Bebek Panggang) 43K. Acceptable, my colleague finished everything.

Rice with black pepper beef. This one is pretty decent, cost around 49K.

This last one is one of my favorite. Rice with Jun Njan special tofu (38K). Yummy. And also in the picture is Anomali Coffee Blended drink "Banana Toffee" also one of my fave from Anomali.
Notes : Anomali coffee is having a buy 1 get 1 free promotion if you are a Mandiri card holder, valid until end of 2013.

Final Verdict : I think the lunch package from Jun Njan is affordable and a good value for money. The taste is decent although is not mind blowing. My favorites are the Jun Njan special squid and the special tofu. Do give them a visit! I hope you enjoy reading this post. Till then :)

xoxo,
Jessica

Snacking on street side : St. Theresia Church, Menteng

Hello everyone,

These past few days it has been extremely hot here in Jakarta, where the humidity also seems to be on the highest point. This condition leads me to crave for Es Podeng. Es (ice) Podeng is basically a frozen dessert made of coconut milk, sugar, and stabilizer just like an ice cream base and avocados, peanuts, chocolate milk, diced toast as toppings on top.

So, to accomplish my mission, my colleagues and I went to Menteng area, Saint Theresa Church to be exact. Other than es podeng, they also have many kinds of old school food which reminds me of my childhood memory.

These vendors below are the one I had my lunch/snack/dessert from earlier today. The plus point of this place is cheap and the varieties of food, but the minus point is the heat and no seat, so be ready for a standing party under the sun :P

1. Bakwan Kita Malang, it is a bowl of boiled and fried wontons with some meatball and tofu. Add some chili and sweet soy sauce to your bowl to taste. Yummy! 1 portion might not be enough for you. Cost 8K per bowl.

2. Cakwe Theresia (Yu Tiao as in Chinese). It is a fried dough, donut like, and serves with peanut sauce. It cost only 1K per piece. Such a cheap treat!

3. Tahu Gejrot. This dish is from Cirebon area, it's fried tofu with vinegar sauce and chili. It's unique how they make the vinegar sauce.

4. Lekker. This is a very famous snack, usually you can find the vendor selling this snack in front of schools. It is a thin crispy pancake with chocolate and cheese filling, but nowadays they improvise by adding banana to the filling. Nom nom nom!

5. Ice (Es) Podeng. This is the one I was craving for. A sweet coconut based ice cream with lots of toppings. So refreshing on a super hot days! Cost 7K per glass

6. Last one. Kue Ape. It's a traditonal Indonesian pancake, which is crispy on the edges and soft and dense on the inside. It is flavored with pandan paste. Cost only 1,5K per piece. If you haven't try it yet, you definitely should :)

There are so many types of snack along the street in front of the church, will review on them later. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this post. If you have any favorite snack, please do write down in the comment box below :) Till then.


xoxo,
Jessica

Saturday Big Bites : Kopitiam Oey & Sate Babi Krekot

Hello everyone.

Last weekend my elder sister and husband who live abroad, came to Jakarta for a few days and wanted to try a lot of Indonesian food, street style. So on saturday, I took them around to have some good food :)

At first we make a stop at Kopi Oey, a small kopitiam owned by a famous food critic Mr. Bondan Winarno at Jalan Sabang. I only took pictures of the food, but the place has old pattern tiles floor and old photos. All the props they have hanging on the wall or displayed in the cabinet looks quite old too.
My sister wanted to try the Kopi Talua 20K. Basically it's traditional black coffee, sugar, and egg yolk. She quite liked it.

I ordered Ice Kopi Sisiliana 17K, which is ice black coffee with sugar. Simple, refreshing and kept me awake till very late at night. Sigh.

We also ordered the grilled banana with chocolate and cheese, the banana is ripe and sweet. But nothing really special about it.

After having a coffee break, we went to have dinner at Pecenongan area. Along the street you can see a stretch of vendors selling food at night time only. You can find seafood, Chinese food, Indonesian food, and so many other things. Not to mention the famous Martabak (Indonesian pancake). But most of them are street side food, so do not put high expectation on cleanliness and service. We had our dinner at Sate Babi Krekot (pork satay), it was full of people that night, so we queued for 10 minutes before we finally got a table.

We ordered 15 pork satay, there are few varieties of satay : lean pork meat, pork liver, pork skin, sweetened pork meat, pork intestines. So choose which ever you like. They also serve a good Soup Bakut (pork ribs in clear soup with some pickled veggie). The soup taste sour and tasty. Very refreshing.

The famous pork satay (cost around 4K a piece)

The Soup Bakut Sayur Asin (forgot how much it cost btw)

I didn't really check the bill but the meal for 4 persons cost us for almost 200 thousand (including 2 avocado juice). It was a wholesome dinner. The Bakut Sayur Asin came as a winner that night. The soup is so flavorsome, I loved it. After dinner we went to buy the famous sweet martabak and egg martabak nearby. My tummy couldn't be happier :)
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for some more good food to come :)

Kopi Oey
Jalan H. Agus Salim 18, Jakarta Pusat
Opening hours : Start from 7AM for breakfast till 10 PM

Sate Babi Krekot
Jl. Pecenongan Raya, opposite to Alila Hotel
Opening hours : start at 5.30 PM till midnight

xoxo,
Jessica
Instagram : @charlottejessicad