A slice of heavenly Shiraki Roll...

Another of my teacher gifts that I simply have to mention is the Shiraki Roll from Bonjour Bakery. If you haven't ever tasted a slice of this you really need to get yourself down there and buy a roll right now. Then try really hard not to shamelessly devour the lot in one sitting. It is so good. The sponge is soft and fluffy and the cream is light and sweet enough so that you feel with every mouthful as if you are getting a little closer to heaven. You won't regret a single bite!

Take me back to Yesterday Lounge at Antasari

I'm forever on the look out here for unique and interesting places to hang out. It's always good to have a range of places to go to suit a mood. I came across Yesterday Lounge when I was googling around on Google. I was instantly fascinated by the theme of the place and decided I must make an effort to go and have a drink there. I'm really glad I did. 

Yesterday Lounge in Antasari is a breath of fresh air (if you can imagine that in Jakarta!). It's vintage, old school feel makes you believe you really have stepped back into yesterdays gone by. The interior furnishings have been ingeniously crafted from old car parts from the seats (old car seats and oil cans) to the tables (oil drums and engines). There are vintage posters adorning the walls and even some old motorbikes to add to the vintage vibe. The cafe itself is set on a large property with trees and gardens, a car garage, old jeeps and then to really throw a spanner in the works, you bump into deer roaming around the property. I'm guessing the owner is a car collector because of all the old vehicles and the repairs being done in the on site garage. 

We stopped in for a couple of beers and some finger foods. The beer menu was vast and offered a choice of serving sizes from a small bottle to a bucket of bottles and a mug to a pitcher. For the snacks we went for the nachos (made with singkong chips), the bitterballen and the French fries. Prices were reasonable ranging between 27k - 49k for the snacks and a bucket of four San Miguel was 150k. The food itself was fairly standard but the beer was cold, served in a bucket of ice. I would say that you would be more likely to come here because of the setting and drinks than the food. The lounge has live music five nights a week and there are a variety of music styles catered for from jazz to classic rock. 

I will definitely come back here again for drinks and bring along some more friends. I love themed cafés and lounges and being a big fan of all things vintage this place suits my style perfectly!

Outdoor seating

Vintage decor 

Interesting tables 

Shuttered walls

Unique furnishings 

Motorbike on display

Oil can stools...genius!

Singkong Nachos

Bitterballen 

French fries

Old jeeps galore

Garage

I spy with my little eye...a deer!

Better CHOCOlate than never...I totally agree!

So one of the perks of being a teacher is that on the last day of the school year you usually come home laden down with gifts. These are from thankful parents for the care and attention you have given to their children over the year. I cannot lie that I love to receive gifts and especially ones that contain food. One such gift today was a cake from better chocolate than never. This is a cake shop located in Senopati. I have wanted to go there for awhile now to sample their cake so you can imagine my joy when the cake came to me instead for one of my gifts.

The cake was a Banana Chocolate Pie and it smelled absolutely delicious when I opened the box. There was a rich aroma of dark chocolate and I could also smell caramel.

The bottom was an Oreo crust, then a layer of banana, dark chocolate on top and the whole thing was drizzled with salted caramel. Divine! It was pure joy in every mouthful. The contrast of textures with the crumbly biscuit, soft banana and smooth chocolate and caramel worked so well. As did the combinations of flavours. This is a must try for anyone who believes that banana and chocolate were made for each other.

The other bonus of being a teacher is the amazing people you get to work with and the fact that you can share divine treats like this with them. Otherwise I might have just crawled into a corner and eaten the whole lot. It was THAT good! I'm thinking I need to go and sample some of the other cakes they have on offer now too.

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

A plea to a volcano...

Dear Gunung Sangeang Api,

Can you please stop erupting so I can go for my holiday on Sunday to Flores? You see, I've worked so hard this school year and I think I deserve a holiday. Your eruption and belching of volcanic ash almost 20 miles up in the air is causing havoc to flights in the area. In order to get to Flores, I actually need to fly right over Sumbawa where you are located. So please quieten down again. If you really want to erupt again, maybe wait until I'm due to fly back. Then I will just have to have a longer holiday.

Love Me

This photograph was taken by professional photographer Sofyan Efendi during a commercial flight from Bali to the fishing town of Labuan Bajo in West Nusa Tenggara province.

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.