CAFFE MILANO GRAND INDONESIA - JAKARTA

First of all, the first few paragraphs is my thought, not exactly about this particular restaurant.

I’ve always loved eating, I think you guys know about it.

I love exploring new places, I think you guys clearly know about it, and how kiasu I can be whenever there are new places opening, but lately I’ve been thinking and wondering if I am really enjoying the scene. I know I am happy wandering around Jakarta and eat, but lately I don’t know if me, personally really entertained with all those glamorous new restaurants opening and what they have to offer, because frankly speaking, I am quite hard to be impressed but when I do, I will rave so much about it.

It’s not often that some of the new restaurants opening turned out to be just the typical good looking restaurants with disappointing food and service. There are so many things that could be wrong but throughout this blog, I am telling you WHAT I FELT AND EXPERIENCED on the day of my visit, things could go better and worse in the future and I am sorry-not-sorry if in the future I didn’t manage to go back and updated, and no I am not judging, I am sharing, so either you go with it or leave whatever I wrote here out of your brain and trust some other sources.

Anyway, don’t take it emotionally, I am actually writing it feeling very neautral while wearing the lumpiest cloth I have in my drawer while sipping on my Nestea Iced Thai Tea I bought in Thailand. LOL.

Okay, back to the main focus, I’ll be talking about this new establishment by the UNION group. I don’t know if they’re expanding a little too fast because after UNION DELI and BENEDICT, even before the hype got the chance to slow down (well hopefully never), here comes CAFFE MILANO.

Caffe Milano is located (again) in Central Department Store, I don’t know if the department store itself actually sells well or the crowd came just for the restaurants, but I got a good feeling there must be profit sharing tsk tsk! Okay, I must be completely honest here and this is my thought. The first time that I noticed even before the ambiance was this yellow light surrounding the area! As someone who loves taking picture and enjoying restaurants’ ambiance, the yellow canopy wasn’t my favorite thing! It’s horrible for photo taking and when the sun’s on its lightest it could illuminate this neon-yellow color that’s sort of displeasing to the eye, and on my visit, the weather wasn’t the nicest, it started off raining very hard and in 15 minutes suddenly went moist and hot and that’s when the sunlight was shining brutally bright. Trust me, most of the photos here have gone thru major editing to leave out the yellow.

The interior design somehow reminded me of UNION Plaza Senayan, only this one happened to be a little more vintage and moody, but still very chic, stylish and classy! And since UNION PS happened to be one of my most favorite restaurant’s interior, I am loving it. They also have a bar area where you can sit more casually while having your choice of drinks!

Iced Cappuccino

IDR 30k

Loving how they put the balsamic vinegar and olive oil on every table. Perfect dip for the complimentary bread (see below).

Complimentary Bread
Super love the complimentary bread!!! It’s not often that I am impressed by simple complimentary bread, but this one, with the crispy surface, swirly-fluffy inside and how they’re seasoned, left good impression for me. In a way, the bread tasted a little like pizza with chili flakes.

I guess the name of the restaurant gave you the idea of what they’re (mostly) serving here, yup, it’s Italian cuisine with pasta and pizza as their highlights. The choices for both seemed quite inviting but I managed to try out some of their best sellers, due to the limited “storage”, I didn’t order any special mains, so I guess I’ll keep that for upcoming visits. Oh, the executive chef of Caffe Milano is Chef Luca Pezzera who used to be the head chef in Scusa at InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza Hotel and over the last 20 years, his experience included some he earned in Italy, Switzerland, Scotland, Istanbul, Dubai and of course, our beloved city, Jakarta ;).

Veal Ragout Linguine with Sun Dried Tomato

IDR 125k

I have never been really a fan of tomato based pasta, especially when it’s plain and watery. The sauce’s created from tomato and minced veal and I was glad that they made it thick and sort of creamy (ragout type)!!! The linguine was perfectly al-dente and this dish was seasoned beautifully, just savory, meaty and interesting flavor and very fresh! MUST TRY.

Assorted Mushroom Pizza with Truffle Oil

IDR 135k
Crispy dough with generous Mozarella cheese, mushroom topping! So damn happy that the truffle oil dressing was generous as well it’s almost drenched! Tip for better eats: apply two rounds of olive oil dressing on top!

Homemade Angel Hair Pasta with Black Truffle and Light Butter Sauce

IDR 175k
Was quite surprised when Chef Luca came to my table and gave this as a complimentary (thanks Chef!). The angel hair was so so good! The texture of the pasta was amazing and my amazing means not exactly thin, fluffy and chewy, konyaku like but not exactly konyaku, okay the explanation gets confusing. The light butter sauce was also beautiful, indeed very light but creamy without overpowering my palate which usually very contrast to the flavor of milk, butter and cream. Pricing wise, since they're using an expensive ingredient like Black Truffle, it's a little hefty.

I don't know if you can communicate people to understand how rare and exclusive black truffle is, but I honestly think, besides the target market, not a lot of people seemed to care.

Tiramisu Tradizionale

IDR 80k
Hands down, the Tiramisu was such a perfect sweet ending to my lunch! Short to say, one of the best Tiramisu in town (true Italian did know how to make the perfect ones, didn’t they?). The Mascarpone cream was creamy and the flavor was perfect to me because it’s not that milky and buttery! The cake was very moist and kind of wet, but it’s good because you kinda get that beautiful balance from the creamy part and the wetter part. DAYUM!

As expected, the hype of Caffe Milano was immense! When I came for lunch, the tables were almost fully booked, couldn’t imagine how it’s on the weekends. Based on my visit, the food here was quite tasty & service was nice. Pricing wise, not the cheapest, but what I ordered seemed worth it tho. Just like what I mentioned, there’s that classy feeling to this restaurant, so you might want to dress up a bit as I think shorts and sandals are not allowed here.

Best of luck and will be back for the mains!

Caffe Milano
Central Dept. Store Ground Floor, Grand Indonesia Shopping Town
Jalan M.H. Thamrin No. 1
Jakarta Pusat 10350
021 - 2358 0638
Opening Hours: 10 AM - 2 PM
Pricing: IDR 500k for two
Food starts from IDR 85k - IDR 300k
Drinks (cocktails) from IDR 100k - IDR 200k
Dresscode: sporty casual
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Map for Grand Indonesia Shopping Town

ABURA SOBA YAMATOTEN JAKARTA

Three weeks away from Jakarta and the F&B scene is going crazy rapid! My radar noticed six new restaurants opening that I haven't visited. You know I've mentioned so many times how I love visiting new places, but it's an exception when it comes to travelling, OMG I obviously prefer travelling and breathe that different air, I don't know why but I feel pretty stressed with all the works in town, I really need to change how I see about the city or else I'll be very bored and lost interest about it, it feels like this city is my favorite "eating" and "working" site, and not more than that, but hey, positively thinking, the "eating" part is not bad :""").

When I was away, I saw people posting about this recently opened soba house (as this post is written, it exactly opened one week before) in Pantai Indah Kapuk called Abura Soba Yamatoten. My friends have been raving quite intensely about it and quickly enough, this lands in my "must visit" list by the time I'm back in Jakarta and yes I did it just yesterday!!! Abura Soba Yamatoten is located align the Cake-A-Boo and Mainichi area and the place was actually way smaller than I had in mind (judging from the pics I saw on Instagram), but I heard the second floor construction's on progress.

Currently, probably around or less than 10 tables being occupied with 2-4 seating capacity, the interior was very simply designed and nothing special about the design, it's just the typical proper dining restaurant, somehow since it's quite packed and crowded right now, you kinda have the feeling that you should leave early knowing people are waiting. BTW I was super duper lucky because I arrived at 2:50 and they're closing at 3PM before the next service (I literally have no clue about it) and I was the last customer! YEAY LUCKY MUCH!

Okay, let's just talk about the food. The menu's very limited: 4 types of soupless sobas, 1 rice dish and some side dishes selections. It was an "huff" moment when they're running out of side dishes because I really want to try out their pork, corns and chicken karaage :(. BTW, if you initially think soba is this thin soft noodles usually in greyish or green colour, then you're right, but what some of you don't know is that soba also comes in this jelly-ish, chewy form, and by the way, the texture of the soba here was very lovely! Firm, chewy and just perfectly cooked.

Original Abura Soba

IDR 59k

This is their signature dish as well as current best seller! This original version came with oil and shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) seasoning, and for the toppings: spring onion, bamboo shoot, dried seaweed, sesame seed and roasted pork! As I told you, the consistency of the soba was good and the seasoning was top notch! THE VALUABLE TIPS THAT YOU SHOULD NOTICE is to season the portion with two rounds of Japanese vinegar and chili oil for that lovely foodgasm moment. You get that burst of flavor from the seasoning and I honestly even love it more the fact that I didn't perfectly mix the seasoning, the parts where there are less and more seasoning just personally added the excitement.

PS: it's not recommended to take too long for the photos as the soba quickly drying and it will become sort of sticky.

Karami Ontama Abura Soba

IDR 68k

The spicy version of the original soba and additional soft boiled egg (Onsen Tamago), gotta root for this one and this was my personal fav! The egg gave the creamier texture to the portion and sort of contributing to the neutral thicker milder flavor. DAYUM!

Jya Jya Abura Soba

IDR 68k

For some reasons this reminds me of Korean Jajangmyun, especially since they're using red bean paste sauce too (with choices of minced chicken or pork depending on your preference), but of course this one's Abura Soba Yamatomen's home-cooked. The sauce was clearly the bomb that was such a big role to this dish! I love that sweet-savory-slightly tangy flavor and that creamy texture.

Short to say, I am happy that FINALLY, another decent place to have your meals in Pantai Indah Kapuk! Seriously tired of recommending ramens and ramens all over again like there's not that much out of the world good food in PIK. Was a pleasant lunch and I found myself having no complaints for the food, but the toilet, they should really take care of that because I found that quite displeasing to the eye!!! Used tissue freaking everywhere #gross.

Anyway, congrats on the opening and thank you for being delicious!!!

Abura Soba Yamatoten
Ruko Garden House A/12
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta Utara 14470
Opening Hours:
Weekdays: 11 AM - 3 PM, 5:30 PM - 10 PM
Weekends: 11 AM - 10 PM
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Map for Hakata Ikkousha (located align)

NAMNAM NOODLE BAR JAKARTA

If you've been to Singapore and happened to see quite a long queue at this particular restaurant but haven't got the chance to try it, well, rest assure as NamNam Noodle Bar, the Vietnamese restaurant brand made famous in Singapore is now in Jakarta. It's such a smart move to place itself at the growing and posh PIK area and located strategically next to SumoBoo! I attended their grand opening last week and here I am covering it for you my dearest readers.

First of all, I must say that I was quite fond of the interior design, I think it's simply designed, proper and I am loving that little industrial and undone feel to it, not to mention, that undone-ness resulting this ethnic touch flashing this little Vietnamese ambiance to the venue. There's an open kitchen where you can notice and see the production process with your very own eyes, a little Bahn Mi bar and separated seating areas for those who smoke. For me, the best spot will always be the one next to the window for me to take some photos!  

The idea to make this Vietnamese restaurant came from the chef himself, Nam Quoc Nguyen, and not only that, he's also the one coming up with the idea of using NO MSG (Monosodium Glautamat) to the food here for health matters, as we know, MSG is used in the kitchen and cooking process to enhance the flavor of food, but Chef Nam substituted that with the imported sauce brought back from Vietnam and the customers are expected to customize the taste by their own preference.

There were some familiar faces and fellow food bloggers on the event and together we all share what they provided us that evening. The food here is of course dominated with the good old traditional local Vietnamese cuisine (you're going to find a lot of Pho, Bahn-Mi and rolls here), repackaged and presentated with NamNam style with a little touch of expectation that it will "Nom Nom" the hell out of the customers! LOL. PS: opinions remain my own!

Vietnamese Iced Coffee

IDR 20k

The flavor of the Vietnamese coffee was actually quite bold and strong despite its pale look, well that's mostly the characteristic of Vietnamese coffee. I love how they served it in the vintage can mug.

Sugarcane Drink

IDR 20k

This I really like! The sugarcane juice was fresh and naturally sweet, but the amount of sweetness was on a good balance! Just matched my liking and palate.

Crispy Fried Prawn & Chicken Rolls

IDR 37k

This was my favorite appetizer of the evening! Not only that I love fried stuff (who doesn't?), I love how they managed to make the coating to be very crispy and the filling to be juicy and moist! The flavor was majorly prawn flavor in a good way.

Salad of White Cabbage, Fish Cake, Grilled Chicken, Fresh Herbs and Peanuts
IDR 38k
This is where the play of texture and flavor really exists! The flavor's slightly tangy but all balanced nicely from the savory flavor of the fish cake and grilled chicken, and the neutral flavor of the white cabbage. The peanuts and the crunchy white cabbage together gave the play of texture.

Crispy Fried Banana with Sesame Seeds & Coconut Milk Sauce
IDR 28k
You can consider this an appetizer or dessert but for me just equally decent! LURVEEE the bananas they picked as I love the gooey and soft banana, it's just perfect when you deep fried it! The coconut milk sauce was also good with mild flavor and balanced sweetness!

Coconut Shrimp Paste Sugarcane Skewer
IDR 35k
I've always loved the idea of replacing the bamboo stick with skewer and when it's executed right, it could be really right. The best thing about this is when you can actually bite and suck the sugarcane juice right at every bite or when you're done with the meat!

Fresh Southern Vietnamese Shrimp Rolls

IDR 28k

Just because I told you I love fried stuff, that didn't mean that I am passing this just like that! The rolls are filled with vegetable filling, vermicelli and topped with fresh prawn before then wrapped in rice paper rolls! The portion was paired with peanut sauce which added the deliciousness even more, I strongly recommend using the sauce along to enchance the flavor and give that uniqueness.

Sauteed Lemongrass Beef, Cream Cheese, Beef Floss

IDR 59k

Bahn Mi is a traditional Vietnamese dish consisting of bread (baguette) and toppings, the topping could be quite various starting from the choice of meats (normally beef, chicken and pork), vegetables, pickles and other desired condiments. Some restaurants also have their own take on how they want to present their Bahn Mis, but here in NamNam, the bread was actually on this medium state in between crunchy and fluffy (which then becomes the good point from me), the filling was quite generous and I am liking this sauteed lemongrass beef filling with mild flavored cheese, tangy pickles and additional tasty beef floss.

First of all, before getting to the Pho, let me explain a lil bit about what Pho is (and trust me I didn't Google). It's a traditional Vietnamese soup dish consisting of rice noodles, savory meat broth with various fillings, and when I say various fillings I mean it depends on certain restaurants' creativity, but the most simple one would be chicken, beef with basil leaves and chili.

I tried their Pho Wagyu Beef Slices (IDR 130k), when it got served to the table, the aromatic scent from the ingredients and herb rocketed my appetite, especially since I am a soup person. The broth was this clear and mild soup extracted from the beef bone cooked for hours. The fact that they didn't use any MSG or flavor enhancer, the broth was quite tasty. The topping was beef meatballs, beef slices, tendon, beef shank, but it's the consistency of the meat that won me over: tender and juicy. It was a simple heartwarming dish.

Pho Beef Combination

IDR 75k

This was for me a decent valuable deal with more condiments like beef shank, beef meatballs, beef slices, tendon and honeycomb tripe. The meat might not be as prime as the Wagyu but they cooked it nicely leaving the texture to still be tender, and the beef meatballs were bouncy and chewy!

Soft Shell Crab Noodle Soup
IDR 110k
The noodle soup IS NOT technically a pho type, the trend of this type of dish started to become more popular in the central and southern of Vietnam. This Soft Shell crab had this meaty savory broth with soft and chewy soft shell crab, still with rice noodles and condiments like crab cake, tofu, tomato, bean sprout, and chopped herbs.

Have heard mixed reviews about NamNam Noodle Bar, but from what I experienced, I think they have pretty good tasty menus with quite big range of selections (even from the Pho itself), I indeed expected the flavor of the soup to be a little bolder and you just, just that little extra kick, but other than that, it was pretty good.

Anyway, WELCOME TO JAKARTA NamNam and best of LUCK!!!


NamNam Noodle Bar
Rukan Crown Golf Blok D No. 21-23
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta Utara 14470
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Map for SumoBoo (located next to)