Never Knew Fried Chicken Can Be This Good???

Hands down last week I've ate the best fried chicken in my life, currently.

It was a Korean franchise fried chicken restaurant, called Chir Chir. My friends recommended this to me however just last week I've finally had the chance to try, and IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. I thought it will be plain blah like other Korean fried chicken fast food one such as L*tter*a or ridiculous one like *jj*. But hell this one was on another level.

Why ah? Why fried chicken can be so good???

  

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Didn't really remember the menu names that I've ordered, but I ordered the garlic chicken wings (first photo) and a sweet spicy chicken tender, added with ricotta cheese salad to neutralize the buds.

Ordered the beer as well but the taste was just meh. Was hoping the beer will taste like Suntory's Premium Malts one..(you wish)

Plus the fat: whipped cream! Insanity.

Anyway, left with a happy full tummy and definitely craving for more!

Feast.

Anyone with better recommendations than Chir Chir, challenge me, I dare you.

A Perfect Morning

At least, it is, for me.

I wish it goes on forever.

READLIFE Coffee

Short review on a hang-out place near my house! I've been wanting to visit this place since several months ago but it was just realized last Sunday :)

READLIFE Coffee

Mall of Indonesia, Ruko Italian Walk blok C 46

Jl. Boulevard Barat Raya, Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara 14240

As for the concept, it was a simple but stylish coffee place with the touch of Japanese concept. The Japanese concept mainly can be seen as they have one spot with "zakka" or miscellanous goods on the back side, and several touch of book shelf and everything simple-decorated inside the shop.

As for visitors type, don't be surprised that quite a lot of Koreans visit this place, maybe mainly because 1) lots of Koreans stay on this apartment area, and 2) somehow this coffee shop style is a little bit Korean-ish too. And so they put on Korean songs all the time..

For the food, I ordered the latte and fried banana set for 50k, and additional fruit tea for around 58k. 

Can't say much about the coffee as I'm not an avid coffee drinker but it was very acceptable on the taste side. It was not bitter and a very mild latte. Fried banana was nice and sweet, plus point for lots of crunchies on the plate.

The fruit tea was very nice though! It was mixed with slices of lemon, lime, mint, and apple. Minus point is that it better be finished asap as the more you let it be, the more the water heat pull out the bitterness from the lemon and lime skin. Other than that it was great!

See those stylish pot ~

Very small cup by the way. But since it was pretty, it's ok. Haha.

Overall, it was a pleasant visit and nothing to be complained about. The service were nice, ambiance is nice too, recommended to go at night maybe (?) to avoid crowds. And since it was very near my place, I will definitely come again some other time!

That's it for today's post (told ya it was gonna be short) and will see ya on the other one!

Yolanda

My First Post Back in JA-KAR-TA

I remember every time I try to update my blog, the first thing that popped on my mind was about how I should consider writing more regularly, as I knew deep within that I’ll be updating my blog with longer and longer span between each post. I tried to promise myself but somehow updating a blog is as difficult as tidying up my life!

Such a long time since my last post on my blog. Reviewed it again and the last post that I uploaded was early of July last year! OMG. It has been 7 months ago and so much have been happening on the last 7 month, definitely. Several significant events happened on that period that I can share were:

1. Finally fully resign from my company in Japan and managed to pass all of those good-bye parties safe and sound (it was quite tiring for an introvert like me), while I
2. Manage to clear out my moving process from Japan to Indonesia too. It was such an exhausting process as so many steps have to be done such as selling stuffs, clearing my bank account, unregistering my utilities, packing and sending boxes, make reports on ward office, and everything else even I still couldn’t believe I passed all of those stuff alone.
3. While in the meantime before I went back Jakarta, I managed to travel to Seoul for around 10 days alone,
4. And checking my list for visiting Hokkaido too, alone!! And then I finally
5. Move back for good to Jakarta and adapt quite well; still hate the traffic jam though,
6. Manage to settle my tiny nail business, well, even though so far open for close families and friends,
7. Manage to get a job here in Jakarta; which I’m not sure yet whether it’s the one that I want to do for the rest of my career, but  it gave me a good chance to learn and grow,, and finally,
8. Passed 2016 safe and sound (since my hectic period on moving and resignation stuff, all I want to do at that time do is only get to pass 2016 peacefully in my apartment balcony back home in Jakarta, and it came true naturally. Hahaha.

I have to admit 2016 was not my best year and it was the most exhausting year of my life hands down, however I’m very grateful for it. It was exhausting, but it was fulfilling. I knew how far my limit is, and I learn to be grateful and feel content of what I already have.

However, adapting back to Jakarta’s lifestyle is no joke.

At first it was so nice, all of the friends and family, no more lonely times, everyone was there for you, and it’s like happily ever after. It’s like everything that I ever wanted when I’m in Japan came true in a flash.  However there will always be times when I’m missing what I had in Japan that I miss the most: the freedom of doing everything alone; the way I want, anytime.

I miss my freedom to do everything alone. I miss traveling alone. It was so easy to go just everywhere on my off day. I can go museums alone, go aquarium alone, exhibitions alone. I can go out of town alone, came back late alone, or maybe drink with one best friend until late, and it was safe for me to go back home very late. I miss all of that.

In Jakarta?? Nahhh. When I went out with my friends even just a little bit late, everyone as in my family will tell me to go home asap. I knew they are worried about my safety and I realize that too, since Jakarta’s safety is quite bad, but sometimes it provoke my annoyance, however on the other hand I can’t complain much about that. IT WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO HAVE MY OWN TIME HERE.

Actually the longing of freedom was so bad until at one point I realize that there will be no end to what I want unless I feel content about it. When you had freedom, you want a connection to people around you. When you got people protecting you, you miss your freedom. I went to Japan, but I wanted to go back to Jakarta, but when I’m in Jakarta, I really wanted to go back Japan. There will be no end of this unless I can sit down, try to pause a while and stop thinking about moving forward.

Sometimes I feel that that maaaybe what I really need was only a looong holiday for me from all of the accumulated stress in Japan? But I’m already here anyway. And I believe everything happen for a reason too.

What I can and have to do right now is just to live, enjoy the presence, and be content of what I have. I knew I’m still adapting, but I believe I can make it somehow, and everything will be better onward.

And I have to catch up with some friends that I haven’t met too for several years... (I’m running away from socializing too long already!)

To perk things up a little bit, maybe I will post about my trip to Korea and Hokkaido last time… For the sake of lighting up my travel spirit and routine blog post too!!

See you on my next post!!

Giyanti Coffee and Kopium Review (Jakarta part 2)

Hi again here! Continuing from the last post, I assume this post will not gonna be as long as the previous post that I made as most of the food that I had in Jakarta, I've mostly already shared it there. 

Although this is part of the meals that I had in Jakarta during my holiday, I thought this post will gonna be mainly focused on coffee reviews, so there's the post title!

So, back to topic!

This time, I wanna share with you these 2 coffee places that I went to.

During my stay in Japan for almost two year, stylish indie-style coffee shop seems like becoming a thing in Jakarta. Everywhere in even in every hidden spot in Jakarta, if we see it enough (and search for reviews, of course..) we will found several hidden gems here and there. So me and friends finally decided to try several places during my stay.

The first one that I wanna share is this coffee shop named Kopium.

Placed hidden between old house complexes but you will definitely see it from the crowd (or, should I say, cars) right from this coffee shop front gate.

They have this kind of retro styled mini cafee with stylish mini paintings and posters here and there. It's like going back to Marilyn Monroe era kind of feeling.

And this is the interior inside. Pardon the mahjong auntie on the front.

Me and my friends here ordered several menus, such as:

Matcha Latte, friendly for non coffee drinkers.

and the next one was Piccolo on the left, and I forgot the one on the right. My friend said it's all bitter. I'm not an avid drinker of coffee so I can't explain too much about the taste, I'm sorry. But here's the appearence as a compensation! 

Me myself ordered Brulee; they roast caramel on top of the coffee foam so the final combination taste is bitter yet quite sweet. Perfect for those who can't stand the too-bitterness of coffee.

and Cheese Stick as snacks!

So far, so good. We enjoy all the talk, coffee and the food here. 

Finish with the first place, not wanting to waste more time, we directly flew to another happening coffee shop named Giyanti Coffee.

By rule, I cannot take photos inside. but, I've taken all the photos when finally I realize that I cannot take photos in it. Too bad but this girl ain't gonna delete her archive so yah, here is the interior inside!

It's definitely bigger than Kopium, and we got the second level balcony table.

Here's the view from the second floor balcony. It's quite crowded to be honest for a coffee shop that's quite hidden from the main street. 

Our order was this:

 

Cold and Hot Ice Moccha on the top and bottom, plus 2 Piccolo (again!) on the middle. 

I thought the moccha here will be the sweet one like they sell in supermarket or Starbucks. but its so different. It's the real bitter moccha!! Its damn purely nice, in my opinion.

and then my friend said the Piccolo here taste better than the one in Kopium too. I don't really understand the different though.. but I thought it is worth to try.

This place, top rated. 

We also ordered the brownie and the chicken pie as snacks.

Nice combination for moccha and coffee. Both tast awesome. Yums. Definitely will go here again If I have time in the future.

My short journey to these two coffee shops is definitely worth it. I don't know when will this coffee booming will end soon but I'm quite glad here in Indonesia they use this chance to explore more about their own coffee style and develop it more in depth to produce this unique taste. Not like in Japan though.. they mostly rely only on Starbucks. Also knowing that Indonesia is one of the top coffee producer, I hope this culture will stay on developing. Proud to be Indonesian!

But still, I can't be a super coffee drinker; my stomach can't take it. (too bad!)

Well, and thats the end of my (coffee appearance) review.

I'm sorry I didnt have enough clever words to pick and describe, but I hope my post will be useful even just a little bit. 

See you on next post!

Welcoming Back Jakarta!

It's another 2 months plus passed without me realizing I haven't had any time at all to update my blog!

It's kinda confusing what to write for around 2 months update (and for every post I make; it's somewhat always the same feelings all over again tho). So, to make complicated things easier, I will start from the reason why I haven't managed to upload so many updates all this time.

For this two months actually have been very busy with all the preparation that I have to do regarding my holiday back home to Indonesia for only 10 days. yeah. 10 FRICKIN DAYS and it passed so fast. The preparation was so longgg ugh. 

But I kinda glad it passed so fast as the one thing that did all the time there was eat. EAT and EAT and EAT. Until the state that I've just finished my lunch and then my mom said, "ok. what's for dinner?". 

PUKE ALL OVER LOL

However thank to my mom's enthusiasm this time I managed to get almost all the food that I really craving for (which is mostly Indonesian food of course!) compared to my holiday last year which only for 7 days. Its not enough.

And I will share it a little bit!! It's like, "fotd" as in "food of the day". hahaha.

Some of the best that I had this time was:

Several menus from Remboelan Resto that I visited in Senayan City.

Grilled Gourami with Peanut Sauce, or "kemiri" in Bahasa Indonesia. Dunno what's that called in English. Despite the color of the sauce, the taste is not as thick as I expected it will be! Dang good!

The usual Lontong Cap Go Meh; not as kickass as the gourami but because I craved for it's coconut milk soup...

and their famous Nasi Bakar or Grilled Rice. They mix boneless fishes with several seasoning that makes this super flavory yet FRICKIN bombastic spicy for my own tongue sake.

Blame the no-chilli tongue for more than 2 years I'm in Japan... I'm getting weaker for all chilli-thingy for sure.

It's daaaaammnn nice but too bad I cannot finish this as it is too spicy for me at that state which I'm scared I'll hurt my throat.

And the sweet closing is granted for their Remboelan's Es Campur (mix ice). What's Indonesian dessert without coconut milk!

HEAVEN. ON EARTH.

move on to the next visited restaurant was the famous Java Kitchen!

Ordered their Nasi Langgi.. I have no idea how to translate this. Langgi Rice?? Sounds so stupid hahahaha better spelled them with their original name..

It's like mixed rice with several toppings which rich on flavoring and seasoning such as omelette, dried shrimp, sauteed potato and chicken etc. My all time favorite!

and SATAAAYYY.

Look at the meat, peanut sauce and the red onion. How fantastic are they. YUMS.

Why the Japanese don't make their satay like this ah BIG FRUSTRATION.

And last but not least,

ordered their Nasi Gudeg.

I don't know how to describe this either. It's damn good. That's it. Sorry, for non Indonesian reader :(

Java Kitchen will always be my favorite place to go if I long for Javanese food.. their quality and taste never change upon times. YES they better keep their taste as good as it is!!

And the final (for this post) restaurant that I had was named Lembur Kuring.

Finally had a flying gourami (deep fried gourami) that i've been wanted all this time!! Taste incredibly crunchy and nice.. ate all it's fin part too as it was THAT crispy. Munch crunch.

Had this vegetable stuffed toufu too..

and their signature shrimp dish. Deep Fried Shrimp with Special Lembur Kuring Sauce which is a mixture of onion, green chilli, and cornflakes (what!).

The spiciness kicked me on the throat though. It's NOT that spicy but it's just that I'm not used to this kind of spiciness anymore so I didn't binge this much. But it was hell nice, can eat the whole pasrt of the shrimp as it was super crispy.

Based only on this post, It seems that my Indonesian food journey is this short, but its not!! Its actually, much much longer than this post. hahahah.

On the other day, I also had some martabak telur and martabak manis..

 

and just now I've just realized I forget to take photos of the sweet martabak one.. It was all swiped clean as soon as we open the box. And now, no photos :(

Oh well.

And on the other day craved and ate this Makassar's signature ice too..called Es Palu Butung.

It's like soft cake-rolled banana with coconut milk soft pudding and sauced with condensed vanilla milk. OH GOD. I wouldn't mind eating this everyday. It's damn niiiiiiceeeee.

And now i've just realized one thing.

Why Indonesian food is not as famous as other country's food.

My theory was concluded from writing this blog in around 30 minutes; 

It's very hard for us Indonesian to describe what's the real taste of Indonesian food as it was too complex to be explained.

Compared to Thai foods, fpr example. All spicy, sour, coconut milk. That's it.

Indonesia? Spicy sour sweet, some bitter yet nice, some smell so strong yet it sweet. and dozens of textures to complete all of that. How can you describe that? Words are not enough. Have to taste it ourselves.

Then how can we force all foreigner to try Indonesian food if we can't describe it very well?? BIG PROBLEM.

Oh well, It's only my theory though. I'm hoping that all the people in this world can taste how AMAZING Indonesian food was. (And that's the reason I kept bringing Indomie to all my Japanese friends here!)

Aaaaaaaandddd.... I think that's the closing for this post. Will post again about several foods that I had during my holiday on the next post as I suppose it will be too long for them to be tightened to only one post.

Thanks for reading!