The Mango Tree Bistro at Epiwalk, Kuningan

Sometimes you can pass by a restaurant many times and never feel the desire to go inside. I live just across the road from Epiwalk Mall and although it is a small and relatively quiet shopping mall, it is home to quite a number of restaurants. The Mango Tree Bistro is one of those. I've passed by it a whole bunch of times, but only decided to cross the threshold a few days ago. It serves Thai cuisine and offers a good range of dishes. Prices are reasonable per dish ranging between 45k - 70k for main courses. Naturally we ordered a few and decided to share. First up were the Tom yum chicken wings. These were absolutely delicious. They were crispy and full of flavour. I could have eaten a whole plateful myself. Then came the Beef Red Curry. It was rich and creamy and the beef was tender. The Morning Glory was our choice of vegetables and this dish was spicy and the vegetables still had a bite to them. Finally there was the garlic prawns. The prawns were nicely cooked and the flavour was delicious. The meal was incredibly satisfying flavour-wise and it was great to have a meal that really tantalised the taste buds. My only gripe would be the portion sizes which I felt were rather small, especially the prawn dish. 

For my drink, I had a Thai ice tea, which was that lovely orange milky colour and tasted great.

The decor of the restaurant also met with my approval. I do like a restaurant that has some interesting things to look at as it all adds to the dining experience. Here, there were some brightly coloured lanterns, shelves of wine bottles and wall features to take in.

I will definitely pop back across the road to the Mango Tree Bistro as there are a few more dishes I wouldn't mind trying and I'm a sucker for a good Thai feast.

Lanterns 

Bottles and bottles...

Wall feature

Tom Yum chicken wings

Beef Red curry

Morning Glory

Garlic Prawns

Thai ice tea

Ikuze at Epiwalk

So I live near Epiwalk shopping mall in Epicentrum and I have passed this restaurant so many times that I figured it was about time I went in and gave it a try. I really am far too addicted to eating at Sushi Tei and it's about time I expanded my Japanese horizons. Ikuze, is an inviting restaurant with plenty of places to sit and even a smoking section upstairs.

There was a good variety of choice on the menu and prices were reasonable.

Upstairs has some nice booths to sit in that overlook the dining area below. I wasn't however all that taken with the 80s disco music blaring out from a hidden speaker. It seemed out of place in the zen surroundings and I really would have appreciated something a little more ambient.

The first dish to arrive was the crazy crab shake roll. This was a crab sushi sprinkled with flossed crab meat. It was very tasty. It was possible to order in two sizes - small with four pieces and large with 8 pieces.

Then came the dragon roll. For this I ordered the small size as I felt the large was expensive at over Rp. 120,000. This was really good, very differently put together in comparison with the dragon roll at Sushi Tei but pleasantly surprising. However, four pieces just wasn't enough.

Then, agedashi tofu. I was a little disappointed with this as the skin was extremely elastic and chewy. I do prefer for the skin to also be a little thinner.

Finally, there was vegetable tempura. This was light, crispy and delicious with a good selection of vegetables. I particularly liked the inclusion of avocado.

The great thing about Japanese food is that I always feel extremely healthy after eating it and also very nicely full. I will definitely pop across the road to this restaurant again when the urge for some Japanese food grabs me.