A Tavola Kemang : Italian? Definitely (Maybe).

I've heard of praises prior to coming here, but it all tears down the soonest I enter the place on Sunday afternoon and find no patrons there. There were only one waitress to do all the job, including printing bills from behind the till. (Hey that rhymes!)

Few scenarios run in my head. I pulled out my occasional not-so-sure-about-your-place-but-I-wanna-see-what-you-have trick.

"May I have a look at your menu first?" 

A quick glance, still with doubts, but I say to myself : no harm in trying. My usual drill in an Italian restaurant is to order the two dish that represent the country the most: Pizza and Pasta. Lucky my friends are all with me and everyone picked a different menu.

Here's what was on our table:

Pizza Con Pepperoni (60k)
Shameful. Not only that the bread was hard to chew, when we let it air for 10-15 minutes it slowly deteriorates into something close to biscuit. Let's not go to the meat and cheese shall we? They are equally uninteresting as the bread.

Chicken Cordon Blu (Pardon me, forgot the price)
This saved my friends' belly from more pizza torture. A decent roll of meat, served warm, enough creamy sauce. Not something worth of honorary mention though. By the way, I'd appreciate if you could tone down the grated cheese. As you'll notice along the way, they are a little too serious in showing of their cheese to the point of almost ruining the taste. Because everything taste similar now.

Spaghetti Al Pesto (28k)
I personally would recommend this. Cooked al dente with the complementing basil & pine sauce, I needed nothing more to satisfy my tastebuds. Simplicity at its best.

Beef Lasagna (55k)
Another promising menu saved by the beef. But distracted by the cheese (again).

Fettuccine Con Prosciutto (40k)
Well cooked pasta. Cream based sauce was fascinating as well. I have no complains but the unnecessary reappearance of the grated cheese (again for the third time!).

Torta Di Cioccolato (30k)
Thank God they didn't pour cheese on this one. Probably the best thing that happened that afternoon. Not the best warm chocolate cake in town though. What makes it inferior to the one at Spageddies is probably the choice of chocolate. I just like their richness better.

At the end of the day, I probably should have listened to this review instead, or pay more attention to my gut feeling. I have no disappointment though. The meal was a lot more enjoyable with good friends around, they made it worth the while.

This is also a lesson to you Biters. If you have been coming to this site, lets not forget the written review while mesmerized by the photos. Read it paragraph by paragraph. Not everything that looks good is delectable. Same with food, same with women.

Cheers,

Fellexandro Ruby
Food & Travel Photographer / Storyteller


---
A Tavola
Jl. Kemang Selatan Raya No. 125
Jakarta.
Ph: 021-71793580

Nasi Campur Kenanga Wijaya : Pork In South Jakarta

When I tweeted this particular Nasi Campur some time ago, a fellow foodie, Aris mentioned that he doesn't trust nasi campur that resides in places other than North & West Jakarta. I have to agree with him to a certain extent. The reason is pretty obvious, both area probably has the strongest population of pork-eating Indonesians. As a result, there are more Chinese cuisines available and more authentic too.

However, I beg to differ on this one. Kenanga, located in Grand Wijaya Centre, Kebayoran Baru is an oasis of pork in South Jakarta. I trust the taste of the elderly in the photos below. Man, their tongue must have tasted more delectable food than me, and especially Chinese culinary for that matter. If they come here, there must be something good about this place. 

Here, you can choose either rice, noodle, or bihun as the base. You can also custom order the different variation of pork that suits your taste buds the best. There's pork satay, chasiu, roasted pork, gohiong, siewmay, and pig ear. 

Nasi Campur Kenanga (IDR 35k)

Its a meaty affair in one plate. However, I must say the roasted pork tasted best among others. Thick juicy cut with a crispy fat skin. Phew! I mean, you can find a better chasiu or siewmay some place else, but I'd definitely comeback just for the roasted pork. See? The elderly are right. 

Trivial questions must be running in your head whether it is the same with Nasi Campur Putri / Putra Kenanga that is more commonly available in malls. In a quick glance, the ingredients are quite similar, but from the look of it, they are of different management. Judging from the old building that houses Kenanga, I have a feel that this place is the genesis of the appropriately named daughters and sons of Kenanga. Coincidence? 

In short, if you're around the area and curiously starving for pork delicacy. This is one possible options, aside from Kacamata that's just a block away.

My fellow demographic from the North and the West, let me tell you that there's another world out there other than your current comfort zone. Explore! 

Cheers from the guy who sacrifice getting fat to fulfill your curiosity for good food, 

Fellexandro Ruby

Food Photographer / Storyteller

I tweet more pork and whatnot @Wanderbites. Keep the conversation going! 

--- 

Nasi Campur Kenanga

Grand Wijaya Center 

Blok F No. 19

Twitter: @KedaiKenanga

Taipan WTC Mangga Dua : You Can't Get Anymore Chinese Than This!

Its holiday, as usual, this particular Chinese Jakartans family has nothing planned. Yeas, they are the laid back ones, hiding beneath excuses of "this is the best time of the year to enjoy trafficless Jakarta." Their typical vacation include a major amount of lazying around in bed and extra dose of TV hours. The only time they exercise their brain is to answer this question:

Where to eat? What's for lunch? What's good for dinner? And many other variations of that.

Of course there's heavy amount of exaggeration, but you get the idea. Welcome to my demographic! Indonesian born and raised Chinese. That means 300 out of 365 days in a year we enjoy most Indonesian & Chinese food as our mother flavor. Taipan at WTC Mangga Dua is one such place. Its one of our favorite go-to place to satisfy our insatiable desire for original swine goodness and their friends.

Dining here is not complete without the companion of the elderly who speaks fluent Mandarin. Trust me, bringing one was the best decision I made. I got instant access to their VIP room while out there a line of crowd waiting to get seated. That's right, I even did a Chinese-mob entrance with my old man. Just without the suit, the guns, and the windblown half blondie hair.

As soon as we were seated, we know exactly what to order. If you even have to take a small peek into the menu, then your Chinese-o-meter has just decreased by several points. Here's a recap of what we had and how we had it.

Chinese Tea. This is 101. Never ever order anything else to drink. Its a disgrace to your Chinese-eating experience. Choose their Oolong, its one of my personal favorite. Aromatic to both senses, taste and smell. And forget those blooming-flower-in-your-glass tea. They are tasteless and nothing but cosmetics.

Then go to the appetizers. Should I remind you that this is not for the faint hearted. Literally. Because the way we prepare our belly for the main pork course is by cleaning our palate with some more pork. Meet Taipan's Chasiu. Red as its should be. Juicy as it should be. Sweet & fatty as it should be. The only drawback is that its been sitting quite a while in the open in the dim-sum section. Otherwise, all would be perfect. My second choice of appetizers would always be spicy jellyfish with vegetables and sesame seed. These two can really play the game.

Good good foreplay, marked by the wet watery mouth.

But as it is written, the longer you manage to arouse it, the better the climax would be. And so I listen to the wisdom of the crowd. Here comes Quail Soup in bamboo case. Clear broth yet tasty. A work of few hours slow simmer that brings out the meat's goodness. Salty sweet kind of pleasure.

With three appetizers, I spare no time for nonsense. To keep the momentum alive, I say we go straight to the intercourse. I mean, main course. Meet the glorious Mini Roast Duck. I don't think I need to waste too many words on this. This is grand! We all had one duck each for maximum pleasure because once you bite it, you don't want to share it. The same goes to their Wheat Fried Shrimp. It successfully add texture to our previous menu. And it did it with flair. Coming in hot and crispy.

Exhausted. I simply maxed out.

I leave no meal behind though. There's three more in line to savor. Here are the comforting kisses and hugs. The desserts.

Of all three, I'd say these Small Round Thing with Egg Yolk filling is the must-have closing bit. A sweet closure to a beautiful climax. The secret is the addition of butter aside from the crispy outer skin and savory sesame seeds.

Before leaving, my old man expose his one final trickery. Called out the manager, spoke to her a few lines in Mandarin, and before long we got a 200k discount off of the bill. Let me tell you, this is the only time I feel like going back to those boring classes and actually learn Mandarin. All in all, we paid almost 800k for all this. Worth it? Hell yeah.


Have I sound Chinese enough? I hope I make justice to my demographic. Even if I don't, I hope the food here does it. Give it a visit, and you'll get what I meant.

Cheers,

Fellexandro Ruby
Food & Travel Photographer / Storyteller


---
Taipan 
WTC Mangga Dua, 6th Floor
Ph: 021-3001-8877