As some of you already knew, last month I was kindly invited by Hilton Hotel Bandung for a 2D1N food bloggers trip! Might be short, but much needed respite. This to also celebrate Hilton Hotel Bandung's 5th anniversary as well as Asian Culinary Summit Event that was held there. Gotta tell you, the team from Hilton Hotel Bandung prepared everything nicely and they're very attentive when it comes to guiding us, it was just literally like home, even though the schedule's kind of packed PLUS I was the only one bringing laptop to work on the goddamn thesis, it was a blissful trip.
Special thanks for Blue Bird Group for the transportation sponsor! The ride back and forth was safe and the driver was very careful in driving! I mean, it's Blue Bird Group, rest assure, very-very well trained staffs. I bet you all here reading this right now sure agree that when it comes to picking a cab in Jakarta, Blue Bird is probably on the top of your list ;).
I am looking forward for a freaking holiday like this with food bloggers, being on a trip with them was just CRAZY because we ate like baboons, NON STOP eating during the trip as I recall, snacks everywhere and it's just nice to be on the same trip with people who share the same passion! Loving all my fellow food bloggers for being just the awesome travel partners! Seriously, we shared the same thoughts, for example, initially the team prepared us for a shopping spree but instead we all wanted to go to some cafe hunting and... EAT -.-.
This post is going to be very long with heavy photos, scroll scroll!
DAY ONE!The lobby with the 360 degree spiral staircase
I was quite impressed by how Hilton Hotel Bandung physically looked! It was very minimalist, chic and in a way, fashionable. Loving all those glass surrounding the hotel architecture allowing a lot of sun to come in during the day WITHOUT feeling humid because Bandung has the cool weather (might not be as cool as it was but still a lot cooler than Jakarta).
When I proceed to check-in, the concierge was located just across Purnawarman restaurant (more on that later). Purnawarman is Hilton Hotel Bandung's signature restaurant (also Fresco) with buffet dining concept, so here's where I went to for breakfast and dinner during my stay here.
Cute bear dolls, you could also purchase this to take home for only IDR 50k.
Check-in was easy and smooth, Okay I need to mention this, during my stay here, I was completely blown away by how everyone's very humble, very polite and the hospitality was beyond words, I was impressed because the staffs were smiling all the time (not literally all the time) but it's just... pleasant. Can't emphasize it enough but their hospitality was heartwarming and as a customer, hospitality is essential.
Did I mention that they currently ranked second for Hotels in Bandung by TripAdvisor? Now I know why.
Wall of appreciation!
Fruit punch, a refreshing welcome drink.
Before I take you to the room tour (since I want to keep it a surprise), let me take you to the Chef's Table lunch.
I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED CHEF TABLE dining concept! I have been to four Chef's Table programs and so far I was impressed with each and every one, including this particular one by Hilton Hotel Bandung. We ate at the kitchen area (Banquet kitchen), the one where they usually cook for buffet meals and wedding catering. It was written that we're going to have four courses (including dessert). Nuff yakking... PHOTOS!
Courses with wine pairings. Lovely!
Poached Salmon, Chilly and Honey Lemon Vinaigrette Crusted Herb Tuna
Heavenly delicious opening. After an early trip and few hours later I finally feed my tummy a happy meal (not McDonald's), kicked off with just the perfect course. The Salmon and Tuna were pan-seared with a low temperature in a short period and both meats were lightly seasoned and the texture were so smooth, the salmon literally melt in your mouth and burst! The salmon was dressed in homemade salsa sauce, not a big fan of the sauce dressing but other than that. Perfect!
Lemon Sorbet
Before we proceed to the next course (mains), the lemon sorbet with soft texture cleansed everything we had before.
Pindang IgaHave you ever had something so good that you just want to keep on cursing? Well in that case, this one! Honestly, in my 22 years of living, this one rocketed to the number one best Pindang Iga I've ever had in my life. The meat was just so so tender and juicy (even the fat) and the sauce was such a match to the meat and it even absorbed nicely to the meat resulting a sweet-savory flavor. Smart enough, I couldn't imagine a better companion to this food except for... rice! Super recommended!
Pappardelle Pasta
The next course was the homemade Pappardelle pasta. Pappardelle itself is a large, flat pasta noodle (a lot wider that Fettuccine). We got to see the first hand of the pasta making and I am very very into homemade things, it's like the value of the particular product worth more in my eyes (talking about effort here!). This particular menu's also available in Fresco (more on that below) and since we're having lunch there the next day, we're told not to order the same thing in Fresco lol.
The texture of the pasta was lovely, I love the "Al-Dente" consistency of the pasta without being overdone, the mushroom sauce was just lovely and the mushroom (Champignon) were juicy and proper! The pasta was also accompanied by stuffed chicken which was lightly seasoned.
Chocolate FondantWhat started savory must be closed with something sweet, well that's my philosophy and this happened to be just the perfect ending to the lunch. Frankly speaking, NOT the most photogenic dessert, it wasn't looking very appetizing physically but since I was there experiencing the smell of the chocolate, I knew this was going to be really good... and I wasn't wrong! This was uber good with very rich chocolate flavor to it (assuming it's premium Belgian chocolate they're using). Good old classic yummy dessert with vanilla ice cream side. Perfect.
Okay, next stop... ROOM!
I was very surprised realizing that the room was actually VERY SPACIOUS! Each of us was granted with our own rooms and mine had the double queen bed. Having no one to share it eventually having
Marius to share the other bed. The bed was very comfy with thick blanket but the air-conditing turned out to be freaking cold during the sleeping hours. I remembered I woke up shaking like mad cow!
Lucky enough, my room got the pool facing view... nice!
Peter Thomas Roth products. Finally a hotel with facial bars, for some reasons I believe in bars more than any form of facial wash, well except for Kiehl's that I am currently using. Kiehl's products rock!!!
Fresh fruits for every customer, but I didn't have any of it, completely forgot that there were fruits.
...and chocolates! This one I also didn't try.
After taking around 30 minutes to rest, we finally moved to out destination, Floating Market Lembang. I have always loved Bandung, but for the past two years I haven't stepped myself at Bandung and to be able to be back was pleasant, plus this was my first going to the Floating Market Lembang, please don't put this as the acronym FML HAHAHA!
The weather in Floating Market Lembang was even cooler, maybe because it's located in the less urban-ish spot of Bandung and you could feel the nature of it with lakes surrounding the area and green plants all around. Originally, you'd have to pay IDR 10k/person and additional IDR 5k if you bring a car, and each of you will be given a voucher that you could redeem a cup of hot beverage later indise, but since this was a sponsored visit, we didn't have to pay anything PLUS each of us was given IDR 70k + IDR 200k shopping voucher at Summit to shop whatever we want, and I am referring to food here what else!
In case you're wondering, yes the owner of Floating Market Lembang also owns Summit Factory Outlet. Rich alert!
Let me introduce you to my awesome travelling partners here!
Here is Andy and Mullie from My Fun Food Diary.
Julia and Marius from Anak Jajan
Ellyna from Culinary Bonanza
and last but not least, Mia and Rian from Gastronomy Aficionado.
We're the lucky bastards!
Mullie was my favorite subject to shoot on the trip because she looked so chic with that Fuji camera she's holding throughout the trip.
In Floating Market Lembang, you're going to notice that everyone sells and cook their food on the boat and you're going to pay everything here with coins, a little like the food-court concept.
Crispy mushroom! Everyone's favorite, especially during the cool weather.
This one everyone purchased! Deep fried crunchy potato swirl! You could choose whatever flavor you want.
OBSESSION! I don't know why but I have this thing about cactus! They're not classic pretty but they're very unique and beautiful. Trust me, a rustic wooden table with cactus and coffee (with latte art) could be just 'the photo'.
The hot drinks I talked about earlier with coins all around!
So how do food-bloggers spend their money? Such a rhetorical question!
We gathered all the coins and spend on so many food and guess what? We still had a few hundred thousands worth of coins, the food here wasn't expensive, ranges from IDR 15k-40k maximum.
Mushroom Satay. This one was lovely but it wasn't hot enough. Mullie bought this while we were waiting for the rest of the orders to be delivered... and they were...
TADAAA!!!
Greedy people's food!
It was probably just one hour away from the Chef's Table lunch but we're still hungry so we ordered some snacks food to share, trust me, we finished every single freaking thing.
The Tempe Mendoan was my favorite (and has been), in case you're wondering Mendoan is a kind of food but also used to describe the soft to medium level of frying. The soya beancurd or soya beancake were dipped in the flour dough and fried until soft without being crunchy.
The right one was Mie Kocok, Bandung's traditional dish. That one was just ok.
Another Tahu Mendoan dish.
Potato Swirl plus Sekoteng (red bowl), Sekoteng is a soup (normally for desserts) with ginger soup, breads, pearls, nuts and milk, the perfect companion to the cool weather.
Taking pictures of the food is essential! Instagramming even more.
Since the schedule's quite packed, we only got to spend around one and a half hour here before going back to the hotel for dinner with the chefs at Purnawarman, but that's honestly more than enough to stuff our bottomless tummies on the road, but before that we went to the back area of Floating Market Lembang to take some decent pictures, during the dawn the whole area seemed so quiet, photographic wise, I love the tone of the evening :).
It was just so... serene with the awesome view of the lake and the mountains.
SWANS!!! Been a long time since the last time I saw real swans.
The kind driver patiently waited for us. I honestly feel bad because the next day when we went back to Jakarta, he drove us to Jakarta and he needed to get back to Bandung right on that moment because he's based there, very dedicated and hardworking, plus sometimes you just could feel someone else's sincere kindness. May good things happening to this man.
Back to the hotel and straight to dinner at Purnawarman. Telling you guys a little about the High Five Asian Culinary Summit Event, it's actually a food festival created by Hilton Hotel Bandung to deliver delicious feasts from the best of the worlds, and I am talking about Indonesian food (of course), Thai, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indian. Hilton Hotel Bandung brought Chef Berm from Hilton Pattaya, Chef Jin Suzuki from Hilton Nagoya, Chef Daniel from Hilton Seoul, Chef Xie from Hilton Shanghai and Chef Somnath from Hilton Chennai. Overall, the food that I had in Purnawarman was such a bliss, literally a blissful blessing! The chicken butter from the Indian station was just perfect in every way, the Tom Yum was also the BOMB, probably the best Tom Yum I've had so far for hotel buffets, the peking duck was also pleasure in the mouth PLUS the poach octopus with Bulgogi.
PHOTO TOUR!
Had a great dinner and the chefs were really funny, they all have their own translator except for Chef Somnath because he spoke fluent english. Pleasure meeting and dining with them!
DAY TWO!Entering the day two... what's better to kick off your day than...
HOTEL BREAKFAST!I am not a big breakfast person but when it comes to hotel breakfasts, I am in! Not everyday Sunday that you could wake up to scrumptious buffet breakfast and when I do, I usually eat big (uhm...exactly when do I NOT eat big?).
The Lontong sayur was really good!
Won't ever skip this one! Breakfast should be egg-celent.
Purnawarman Restaurant starts opening from 6.30 AM daily until 10 PM (Sunday - Thursday) and 12 AM (Weekends)
Right after breakfast, we attended the Asian Chef Festival live cooking show. It was hosted by Chef Suzuki. I honestly didn't attend the cooking show for a long period because in 30 minutes we're going to the FO which was more interesting, plus I sat at the very back I couldn't see a thing!
I didn't shop that much on the FO, I actually found some decent clothes but everytime I found ones that I like, they don't have the size, either too small or too large, first world's problems WTF, but I think if you're a shopaholic, those Bandung Factory Outlets you should visit, large range of products, you just need to dig and find the best price! Right after visiting Summit, we went to have a quick coffee at
Two Cents, just click on the link and read the whole story, especially that one infamous crazy 'mamooth' incident.
And oh, I haven't introduced you to Julie, she is the Marketing Communication Manager of Hilton Hotel Bandung, the kind person who organized every single thing for us. Can't thank you enough, Julie! Initially there's also Aldo Kepank (yes that's his name) but I couldn't find a personal photo of him, he escorted us through out the trip, you're remembered!
Our last activity before heading back to Jakarta was having lunch at Fresco Restaurant. The restaurant was perfectly placed just beside the rooftop swimming pool which by the way presented breathtaking view! Too bad I didn't swim during my visit here. Fresco restaurant applied the casual fine-dining concept, they served western courses (mostly Italian).
Complimentary bread, soft texture and very fragrant!
Left: Thai Iced Tea with pearls, Right: Strawberry Twist (I didn't try). The Thai Iced Tea was my pick for the day simply because I wonder how a restaurant as qualified as Fresco translated their own version of Thai Iced Tea. It was surprisingly pretty good, wasn't too sweet, balanced amount of milk given and the pearls had this chewy texture.
Some of the glorious food we ordered, trust me, eating with my fellow food bloggers friends simply means ordering everything and sharing everything, PLUS more food means more photos <3.
Grilled Sirloin of Wagyu with Spring Vegetables, Dauphinoise Potato and Red Wine DemiglaceThe beef was on a decent tenderness (only overall just a little dry) and the Dauphinoise Potato was the bomb along with the Red Wine Demiglace.
Pepperoni PizzaThis one was pretty good and cheesy, not a big fan of cheese but Mozarella is an exception.
Risotto Arborio with Organic Mushroom, Vegetable tempura, Asparagus, Pesto Custard and Mascarpone cream.
From all those feasts we had for lunch, I must say that this was THE BOMB! The Risotto turned out to be very good even though I found this a little cheesy for my taste bud, but the texture, the thickness of the cream, the seasoning, all were on the appropriate measurement. LOVE!
Squid Ink FettucinnePan Seared Sea Bass with Baby Bok ChoyThis was another pleasant dish, the seabass was cooked to perfection with crunchy skin and silky meat. The seasoning was light but very delicate.
King Prawn LingueneThe king prawns were pretty fresh and the sauce dressing of the pasta was pretty tasty, if you thought this was spicy it was NOT, overall was pretty decent but not hysterically good.
Cheese Cake FrittersTiramisu MadnessPresentation wise, freaking beautiful, taste wise also pretty good with just the right amount of sweetness.
Warm Chocolate FondantNeed I say much? Pretty much like the one I had on the Chef's Table only I loved the previous one more.
Fresco Restaurants ONLY open for dinner, it starts operating from 5 PM - 10 PM (Sunday - Thursday) and until 12 AM (weekends).
Breathtaking pool view!
Fiuhh... I put extra effort sorting the photos, editing and typing this long! Probably the longest post I've done during my blogging life, but that's okay because I am happy and creating this post actually brings out all the fun and madness of the trip. I kinda miss it ;').
I haven't been to so many Bandung hotels because most of the times, I went with my family and we ALWAYS rent villas but since I visited Hilton Hotel Bandung, my expectation and standards are quite high right now, totally the case when you start with the best ;). It's just the perfect spot for family weekend getaway, the room was spacious (as you can see above) with fluffy comfy bed, I honestly had a short but great bed time ("thanks" to the Thesis for shortened my sleeping time back then). PLUS their hospitality was just beyond amazing, I truly appreciated it.
THANK YOU HILTON HOTEL BANDUNG FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE WEEKEND TRIP! Special thanks to Julie Sugianto and Aldo Kepank for escorting us through out the trip. It was a bliss!
BLISS BLISS BLISS!
AND FOR THOSE WHO CELEBRATED. A late Happy Easter greeting from EATANDTREATS!
Have a blessed one! God bless you :).
Hilton Hotel Bandung
Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto No. 41-43
Bandung, West Java 40171, Indonesia
022 - 8606 6888
Check in: 2 PM, Check out: 12 PM
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