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

Pretty Much the REAL DEAL! Ramen Santouka!

Yep.. for you all Ramen Lovers! This is pretty much the real deal! Hokkaido Ramen Santouka has opened an official branch in Jakarta..

To skip my blabbering, let me just tell you that IT IS SO FREAKIN DELICIOUS THAT WHEN I TOOK THE FIRST SIP I SMILE FOOLISHLY OUT OF HAPPINESS CAUSE I AM THAT BLESSED TO BE ABLE TO ENJOY A SUPER DELICIOUS MEAL!

There.. I really did smile and the next thing I said was  "Oh my God! This so yummy! You gotta try this!" Yep, I love to share the joy of enjoying good food to my loved ones.. I was there with my big sis.. We were not that hungry, so we only ordered one medium set of Ramen and shared it..

I have been avoiding myself to eat any sorts of noodles, but I don't regret one bit of sweeping this one clean and spotless.. spotless.. let me repeat that.. spotless..

The place is quite small.. That's why so many people are willing to line up for quite some time to get a bowl of their ramen. When we got here, it was 5 p.m so the place wasn't that packed.. Many Japanese expats dine alone..I really think they should expand their place..

my date for the day

They have three types of broth.. The most favorite one is Shio Ramen (Salt flavor). I guarantee you it tastes way more than just salt.. To get more info on the broths click HERE to get to their official website

They come in three sizes.. So you can adjust your meal.. Mind the reflection of LV.. 

This is the set. It comes with chawan mushi, pork fried rice and the yummy Chahan shio ramen.. The deal with ramen is that they only serve you with at least two or three slice of pork, in my terms, THAT'S NOT ENOUGH.. but the broth itself is so fragrant and flavorful that I don't mind eating only the ramen with the broth.. This one is in Medium size and it costs for 105k, while the small one is 95k.. (before tax).. 

This is the Aburi Charsiu.. Well, I was tricked by the fancy presentation. I thought it's going to sizzle in front of your face, but nope.. Below it is only a little unscented candle for decoration. It's quite pricey for these 4 slices of charsiu.. 45k before tax.. It has a hint of burnt smell, a bit bitter but if you love grilled dishes, then you're going to love this one..

The small bowl of Ramen will cost you 63k before tax. I think the price is worth it even though they only give you two slices of meat. The silver lining, so far this is the best ramen broth I have ever tasted.

Compared to Ikkousha Ramen, this one is more pricey for sure. But the broth has the perfect consistency. It's not too thick or too runny.. In my personal opinion, Ikkousha Ramen's broth is too densed and eating too much of it can make me feel full in not a good way.. The smell of their broths are different! I prefer Santouka in spite of the price and portion.. Yummy all the way to gooo!

Click HERE to visit their Facebook Page.. click HERE to visit their Japanese website 

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Plaza Indonesia Level 5 #E11, 

Jakarta, Indonesia

twitter @santoukaindo

Mon - Sun:

11:00 am

-

10:00 pm

5th year anniversary!!!

Yep, Pancious Pancake is adding new menus in terms of their 5th year anniversary! Yesterday, me and my friends were out to Plaza Indonesia, and we were strolling around or more like 'zombie-ing' around. We have no idea where to eat and were very much in a starving condition. We could definitely finish a human and still crave for desserts, especially with Ivan around..

Ehemm.. Moving on.. Pardon my intrusion on an imaginative walking dead world (I spent too much time on ZombieBooth android application..)

So yeah, as usual, the service in Pancious is great. There are so many new places that serve pancakes but as long as I'm concerned, Pancious is the pioneer (in our country) in opening a restaurant with various pancakes menu. Maybe it's just me, but I tend to choose the pioneer in everything even though it's not something new, but they brought it up first. Just like how I always say that Sour Sally serves the best yogurt in town. Okay, without further ado, let me just show the pictures..

Fettuccine with beef and red wine

Fettuccine with chicken blue cheese

Our favorite menu is the breakfast set. The pancake is below the waffle

Mushroom Risotto with grilled chicken breast. This is one of the new menus and I L.O.V.E IT~ It's so creamy and yummy. I could savor it for one whole day!

Since we had purchased more than Rp 200.000, they were giving us complimentary of a black forest pancake..

Oh and again, this is the crepe cake with opera topping. YUMMY AS HELL! Perfectly layered thin crepes over cream on each layer. It was light but creamy, soft but has a firm figure. Look at the caramel chocolate sauce on the pictures, I'm just glad I didn't go barbaric before I snap the pictures. Everybody else on the table was like staring and resisting not to poke a finger to the sauce and lick it straight. Yes, we are not barbaric. but still, the thought lingers.. When I put the first bite inside my mouth, I was literally melting away. BEST DESSERT OF THE MONTH! 

They also gave us a benefit card. We could collect three of benefit cards and get discounts on special occasions, like your anniversary or your birthday.. Smart way to make us wanna go back there and eat more crepe cakes.. (Not worrying about our cholesterol, as I have said to Teng, we're still too young to die out of a heart attack.. *amen to that*)

Now of course, it wouldn't be us if we didn't take silly pictures..

all hail 9gag

My two partners in crime (in a very different way)

and last but not least, 

asian zombie.. This is how Asian Zombies would look like..