The Manhattan Fish Market at Lotte Avenue

I like fish. I come from a small fishing village in North County Dublin so I definitely like my fish. I like my fish fresh. Yes in Howth, you can stroll up to the fish market where freshly caught fish is lying on ice and take your pick of the days catch. A lot of Dubliners head out to Howth on the weekends to pick up their fish. So, my interest was piqued when I wandered past The Manhattan Fish Market in Lotte avenue the other day. Yes yes I know...there's no fishing pier across the road where you can walk along beside the fishing boats that have caught your purchases. The closest sea is in North Jakarta, in Ancol, and considering most people won't stick their big toe in the water there I can't imagine anyone catching fish in it. So where does the fish come from that we eat in Jakarta? Well, I thought, sometimes you just don't want to know.

So anyway, here I am, at The Manhattan Fish Market, and I put all thoughts of infested rubbish filled waters out of my mind and focus on the menu. The menu reminds me of Johnny Rockets menu. You know, each choice on the menu beautifully photographed to look succulent, bright and extremely appetising. Alarm bells start ringing...but I try to not pay attention to them. I settle on a 'Small Grill' while Hubby goes for the 'Small Flame'. Prices are not cheap at 129k per dish so I'm hoping for good things. The 'Small Flame' came first and this was the highlight of the meal as they actually torched the prawns at the table. I say torched because, well, there isn't any other way to describe it. Not barbecued, not roasted, just plain ol' torched with a blow torch. Interesting! The 'Small Grill' came shortly after. No torching.

Verdict? Not great. The squid and prawns were a bit rubbery for me and the fish fillet, well it just didn't taste fresh. The actual quantity of seafood compared to the carbs was pretty poor. Underneath my scant seafood was a mountain of rice and a small helping of French fries. Hubby found his fish and prawns pretty rubbery too and the weird, sweet mayonnaise that got torched on top of the prawns did nothing to enhance the flavour. I finished up feeling rather unsatisfied both with the food and the bill. I won't be in a rush to come back here, between the decidedly fishy fish and the very dark and gloomy interior I felt like I'd had my lunch in a fish cellar rather than a fish market!

Restaurant interior

Small Flame

Live 'torching'

Small grill

Go nutty...

...no not from living in Jakarta! Mind you we all must be a little nutty to be doing that. What I mean by 'go nutty' is, make your own nut milk, of course. Yes, the truth is that as I read more and more about processed and packaged food I find myself looking for alternatives to work with in my diet. Dairy is pretty much out for me these days, as is soy. So what does one put on their cereal then? Ahhhh, enter nut milk. Very simply created at home with minimal tools and yet what you have at the end is a delicious, creamy, preservative free drink that also happens to be good for you. Which brings me to this post, dealing with locating tools. Yes, all you lucky people who live somewhere that has amazing supermarkets that stock everything that you could ever need...don't come to Jakarta! If you do, be prepared to search tirelessly for things that in a previous life you took for granted. In my mission to make my own nut milk, I needed to find a nut milk bag. It's great for the final part of the process where you squeeze all that great goodness out of the nuts.

I searched online and after a few attempts was directed to Rawsome Creations. It's a lovely website from the US selling beautifully made nut milk bags crafted in Bali. Ah-ha, I thought. Surely if the bags are made in Bali, which is just a mere hop, skip and jump from Jakarta, they might be able to send them here directly rather than ordering via the US. I contacted the owner of the site, Brenda Hinton and asked her. She was extremely helpful and gave me the contact details and names of people and places that might be able to sell me one of the nut milk bag here in Indonesia. I contacted Alchemy Cafe in Ubud and after a couple of emails and a bank transfer, lo and behold, my nut milk bag arrived today. I'm very excited. I'm so looking forward to making hazelnut and almond milk, free from the many nasty things that lots of companies sneak in there.
Many thanks to Rawsome Creations for their great bag and I really admire the work they are doing with the community in Bali. I hope anyone else considering that they simply must have a nut milk bag in their possession will pop over to their website and order from them as a portion of the proceeds go to helping local community projects in Bali.

Nice little find...

Found a lovely little apple crumble available at Ketjil Kitchen in Jalan Gandaria 1. It was warm, comforting and altogether satisfying. The nice scoop of ice cream on top just added to the enjoyment. It was nicely presented in a dish and on a wooden board. Give it a try!

Blacklisted Cafe at Lotte Avenue is not at the top of my list!

Stopped in recently to Blacklisted Cafe in Lotte Avenue. It looks like one of those great, grungy, underground cafés that you want to be seen in. You know, black painted brick walls, funky furniture, quirky tin cans holding the cutlery, that sort of thing. After perusing the menu, I settled on a cappuccino and wanted a deconstructed tiramisu. However, when the waitress came to take the order, she said that it was unavailable. There were a total of five desserts on the menu and yet only ONE was available. Sorry, not good enough. It was only around 2.00pm and there were only two other tables occupied when we came in. Thus I was presuming that there had not been a crazy lunch rush and everyone had ordered dessert. So, to tell me that out of five possible desserts I could only have one, which was ice cream, well I was instantly disappointed. I just went with the coffee. It arrived shortly after in a very cool glass, one of those two layer ones where the hot coffee is in the inside layer and you can still pick up the cool outer layer because they are not touching. Did I say 'hot' coffee? Sorry, I meant luke warm coffee. Yes, that's what it was. Luke warm. I like my coffee steaming hot to the point that I almost burn my mouth when I drink it. It's a hot drink. It's meant to be drunk hot. So perhaps the sign they chalked on the board needs updating to 'the most wasted of all days is one without dessert and hot coffee'!

Sop buntut at Dapur Ibu, Ciputra World

So recently I've been hanging out at Ciputra World Shopping Mall because I happen to have decided that 5 star cinema is the only way to go and the one at Ciputra also happens to be the cheapest. So yesterday on the way to watch a movie I wanted to have some lunch first. On the same floor as the cinema you will find Food Avenue, which is basically a food court featuring lots of choices of local food and a general large sitting area. After a quick walk around I settled on Dapur Ibu because they speciality was sop buntut or oxtail soup. Sop buntut is an Indonesian dish that contains beef and vegetables in a clear broth. It is served with rice and crackers and of course a good helping of chilli and sweet soy sauce. The other speciality at this stall is es sirkel which is a combination of coconut water and soursop juice. Once the order had been put in, I took a seat and waited to be impressed. The drink came first and at Rp. 30,000 was a good buy. Soursop can taste quite sour (as the name would suggest) and leave a strange aftertaste in your mouth. However, the combination with the coconut water made it refreshingly good with a smooth sweet taste. There were nice slices of fresh coconut in there too.

Then came the soup. It was steaming hot in the pot. We had chosen the 'lekker' option of the soup which promised to have very soft meat. The meat was definitely soft however I felt that there was not enough. At a cost of Rp. 86,000 for the soup I was expecting nice large juicy succulent pieces of meat. What I received were big bones with bra of meat around the outside. The broth was good, full of flavour (or MSG, maybe?) I'm always doubtful when something tastes THAT good in Indonesia. Generally it means that unhealthy spoonfuls of MSG or aji-no-moto or devil's powder (as I call it) have been added to enhance the food. Sop buntut is a favourite of mine and I have tried it in many places across Indonesia. Although this might not be my favourite, it was certainly satisfying and fulfilling. 

Thank GOODness for Helene's Organics

As I continue on my health kick (to compensate some what for the outside environment I am existing in here) I was delighted to discover Helene's Organics. If you haven't checked out what this online health store has to offer Jakarta residents then you are missing out. She has pretty much most things I could ever want for a healthy lifestyle and continues to add new products all the time. I order by sending her what I want and she totals it all up and let's me know how much to transfer. Then a day or so later a lovely well-wrapped package arrives with my items all individually wrapped and well protected. Opening it is like Christmas every time as I unwrap each individual item and look forward to incorporating it into this new healthy lifestyle of mine. My latest order includes superfoods maca powder and goji berries. I previously got some extra virgin coconut oil from her and have used it along with the coconut flour and cacao powder that was in my order to make some healthy brownies. Having services like this available in Jakarta makes me not miss being at home so much where there are health shops in every shopping centre. You can check out Helene's Organics on Facebook and Instagram to see the full range of products on offer and get ordering!

 

Helene's Organics Instagram

Helene's Organics Facebook

Not a real blast at Johnny Rockets at Ciputra World Mall

Oh dear, oh dear! How is it possible that something as fundamentally good as all American fare can be done so possibly bad? Well, welcome to Johnny Rockets, Jakarta, where the food is very definitely bad. Actually unwelcome, don't bother wasting your money on a trip here. You would probably be able to make a better burger for yourself at home. It's a shame really because from the outside this place looks likes your all American typical 1950's diner complete with black and white checkered floors and red vinyl booths. There's even a working jukebox and it is beautifully crafted and churns out great songs. The walls are also hung with 1950's replica vintage posters and the effort has definitely been made to create that diner ambiance. This is where the enjoyment stops, unfortunately, as the menu doesn't live up to the great decor. Prices are not cheap and the food items pictured on the menu look large, juicy and delicious. Oh, the trickery of photography. I ordered a Philly Cheese Steak and was expecting a delicious upsized sandwich bursting with flavour and made to satisfy. They had the option to change regular fries to sweet potato fries so I took the offer and was informed I would need to spend an additional Rp. 19,000 for the privilege! A mere matter of minutes later...hmmmm let's say maybe 4 - 5 minutes maximum my order was put down in front of me. C'mon, really? You've just made a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich in under 5 minutes? From scratch? I don't think so. Sadly what was placed before me in no way matched #1 the photo on the menu #2 my expectation of what a juicy Philly Steak sandwich should look like. The sandwich was small - the few slices of steak were stuffed into what I can only describe as a hot dog bun! The portion of fries was decent enough but they looked decidedly pale in colour for sweet potatoes. I decided to go for the first bite in the hope that at least the sandwich would be full of flavour. Wrong again! The sandwich tasted flat and flavourless. The steak slices were unseasoned and bland, the onions soggy and the cheese, well I'm guessing it was one of those kraft slices melted - no flavour, zilch, zero, nada. What a disappointment. The sweet fries, yeah ok, but also unseasoned. I make better ones myself in the oven flavoured with rosemary, olive oil and salt. My hubby ordered bacon cheese fries and chicken wings. Again, the misleading pictures led one to believe you would be greeted on your plate by large, succulent, juicy wings  and the reality was far from it. In fact you really needed a magnifying glass to find the skinny wings on the large plate! The bacon cheese fried came with the cheese still perfectly intact in all it's grated glory. Shouldn't it be all melted and gooey and cheesy? The chilli on the fries was probably the most flavourful item we had. I guess they remembered to add the seasoning to that. Once we finished, we (over) paid and cleared out. There was not a single part of me that wanted to stick around for dessert. The worst part in this whole ordeal was that as you were waiting for your food, there were huge tv screens playing videos from Johnny Rockets in the US. Well, what you see there are big, juicy burgers, huge sandwiches and mountains of fries being delivered to happy customers and celebrity after celebrity. The empty seats in Johnny Rockets, Jakarta sums up how people have reacted to this eatery coming to town. In short, I agree, don't bother...

The menu

Great themed decor was the highlight if the visit

Jivin' Jukebox

Philly Cheese steak sandwich...oh dear!

Bacon chilli cheese fries...what? You couldn't even melt the cheese?

Where are those chicken wings again? Oh right, yeah, I see them now...just about...

The 5 star movie experience at XXI Cinema, Ciputra World

Ok, so who needs to go to the cinema in Jakarta when you can get pirated dvd's for next to nothing? Everyone does! Especially when you can go to Jakarta's answer to a 5 star cinema experience at the Premiere Cinema. And what makes it so special? Well the seats are enormous cushions armchairs that recline back and have foot rests. There are about 40 seats in the cinema so you don't feel overcrowded. They bring you food and drinks to your seat. There are lovely snuggly blankets in the drawer to wrap yourself up in. It's perfect! Even better than watching at home, in my opinion. And what is a trip to this 5 star experience going to cost you? Well at Rp. 75,000 a seat you really can't complain. I mean sure you can get 10 dodgy dvd's for the same price but you certainly can't get the same comfort and service. After experiencing a movie here I think this is the way forward for all trips to the cinema. A thoroughly enjoyable and comfortable experience I would recommend to all...

Check out those armchairs!

Snuggly blanket!

Spankys Ribs & Martinis at Kemang

You might have passed Spankys Ribs and Martinis many a time as you drove down Jalan Kemang Raya and only noticed the large sign hanging out front. From the outside the restaurant itself is quite unassuming but once you go inside you are greeted by clean white walls hung with vintage photos and posters. We had a table downstairs by the window and were able to enjoy the great atmosphere inside while the Jakarta witching hours that are 5-7pm, went on chaotically just outside. The specialities here are as the name says ribs and Martinis and my mission for this visit was to sample the ribs. There are many other delights on the menu that sound worth sampling but when you have your mind set on ribs, ribs it has to be. As there were two of us, we ordered the full rack of ribs, which although was not cheap at 325,000, was worth every rupiah. The meat was so soft and cooked to that perfect point where it just falls off the bone. The marinade although a little sweet was rich and delicious and a perfect accompaniment to the salty pork. For the sides we ordered sweet potato fries and sweet corn with red pepper and feta. Both were perfect with the ribs. I especially liked being able to order the sweet potato fries as opposed to regular French fries. Instead of a martini though, I stuck with my old favourite, margarita. The first one was delicious, strong and bursting with that lovely lime flavour. The second (well it was Whack me Wednesday where it's buy one get one free!) tasted a little more diluted - more ice and less flavour. I thoroughly enjoyed eating here. The food was fantastic, staff were friendly and attentive and the ambiance was relaxed and laid back. Definitely worth a visit when you have that urge for ribs!

Street sign

Restaurant 

Window seat

Whack me Wednesdays where most drinks are buy one get one free

Full rack of pork ribs 

Sweet potato fries

Sweet corn with red pepper and feta