Christmas Celebration with Pannacotta Etc (And Giveaways!)

" It's the most wonderful time of the year. It's the hap-happiest season of all."

A song by Andy Williams in the 60's and still hitting radioplays until now. What a beautiful legacy one can leave behind. This makes me reminisce a year back when this all started. Have I made a worthwhile legacy, a good pictorial and heads up on each review? With this in mind, Wanderbites.com will continually evolve and improve.

As some of you might've known, Wanderbites Studio is already underway and I've started photo collaboration with several chefs, restos, and magazines. They can be viewed here. That means you can expect more appetizing foodporn as I develop skills behind the camera. ;) Other than that, several ideas are juggling into culmination next year. Pray that I have extra energy to make it all happen.

To close this year, I dedicated this post, a post of festivity, a celebration of gratitude to you Biters who have been a faithful readers to this blog, to foodplaces who has made my belly happy and happier, to fellow food bloggers who has spiced up my 2011 with joy and laughter. You all have made this year wonderful for me.

I hope you enjoy this post. And read through, I'm giving away PRIZES for two lucky Biters. Alrighty, let's open up the box!

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As I first laid eyes on this thing, I found love. It's everywhere as you can see in the design, the details, the colors, the choice of fonts and the wording in the packaging are just lovely. I spent the next 3 minutes observing it. Love does come in a box. 

The people behind Pannacotta Etc must've put a serious thought and effort from conception to execution. Somehow this fueled up my passion. "A thing this awesome deserve an awesome photo as well." I said to myself. Automatically I ran to grab my gears, tables, tablewares, etc etc. Forty minutes after, I was in-the-zone, and here's the outcome. =)

Love in a box <3

I'm always fascinated by foodplaces who only serve a few (or even a handful) of distinct menu to choose from. To one extreme is Rotiboy or Deli Manjoo. It proves an anomali that while you can't satisfy everyone, you can satisfy quite a lot of people with a few option and still keep your business profitable. And now Pannacotta Etc have join the hood I suppose. Three option and that's it. I love how they staged customer's encounter with their products.

The Infatuation begins here says Classic Panna Cotta with Butterscotch
The Celebration begins here says Toffee Nut Panna Cotta with White Cream
The Addiction begins here says Classic Panna Cotta with Baileys

Toffee Nut Panna Cotta w/ White Cream

Classic Panna Cotta w/ Baileys

Among all three I'd say the infatuation is my favorite. Probably it's the first encounter effect, but the slightly bitter yet creamy butterscotch suits my tastebud very well. It reminds me of creme brulee only with a more gelatine-like texture. My second favorite would be .... both of the others. Haha. They're both equally good. And considering the size, I'd say everyone should go through all phase and try out all taste in one run like I did. It ended with a huge grin on my face.

Lovely.

I wish I could meet the founders and say it to them in person. Well, until then I hope you liked the photos and reviews. Oh, and I almost forgot, PRIZES! =D

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Here's how you could win a boxful of Pannacotta Etc:
1. Follow our twitter @Wanderbites
2. Choose your favorite blogpost from Wanderbites.com
3. Tweet it (with links to your fav post), and use the hashtag #wanderbitesfav

This Christmas celebration giveaway opens from today December 24th, 2011 and close on January 10th, 2012 midnight and only for Jakartans (or anybody who's willing to travel to Jakarta to pick up the prizes =p) Two winners will be drawn with random generator. So keep the tweets coming Biters!

I'm looking forward to see your happy faces tasting that Panna Cotta.

Happy Jingling and Twinkle-ing

Fellexandro Ruby
Food Conversationalist & Photographer

Munch on my tweets @Wanderbites
Snack on my instagram @Captainruby
Email me at wanderbites@gmail.com

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Pannacotta Etc
T: @pannacotta_etc
Ph: 0853-1111-9868

Karē Frenzy at Mr. Curry

"Mr. Curry was a legendary chef from Curry Land. Together with Mango-nyan, they travelled the world in search of the ultimate curry. They finally stumbled upon the finest curry in Japan & now are coming to introduce the goodness of Japanese Curry." 

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While sounded a little corny, the description they put out in their website reveals more that it meets the eyes. Mango is the very ingredient that shaped their curry. It resulted in a proportionate mixture of sweet and savory that's more suitable to the Indonesian tongue, as compared to its spicier counterpart, Indian curry.

As I recall there's only several foodplaces to go to in Jakarta. While my favorite is still my hometown Bagan Siapi-api pork curry, Mr. Curry is definitely one of the select few to consider. As another establishment under Ismaya Group you can expect a good combination of strong concept, creative execution and continuous innovation. I discover these on my last visit to Mr Curry at their newly opened joint in Pondok Indah Mall 2.

To cut the story short, let's have dinner shall we?

Korokoro Tofu - Crunchy exterior, soft interior. Perfectly enjoyed with chilli dip.

Korokoro Tofu was the first meal summoned to jumpstart my appetite. It did just right with the bite size diced tofu. Crunchy
exterior meets soft interior. Dip it in the chili sauce that accompanies it for an extra kick.

For the mains I had Chicken Katsu Curry, Curry Ramen, Assorted Mushroom Omurice, and Spaghetti Curry. Among them all my favorite was the Omurice and Curry Ramen.

Chicken Katsu Curry - Your typical katsu with Mr. Curry Original Sauce

Assorted Mushroom Omurice - Go for Tomato rice instead of Butter rice.

As someone who love egg, my tastebud was entertained by the well cooked buttery omelet blend in very well with the mushroom sauce. And the great thing is that you get two sauce for the price of one. I had fun tasting them in turns. I don't think you'll get bored with this dish. Especially with the option to change into tomato rice, and several other interesting sauces and toppings. I'd definitely come back to Mr. Curry for this.

My second favorite is the curry ramen which I personally consider as the most promising meal in the menu. Why? Cause you see in the photo a crowd of toppings but when it arrived, it was nothing more than a pair of egg cut in half and a slice of salmon. Disappointing knowing that its a small improvement that Mr. Curry can bear I guess. On a side note, I loved the idea of having a ultra thick curry broth on a ramen which I rarely find anywhere else.

Ramen Curry - Especially attracted by the thick soup. More toppings please?

Manggo Smoothie - Sweet, fruity, lovely thick juice. Like!

In between the meal, these two drinks was the thirst quencher. A fun, fruity, refreshing Mango Smoothie and the equally refreshing Berry Lassie for those who fond of soury taste. It is a bit hard to describe precisely the taste of lassi, but just so you have an idea, it is a yogurt-based drink originated from India.

Berry Lassi - For those who fond of soury taste.

As the dinner getting near to the end, I was presented with these two lovely desserts. Macha Caramba and A Dash of Fruit Splash.

Matcha Caramba - A must try!

There's something different about Macha Caramba. Its green tea ice cream connects very well with the toasted bread. And the interesting part is that all sides of the cubical toast gets toasted equally. Word from the kitchen is they brought a specific oven from Japan just to get it perfectly toasted. Give it a try and then you'll know what I meant.

Along with the Omurice, this is another menu I'd surely crave for from Mr. Curry. Plus it's definitely worth the price tag.

All in all it was a belly satisfying night. Many thanks to Mila and Grace from Ismaya who made the night enjoyable despite of the long two hours traffic just to get to the place. It was all worth it I guess.

Until the next tasting, so long Biters.


Fellexandro Ruby
Food Conversationalist & Photographer


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Mr. Curry
Pondok Indah Mall 2, Restaurant Row, Level 3
Ph: 021-75920666
T: @mrcurry_

Healthy Meal : Collaboration With Chef Rinrin Marinka & Go Girl Magazine

Ola!

As I promised, here's a look of my latest collaboration with Chef Rinrin Marinka. For those who watched Masterchef Indonesia should already have a hint of who she is. For me, my first meeting with Rinrin was through her amazingly scrumptious Green Tea Cake at Jakarta Culinary Festival 2010. I can still recall the clash of sweet macha layer and sour passionfruit. Yummy! It was lovely to taste her cooking again, and this time meeting her in person.

The theme we're aiming was healthy meal alternatives. And so she create these two menu especially for Go Girl Magazine: Hello Muscle for breakfast and Salmon Buckwheat for lunch.

Helping out behind the scene was Didit, Yence, Rianty, & Mba Ika from Go Girl Magazine. I'm thankful working alongside them, a group of passionate people with great work ethic. Alrighty, I shall not spoil the details here, let these photos tell the story.

Wise up! Eat up!

Fellexandro Ruby
Food Conversationalist & Photographer

PS: For Christmas gifts and parcels you can email me at wanderbites@gmail.com for details =p Nah, I'm joking. But seriously ...

It's a wrap! Thus the happy, relieved faces.

 

My very first take home assignment. Love the baby tomatoes!

If only this is my breakfast everyday.

A good companion for those on weight-loss diet.