Opus Cafe : Quick Review

It has been months I haven't set foot on Plaza Indonesia and yesterday I happened to be there, unplanned, stranded, and desperate to watch The Hobbits.. From all the hectic traffic in Jakarta, that mall is the most perfect destination as it has the right amount of distance(not too far yet not too close for me to get sick of it), the tolerable amount of traffic, and the right ambiance for a Saturday.  Anyway, I managed to watch the Hobbits, but got plenty of time waiting for the movie. Do I need to ask myself what to do in that spare time? Dinner... It's the most primal, perfect and necessary answer (for me). No, I am just not the type who go for window shopping to kill time.. I dine to kill time.. lol..

Anywayyyyyyy, I have always seen food photos from Opus Cafe, but never had the chance to try it. There were only the two of us and apparently this place was not that packed compared to other places. So we decided to give it a try.. The choices from the menu vary from breakfast menus, Italian dishes, to Indonesian dishes.. I love the different choices given by them.. Well, one thing I have in mind is some of the food photos from their website seem to be missing from the menu.. I am not sure what the reasons are..

This one is the smoking area. The non-smoking area is quite small and definitely less attractive compared to the smoking area. It happened that there were just a few people inside so I asked the waiter to be seated in this area

One page menu..

Christmas is coming up! So to pump up the sense of Christmas, my cappuccino(38k) was 'Santa-fied'. Aside from the cute foam, it's probably not the best cappuccino. It's quite bland, in a way I didn't know what is stronger than what, the milk, the coffee, or the water..

TWG Earl Grey (25k)

Create Your Own Pizza (65k). It's a thin crust pizza with Beef Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Smoked Salmon. We requested the Salmon to be separated from the pepperoni. See the upper part of the pizza..? Yep, that's the smoked salmon.. It's quite yummy.. And they have other choices of toppings from capers and anchovies to oriental BBQ and honey mustard chicken..

Minute Steak with Bernaise (98k). It was a bit overcooked for me. I ordered it in medium but it was just a bit well done for my taste. I love the strong flavor of black pepper but at the same time it was a bit too salty. I am sorry to say that the highlight of the dish was the fries.. The bernaise sauce was quite disappointing as well.. 

Benedictus with smoked beef bacon (50k). Perfect poached eggs! I love the garlic breads beneath it. It has the perfect texture to pair with the oozing runny egg yolk

My date for the night.. Apparently, my silent camera application has done me some justice in capturing candid picture of him. 

Maybe the reason why I haven't tried this place for such a long time is because I always have low expectations for the food. And I was right. I don't think it's a good place to satisfy your taste buds. The food is only a 'so-so' for my taste. I will give it a 6/10. The food gave my mind a piece of its ups and downs. It was not completely bad and maybe we ordered the wrong dishes, but I just think there are better places to have a good meal. However, I really APPRECIATE the good service given by the waiters in Opus Cafe. I didn't make a single complain, even though my company for the night has offered himself to complain for the overdone steak but I refused. I really love how patient, polite and helpful the waiter was while taking our orders. The place is cozy and I love the interior inside.

For what it's worth, I had a great time killing my spare time in Opus Cafe.

Opus Cafe
Jl. M. H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30, Jakarta 10350
Phone : 021-29923735
Web : www.opuscafes.com
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/OPUSCAFE
Twitter : @inspiringopus

Antipodean Kemang : Healthy Brunch

This is a postponed post, in fact it is a too long postponed post! I went to Antipodean with my siblings, just the four of us before I went for my China trip. So.. it's before this year's Eid holidays. I was just browsing through my photo album and found the pictures. I gotta stop suffocating my photo album and keep burying these food photos! So I made the decision to revive them..

My siblings and I are brunch maniacs. We really love breakfast menus  but we are too lazy to wake up early.. Brunch is our ideal meal of the day. It is like a habit for us to randomly go for a brunch on Sundays, trying new places. I always think that these little habits that my siblings and I have are just precious.. Time flies so fast, who knows till when we can keep doing this habit? Before we know it, BAM, we have our own families and children, or maybe we're just too busy and tired for Sunday brunches.. Maybe I am over-dramatizing it, but just having the thought of it bumps me a bit. Okay enough with this out of topic wanderings..

Without further ado, let me present to you.. Antipodean : Coffee - Cafe - Culture.. A place where they serve Australian home cooked meals.. Both healthy and yummy... From the food presentation and the taste of it, I assume they don't use any frozen food and make almost everything by themselves. The food itself is not that fancy, but that's just not what I aim for when I'm having a meal. The home cooked meals that they serve are just simply COMFORTING.. and some are very healthy indeed.. Oh, and it turns out that the Antipodean Cafe in Kemang is their first outlet. They also have another branch in Cilandak Town Square (citos). Now they have Antipodean cafes in Australia and Malaysia as well. The thing that I love most about this place is that they serve breakfast meals all day long, well as long as they are still open. I hate it  when cafes or restaurants give you a curfew for their breakfast meals. It's like as if we have an official rule banning us to have breakfast at lunch or dinner time.

Yes, it's quite small..

The menu is written on this wall of blackboard. The place inside is not big so everybody can easily just look at this wall and choose their drinks and meals.. Practical and time saving 

Cappuccino.. 

Latte

Iced Chocolate

They use special coffee beans with a brand called Merdeka. It's quite good and it's a local brand. The smart ass version of me assume that the owners of the Merdeka coffee bean is the owner of Antipodean.. Go check out their website.. click here..

Sweet paprica chicken with chickpea salad (50k). I love the cold chickpea salad! It's very fresh. The chicken was cooked really well, not too dry.. Its presentation is very simple indeed, very home-cooked style

French toast with bacon and maple syrup (50k). I just can't combine these two. I know it's a common combination between the savory salty bacon and the sweet maple syrup in western breakfast set, BUT I JUST COULDN'T CAN'T WONT be accustom to it.. In spite of my prejudice, it's still yummy.. lol

All day breakfast (60k). Classic combo of grilled tomatoes, sausages, baked beans, toasts, and fluffy scrambled eggs.. My weak spot.. 

Big Breakfast (60k). Another weak spot. Toast, bacon, scrambled egg, sauteed mushrooms, home made hash brown.. YUMMIEHHHH

Scrambled egg salmon on toast (60k). They use generous amount of smoked salmon. If you are a fan of smoked salmon, order this!

Lil sis and big bro..  being narcissistic as always..

Well now I am just being a narcissistic pain in the *beep*

Antipodean Cafe
Kemang Hero Complex
Jalan Kemang Selatan 1
Jakarta
Phone : 7192364
Open from 8 a.m to 8 p.m

Die Stube : a German date

It was a bright shiny Sunday, a good day to spend time outside and have a good meal. My sister was in the mood to go to Kemang for a late lunch. She already told me the day before that we're going to Die Stube. I've been wanting to go there since a few years ago but never find anyone willing to go with me. I remember the first time I discovered Die Stube is because I was having dinner at Praline (just next to Die Stube), which is now closed and turned into Die Stube extension. I was so curious just to look at it from outside. For starters, it was night time and with all the lights and fairy tale-like exterior, I swear, somehow, that place looked enchanted to me. It was quiet and mysterious, I couldn't peep through the windows as they were closed. I opened the wooden Shrek-world-like door and found lots of German people holding their beer, just enjoying their time. It was loud inside. People were talking, getting drunk, eating.. It was a bar..

Now, since they have their extension, it's not just a German bar,  but it's also a German restaurant. What comes to your head when you hear 'German restaurant'? Well, only one word.. maybe two instantly pop in my head. They are.. Pork... Knuckle.. lol..

BAM! Two ladies, lots of PORK

Big sis requested her photo to be posted here.. lol

There were only the two of us so we didn't order much. Just a sharing plate of sausages and a pork chop. The only reason that's holding us back was because we were going to Publo afterwards and we were saving some room for dessert and light bites.. Oh, it turned out that you have to order the Pork Knuckle three hours prior before you dine in. Bummers, we couldn't taste it..

The pork chop (105k). Well, it was well seasoned but really overcooked! It was so hard, even just to cut it.. The sauce was separated in a small bowl and it was lovely. 

Cream Spinach. This was a side dish to the sharing plate of sausages. I love it. From all those porkiness, at least I still had something green on my plate (even though it was smoldered with cream) 

Bonanza Bockwurst Sausages with Sauerkraut (105k). I was not sure what's the meat for the sausages but it was so yummy that I simply did not care.. at all.. The sauerkraut was sour. It's basically cabbage, sort of like pickled cabbage.. 

I was sat on the extension side of the restaurant. It is definitely more family friendly compared to the bar. Either way, I still think it's cozy. Just pretend that it's snowing outside and you're having this great meal inside.. The whole place is decorated with Christmas ornaments as it is coming soon (uber excited for that)..

Still bummed that we didn't get to order the Pork Knucke. My sister and I came to an agreement that we will definitely go back to this place. The portion isn't as huge as other famous German restaurants (Paulaner perhaps), but I just found this place really welcoming. The staffs are great and really helpful in deciding what we want.. I am very interested in trying other menus in this place.. If you were in Kemang and craving for some pork, just drop by here.. Or simply just have a beer.. Get a drink or two to accompany your meal.. :)

This photo was taken from Google image.. Imagine this at night time.. Reminds me a lot to  Shrek!

Die Stube
Plaza Bisnis Kemang
Jl. Kemang Raya 2 Jakarta 12730
Telephone : +62-21 71793486
E-mail : diestube@cbn.net.id
Website: http://www.diestube.co.id