30 October 2014

LOCALE24 DINER & BAR (MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY)


Who's up for a delicious all day long bus trip? Yeap, me and my blogger friends got invited to a ride with Locale 24 at Pantai Indah Kapuk for some molecular gastronomy. Located in line with BornGa, the place is really hard to miss with it's unique exterior of a bus, which has been a popular photo spot! By the way, they open 24 hours!!


A bar provided to do some mixology for a crazy cocktails and mocktails!


When you step inside, the first view around you is made to be like being inside a real bus with the painting of the driver the side of the wall! I find it cute that they're so passionate about their interiors, that they even have a turquoise colored AC!


This is not all, there's still plenty of room inside other than this bus themed one!



HONEY BROCOLY IDR 42K
Don't get discourage by the name!! Cause at first, I was also a bit hesitant cause of the broccoli on top which really shows what's inside it, but my hesitation vanished after one sip! The honey really balanced out the whole drink and there's a broccoli scent but the taste was strangely sweet and knowing that it was a healthy drink made me feel better with each sip! Bye-bye guilty pleasure!




STRAWBERRY SQUASH IDR 38K
Instead of an old-fashioned lemon squash, this time it's strawberry! Very refreshing sour taste with a hint of sweetness cause it used strawberries, and there's also a lot of strawberry chunks in it too! This is one drink that's just calling out to all strawberry lovers!



EXOTIC BOK CHOY IDR 42K
As far as the healthy drinks in here goes, I still liked the Honey Brocoly better, though for something that's healthy, this wasn't half bad! At least, it was still enjoyable and it's 'Exotic Bok Choy', how often do you find one of these? Well, for me, this is my first time trying some beverages made out of bok choy and I had a great first impression of it, PLUS bok choy is the best vegetable sources of calcium that can be easily absorbed by the human body AND it's an anti-cancer, so let's enjoy this drink while staying healthy!



3 KINDS OF CITRUS IDR 42K
First thing that came to my mind was 'cool!!', I just love the pretty presentation with those 3 bright colors of citruses! Not only was it pretty, but also heavenly! In the hot days of Jakarta, this is the perfect drink to have! Everything just scream 'Refreshing', so go and get your dose of vitamin Cs!




APPETIZER PLATTER IDR 62K
Corn tortilla, potato wedges, chicken strips & crispy prawns in one plate.

Though the beverages were a great start, the appetizer was less satisfying. Shockingly, me and my friends were sure that something's wrong with the crispy prawns, it was no longer fresh! The others was relatively okay, tortillas like ones from Happy-tos, the chicken strips and potato wedges were nice, but there's nothing really special about it. Just hoped that they'll be more careful with handling seafood!






LOCALE 24'S UNAGI SPAGHETTI IDR 88K
A unique pairing between our homemade spaghetti & well prepared eel to make your taste buds happy!

Loved it!! They weren't kidding when they said that the unagi is well prepared! The whole plate was generously smothered by Kabayaki sauce and the consistency of the spaghetti was perfect! Added that it was homemade just made it more impressive! My taste bud was definitely happy with this Japanese-Western fusion!



SAMBAL MATAH DORI IDR 42K
Dori w/ our Balinese styled sambal.

This one's actually pretty good! Don't judge it just because it looked very Indonesian! What made it so yummy was actually the Sambal Matah! Though it can be a bit spicy, I still liked how they mixed it with a little bit of Western and how well it goes with the dory, yet when you talk about sambal matah and fish, the ones in Fish n Co. is still better for me, but they did a good enough job on this, so thumbs up!



CRISPY PORK OVER RICE IDR 40K
Crispy pork belly, pok choy, fried eggs w/ our special sweet soya sauce.

This time is something a bit Chinese and of course my favorite, pork belly! Everything was almost perfect for this dish, the only downside was that I think they need to lessen the soya sauce and add more of the crispy pork bellies. I need more pork!



CITRUS LIME RIBEYE IDR 82K
Perfectly grilled beef served w/ potatoes, baby green beans & tomato salsa.

Was not that memorable and the so called 'perfectly' grilled beef was too tough for me. Could've been a great dish but a mistake of overcooking a meat is fatal for this dish! It was disappointing but there's still hope if they could fix it! I like how innovating they are with their menus!




ROASTED HALF CHICKEN IDR 82K
Split a chicken in half & roast it with some baby green beans, potatoes, & BBQ sauce.

It's saddening to say that this was better than the ribeye, but it really was, since its harder to ruin the texture of a chicken rather than beef. Unfortunately, there was also a flaw here, the chicken was a bit too dry! Guess that they overcooked this one as well. They really need to fix their overcooking problem!





BELLINI MOLECULAR SPROUT
Here we are! This was the new innovation that they had prepared for us! Isn't it just beautiful? Molecular is a way to make things different then what it seems, for example that strawberry syrup for the base is not liquid but hard as candy! The glass bubble with the leaf is filled with peach liquor that pops in your mouth, so be warned for those who doesn't like alcohols, don't try the bubble, no matter how tempted you are!



CHOCOLATE MUFFEL & MINTY CAVIAR
A different form of a chocolate muffin! Yes, this is a chocolate muffin, a delicious one that is! Moist texture and very rich chocolate served with ice cream on the side. Nothing screams 'heavenly' like a perfect dessert to end a perfect day!


The minty caviar's sprinkled all over the vanilla ice cream! It's filled with green mint syrup and liquor; Absolute Blue!


It's always fun to have lunch with these great people! There might be some ups and downs but in the end it's the experience that counts! Thank you Locale 24 for having us and I wish you luck for there is always room for improvements!

Locale24 Diner & Bar
Rukan Garden House block B 10-11
Bukit Golf Mediterania
Jl. Raya Pantai Indah Kapuk
Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta Utara 14450
021-29033162

Opening hours :
Everyday : 24 hours

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