PRETORIA HOUSE OF RIBS AND STEAKS MERUYA - JAKARTA

The number of restaurants in Jakarta is undoubtedly (and no longer shocking): A LOT, and when I say A LOT I mean hundreds or even close to a single thousand, and if you've been following my blog, notice I've been all over the place trying new places and writing the reviews, and after all the money spent, countless calories, mixed impressions of meals and venues, I AM STILL HERE...by here meaning online, sharing my love and passion for food HAHAHA!

Okay last week I had lunch at this restaurant located in Meruya called Pretoria HORAS, but eits, that HORAS is not a Batak word but it actually stands for "House Of Ribs and Steaks". I've been wandering around the South so I guess it's a good idea to actually surf a good place to eat located in the West. The access to go here was very easy, you only need to take the highway and exit at Kebon Jeruk, or you can exit via Meruya and turn around, Pretoria is located just beside Mama Malaka and align with the Siloam Hospital.

Venue wise, it's unexpectedly quite spacious with outdoor and indoor seating, the design was very simple with wood material, furniture and earthy tone dominating the interior, but somehow that simplicity seemed align with their meal concept, which is ribs and steaks. I don't know why but to me it felt like the ambiance of the posher looking Texas restaurants where all the laid back people (or even cowboys) go to just like in the movies.

The main dining area's called the African room with leopard wallpaper on the wall, a few tables and a mini bar.

The smaller dining area's called the American room with bricks pattern on the wall.

I found it quite stunning that Pretoria's food concept was actually "African American" cuisine, in the same time it got me excited because it's like the first time ever for me to sample African food, so enough with the yakking let's surf the freaking F&B!

Iced Lychee Tea (left), Summer Lovin (healthy drink - right)

I chose the Iced Lychee Tea and Summer Lovin to kick things off. The Iced Lychee Tea was quite refreshing but again it's everywhere, but their Summer Lovin was something I want to highlight, it's basically a juice beverage with fruity flavor, less sugar and definitely healthy. Gotta order this one peeps!

Onion Loaf
IDR 55k
Usually when I go to steakhouses, I always check if they have Onion Loaf and if they do that means putting it in the order list! Onion loaf is actually a drain fried onion rings set like tower and solid. Pretoria's version of Onion Loaf was actually good! The crispiness and crunchiness of the deep fried onion rings were good and a little base seasoning wouldn't hurt. The portion's paired with their homemade BBQish sauce, slightly tangy, sweet and salty <3.

Spaghetti Aglio Olio with Smoked Beef
IDR 68k
The good old Aglio Olio served medium-spicy and with generous smoked beef slices and for me, theirs was actually very good in terms of flavor and the texture of the pasta. I would happily recommend this to you all. Aglio Olio might be very simple and you can find this in (almost) every restaurant, but most of the times, I didn't find them impressive enough, but this one kind of falls on my standard line.

Pork Chop with Creamy Mushroom and Cranberry Sauce

IDR 118k

You know that feeling when everything's so good you confused on where to start, but in the same you spoiled everything already. The pork chop was perfectly cooked with juicy, fragrant and tender meat, the creamy mushroom sauce was perfect (honestly one of my favorites) and to add a little more flavor play, they also include the Cranberry sauce on the portion, but honestly to me, the pork chop with the mushroom sauce also were THE BOMB! Appreciate the salad, it's nice to have a little balance.

Grilled Peri-Peri Chicken
IDR 68k
Chicken could be the most devastating protein because they could end up dry, or dryer when you cook it the wrong way, what I am trying to say here is to directly have your chicken courses because that's what I always do, take quick shots and hop in! The chicken was seasoned and cooked beautifully, the meat's very juicy and the skin was the most flavorful part (since most of the ingredient is there). I love that extra smokey flavor and moderate spiciness.

Baby Back Ribs (Full Slab) with BBQ sauce
IDR 298k
OMG this shit was THE BOMB and yes I speak the language to emphasize how good it is! One bite of this calorie master and it flies up on my list of the best ribs I've had. The meat was ultra soft and tender and the BBQ sauce glazed on the rib was generous and absorb in the meat! I mean just look at that picture and it successfully proceed to make me hungry again T_T. The ribs was accompanies by nicely cooked fries and decent coleslaw salad. Certainly MUST MUST order!

Pretoria Beef Ribs (with BBQ sauce)
IDR 138k
Having this was like having the Baby Back Ribs, only that this one's beef, but almost the exact tenderness of the meat, the perfectly seasoned and glazed ribs. Since I've had fries at certain dishes, I tried their mashed potato and it was also good. I like how it's not entirely soft and creamy and in fact still a little griddy but the seasoning and the flavor were lovely!

Botswana Beef Roaring
IDR 168k
One of my most favorites of my lunch was actually this one. Something about the seasoning of the beef that's super fantastic! I was beyond glad that they actually seasoned the meat with the pesto sauce with a little touch of garlic (and the garlic wasn't overpowering the palate as well). Pesto is like my favorite sauce and seasoning, almost anything with pesto easily took me away, but this one, you got the perfectly cooked and seasoned beef, good fries and veges! MUST ORDER.

Spiced Honey Lamb Cutlets
IDR 138k
I haven't been lambs number one fan because I got traumatized after series of dealing with stinky and disgusting lambs, but this one was such an exception. They managed to rinse off the awful lamb smell and cook them in a very beautiful way. The lamb meat was very tender and juicy and most importantly, it was the seasoning that spoke more deliciously. The honey and spices seemed to combine very well resulting this caramel sweet flavor and when you combine it with the natural-savory flavor of the good quality lamb, you get that amazing play of flavor, again, another recommended dish!

Surf and Turf
IDR 168k
The name "Surf and Turf" might not be the most common for some people and the was me, but having the experience "surfing" F&B scene I kinda get that. Wouldn't let you in on the history but Surf and Turf is actually a common naming to describe a dish where there is a grilled meat (normally beef) and grilled seafood (normally prawns, king prawns or lobsters). They're using the imported premium Rib Eye steak which reflected beautifully on the texture and the meat flavor (tried the undressed part), but surpisingly, those little prawns managed to steal the spotlight from the Rib Eye. The prawn was very tender and juicy and the seasoning was perfect resulting this salty-savory flavor friendly to the tounge. LOVE!

Feels like been raving so much about their food I am crazy hungry now!

Pretoria is a simple case of a hidden pearl unknown for some. I don't know why their existence is slightly underrated because after a visit (and hopefully will stay like this on visits to come), the food here is so good and on my visit, nothing disappointing, and they honestly deserve more love! I highly recommend you guys going here and sample their food, and probably prepare yourself to fall in love! Aside from the good food, I actually googled "African food" to see if my experience was align, and it kinda was with the grilled meat but I noticed that African food also had something to do more with spices, rice and for some reasons, almost Indian like, so I guess a little more variety to the menu would be better.

If I have to choose my favorites, they were the beef roaring, baby back ribs and the lamb! Make sure you order those three, or order everything I had here HAHA!

Posted a photo of the Baby Back Ribs on my Instagram and the kind owner actually contacted me for a possible collaboration, and drum roll please!

EATANDTREATS READERS ARE GETTING 20% OFF DISCOUNT SIMPLY BY MENTIONING THE CODE "EATANDTREATS" TO THE STAFF <3.

The promotion will start today until March 5th 2015 and activated the moment you see this announcement!

Not only having the good food, a little something waived off your bill must be an extra.

Thank you for reading! Life's too short for wasted calories!

Pretoria House of Ribs and Steaks
Jalan Taman Aries, Kembangan
Kebon Jeruk, Jakarta Barat 11620
021 - 5890 1560
Opening Hours: 11 AM - 11 PM
Pricing: $$, IDR 400-500 for two
Dresscode: casual
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Map for Pretoria HORAS

Holycow Steak House Senopati.

It's been forever that I wanted to go to Holycow Steak and try it for my own and fortunately, I finally made my way here. Went here for a quick dinner with my best friends. Why quick? and I mean literally, it's all because of the lines to get in here, I went here by weekend, fortunately when we arrived we were straight taken to our table because there was no queue, just around like 15 minutes later people started to come and queue and obviously we would feel so bad to stay and chit chat around, we feel sorry for people who also want to try the deliciousness of the steaks.

Holycow has some outlets spread around Jakarta (if you ever heard about "anything" just get over it and focus on THE FOOD) and the latest one in Kebon Jeruk (around Jalan Panjang Arteri Kelapa Dua). I went to the Senopati Steakhouse outlet by Chef Afit, many ways to actually say the name of this restaurant: "Steak Hotel by Holycow", "Holycow Steakhouse" but from whatever the variousity, Holycow is a brand wagon now.

The kitchen concept is an open kitchen but the kitchen is located outside the restaurant but you can still check the kitchen out for your own viewing experience. I've always been such fan of Wagyu Beef so I ordered the Wagyu Steak (200gr). Here you can also choose the sidedish, whether it's going to be vegetables or spinach, or between french fries and mashed potato and the choice of the sauces, we all love their signature white sauce and it indeed is super yum! So let's surf what we ordered :).

Luckily, during our visit, there's this promotion given to every costumer just by mentioning @steakholycow and you'll be given this Misu creme, it tastes more like a blueberry ice cream than tiramisu cream, just sweet and nice :), and lucky for us, this was the only last cup for the day.

My order of 400 Grs of Big Bites! It's crazy big and totally fulfil my empty stomach that night.

IDR 122.000 (before tax)

Another order of Rib Eye Wagyu with French Fries and vegetables + white sauce :). -
IDR 109.000 (before tax)
Share the two steaks with my friend, sharing is one (lol).

Rib Eye Wagyu with Mashed Potato and Vegetables + White Sauce
IDR 109.000 (before tax)

I love the tenderness of the meat, and they happen to get the orders right: medium-well, I really took care of my order because since it's what I wanted, it needs to be right (hahaha). I would recommend the spinach over vegetables, it just gives a different sense of steak eating for me, but definitely it's all your choice. The french fries and the mashed potato are equal, both delicious. For the beverages, I ordered their fresh Iced Blackcurrent (it's refillable).

Together we spend around IDR 497.000 (after tax), but it worths every peny! and it's a good price to have wagyu :).

I think Holycow Steakhouse is going to grow bigger and bigger, I'm just looking at how people are super excited about this steakhouse and their followers on Twitter is continuously growing, it's just exciting to see that the business's going very well. Keep up the good work.

Oh yeah, I've been looking around the holy internet and if you want to look out for the map to here, you can get it from their twitter @STEAKHOLYCOW. I was about to download it but Twitter won't allow you to take other's photos. For some occasions, it's just bad, but you can always follow and stay tuned for their amazing offers and promotions.

HOLYCOW STEAKHOUSE by CHEF AFIT

Jalan Bakti No. 15

Jakarta Selatan. 

TWITTER: @STEAKHOLYCOW

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