[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] Bengawan - Keraton Hotel

 

 We went to visit Bengawan on a Sunday for their Sunday Brunch, it is located at the Keraton Hotel, which is right next to the new Plaza Indonesia building. With an elegant chic decor, the restaurant serves both a la carte and buffet, with a mix of Indonesian and International menu.

This particular island holds salad, mini cold dishes and Japanese.

 

 

 The fresh seafood island, serving oysters, scallops, prawn, crayfish, crab legs, octopus, and caviar too.

 

 

 At a corner near the pool, you can find pasta and grilled beef station. The steak was good but not great, especially after having The Best Steak days before.

The grill/BBQ station, the cook grills them for you on the spot, with a selection of Chicken, Lamb, Seafood, Wagyu beef and the creme de la creme, Kobe beef  for you to choose from.

The Indonesian section. We found a pebble in one of our rice, and the server seemed genuinely surprised and promptly apologized, so all is well :)

 

 

 

Noodle soup, Onion Soup and Tempura that were just so so. Better save your tummy for the seafood or grills.

 

Saving the best for the last. There actually is a Foie Gras station, where they melt in your mouth, quite literally.

 The dessert station. We were all looking forward to dessert, as Le Sister and Cousin A were both sweet-toothed, but it disappointed them both. Even with the wide selection of cakes, both local and western, chocolate fondue, macarons, jelly and even ice cream, the only one we think deserved a mention is the chocolate mousse.

 

A thing to note is that the Sunday Brunch includes drinks - tea, juices, soft drinks and water (mineral and sparkling). We appreciate this as normally buffets do not include drinks, so it's nice for a change, to not worry about how much the drink bill is gonna come up to.

Overall, we had a great brunch, the food were fresh, the selection were good, the servers were attentive. You really couldn't ask for more from a buffet, except maybe pay a bit more attention to the dessert section ;)

Sunday Brunch : Rp. 598,000 nett (inclusive of all drinks except alchohol)
Regular Lunch : Rp. 348,480 nett (inclusive of hot tea and coffee only)
-price as of 19 February 2013-

Keraton at The Plaza

Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 15

Jakarta 10350

Indonesia

Telephone : (021) 5068 0000

Business Hour
Monday - Friday : 6AM - 10AM
Saturday - Sunday : 6AM - 10:30AM

[Review] Ocha & Bella

Even though it has been around for quite some time now, it's the first time we had a meal here. Under the same management as Moovina, in Plaza Indonesia, Ocha & Bella is located at the Morrisey Hotel. We came on Sunday for lunch, and the place is decorated for a luaua - a Hawaiian party.

 

The entrance, with an open kitchen on the right.

The view of the open kitchen from the other side, with the traditional pizza oven.

Indoor dining area.

Al fresco area.

The Peach Blossom Ice Tea! Le Sister decided to try this out compared to her default Strawberry Ice Tea, and she loved it! You can taste the peach really well, and there's a hint of cucumber, thus the cucumber as garnish. On the other hand, Le Cousin T had the Raspberry Lemon Tea, and it didn't taste like raspberry at all!

A regular ice tea already costs 20thousand, whereas the Peach Blossom Ice tea is 35thousand. So if you're planning on trying something new but safe, we recommend the Peach Blossom!

The Rock and Roll Salad from their Japanese Menu. Asides from the typical greens, they added fish flakes (the ones you'd normally eat with takoyaki), peas, and walnuts, topped with teriyaki dressing, refreshing but not overwhelming, giving it the hint of Japanese food.

Quattro Formaggi Pizza - which is basically pizza topped with 4 different kinds of Italian cheeses. The pizza served were of thin crust, which Le Sister prefers compared to the regular ones you would normally get at Pizza Hut.

Pappardelle e Salsiccia - pasta tossed with pork sausage and broccoli with cream sauce. Pasta was decent, nothing out of the norm,but it's probably best to share this dish, as eating it all at once the cream could be a little bit overwhelming.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina - grilled T-Bone served with mushroom sauce and garlic spinach on the sides. The average size of this dish is around 1kg, and the chef personally showed us the meat first before he proceed on grilling it. Although it was tad too red to Le Sister's liking, she enjoyed this dish alot! It was juicy and aromatic, everything you would want of a good steak!

At around 750thousand per dish, it'll costs around 200thousand per person, which we think is well worth it for this dish!

Ocha & Bella

Morrissey Hotel

Jl. K.H. Wahid Hasyim No. 79

Menteng, Jakarta

Indonesia

Telephone : (021) 310 5777

Fax : (021) 315 6777

Business Hour :

Weekdays : 11AM - 11PM

Weekend : 11AM - 12AM