Chicken Village, Summarecon Mall Serpong

I had been wishing to try their beggar chicken.

The beggar chicken

You may have heard the name before, as the beggar chicken from Chicken Village is quite well-known.

It was just a few days in the start of 2012, and the uncle invited us to a dinner here. Chicken Village is the first restaurant you may notice when you are walking down the Downtown Walk at Summarecon Mal Serpong (the first mall). It is eye-catching, indeed, with bright red walls and crafted-wood chairs and wooden tables.

Chicken Village, SMS

The chairs are really an interesting point, they look like they are made of crafted woods, so the shape isn't always neat or symmetrical. The 'village' theme has been executed fairly well, with all those wooden furniture and old-looking menu book. When I was there, Chinese decorations had been brought out, as it was a few weeks to CNY.

Clockwise from top left: outdoor dining, wooden (literally from wood) chair, menu book, lanterns

The uncle had all the bills, so I am sorry if I cannot provide the prices of some dishes.

Anyways we started the family dinner with drinks, of course. I went for apple juice, which is served in a curvy, cute glass. The juice is not strained like I want it to be, so it is not enjoyable for me and I finally swap for the brother's lighter lemon tea.

Apple juice (foreground) - IDR 14,800 ($1.55) and lemon tea

The mayonnaise prawns arrived first, consisting of a few prawns accompanied by sliced fruits and vegetables; they are pretty much mediocre.

Udang mayonnaise (mayonnaise prawns)

Ikan gurame saus asam pedas (fried carp with sour and sweet sauce), however, is superb. The fish has crispy outer and juicy innards, drenched in punchy sour and (not so) spicy sauce. Sliced shallots and garlic on top are very welcomed too.

Ikan gurame goreng saus asam pedas (fried carp with sour and spicy sauce) - IDR 48,000 ($5.1)

The stir fried beef and sapo tahu (stir fried soft tofu with mushrooms and vegetables in thick gravy) are enjoyed very much among the table, but I remain nonplussed although they are quite tasty.

Foreground: stir fried beef; Background: sapo tahu

I bet the beggar chicken was on everyone's mind that night, and we just couldn't missed it. I was really curious about the dish, and very disappointed when the waiter said that it was sold out. Luckily the manager sorted the problem out, and somehow we were staring at a beggar chicken coming to our table's direction.

The beggar chicken is a unique dish, where chicken, mushrooms, and Chinese herbs are wrapped in lotus leaf and aluminum foil, and then slow cooked in a chicken-shaped clay. The waiter kindly helped us to open the beggar chicken. He used hammer to crack the clay, and revealing the aluminum package inside of it. It is very hot, obvious from all the steam and the waiter's effort to open it.

Opening the beggar chicken

It is very aromatic, that's my first impression. My first bite is full of herbs explosions, so warming and enjoyable. The chicken and mushrooms are so soft, it's almost too tender to my liking. They are juicy, nevertheless, and all the herbs produce great scent and flavour.

Beggar chicken - IDR 168,000 ($17.7)

Cumi goreng cabe garam (fried calamari with chilli salt) provides the deep-fried goodness for the night. The calamari is lightly battered but still crunchy, and the chilli salt is delicious although not really fiery. This dish is another highlight of the night, I believe.

Cumi goreng cabe garam (fried calamari with chilli salt) - IDR 25,800 ($2.7)

Overall, it was a nice dinner. I have tried their dim sums before, and they are really good. Some dishes we ordered that night failed to impress me, but the beggar chicken and the chilli salt fried calamari are the dishes I will keep in mind.

SMS's lovely light trees

Rating: 3/5 (Worth the try)
Good food (beggar chicken is very recommended), friendly and helpful service although can be slow during rush hour, price is a bit high but still affordable, great and unique ambiance (outdoor dining is recommended).

Address:

CHICKEN VILLAGE

Downtown Walk, Summarecon Mall Serpong
Jl. Boulevard Gading Serpong, Sentra Gading Serpong
Tangerang 15810 – Indonesia
 
Phone: +62(21) 5420 3209 , (021) 5420 5509

Mrs. Fields Cookies, Summarecon Mall Serpong

One doesn't simply refuse a cookie.

Mrs. Fields cookies

Especially when it's discounted to almost half the original price. Plus, it's the infamous Mrs. Fields's. No, you do not simply refuse this.

Mrs. Fields cookies selling was started in 1977, in the USA. In 2011, they finally expanded their franchise to Indonesia, and I am so grateful for that.

When the second phase of Summarecon Mall Serpong (SMS) was built, Mrs. Fields cookies and coffee store is also in the line-up of interesting restaurants and eateries in the mall. The place is actually a cafe, with various menu of coffee and pastries in offer. It is cozy and spacious, using red sofa and wooden tables.

It was almost CNY when I went there, hence the red and CNY decorations. As you may have noticed, it's the big "IDR 5,000 cookie for today only" banner that lured me there. With a normal price of IDR 9,000 for one ($0.95 ea), I won't miss this one-day chance.

Clockwise from top left: Mrs. Fields store, interior and seating, goodie bags, promo of the day

As the queue at the counter is still chaotic, I went inside and checked out their brownies display. All look delicious and moist (really they look moist). I intended to try their coffee but the family was waiting so I didn't. Maybe next time.

Brownies display, sample cookies

They provided sliced cookies as sample, to show people how amazing their chewy cookies are. I might have taken too many of that sample cookies.

The cookies displays are even more dangerously tempting, varies from the nibblers (mini cookies) to the cake cookies (cookies decorated like a cake). I truly believe I can finish that tray of nibblers in one sitting.

Mini cookies display

My fav display part is this one. The cookies of this part are the original ones and mostly use chocolate as one of the ingredients.

Cookies: chewy fudge, white chocolate macadamia, Mrs. Fields original walnut

This part is for the other cookies. Ones with sprinkles, M&Ms, green tea, durian (which smell good and robust), and cheese. The cheese cookies got my attention. I had never had cheese cookies before.

Cookies: rainbow, durian, smiley, green tea, cheesylicious

As much as I want to have one each, my full stomach failed to bring out the second one. In the end, I was content to settle with five different cookies. They are: chewy fudge, Mrs. Fields original chocolate chips, milk chocolate macadamia, white chocolate macadamia, and cheesylicious.

Purchased cookies

The cookies are soft and chewy, almost cake-like. When the mother half-complained about that, the waitress said that these are cookies, not biscuits. I, personally, can't be delightful enough to have chewy cookies.

The four chocolate-included cookies have generous nubbins of chocolate, and all have perfect level of sweetness. Some chocolate chunks are half-melted, adding more bliss into the cookies.

My fav would be the ones with macadamia nuts; milk chocolate macadamia and white chocolate macadamia. In addition to the generous chunks of chocolate, the macadamia chunks add slight crunchiness and nuttiness, which is heavenly. The white chocolate macadamia is slightly sweeter than the milk chocolate macadamia, and has a cinnamon-like aftertaste.

Chewy fudge is very chocolatey, but not overly sweet at all. The original chocolate chips is also out of this world, chewy with melted chocolate chunks. My least fav of the five would be the cheesylicious, it just doesn't hit the right notes for me. The only cheese is the one on top of the cookies, and nothing more inside. Instead of salty, the cookies is sweet and has cinnamon-like scent and taste.

From top-bottom: chewy fudge, Mrs. Fields original chocolate chip, milk chocolate macadamia, white chocolate macadamia, cheesylicious

Overall, I think Mrs. Fields chocolate cookies are ones of the best I've had. And I know this place is not really a restaurant, but I'll give a rating anyway.


Rating: 4.5/5 (Very recommended)
The cookies are sensational, but the price tag is kinda too high (if not discounted). The cafe is great and cozy, service is very helpful.








Address:

MRS. FIELDS COOKIES AND COFFEE

Summarecon Mall Serpong, Ground Floor Unit 239-240
Jl. Boulevard Gading Serpong
Tangerang 15810

Phone: (021) 2931-0389

Website (complete info): Mrs. Fields

Hongkong Café , Central Park - Jakarta

Stretchy melted cheese. Don't you feel hungry just by looking at it?

Stretchy cheese on Hongkong Cafe special baked rice

And the cheese is put on a flavorsome, baked rice. I'm all in for that stuff.

So. It was just days before Christmas, and the BFF was in town. The three of us then made our way to Central Park Mall, where the good restaurants are heaps. After some brainstorming we decided to give Hongkong Café a try, especially after hearing many praises about the place.

The restaurant uses modern interior and setting; elegant is a great word to explain it. Old lanterns, chandeliers, and porcelain plates with unique patterns are used as decorations, giving the place a vintage vibes. The interesting decoration also involves circular stairs, which cannot be climbed obviously.

Hongkong Cafe interior

This Asian eatery is originally from Singapore, but has already had two branches in Jakarta. At Central Park, Hongkong Cafe is merged with another restaurants, namely Tatsuya (Japanese eatery) and Delika (Patisseries & Pantry).

The menu book is big and full of huge food pictures. We spend quite some time on choosing what to eat, and finally picking the ones with chef hat icons. They offer various noodles dishes, assorted dim sums, and oriental-western fusion dishes such as baked rice and baked spaghetti.

Clockwise from top left: stairs in the restaurant, restaurants signage, chilli sauces, noodles menu

Drinks chosen that day were overall unique and enjoyable. Gracia's iced milk tea jelly isn't accepted well by my tongue, apparently I still have issues for milk tea. She said it's nice although the jelly feels a bit weird. My iced passion tea is great, very refreshing with vivid flavour of passion fruit. Christina's lime lemon honey turned out to be my fav drink among the three, with perfect balance of sourness ans sweetness. It's an interesting drink because I taste a bit salty notes cutting through the sourness, it feels like drinking kietna or cumquat syrup.

Front to back: iced milk tea jelly (IDR 17,500 - $1.9), iced passion tea (IDR 17,500 - $1.9), lime lemon honey (IDR 16,500 - $1.8)

We chose two appetizers to start the meal, and the first to arrive was beancurd skin roll. We were in shock at first to find out their size. I believe anyone would expect a bigger ones regarding to the price tag. It's decent though, crunchy beancurd skin with juicy prawns filling.

Beancurd skin roll - IDR 14,500 ($1.6)

Same dismay also appeared when the har gao was delivered on the table. Way too small, although the prawns filling is hot and juicy.

Har gao - IDR 16,000 ($1.7)

Moving on to main dishes! My mouth literally watered when I saw the beef bolognaise baked spaghetti. The pasta is cooked to perfection, topped with generous layer of luscious beef bolognaise sauce and tasty melted cheese. I was surprised actually, as I know Christina isn't a cheese eater and yet she chose this sea-of-cheese dish. The interesting part is to find a whole basil leaf hidden in the pasta, so no wonder its scent is so aromatic.

Beef bolognaise baked spaghetti - IDR 35,000 ($3.8)

Gracia's combo chicken and beef bowl is, on the contrary, cheese-less. It is literally rice on a bowl, flanked with a BBQ sliced beef and a chicken pattie. Joining the party is stir fried veggies. It's a simple dish but quite good, and for me the succulent chicken pattie is superior than the beef.

Combo chicken and beef rice bowl - IDR 39,500 ($4.4)

My Hongkong Café baked rice looks utterly tantalizing, I can't wait to dig in. A layer of melted cheese completely envelops the rice, and I noticed there are two types of sauce given; tomato sauce and cream sauce. Both the sauces taste equally stunning and work together pretty well, but it's the half-caramelized layer of cheese that demands my utmost attention. It is sigh-worthy, and combine perfectly with the rice, the fried chicken pattie, and the seafood and mushrooms pieces. The rice itself is savoury on its own, I wonder if it's cooked with butter. If I wasn't that full (the portion size is massive, if you haven't noticed), I would have licked the plate clean.

Hongkong Café special baked rice - IDR 39,500 ($4.4)

Overall, I really love the dishes from this place. But really, with the combination of good friends+good food, how could it be bad?

Desserts pic

Rating: 4/5 (Recommended)
Really great food, fast and friendly service, good ambiance, but the price kinda turn me off, especially for the dim sums.









Address:


HONGKONG CAFE


Central Park Mall 1st Floor, Unit L1 - 112B
Jl. S. Parman Kav. 38
West Jakarta


Phone: (021) 56985378


Website: www.hongkong-cafe.com
Twitter: @HKC_resto

New Rating System and Custom T-Shirt

So I thought ratings would be good.

How the rating system works

Especially after few readers suggested so. So here it goes, Irene's Getting Fat! new rating system!

However, I will only give ratings for restaurant reviews, and the given rating will be composed based on overall dining experience, i.e. the food, restaurant's ambiance, service, and price range.

Therefore, please be advised that a high rating is possibly given due to the exquisite service or ambiance rather than the food. And do watch out for the half ratings such as 1.5 or 2.5 or 3.5 or 4.5 because it is possible that there is something from that restaurant which really worth a plus point. I will give explanation on each rating, of course, so misunderstandings shouldn't be there. Also, please keep in mind that the ratings can be increased or decreased if there's improvement or regression on my next visits to the restaurants.

I will start giving out ratings on my next restaurant review post, but I will also put ratings on my previous posts. I hope it'll be useful!

And check out my custom made t-shirt! Such a dream come true, really. Ordered these from Cyros Tees for IDR 70,000 ea ($7.4). Love it!

IGF's custom t-shirt

CNY 2012 Feasts

Happy Chinese New Year!

CNY cookies: chocolate cookies, nastar (pineapple jam-filled cookies), lidah kucing (cat tongue)

Gong Xi Fat Choi, Wan Si Ru Yi! May our lives be healthy and prosperous throughout the dragon year, and beyond.

So, did you eat much yesterday? Feeling so full like your belly is gonna explode? Well, mine was just about to explode yesterday. CNY in my family is always about the food. Three feasts in a day, so satisfying yet has a high impact on the bathroom scale. Let's just start with the shabu-shabu feast the family had on CNY eve. Yes, shabu-shabu is my family's 'yee shang'.

CNY eve shabu-shabu feast

Approaching CNY, my fridge and table hold much more food than usual. As you can see from the first pic, the mother had ordered some jars of cookies, such as lidah kucing (translated 'cat tongue cookies', cookies shaped like cat tongue, hence the name), Roo's mum's nastar (pineapple jam-filled cookies), and chocolate ganache cookies.

The night before CNY, the grandma with the uncle and aunt came to have a family dinner and the menu was, of course, shabu-shabu. Too many things were prepared, it was dizzying. Fish balls, mushrooms, udon and even konyaku were abundant, there was no way we can finish all of them.

Shabu-shabu stuff; udon, fish balls, etc

No ready beef-wrapped enoki mushrooms were found, so I made them myself. Tastes better than the ones suki restaurants usually offer. Mine were bigger. Much bigger.

Beef-wrapped enoki mushrooms

Line-up of wontons, har gao, and tofu were included too along with Japanese konyaku which tastes like stringy vermicelli. A funny thing about these konyaku is that the uncle paid IDR 70,000 ($7.3) more for the exact same konyaku product the mother bought. Supermarkets cheat sometimes, I guess.

Clockwise from top left: more shabu-shabu stuff (wontons, har gao, fish balls), my first bowl, konyaku

We put too many stuffs in the hotpot. Just look at how full it is. The mother had made awesome broth for it, and super awesome dipping sauce too. Way to go, mother!

It was really great spending the night with family, all sitting around the hot pot and finishing the steaming soup together.

The hot pot

Maybe the grandma thought the hotpot is too healthy, or maybe she just wanted to add more deliciousness (and fat) to the dinner. I don't know the actual reason but I was so grateful that she suddenly brought out a huge slab of roasted pork with pretty cracklings on top. Deliciously salty, it's succulent and has a great ratio of meat and fat. And cracklings on CNY? Hell yes.

Roasted pork

Desserts had been taken care of by me, actually. Having never tried this before, I decided to fry the nian gao or basket cake or kue keranjang for the first time. This cake is almost compulsory for CNY, representing the hope for increasing wealth.

I don't really like eating it plain, and frying certainly helped a lot. Having said that, I think this sticky, sweet cake won't be my favourite cake anytime soon.

Fried nian gao (kue keranjang)

The uncle brought this walnut pound cake and I thought I've heard the name 'Tous les Jours' somewhere. Tastes really nice, aromatic, crumbly, and I love the walnut chunks here and there.

Walnut pound cake

#1 CNY feast, the mother's big family

CNY traditions are always held in the family. We usually bought new clothes and shoes for CNY, cut our hair, and clean the house. On the actual CNY day, 'kiong hi' is the usual hand gesture to greet family members and relatives, especially to the elder ones. Every year, it's the angpao (the little red envelopes with money inside) that the children are waiting for. Surprisingly, this year I was more looking forward for the food, although being given money is always awaited, of course.

The first stop that day was the mother's aunt's house, where the family reunion lunch was arranged. There were so many people, even the chairs weren't enough. No complaints from anyone though, as everybody is happy chatting and catching up with each others.

Food is not something that needs to be concerned, there are always enough food for everyone. This year CNY menu included fried noodles, beef and pork stews, braised buffalo meat, char siu pork, steamed fish with green chillies, soups, and siu mays.

Food all around

All of the food are great, but it was the pork siu mays that I gravitate to. They have firm texture and very flavorsome, definitely aren't the ones to be missed.

Pork siumays

Jars of cookies and sliced cakes were also on the table, but I went outside and was awed by the fruits from Rangkas, where the family garden is. Sacks of rambutan were brought from there, along with cempedak (the fruit similar with jack fruit, but smaller and has more robust smell and stringy texture), mangosteen, and duku langsat (lanzones).

Fruits from family's garden; rambutan, cempedak, mangosteen, duku langsat (lanzones)

#2 CNY feast, the father's big family

The second stop of the day was the father's brother's house, where the big family usually come together on CNY to have a feast. The grandma used to make authentic Bangkanese dishes such as turtle soup and braised monkey (yes they eat monkeys), but now that she had passed away, nobody make the dishes anymore.

The food here was not less appetizing than the first feast, the menu varied from rujak penganten (veggies salad with peanut sauce) to pek cham kee (steamed chicken with soy sauce and garlic) and mayonnaise prawns. Noodles were also there, completed with the most awesome pork satays.

Another table full of food

Everything was really good, the mayonnaise prawns and the pork satays were my fav, both were so exquisite and dangerously addictive.

Lokam oranges are also compulsory for CNY, as they represent wealth and luck. I found two decorated apples, so cute but I have no idea what those Chinese letters mean.

Sliced layer cake with prunes were super good; firm, sweet, and deliciously buttery. The cake apparently symbolizes layers of fortune.

Clockwise from top left: decorated apples and oranges, layer cake and bika ambon, assorted cookies

Rambutan seems to be the main fruit of this year's CNY. I see them everywhere. The best ones I have ever had in my life was from the uncle's house. They have used graft system to grow the tree, which is usually tall and huge. This tree is small and tiny, yet grows the best rambutan ever. The fruits are big and round, beyond juicy, also super easy separated from the seeds. These are perfect rambutan, I am not kidding. Just look at the bright red fruits! So lovely.

Amazing rambutan tree

My 3rd feast was at Roo's house in the evening. Splendid and hearty Manadonese dishes like always, but I didn't take pictures as I forgot to bring the camera. Most of the food were spicy and full of spices, they had successfully closed my CNY feast with pleasant flavour explosions. By the time I got home I was so full and didn't even have the guts to touch the scale.

So that was my CNY! Do share your story, did you get many angpaos? Any super delicious food eaten?

Anyways have a great dragon year, full of prosperity, luck, and delicious food! :)

Golden, 12 years old family dog

Food Souvenirs from Bandung & Bali

There's one thing I love best when the parents go to other cities.

So Phia, from Bandung

Food souvenirs. Or oleh-oleh in Indonesian. I don't care if it comes in small or big packages, food souvenirs always successfully excite me.

Few weeks ago, just before Christmas, the mother went to Bandung and Surabaya (two big cities in Java), and she brought much food home. Moreover, my dearest BBF went to Bali for holiday and she brought the best chocolate pie I've ever had. I managed to take pics of the food from Bandung and Bali, but not the ones from Surabaya. They disappeared pretty quickly.

And I'm sorry for the short post, it's been hectic at home with CNY preps, house cleaning, and I even haven't cut my hair.


1. Bolu ketan hitam (black glutinous rice sponge cake), from Prima Rasa - Bandung.

I never miss this sponge cake everytime I visit Bandung, and this is my ultimate food souvenir from Bandung. The sponge cake is light and airy, and the black glutinous rice's taste is so vivid. It's so delicious, it's great even served cold.

Black glutinous rice sponge cake

2. Assorted bakpia So Phia , from Lembang - Bandung.

Pia or bakpia, is basically a kind of pie, round shaped with various fillings. I have heard about So Phia's pies before, yet that was the first time I had them. In the box the mother bought there are 4 kinds of filling: chocolate, cheese, mung bean, and durian.

Box of So Phia

They're small, but surprisingly full of flavour and perfect for nibbling. All of the pies have flaky, layered skins, and the chocolate pie would be my fav. It's not overly sweet, and the chocolate paste tastes really good and chocolatey, although a bit crumbly which is weird. The cheese pie is savoury, being salty instead of sweet, but super addictive as well. The mung bean pie is good, with crumbly mung bean paste innards. The durian ones would be my least fav, the durian flavour doesn't taste real.

Pia innards

3. 'Maicih' cassava chips, from Bandung.

For some reasons, super hot cassava chips are trending in Jakarta nowadays, kind of. There are many brands and names, all offering incredibly hot fried cassava chips, challenging those who claim to have high chilli tolerance level. Apparently, it's no different in Bandung, and they have this particular brand that seems to be the most popular, Maicih.

They have spiciness levels for the chips, ranging from 1 to 10, and the bigger the number the hotter the chips will be. The mother, understanding me perfectly, bought the level 10 chips and said she can't even stand the level 5.

I love that they use heaps spices to give the chips a spices punch and aroma that they need. They are hot, very hot, but I've had the hotter ones. The chips are crunchy of course, and they are dangerously addictive despite being very spicy. It's great that they use spices to flavour the chips instead of using pure chilli powder like some brands do.

'Maicih' cassava chips

4. Bagelen (crunchy bread), from Bandung.

Bagelen is a snack made from normal bread, baked into maximum crunchiness. It tastes like bread (duh), but with a sweet, buttery icing layer on every slice.

Bagelen (crunchy bread)

5. Pia Janger, from Bali.

Another pie, you say? No it is not.

Pia Janger (Janger pie) is said to be the duplicate of the infamous Balinese pie, Pia Legong. It's round too, but almost 4 times the size of So Phia pies. The chocolate filling is tremendously thick, and super duper chocolatey. It reminds me of the chocolate paste filling in the Sari Roti's chocolate bread. If this is just a duplicate of the Pia Legong, I can't wait to taste the real one. (Note: I can't believe purchasing Pia Legong needs 3 weeks pre-order! Seriously?!)

The BFF also bought me Titiles's lap chiong (pork sausages), which I immediately used in my fried rice. It's so delicious, but no photos I'm afraid.

Pia Janger innards

So, did you get delicious souvenirs from other cities/countries? Do share your stories, but sharing the food won't be refused either hehee.

And it's CNY in two days! Brace yourself for the big feasts and angpaos!








Address:

PRIMA RASA

Jl. Pasirkaliki No. 163
Bandung

Jl. Kemuning No. 20, Bandung
Phone: +62 22 7206468

Jl. Buah Batu No. 169A, Bandung
Phone: +62 22 7311537

Ruko Kopo Plaza Blok C-6
Jl. Peta/Lingkar Selatan
Bandung


BAKPIA LEMBANG TOP SO PHIA

Jl. Darma C35 BTN Pusdikajen
Lembang
Phone: 022-2786710