[Review] Luciole Bistro

A new bistro opened at Central Park not too long ago, it is located at the Tribeca Park just in front of Liberica. It's a chic pavilion, with windows and black panes. Looking even prettier at night, with all its hanging lamps lighted up. One thing however that bothers me, is the standing air con. With an immaculate interior, we don't expect to have a view of a bulky air con right in front of us.

Hot Honey Lemon Tea - 27.5thousand

It was a raining heavily that night, so Le Sister went ahead with a hot cup of Hot Honey Lemon Tea. This was literally undrinkable. (Is it a legit word? Undrinkable?) She only filled half her cup and added in most of the honey, and it was still far from decent tasting. The lemon tea itself, tasted like an old lemon juice; and you can barely taste any tea.

Miso Baked Tofu - 30thousand
Baked miso tofu, served with tempura enoki mushroom with ginger tofu. The sauce to this dish is tad too sweet for our liking. And it seems like it was prepped before hand, as the dish got cold pretty quickly.

Tuffle Mayo Fries - 25thousand

Being a fan of french fries, we were definitely not impressed with this. It was no where near crispy, and not seasoned enough. The tartar sauce wasn't much of help either, just tasted like normal mayo.

Mushroom Risotto - 55thousand

The risotto was slightly undercooked, another minute or two would've been better. Yet, this was the only dish that was decent.

Pan Roasted Chicken with Potato Lasagna - 55thousand
Roasted chicken served with lasagna and fondue sauce. The chicken itself was not seasoned and dry, and the sauce tasted bland, a dash of oregano or rosemary would make it better.

Ralph's Burger - 60thousand

This was such a disgrace to all burgers, such a waste of meat. The meat patty was chewy. Chewy. How is that even acceptable?

Another thing we'd like to point out is their poor service. The servers weren't attentive nor well trained. We asked for tomato sauce, only to receive chili sauce. Furthermore, like we previously mentioned, it was raining when we dined, and the ceilings were leaking, We spotted 4 leak points and 1 of them is exactly above our heads.Overall, it's another "pretty decor, sub par food" kinda place. Not one where we would re-visit.

Luciole Bistro

Tribeca Park Pavilion #1, Central Park Mall

Jl. Let. Jend S. Parman Kav 28

Jakarta Barat 11470

Telephone : (021) 2920 0333

Operation Hours

Sunday - Thursday : 10AM - 12AM

Friday - Saturday : 10AM - 2AM

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On a much brighter note, our blog has reached slightly more than 1,000hits! It may not seem alot to you guys, but we are definitely thankful for the hits! We'll try to continue putting out a new review weekly. Do let us know if there are any new or old place that you would like us to review. :)

[Review] Pyongyang Restaurant

This is the one place that Le Brother had always wanted to try, but always outvoted. Hearing it's name, some people would look back at us (O.O). Especially with the tension running high now between North and South Korea. Pyongyang is a restaurant chain run by the North Korean Government, and has several branches across Asia, including China, Thailand and Vietnam.

The food itself is similar to South Korean, but with a little tweak. You really are in it for the experience rather than the food. Sitting on the edge of your chair, thinking if you are being watched by CCTVs or your conversation being heard.

The servers are all females, and from North Korea, dressed in Hanbok and stilettos. They understand a little bit of Indonesian, but it'd be slightly better to converse in English.

 Banchans as per norm in Korean restaurants.

 Japchae - stir fried glass noodles

Grilled Beef

Gun Mandu - Pan fried dumplings

Jajangmyeon - black bean noodle

Halfway through dinner, the waitresses would perform on stage, taking turns. Serving tables, and a quick change of outfits in between it all; talk about multi-tasking. During the performance, you could buy a flower bouquet for them and take pictures together.

At the end of our meal, we were asked if we would like some tofu, we asked if it was a dessert, and she replied yes. Thinking that we would get 'tofu hua' (silk tofu with ginger), we were quite taken aback to be served this 'dessert'. It wasn't exactly salty, but it definitely wasn't the dessert we had in mind. We were told to have it with the sauce, which is slightly salty and spicy.

Like we mentioned previously, the food was decent, but do not expect anything fancy. Le Cousin C mentioned that their Naengmyeon/Cold Noodle is pretty good. We do recommend a visit for the experience as a whole, and it is as close as you can get to North Korea, unless you brave-hearts make a trip to DMZ or North Korea.

Pyongyang Restaurant

Jl. Gandaria No. 58

Kebayoran Baru

Jakarta Selatan

Telephone : (021) 7280 0889

Operation Hours

Monday - Sunday 

Lunch : 11AM-3PM

Dinner : 6PM-10PM

[Review] Sakura

 

Our review on Kamogawa seems to be a big hit amongst the readers! This time we're back with another Japanese Restaurant that serves a pretty authentic taste, although with a more modern twist. They also have private rooms, tatami seating, karaoke (2 rooms), and reflexology! Talk about being a one-stop-shop. A good place to wind down with the family on a weekend.

Tuna Salad - 45thousand

Boiled tuna mixed with mayonnaise, a simple dish served with fonzu sauce.

Sakura Salad - 40thousand

Sliced smoked duck and salmon salad, served with sour and hot spicy dressing. We recommend this as starter out of the two salad , it was more flavourful and the duck was smoked really well. We think it's more bang for you buck. Though again the term 'hot spicy' term is lightly used here, Le Sister had no problems with it. If it's misused another time, we'd start thinking that Japanese have low tolerance for spicy food.

Cantik Maki - 100thousand

Avocado, eel and cucumber roll. A simple dish that is light on the taste buds, not to mention healthy too!

Volcano Roll - 55thousand

Sliced cucumber, avocado, crab meat roll served with mayonnaise and hot spicy sauce. We saw the table next to us devouring it, so we just had to try it too. It was ok, save for the 'lava'. There was too much mayo sauce on it that eating 2 piece would've been more than just enough.Oh! It's salty too, both the sauce and the roll itself. Not sure if it's just a one time mistake, or originally so.

Niku Udon - 60thousand

Udon served with sliced beef. The overall taste of this dish screams 'old school', the soup is light yet full of flavours at the same time, you could taste each ingredients. Though the beef was tad tough, and the udon wasn't as chewy as Marugame; we still enjoyed it. 

Yaki Gyoza - 42thousand 

Grilled pork and vegetables dumpling. Thin skin, juicy meat. 'Nuff said.

Kaisen Chirasi Don - 120thousand

Don means rice is Japanese. This particular one was served with sliced tuna, mackerel, prawn, salmon, octopus, and egg. If you're a fan of sashimi like Le Cousin J, do try this! She loved it.

Sanma Shioyaki Teishoku - 60thousand

Grilled sanma fish. It was fragrant, seasoned and grilled really well. Le Aunt P, and avid foodie too, mentioned it being one of the best she's tried, not a lot of places here in Jakarta does it this well.
We took away another 2 portion to bring home for Grandma. :)

Sake Kabuto Yaki - 50thousand

Grilled salmon head with salt, shoyu sauce and lemon. First off, it's huge! Huge. I can assure you it's definitely bigger than the one served in Sushi Tei and Edogin's buffet. We expected it to be around the same size, thinking it's the norm, boy were we wrong. Worth every penny I tell ya! It was fresh, juicy, fragrant and cooked to perfection.

Overall, we had a great meal. The food was great, we couldn't ask for more given the price. Will we back? Not in the near future, no. Not because of the food, but the location. They're located quite a distance from us, and including the traffic jam, it could take up up to 2 hours. No joke.

Sakura

Jl. R.A. Kartini (T.B. Simatupang) No. 09

Lebak Bulus

Jakarta 12440

Telephone : (021) 751 1193

Operation Hours

Monday - Sunday : 9AM - 11PM
(Last order at 10:30PM)
Reflexology : 12PM - 9PM

[Review] Marugame Udon

The newest addition in one of our most frequent mall, Marugame Udon. Under the same management as Pizza Hut, Marugame Udon is self-service. Selecting an udon, fried tempuras, paying at the end of the line before heading out to the seating area. It's been slightly more than a month, and it has always been crowded around dinner time.

Niku Udon - 45thousand // Kisu Tempura and Kakiaga - 10thousand each

The udon itself is very good! The udon is chewy, the beef is soft and tender, together with a hot, sweet soup base, it is the perfect bowl of goodness. The tempuras however, have seen better days, although not oily, they were cold. The Kisu Tempura is a deep fried Japanese fish, which is just okay. Kakiage is a deep fried vegetable ball, mainly onion. It is huge, but you get sick after a while, you could share it between 2-3 person.

Including drinks, the meal came up to 75thousand. Slightly pricey for an everyday meal, and a guy wouldn't be full to the brim unless you take alot of the tempuras. We could see ourselves coming back, but only for the udon, and give the tempuras a miss.

[Update 10/5/13] We dined here again for dinner the other day, and it definitely tasted different than our previous visits. During the first visit, we had a great dinner that satisfied our tummy. Second time round, it was still pretty good. When we tried it for the third time, it became our last visit. The udon were no longer chewy, the soup base was oily, the curry udon was tad too sweet and overwhelming. Not sure if we just caught them on a bad day, we were disappointed though  not surprised. 

Marugame Udon 

3rd Floor #316

Mall Taman Anggrek

 Jl. Tanjung Duren Timur 2

Jakarta Barat 11470

Indonesia

Business Hour:

Monday - Sunday : 10AM -10PM