Brunch at BLD (Breakfast Lunch Dinner)

Have I told you that brunch is my favorite meal of the day? It is that time of day when it is not too early to have something heavy and is not too late to have something light (both in food and thoughts). It is the ultra meal that somehow makes me feel good about myself for the rest of the day. A single cup of hot cappuccino, a single companion to converse with, and an 11 a.m to start the day. A single perfection combo of an all in one.

Considering the name of BLD (Breakfast Lunch Dinner), it seems to be the perfect place to get myself a beautiful brunch. Once I step in from the lobby entrance, I could see a long hallway with a wall of windows on one side which gives natural lighting to the whole place. The interior reflects a beautiful urban vintage setting. I was seated in one of the tables in the hallway since there was a party in the upper side of the restaurant. The old wooden floor really vibrates whenever someone walked by and at times I even have to hold my cup of cappuccino to make sure it didn't spill. In daylight, this part of the restaurant is far more beautiful in a simple kind of way compared to the upper side of the restaurant. I didn't mind one bit (well, except that it is the smoking area *cough cough*)

Since we were in a brunch mood, both of us ordered the breakfast menu. Me for the classic American Breakfast and a hot cappuccino, while he had the pork eggs Benedict and a freshly squeezed orange juice. It was a good start to start the day. A perfect cup of thick foamy cappuccino and a sweet sour orange juice. So far everything was just perfect..

Hot Cappuccino (23k)

Fresh Orange Juice (28k)

It took quite a while for us to wait for the food. Maybe it was due to the private party, but for a breakfast meal, yes, I considered it quite long to have our food on the table. Fortunately, my companion and I lost ourselves in our own world, engaging in myriad scopes of topics. We have a good laugh from silly things and put ourselves into deep thinking for a more serious matter of business. About 30 minutes later, my classic American breakfast finally showed up.

American Breakfast (48k)

I was disappointed when the waiter put the plate in front of me. It wasn't the breakfast set that I have expected. In the menu, they said 'two eggs (any style), a sausage, toast, bacon and a homemade hash brown'. Here are the verdicts : The sausage was way too dry, it was almost rubber-like and it was so hard to cut or even bite it straight from my mouth. The toast was basically just bread, it was not toasted whatsoever. The hash brown was definitely an instant one, not homemade. And the omelette.. was just sad... The only thing that was warm on the plate was the hash brown. Even the omelette was kind of cold. I seriously think that this dish is overpriced, considering the quality, the taste, and the ingredients. There was nothing special to it and  they took 30 minutes to get this whole plate served. No wonder everything was so cold..

Dry sausage! 

Startled with my not so pleasing complains, my dear friend finally realized that it was the time to step back into the real world. Afraid of having the same unfortunate encountering, he asked to cancel his order. He thought that it was way too long to wait for an egg benedict that there must be something wrong with it.  About 5 minutes later, he knew that it was inevitable to avoid such a catastrophe. 

Pork Egg Benedict (53k)

Fat Fat pork belly

It was slightly below an okay dish. The hollandaise sauce tasted like runny mustard. There were merely any meat in the pork belly. Good thing that he liked it all fatty. I just tried a spoonful bite and decided that I had enough. The brown sauce coating the pork belly was actually quite good. The pork belly itself was well infused with the sweet savory brown sauce. A plus point for the dish. However, I once again had a problem with the toast. Why called it a toast in the menu if they don't toast it at all?

It was my first time trying BLD and may I say that I am not too delighted with the whole experience. Maybe the private party in the upper floor was the main cause of the whole tragedy. I once again rethink about the main reason why I came to this place. It was simply because of the name of the restaurant. To have the guts to call themselves Breakfast Lunch and Dinner, I thought that they must have really specializes in those three aspects. Well, I am sorry to say that they surely don't specialize in breakfast. For the time being, I don't think I want to go back there to try their lunch or dinner dishes.

BLD
PX Pavilion, St. Moritz level GF-6E
Jl. Puri Indah Raya, Jakarta
Phone : (021) 58358582
Website : http://www.bldjakarta.com/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/bldjakarta
Twitter : https://twitter.com/bldjakarta

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

Brunch is for ladies

NARCISSISM.. Cause that's how we like it.. 

Okay.. enough with the self pics.. So last Sunday, my siblings and I headed to Cazbar for brucnh. Yes, it's a bar, but they also serve breakfast, lunch, dinner.. And at night, BAM, it's a bar.. They also have a sports bar upstairs with pool tables and darts, etc. So technically, it's an all in one place. My big sis, Elisse, was like craving for brunch and some place new. So there we at.. Click HERE to go to their web.. They have the menu in their website..

When you walk inside the place, you'll see...

Cazbar Mega Kuningan bar view.. 

Yep, that's the main entrance.. and look what they got there..

Yes, it's a beer pong!!

The place was quiet just like how we expected. There was only the three of us and two friendly waitresses..We didn't order anything fancy, just humble breakfast dishes..

Cazbar Cappuccino 

Now now, this is embarrassing.. This was what Elva ordered and I completely forgot the name of the dish. All I know, it's mashed with sour cream, just like how the Germans like it. The sausage was okay.. 

Steak and Eggs.. Yes, the steak is very small indeed, but it's yummy. I think they marinated it very well, so it doesn't really matter that it's too dry, it's still good. Oh The sauteed mushrooms are TOP NOTCH.. They use onions and bay leaves to make it fragrant.. Surprisingly, I couldn't finish it. I EAT A LOT, and even though this looks very pretentiously little, I can't finish the whole thing.. I left the hash and egg yolks..

English Breakfast.. Gotta love the sausages, bacon, grilled tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, hash browns, baked beans and scrambled.. Classic.

The staffs are very FRIENDLY.. They dressed up very casually, just shorts and tank tops with sandals.. One of them was listening to ipod when taking our orders.. lol.. I know it sounded very unprofessional, but I think it matches the bar theme. It just wouldn't fit in very well if the ladies there wear formal uptight uniform. They even chatted with us and asked for our opinions on the food, making interactions when they know they can leave us alone at our business. Sometimes I do think the staffs attitude towards customers is crucial indeed. Since many foreigners visit Cazbar, they speak English quite fluently.. I was left with a very good impression about the place and the people there..

The food was yummy. We didn't order much cause the point of going there was only to eat some breakfast and we just can't eat much in the morning.. I recommend this place to you all who are looking for a quiet place to eat breakfast. Those who are looking for a new place to drink, then this is definitely the place for you! The first story is quite small but still spacious and they have another room beside the bar.. I didn't go up to the second story so I don't know how the sports bar looks like..