The Best Restaurants for Dim Sum in Jakarta

In this post, I will give some recommendations about the best places to eat Dim Sum in Jakarta. Since the offer is plentiful, I made small categories to help you choose which restaurant is the one for you:

The "Top 5": The following restaurants are generally regarded as serving the best Dim Sum in Jakarta:

1) Ah Yat Abalone in Golden Boutique Hotel Angkasa (Tel: +62-21 6220 2388) and in Mid Plaza 2 (Tel: +62-21 570 7333) with non-halal available.

2) May Star (Halal) in Central Park Mall LG (Tel: +62-21 5698 5422), in Gandaria City GF (+62-21 2905 2922), in Hotel Le Grandeur Mangga Dua ( Tel: +62-21 612 7880), in Mall Pluit Emporium (Tel: +62-21 6667 6280). The ones in Pluit and Mangga Dua have non halal available.

3) Samudra Seafood Restaurant in BRI Tower, Jl. Sudirman (Tel: +62 21 571 3600) and in Living World (Alam Sutera)

4) Taipan in WTC Mangga Dua (Tel: +62-21 3001 8877). Non halal available. All you can eat for Rp108,000++.

5) Sun City in Mall Lindeteves, Jl. Hayam Wuruk (Tel:+62-21 6220 1900). Non halal available.

Chinese restaurants located in Jakarta's 5-star hotels: Usually more expensive, though not always tastier, but with better design and atmosphere. They are non-halal.

Table 8, Hot el Mulia Senayan (T: 021 574 7777)

Shang Palace in Shangri-La (Tel: +62-21 570 7440) with a very famous "All You Can Eat" (AYCE) lunch for Rp138,000 all taxes included.

Xin Hwa, Mandarin Oriental (Tel: +62 21 2993 8888) with AYCE at Rp128,000 all included.

Pearl, JW Marriott (Tel: +62-21 5798 8888)

Teratai, Hotel Borobudur (Tel: +62-21 3805555) with AYCE at Rp141,000 all included.

Lai Ching, Four Seasons Hotel (Tel: +62-21 252 3456) with AYCE at Rp118,000 all included.

Tien Chao in Gran Meli Kuningan (Tel: +62-21 5268080) - Currently under renovation.

Large Chinese restaurants chains:

Crystal Jade: Under different names, it can be found in Grand Indonesia, Pacific Place, Plaza Senayan. Halal.

Duck King, halal, and its non-halal branch Imperial Chef

Din Tai Fung (Halal)

From the Tung Lok group (behind Taipan and Sun City), you also have:

Ming Village in Senayan City (Tel: +62-21 7278 1627) (Halal)

Ming Seafood in Setiabudu Building I (Tel: +62-21 521 0505)

Ming in Kelapa Gading (Tel: +62-21 4585 0039)

Other restaurants with decent and affordable all-you-can-eat Dim Sum buffets:

Eastern: In Lippo Karawaci, Tangerang (Tel: +62-21 558 4288). Used to be in Permata Hijau, not great but very popular for its all-you-can-eat Dim Sum (Rp60,000 all included). Halal.

OenPao: In many different locations across Jakarta. All you can eat Rp60,000 all included. Halal.

Clover Palace: In Central Park Slipi (Tel: +62-21 5698 5318): All you can eat for 49,999++. Halal.

Sands Restaurant: In Mangga Dua Square (Tel: +62-21 6231 2888), all you can eat for Rp49,000++. Non-halal.

Golden Ming in Acacia Hotel on Jalan Kramat Raya (Tel: +62-21 390 3030): All you can eat for Rp76,000 all included. Non-halal.

The prices and conditions are given as indications only. You should call the restaurant first to make sure their offer is still valid. If possible, leave me a comment with the updated price. Thanks a lot! Idem with the mention halal or not, I didn't check for every restaurant.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanghaidaddy/

A Detour to Restoran Fu Man @ Tanjung Malim for Dinner

I supposed to join a group of golfers for a game at Lembah Beringin and have good food at Fu Man but I just could not join them. Somehow I made my own way here. The salted pork belly is a must try dish, The bite is excellent and the taste is superb.It's not oily nor salty. It's crispy and yet tender... just don't miss this if you are there at Fu Man Restaurant.The greenish sauce for the salted pork belly was awesome, nothing was left from this sauce.Another gorgeous fried was the 4 Heavenly King vegetables, normally you get this dish oily in most restaurants but not at Fu Man. I enjoyed it very much especially the petai seeds.....LOL.Fish fillets stir fried with spring onions was another fantastic choice. The fillets were fresh & succulent.Kum Heong fried pig's fallopian tubes was a bit disappointing, there is no chewiness nor crunchiness in it.This Tofu was lovely. It was flooded with gravy of minced meat & chopped choy poh.If my mother like the food here and have no whatsoever grouses then the food must be fine.Happy eating and it was worth the detour to Tanjung Malim to visit Fu Man Restaurant which I can say "GOOD" and can come again for more.

FU MAN RESTAURANT
No 39, Jalan U1,
Taman Universiti,
35900 Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-459 7620, 6012-654 1587 (Mrs Chew Teik Hock)
GPS Coordinates : E101 31 48.2 N3 41 0.9

Warisan

Having replaced a museum at Dataran Merdeka, Restoran Warisan showcases Malaysia's culinary heritage in a stately setting.

Nasi lemak with beef rendang. Won't exactly linger very long in the memory, but tasty enough to evoke a simple sigh of satisfaction.

Soto ayam, brimming with a fairly flavorsome mix of nasi impit, potato patties, groundnuts, beansprouts & onions in a broth that wasn't as greasy as feared.

Kuey teow kerang. Not terrible, but this needed much more 'wok hei' & cockles to become the char kuey teow of our dreams. At least it wasn't watery though.

Laksa Penang with fish gravy, prawn paste, cucumber, onions, chili & boiled egg. A curious concoction that combined elements of both assam laksa & curry laksa.

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Ayam kampung kunyit. Savory, but slightly too stringy.

Rojak buah. Gosh, why did we even order this? Never liked it anywhere, never will.

Pulut tapai, sweetly fermented. A love-it-or-hate-it creation.

Restoran Warisan,

Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur.

Broken Hearts

Optimist: "Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"
Pessimist: "Better to not have loved at all than to have loved and lost"

How good can it get: Smooth springy refreshing Jello cubes of different flavors covered with yummy cream mousse and spiked with bits of biscuit crumbs and toasted hazelnuts.

My son Wey has repeatedly told me to include a broken glass dessert as one of my jellies in the Royal Selangor Pewter Jellirific! Challenge so here it is, one of the most refreshing, delicious and fun-to-eat jellies. I've posted a broken glass cake here but looking at how much better the same dessert looks in the shape of the Nick Munro mould, I highly recommend that you get one for your kids' birthday parties and your dinner parties. Think of all the different conical jellies you can make, from a spice centerpiece to an ice cream to a chocolate mousse. When you're not using the mould, it can sit shining prettily on your kitchen window sill. If you purchase one or more this month, you will be contributing to the Breast Cancer Welfare Association of Malaysia, a non-profit organisation that helps women with breast cancer. What a win-win purchase.

If you haven't eaten broken glass jelly before, you must make one now, today. It ! is so ea sy to make that I actually had time to eat lunch out with some friends and their beautiful, sociable 8-month old baby. You just have to make four Jellos of different colors and I do mean Jello, not brands such as Western or Nona because their jellies don't set well. Then whip up the cream mousse, cut the Jello into cubes or stamp them with cutters, mix and scoop into your moulds, preferably the Nick Munro moulds. You can have a bottom layer of crushed Graham crackers (I used McVities digestive biscuits mixed with toasted hazelnuts--yum!) or sprinkle the crushed biscuits around the jelly. You won't believe how super delicious something as simple as that can be. Try it and gush about it to me.

What do you know, a whole heart was sticking on the outside and another (both green) on the tip of the jelly. I realized that I should've placed some hearts all over the mould and then scooped the jelly mousse in. I'll do that next time.

I named this jelly 'Broken Hearts' because it was hard to find an intact heart after cutting the jelly. For best results (looks and taste), the more Jello cubes/hearts the better. I should've added more.

Broken Hearts
1/4 box each of 3 to 4 flavors: lime, raspberry. lemon, orange, strawberry
1/4 cup pineap! ple juic e
3 T cold water
1/3 tbsp gelatine powder
1/2 cup dairy whipping cream
1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Make Jello of each flavor but reduce the water by about 30% to get a firmer jelly.
2. Pour each Jello into a flat dish so that the thickness is about 0.5 cm. Chill until firm. Cut into desired shapes or just cubes.
3. Whip the cream with the vanilla until stiff. Chill.
4. Scatter the gelatine powder over the pineapple juice in a small pot and heat until gelatine is dissolved. Add the cold water, stir, put into fridge to chill until slightly syrupy.
5. Mix the gelatine liquid into the whipped cream using a metal spoon and stir in the Jello cubes. Mix thoroughly for a nicer dispersion of the Jello.
6. Scoop into a Nick Munro mould in a mug, cover with wrap and chill until very firm--at least 3 hours.
7. Serve with grounded Graham crackers or McVites Digestive biscuits mixed with melted butter (optional) and chopped toasted hazelnuts.

Korea Trip 2011 : Bangsan Market

If theres one place I anticipated most prior to this trip, itd be Bangsan Market. Actually as mentioned, I had a few places that I really wanted to go in Seoul, luckily I managed to go to most of them. Some of them, were closed down, its quite sad.

One of them was in the Kdrama, Kim Sam Soon, the one where she got drove to this patisserie in Apgujeong and had a spread of dessert across 2-3 tables. The place looked awesome. So being the patissier me, I decided to check that place out. Towards the end of the trip, our group split and went to places we wanted to go ourselves. It really is pointless to ask me to go shopping when all I wanna do is to check out desserts and cafes; and vice versa. So 2 of us took the train to Apgujeong, walked abit then found the area. Were actually right infront of the original shop, BUT we couldnt find the name of the shop (its called Duchamp). It was a hilly road, then we met some locals there and asked where exactly is Duchamp. They helped us to ask around in Hangul, then found out that the place was closed down recently. ggggrrr!!!

So anyway, we left Apgujeong and went to Bangsan Market.

The market itself, was just 2 lanes (3 rows of shops; make that just about 12 shops) all filled with baking ingredients, utensils, equipments, accessories, boxes, cutters and everything you can think of. (Ok not like e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, but more stuffs than regular baking shops here) I didnt really check out the ingredients as I knew I wont be able to bring any back due to luggage. So I focused on looking for smaller stuffs and hard to get here in Malaysia.

This area is like a wholesale hobbys market. They are divided into sections like baking / boxes, sewing / handicraft, rubber and plastic materials, and even pets stuffs as well (as read from the map) I hadnt had lots of time to explore much around the area as I went to Bangsan market on the last day of the trip.

If youve watched Kdrama, Kim Sam Soon, you would know of this place as its one of a filming location as well.This particular shop sells more ingredients compared to the rest. I bought a miniature Creme de Framboises and Liquor de Roses from here. They have more, but I didnt wanna spend all my money here in ONE shop..still have yet to use them, not sure how nice they taste.. The rose one looks like the one in Yumeiro Patisserie (Japanese Anime) tho..

Now how to get there..

Take subway Line 5 Euljiro 4(sa)-ga Stn. Exi! t 4. Wal k 250 m. (btw, Exit 3 is just opposite Exit 4, theres a shop called Sewing Factory, the owner/salesperson is so cute! Best looking guy weve seen this entire trip. Ha! Ok back to reality, they have really nice fabric in there as well)

The dark blue stream you see in the map is Chenggyecheon Stream. Its quite beautiful at night, but theres an even more awesome bridge; Banpo Rainbow Fountain Bridge. Post about that another day.

Ok, the things I bought that day.

From Bangsan Market : Canele moulds, madeleine moulds, cookie alphabet imprints, baguette pans, Creme de Framboises and Liqueur de Roses

From the Family mart: Absolut pear and Midori (Just cause its in the picture)

The other 4 props are from Daiso in Seoul. Some 1000 won, some 2000.

I have only used the alphabet imprints and the heart shaped ramekin. the rest are in the drawers for emergency cases when I wanna bake canele, madeleine or baguette. Dont that always happen. When you wanna bake something, you dont have the right mould or pan..