Dinner at Social House, a.k.a. SoHo

Social House, a.k.a. SoHo, is one of those "it" places in Jakarta these days. It excited me at the beginning of the year, then a few months ago I got sick of it as everyone always wanted to meet there, and then I went for this dinner. One of those after movie thing (yes, again...). This time though I was the hungry party, not M. As we were in Grand Indonesia at the time around 8pm on a Saturday, we decided wait for our names to be called (we were #2) as it would be quite pointless to go elsewhere we most probably had to wait even longer.

Social House setting

Another corner of SoHo

The place was of course packed, but we got our table after a short 10~15 minutes of wait. Last time I was there, we waited endlessly and ended up leaving. Moral of the story: if you wanna come here on peak period, that is weekend, call and make a reservation. It really saves you the hassle and tassel of waiting, wasting your time and getting annoyed.

M's Ades

After begging M to help me with the pizza, I settled to order a Peking Duck Pizza and Sauteed Mushroom Salad with Wafu sauce. For drink, I got the famous Grandma's Lemon Tea while M got her bottled water. While we wait for our food, kinda starving (me anyway) we people watched and soaked in the atmosphere. It's a cozy place. Everywhere you see woods, woods and woods. It gives you the feeling of a kitchen of a country house. They put some fake trees and barrels of woods, bottles adorning the walls; of which has been adopted to many new restaurants in Jakarta. One of the thing that I really liked when I first went was their menu, which is clipped on a hanger. Cute, unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture.

Homemade Grandma's Iced Lemon Tea, Rp 25,000 (1USD~IDR9500)

First came the drinks and I noticed something different in my lemon tea. They now added a sugar cane stick which can be used to stir (for practicality sake) or to nibble on or teething if you have small kids! In my opinion this is the best drink that they have, the tea was light in taste with enough sweetness without being overly sweet, fresh because they added some mint leaves and instead of lemon juice they gave you a scoop of lemon sorbet. Oh and the glass was quite big also. I didn't feel cheated paying for it. And if you drink a lot, you might want to consider getting the jug.

Typo that I noticed, "chungky" is the new "chunky"

I was getting more and more famished that by the time the salad came, I started eating it and almost forgetting to take a photo entirely. Luckily I remember... and snapped it just in time before the salad got desecrated. Not sure if it was my hunger talking, but I really really liked the mushroom salad. The mushroom were solid, crunchy and abundant. Add to that Wafu dressing with some lettuce underneath. The contrast between the earthy taste of mushroom and the cripsness of the lettuce complement each ingredient well. Zinged with Wafu dressing, a Japanese vinaigrette dressing based on soy sauce, it was delicious.

Sauteed Mushroom with Wafu Sauce

Up close and personal

The Peking Duck pizza was good too, but M thought that the number of duck meat pieces dwindle each time she comes around. I had to agree with that. I wonder if California Pizza Kitchen still have an outlet in Jakarta? Their Peking Duck Pizza is legendary. Back to SoHo's version, the crispy thin skin was a good point, the hoisin sauce could be added a little bit more and the cheese was just right. I wished though that the kitchen staff clean the chili seeds before putting all those chili on the pizza. However, it is Indonesia after all where everyone LOVES their chili and hot spiciness, perhaps with the exception of me. So I was transformed into a mine sweeper ensuring that I wouldn't have any hidden explosive seed in my mouth. Note to self: tell the waiter to exclude the chili seed next time. All in all though, it was a good pizza still.

Peking Duck Pizza: Top View

Peking Duck Pizza: Side view

No dessert as I was so full by the end of it. M only helped with 3 slices of pizza... Some 'loyal' friend she was...

Social House

Harvey Nichols 1st floor

Grand Indonesia, East Mall

Jl. Jend. Sudirman

Jakarta Pusat

+62 21 2358 1818

Marmalade Pantry in Jakarta

Marmalade Pantry's signature flower, identical to the ones in Singapore

Yes, you read correctly - "Marmalade Pantry in Jakarta". A few weeks back, a friend invited me for lunch at Marmalade Pantry and I told her that it would be impossible as I was back in Jakarta for good by then. As this was all done through facebook messages, it wasn't until sometime later that I found out that Marmalade Pantry has indeed opened a franchise in Jakarta.

Interior of the Plaza Indonesia branch

Reflections from the mirrors, the framed mirrors added a trendy accent

The front of the restaurant

It was one of days when M, my partner in crime of late, watched a movie and was starved by the end of it but I wasn't. Since she has never been to the ones in Singapore, she decided to give it a try once I raved about it.

Marmalade Pantry was one of my favorite haunts when I was in Singapore. I loved it's homey feel, its abundance of magazines, and its secluded place at Palais Rennaisance at the far end of Orchard Road. Unfortunately, my Singapore sources had told me that they have moved from Palais Rennaisance into Ion where it's super crowded. I wonder if they are able to maintain it's homey feel. I spent many Saturday brunches there with friends or even alone. Alone. Yes, with either a book or my iPod. It was that homey. I was ecstatic when I found out that they have opened here in Jakarta. One less restaurants that I will miss from Singapore for sure.

Crabmeat Linguini (I forgot the exact price but it ranged from Rp55,000-65,000)

The dishes that I recommended for M were: Crabmeat Linguini, Falafel, Steak Sandwich and Crabmeat Caesar Salad. She opted for the linguini. I tasted it just to make sure that it was just as good, and it was! The pasta were cooked just right, not too soft nor too hard. Crab meat was abundant and the red sauce just delicious. Oh, the pine nuts were also present. ;)

My cuppa chamomile tea with honey

If I were hungry at that time, I would have ordered us a Sticky Date Toffee pudding: my favorite dessert of Marmalade Pantry Singapore. The warm sticky date pudding, soft and fluffy with remnants of the blended dates, drenched in warm toffee sauce and topped with a vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmm... I didn't know how it tastes here in Jakarta, but I do hope that it's just as good. If any of you tried it, please do let me know.

The Marmalade Pantry

Plaza Indonesia - 1st Floor #E18-19

Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav 28-30

Jakarta Pusat

+62 21 315 4374

Busted: Immigrant of Plaza Indonesia

Immigrant

It was a typical Saturday in Jakarta, where you meet up with one (or more) of your friends for a movie and a day at the mall which happened to be Plaza Indonesia. M was starving after we watched Surrogates and decided to have some snack at Immigrant a hip, trendy, upscale, "it" place in Jakarta of late.

Red bricks interior

Light bulbs and the bar

Bottles lined walls

I love the interior of the restaurant which transport you back to those 1950s black and white movies. Red bricks, yellowish lighting, lines and curves of bottles, all added to the comfy yet chic ambience.

M studying the menu

Her Rp 25,000 Equil water

Since I wasn't hungry, M decided to go with the salt and pepper calamari and a bottle of water while I abstained. A rare moment that is. One of the waitress seemed to be a little despondent that I didn't order any food or drink. I wouldn't mind some water actually, but seeing as I was neither thirsty or hungry, I couldn't justify paying Rp 25,000 (1USD~Rp9300) for a bottle of water. After hounding me for a few more times whether I wanted to order, she finally left me alone.

The Rp 65,000 calamari tiny plate

Close up shot

A few moments later, the calamari came out. For Rp 65,000 it was remarkably small portion! A meal at some other restaurants in Plaza Indonesia with the same quality as Immigrant are decidedly cheaper and more value for money. But then I thought to myself that perhaps the quality was what made it so expensive... Presentation was nice. Until I noticed how oily it was! I wonder why they didn't use those oil absorbent paper before serving the dish out.

So I did what I used to do with pizzas in New York, dab the oil off with napkins. As you can see, there were lots of oil. Maybe that was what I was paying the extra money for, the excess of oil. Oil prices has been on the rise, hasn't it?

Calamari blotting session

The calamari tasted good after the oil blotting session. The salt and pepper combo was nice and the flesh soft and at a good level of chewiness. The sweet and sour chili sauce was light and complement the calamari.

After a while, I came to accept the oiliness and the expensive price as something that I had to pay for the ambience. Until... I found hair on the calamari... On any other day, I would just remove the hair and discreetly tell the waitress. However, this incident was the second incident I have had at Immigrant.

The first time was in April this year where I had dinner here and shortly after they served everyone on my table, a waitress came running bounding at me, bypassing all other dinner parties on my table and asked if my pasta was alright. Suspicious? Oh yes! She asked me if my pasta were done nicely, then whether I think it was too salty. Then she was so eager to take away that pasta from me and have me order another dish. All the while she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Throughout this whole time I had an awful sinking feeling in my stomach that something bad was done on my pasta. Had they dumped a bottle of salt? Expired ingredients? Another waiter also stood by a few meters away watching anxiously as the waitress sweet talking me into relinquishing my pasta.

Mistake happens, even at the best restaurants. I was so frustrated though that they would not tell me what error did they make. Just tell me the truth, apologize for the mistake and replace my meal instead of making me guessing what went wrong and whether I was going to have food poisoning soon after. At the end, I gave in. I let them exchanged my meal and to this day I still wonder what went wrong.

Back to the hair incident, I told the waitress. She apologized and replaced it. And I told her how disappointed I was that this was the second incident that happened to me there. If I were the waitress, I would have told my restaurant manager and give the client the extra mile of service. That extra mile of service didn't happen to us. No complimentary thing, no discount, just a rehearsed customer care 101 apology. If this was a roadside restaurant instead of a chic, trendy and upscale one, I can understand the lack of above and beyond service. But Immigrant IS a chic, trendy and upscale restaurant. I was very disappointed and felt cheated that for the price that Immigrant imposed on their clients their service doesn't match.

Would I go back to Immigrant? Yeah, probably if my friends want to go there but not in the near future. I hope the management will improve their service first. The saying goes, there's a price for quality... unfortunately not on this case....

Immigrant

Plaza Indonesia 6th floor #E02-03

Jakarta Pusat

+62 21 3983 8357