Shang Palace: Shangri-La's Cantonese Jewel

It's perfectly understandable that Shangri-la Hotel is one of the best luxurious hotels world wide. Trying their best to always portray the existence of heaven on earth, the hotel itself brings their utmost professionalism and hospitality to satisfy their customers.

Numerous visits have I paid to the hotel, but that night was meant for a different purpose and destination. And talking about the fictional dreamy paradise of the orient exoticism, it was one of those fortunate fates that brought me to Shang Palace, the Chinese restaurant of Shangri-La. Specializing in Cantonese cuisines, I was invited to taste their Tea-infused menu.

Hanging on to the original luxurious concept of the hotel, this restaurant depicts elegance at its oriental finest. Talking about a couple of jade color imperial guardian lion and lioness at the front entrance, resembling a mythical protection and also keeping the balance of yin and yang. The iconic color red, denoting the lucky shade for the Chinese (and also the one color that unconsciously can increase your appetite, aha!), dominates most of the interior.

Subtle ornaments synchronizing the red dominance

It wasn't long for the food to start flowing on the table. It was a well-organized set courses from appetizer to dessert. 

A very hearty and warming bowl of Corn and Crab Soup (not included in the tea menu promo)

Steamed Bai Ling Mushroom and Seafood with Rain Flower Tea Sauce (78k)

At first glance, I thought the mushroom was minced and combined with the shrimp and chopped scallop filling, finished with a wonton skin in the bottom to create the look of lotus leaf. Well, I was wrong. The bai ling mushroom, which has almost the same texture and taste of a braised abalone, was in fact the "lotus leaf". The rain flower tea, which is a type of green tea harvested from Nanjing, gave a mild aroma, complimenting the sweetness of the prawns without overpowering the natural taste of the seafood.

Braised Bo Lei Duck (68k)

The word umami was the first thing that popped in my head after taking my first bite of this beautiful braised duck. The sweet savory sauce was well infused to the duck meat. Bo lei is basically the Cantonese pronunciation for pu-erh tea. It has a slight depth of earthiness to its after taste. However the natural fat from the duck was a bit dominant and might cloud the infused tea without careful attention.

Glutinous Rice and Fish cooked with Yellow Treasure Flower (58k)

Frankly, I was in confusion defining the tea aroma for this dish. The fact that they used lotus leaf and a bamboo bowl to cook this rice dish, the tea aroma seemed to get lost in between. I couldn't decide whether the fragrant of each bite was coming from the tea or the previous elements. However, it was a hearty lo mai gai like dish, with a twist of fish on top.

It's not just plain glutinous rice. The chef also added extremely soft strands of crab and shallots to the rice. Hence, it has that soft seafood aroma, a much milder version of what usually released from dried shrimps.

Lamb Chop with Golden Phoenix Tea (88k)

 Medium-cooked juicy tender lamb chop, barely has that distinctive musty smell, paired with scrambled egg white. Savory gravy with a blend of golden phoenix tea infusion on the side was just another mark up for the additional idealism of each element. PURE CARNIVORE PERFECTION! Enough said..

On another hand, the plating of this dish also resembles yin and yang symbol. Looking at the position of the lamb chop and the shape of the sauce itself, oh, just one genius way to swoop in an oriental element in a fusion dish.

Chef's Special Stewed Pork Rib, served with Chinese buns (88k)

Not included in the tea promo menu, but I must say that this is one of the must order dishes in Shang Palace. Caramelized thick sauce glazing the tender pork. Kind of reminded me of my Mom's version of stewed pork belly, but this one has a slighter thicker consistency. The smell itself was very intoxicating so I hereby warn you for future drooling...

Chilled Red Tea Jelly with Chinese Pear and Pipa (58k)

A great set of meals won't be complete without dessert. This chilled red tea jelly was light enough to put the right amount of sweet ending for the whole experience. Both additional pipa syrup (usually used for a Chinese cough syrup) and pear have the ability to reduce sore throat, therefore it became a healthy obligation to finish this particular dessert!

Tea-Infused Menu Promo will be available till the end of this month. Also visit Shang Palace for their all you can eat dimsum. Better make prior call for further confirmation.

SHANG PALACE
Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 1
021-2939 9580
@ShangrilaJKT

That Certain Feeling I Can't Find Elsewhere

Have you ever put a thought that lately, most of the newcomers in the restaurant industry are just here racing each other to get the hippest attention, to have the most bizarre interior or maybe just, as much as possible, intact themselves with the YOLO generation attitude. You see, they sorta build this current, should I say, "trend", or maybe this atrocious image that the upper middle hedonist class is immune to the fact that they're hunting for ambiance, instead of what is called real good food experience. I can't say that I am against the public's embrace, for what it's worth, those places do enrich the diverse existence of the food industry itself. In fact, I do occasionally enjoy myself, having that one other type of experience, and in every once in a while, I do make a review out of it. Well, who am I to complain about their on growing lineage?

Well, that is just an opening for this post. It has nothing to do with whatsoever I am going to write in the next few minutes. Tiresome of the swagalicious attitude of going from one affliated cafes to another, I decided to write a humble post on a family restaurant that I have been visiting since I have the capability of recalling my own memory.

The name of the owner is the name of the place itself. Simple, no fuss, you order, you eat, you pay, you go home. Specializing in Borneo Chinese home cooking, this is the one place I visit to recollect that certain feeling I can't find elsewhere. Yes, it is a personal thing, almost sentimental perhaps, as this place reminds me of my half identity as a descendant of a great Borneo man, or that familiar comfort and satisfaction I get from the food (which I never find boring in anyway)

FAVORITE THINGS TO ORDER, PROBABLY THE BEST I HAVE EVER EATEN:

Hekeng (30k) (Hakong in khek/hakka dialect), a shrimp with pork lard wrapped, cut and fried in slices, ngohiong alike, but it's not sweet at all.. You eat it with a honey-like sauce, made from sonkit(a type of lime) and caramelized sugar. So far, this is the best place to eat hekeng (including the sauce)

Old Pop's favorite! Fried horfun (30k) with his special request. "Make it a bit saucy", he would say, resulting this horfun a bit like bun horfun, slightly darker. The chef and the owner have known what his loyal customer's favorite request that they'd cook it without further questions

Also my favorite. Pakis with crispy fried anchovies and shrimp paste (25k). A bit crunchy, it has that slimy after taste. Dad said that it grows wildly, probably a cheap commodity. However, I fell greatly in love with these greens from the first time I got the chance to try it.

RANDOM THING/s WE KEEP ORDERING:
A dish we'll order once in a while to entertain our taste buds. I have probably eaten better dishes made somewhere else, but since I have a special thing for this place, I barely did any sort of complain and just ate it with on-going appetite.

Mundane mun tofu with lots of shrimp and minced pork (40k). Actually, this is not how I picture mun tofu in my mind. But what to expect from a simple humble family restaurant. I still found it pretty decent to eat!

Notes to add:
1. Hands down, this is the place to get the best fried Hekeng. I've tried several other Borneo Chinese restaurant, they just don't have it the way I like it. Either the slices were too thick or they put too much flour, I just couldn't find any other places that serve it to my standardized personal bar.

2. Instead of using only shrimps and pork, the fried horfun also has this mushy dark sausage like made from flour and shrimp (I supposed). It has a bit of sweet savory touch to it. My personal favorite filling compared to the others. Can't find it else where. My Dad will always take a big portion of the horfun and leave that flour sausage alone for me to have.

3. They sometimes serve baby sharks. God knows where they got it from, but it's actually one of my Dad's favorite (before I told him not to order it anymore as my concern to WWF's #SOSharks campaign, plus the mercury level on sharks is way over the top). They usually cook it with this warm homey ginger sauce. The texture of the fish is mushy with that thick layer of shark's skin. It's not fishy and you won't find many bones in the meat. BUT THAT'S ALL IN THE PAST! (just to make things clear) ;p

Rumah Makan AHON
Jl. Jembatan Lima Raya No. 183D, Jakarta
Phone : (021) 6255905

Mutiara Chinese Food : Chandra Building, Glodok

Reminiscing old sweet memories can sometimes draw a smile or two. Looking back at those younger days when everything was carefree and uncomplicated. This definitely is exceptional to no one. She has been visiting to Jakarta's own China town since she was still in Junior high. Now, she was a mother of four, passing on the Chinese traditions and family customs. My mother, ladies and gentlemen.

Being her daughter and an Indonesian Chinese descendant, it is inevitable not to get yourself entangled with Chinese matters. From the most favorable tradition of dispersing Hong Bao in Chinese New Year (I can vouch for everyone who are still getting their hong bao) to simple 'eating bak cang day' or 'onde day' or mooncake day', every tradition has its own symbolic meaning. 

I can't say I don't love Glodok. I have been going there since I was a kid and yet, I still find myself amazed by the things that you can buy there. The traditional market sells all kinds of street food from Indonesian to Chinese delicacies. Through those alleys between tenants and private houses, you can find yourself with many things, perhaps an acek selling weird stone rings, a moon cake factory or a real China citizen selling so far the best bapia I have ever had. For my Mom, it is her candy land. For me, it is a historical cite where the oldies assume everyone with small eyes can speak mandarin and also, a historical cite where I can shop for tasty snacks and food (and that is just why I simply love our China town)

When moving inside to the indoor arena, you will find yourself in a more modernized China Town and in the food court, there is one Mutiara (pearl) that I treasure since I was a kid. It is a simple unfancy food court with numerous tenants, but I have always favored Mutiara. Everytime we go there, we always order the same thing and never get bored of it.

The owner of Mutiara is also the owner of Red Bean (a chain restaurant), notice the similarity of this menu to red bean's.

Kangkung Hot Plate (50k). It was super steamy and it was difficult for me to snap a good picture.

You can choose between seafood, chicken, or beef. Look at that quail eggs inside.. Om nom nom!

We have always chosen the beef. Yummy salty brown sauce with little bits of dried prawns, garlic and chili. Perfect!

Second dish : Their specialty and their most famous dish..  Gurame Fish Soup (75k). It was boiling like crazy..

The difference between this fish soup with the other fish soup is the taro..

 Tofu Seafood Hotplate (60k). Yummy yummy yummy.. They coated everything with batter and deep fried it before mixing it with that gorgeous boiling brown sauce..

The ingredients continue to cook by themselves due to the hot plate and as you can see from this picture, the sauce has thickened and intensified the flavors.

thick yummy sauce..

Those three dishes above are compulsory if you are eating there.. Now moving on to other dishes..

Black Pepper beef (55k). I didn't get the chance to try because it was quite little.. 

Chicken Kuluyuk (sweet and sour sauce) for 55k. Not my favorite, it was just mundane. 

Fired Lomie (thick noodles) for 38k. Their portion was quite generous. You can request the taste according to your preference. We ordered the chef to cook it slightly saltier instead of sweet..

Numerous times coming here but still I crave for their heart warming fish soup, still I crave for their unique tofu hot plate (which I can't find anywhere else) and of course their steamy Kangkung hotplate. Beware though! Their consistency is sometimes unmanageable. I ate there twice in the last couple of weeks and found the taste of their fish soup has changed between the two. The latter visit was accompanied by overcrowded and slightly angry customers, demanding for their food to be brought to their table on an instant. Alas, the soup was not as creamy and fragrant as the previous one which was PERFECT (the best fish soup hands down!).You might want to consider your timing the next time you pay a visit.

While eating, I was conversing with my Mom about how this place used to be the 'it' place for youngsters. Oh how the time has changed, but again, we keep one or two things to ourselves to this very day, like keeping the family customs and following the Oriental traditions. Going here for a family meal is definitely one.

P.S : Oh please order and enjoy their oyster omelette (ocien). It is also a must order! 

MUTIARA 

Taman Makan Minum Stand 5

Chandra Building, lt. dasar

Jl. Pancoran no 33-35, Jakarta

Phone : 6391033

It's my Ma's birthday.. This post is a tribute for her.. Long live Bu Komandan~ ;)

Fook me? No, FOOK YEW!

Don't look at me, I am just quoting one of the pictures hanged on the wall...

Fook Yew, the sound of the words itself may raise some eye brows.. Yes people, it is another Ismaya's established venue, serving (for the first time) Chinese food. Last weekend, I got the chance to eat there. After tremendous long hours of traffic, I was starving and I have been craving (very badly) for sheng jian bao. Apparently, Fook Yew is the only existing place I know that serves sheng jian bao, a delicious Shanghai savory light bites. 

I can't say I am disappointed with Fook Yew. Not only it was able to redeem my desired longing to go back to Shanghai, it serves great delicious Chinese food. Unlike some of Ismaya's other venues (which only concentrated mostly on the concept, but not the food), I can, for sure, say it loud and clear that I LOVE FOOK YEW. 

The retro rustic oriental touches with pop art paintings filling the walls, a very highly planned interior that can catch the image of a traditional, yet modern, street hawker style version of China. The menu itself is cute! For a halal restaurant serving Chinese food, I am quite satisfied by the dishes I ordered that day.. 

Bubble tea menu is so cute. Parents say don't play with your food. Well, nobody says you can't play with the menu.. I didn't order any bubble tea drinks that day. I have consumed too many bubble drinks, I am in the edge of getting sick of it..  

I was mesmerized by these red bird cage lamps.. GENIUS!

Pop art retro touches.. 

Chinese tea. They have variety of choices. This one was jasmine, my favorite Chinese tea (12k)

Xiao Long Bao (48k). They have chili, original, black sesame, cheese, tom yum and garlic flavor.. All XLB uses chicken meat. It was perfect for a cold rainy day.. 

SHENG JIAN BAO (29K). This one was chicken prawn sheng jian bao. For me, the beneath part wasn't crispy enough. As you can see from this picture, it has not showed any signs of crispiness. But I had been craving for these little babies since months ago and this one was pretty awesome..  The most thing that I like about sheng jian baos, they are very juicy, but not in the same way as runny juicy from xiao long bao.. 

XO Fried Rice (42k). I like this one too. Very fragrant. A hint of spiciness to complete the overall XO flavor.. The bowl was very big that it seemed they only gave us very little rice. But it was good.. So, no complaining.. 

The empty big bowl and a very satisfied me. If the place wasn't that far from my house, I would definitely make this place as my where-to-go destination and pay a regular visit. 

FOOK YEW

Gandaria City, Main Street Ground Floor

Jl. KH. M. Syafii Hadzami No. 8

Kebayoran Lama

Jakarta

Phone : 021 - 2900 7897

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/F00KYEW

BEIJING TRIP : Part 3 (Dolar Shop plus Korean to Russian Food)

Okay, first of all I wanna apologize for my absence. I have been lazying my ass off and at the same time keeping it busy with either my thesis or social activities (what I meant by social activities is being kidnapped by my friends or voluntarily allow them to kidnap me). Actually today was not an idle day for blogging, but the hell with it, I wanna write something. Oh... how much I miss writing.. Plus today was so gloomy. It kept pouring down rain and I just feel like sitting on my bed with my laptop on my lap (exactly what I am doing right now) and just pour these words right out..

Earlier today, when I was trying to procrastinate what I was supposed to be doing, I went through the photos in my phone and I was once again amazed at how many food pictures from various type of delicacies  that I got from my last trip. And yes, up until now I haven't quite finished posting about it yet. Those photos are almost buried down by the new ones. Also earlier today, I decided to put those photos in another file then continue my assignments and up to just about now, I finished editing half of it.

I'm GOING to TRY to be BRIEF! Bear with me if I started to wander around out of topic..

Ironically, in this post, two of the restaurants that I am about to review don't have anything related to Chinese delicacies.. Let's get it started..

One of the restaurants that I miss the most from Beijing...

DOLAR SHOP..! I am not sure why they call it dolar shop and NO, it's not a black market. It is one of the most famous hot pot chain restaurants in Beijing specializing in white broth huo guo (hot pot) with individual pots. Unlike any other hot pot restaurants that give you only one big sharing pot to cook with the whole people on the table. In Dolar Shop, it's all about what I want and how I like it..

Big sis and friend

Big bro and myself.. Behind us is either a real wine rack or shelf with wine bottle decorations.. lol

Individual small cute pots

This is the sauce station. They really give you a wide selection of sauce. From XO to simple peanut sauce. I chose the classic MA JIANG sauce which is the delicious peanut sauce with lots of cilantro, some sesame seeds and chili. SUPER YUMMY... 

Pretty presentation. This was before I put anything inside.. Natural sweetness from the corn and that red little thing. I don't know what the English or Indonesian word but my mum call it ki che and she uses it for cooking herbal chicken soup..

Beef and chicken meatballs.. They made their own meatballs, freshness is number one..

Fish slices.. Again, very fresh. Not fishy at all

I love love love mushrooms. All types of it

Bean curd sheet. It's quite hard but once cooked, it will go soft and ready to be eaten

Beef beef beef

Shrimp and fish meatballs

Lotus *crunch crunch*. Oh and this was how my pot ended up. Lots of garlic, sesame seeds and spring onions. I like it messy like this plus it's super fragrant!

If you scroll up again, you will see the interior of this restaurant is similar to a lounge-like place. It's kind of weird though, remembering that this is a hot pot chain, more like a family restaurant isn't it? But they serve great food and the decoration is pretty. It's definitely a NO PROBLEMO to me!

• 
  
• Add : Raffles City Shopping Mall, 1 Dongzhimennei Dajie, Dongcheng District
• 东城区东直门南街1号来福士广场5F-03

Later that night, we were still feeling kind of hungry. So we decided to go outside for some hawker food. 

BEHOLD... TO THE YUMMY.. THE MOUTH-WATERING.. THE SAVORY.. THE ADDICTIVE.. THE SEXY.. THE CHEAP.. SHAO KAO.. You can call it Chinese satay.. I think.. 

It's very different from our satay in Indonesia. First of all, this one is kind of fried in teppanyaki style instead of grilled with charcoals. Well, they also have the ones with charcoals but I was in the mood for something different. The other thing, instead of using hand-held fan, they use construction tools for cooking.. In the end, it'll be sprinkled with sunflower herby seasonings and powdered chili. PURE AWESOMENESS.. I fell in love with it instantly. We bought it for our supper snack for the rest of the vacation as the spot was near to our hotel.. 

They'll give you a basket and you just pick which one you do want. My favorites are the mushrooms, green pepper, cilantro wrapped in beancurd-like sheet (the ones in the basket), chicken with its soft bones attached, and the lamb sticks.. 

Starting from the left, mushroom, eggplant, cilantro stick, chicken, mantao (chinese steamed buns), celery stick, tofu stick
Each of the non meat stick is worth of only $1. While some of the meat stick is worth for $2 or $2,5. SO CHEAP

The teppan table is very hot indeed, even the uncle must use gloves. Later, he pressed down all of the sticks till perfectly cooked. Then he'll brush it lightly with that unknown brown sauce and sprinkled it with the chili powder and sunflower seed powder. It's savory and yummy. Addictive as hell! Oh and that other tool on the table is for scraping all the dirty burnt left overs from the previous cooking process.. Who knows construction tools could be so handy for cooking..

Alright.. Moving on.. The next morning, we headed to this mall and had our breakfast in the famous typical junk food chain.. 

the glorious.. K.. F... C.... 

Lol! Okay.. The reason why we wanna eat at KFC is simply because the advertisement for their spicy kung pao chicken burger was EVERYWHERE! In every subway station, inside the subway itself, TV ads, billboard ads, it really brainwashed the three of us.. Yes, we were suckers for food ads, how can you resist falling fried lean chicken breast (from nowhere) on top of a warm bun and sprinkled with kung pao chili flakes. It's just so not fair! We have nothing to protect ourselves from those ads and eventually fell for it.  

WORTH IT.. WORTH FALLING FOR THOSE ADS.. Crispy double fried chicken.. Yum.. The fried egg.. Yum.. The chili flakes.. YUM.. Talking about fusion burger, this is the real deal. So oriental yet so KFC at the same time..

This was what my sister bought for me. "Surprise me" I said and this was what she brought to me. Chicken popcorn, milk tea, and mashed potato for the light bites. The middle is chicken curry something something. I didn't remember it and to be honest, it's pretty ordinary. I'd rather have the burger. I was quite bummed when the Indonesian KFC discontinued the mashed potato and changed it to perkedel.. 

Big bro not in the mood for KFC so he went to Yoshinoya. The verdict : Indonesian Yoshinoya is way better! The thing is they added ham choi (that pile of small-cut veggies), maybe to make it more Chinese. We all tried it and agreed that Indonesian Yoshinoya has wayyyy better taste than this one..

Uhh another thing about Chinese KFC, they have yummy egg  tart for desserts. I have always loved it.. The outer skin is very crunchy then the gooey shiny part is soft and warm.. PERFECT.. The one in the middle is their special edition chicken tart.. It was quite okay.. 

Nextttttt spot.. Doesn't have to do with anything Chinese.. 

We went to White Nights, a Russian restaurant. I have no idea where to find a Russian restaurant in Indonesia, so when my big sis said that there is one in Beijing, I was super excited.. 

The funny thing about this restaurant, everything is written with three languages, English, Mandarin and Russian. I have no clue how to read Russian or Mandarin, so English comes in pretty handy.. When I entered the place and looked at the menu, I got three ideas about Russian food. It's all about cheese, meat and alcohol.. Maybe to keep the Russians warm during winter.. If Indonesian people have the same diet, we will burn ourselves due to the scorching hot sun.. or maybe die of obesity or cholesterol.. lol

In front of the restaurant with its woody exterior.. 

Food and drink menu

The wood interior matches with the exterior. We were at the basement of the restaurant. It's quite dim but not in a creppy way. I don't know if the owner is a Russian or a Chinese. The posters hanged on the wall were pretty random. In this room, for example, they have Marilyn Monroe poster, next to a beer poster, next to a random movie poster, and so on.. 

Capital Salad on the left (18 yuan) and Embassy Salad on the right (18 yuan). The capital salad is cheesy with mayo for the sauce. While the capital salad has a crunchy texture. I enjoyed both salads for starters. 

Beef stew (35 yuan). I ordered this and it was yummy! They use tomato puree for the stew so it's very fresh and a bit tomato sour-y. Just how I like it. The beef was super tender. It's the perfect meal for a cold wintery day.. 

Pan-fried beef chop (35 yuan). Okay, I know this looked kind of sad, but the taste was pretty awesome. This is one of the reasons why I said that Russian food is all about meat.. and cheese.. and booze.. Scroll down please!

Fried Pork Chop with Pineapple (42 yuan). Of course with melted cheese topping. Guilty pleasure indeed. Just imagine a thick cut of pork chop accompanied with that melted cheese, in they go, to your watery mouth.. 

This one was actually pretty much the same deal with the one above but has no pineapple. The difference was they call the melted cheese as onion cream sauce. Guess they omit the word cheese but all I can see on it was cheese!

• Add :13A Beizhong Jie (off Dongzhimennei Dajie), Dongcheng District
• 东城区东直门内大街北中街甲13号
• Open Daily 11am-midnight
• Phone : 8402 9595

RANDOM BREAKFAST PHOTOS.. Near our hotel, there was this small hawker restaurant that sells huge pile of rice set meals with very cheap price.. accompanied with poor grammatical and quite confusing menu..

This is the pork with green pepper and onions served on a huge hot plate... The green peppers there are somehow different with ours. The smell, the taste and the texture are just not the same... It's so easy to get addicted to it

This one was chicken with no hot pot.. But the portion was also HUGE

LAST BUT NOT LEAST.. 

KOREAN FEAST! Go to Wudaokou area and find TANTANDALU Restaurant.. 

I love Korean BBQ, but sometimes I feel it's just too pricey and not satisfying in quantity. Well, in Beijing, the Korean BBQ is wayyyy cheaper. In this Tantandalu restaurant, the meat was very fragrant and flavorful. Some were savory and some were sweet. I guess they have soaked it with seasonings for quite a long time. So far, this is the best Korean BBQ I have ever tasted in my life. 

The place is quite huge and still there was a line for the waiting list

Burning hot!

While waiting, I snapped a photo of this meal set

And this one as well

And this one too..

Free stuffs.. lol

Bibimbap!

SAMGYEOPSAL

Beef tongue..

Marinated Galbi..

It was my BIG SIS BIRTHDAY! The perfect ending for the perfect meal. It's so weird and nice at the same time to celebrate a birthday somewhere very far away from home with only a few of your closed ones. 

Tan Tan Da Lu/坦坦大炉
4F Dongyuan Building, 35 Chengfu Lu (across the street from Lush…)
海淀区成府路35号东源大厦4楼(近五道口城铁)
Open until 11 p.m.

Okay, I am ending this post now. I hope it's not too long for you. It's getting pretty late and all I wanna do is sleep now. So pardon me if I sounded a bit rushed. 

Next Beijing post is going to include a pizza place that serves pizza slices bigger than my face.. A high-end restaurant review and simply more bites here and there.. 

Until then.. bye for now. :)