INDONESIAN WINE DINNER by VIN+

Our second chance of having a wine dinner! Yeah! The first time's at Hilton Bandung and this time, it's at Vin+. What's different about that night's wine dinner was that it's accompanied with Indonesian food! Usually it's with Western food, so this is a great new experience for us!

The Vin+ we visited for this Indonesian wine dinner was the one at Pondok Indah Mall with foods made by Chef Deni Sugiarto. This isn't the first time that Vin+ offered an Indonesian wine dinner, since they do this once every year, so don't miss your chance next year!

We were supposed to only have 4 courses but lucky us, we got an extra! Can you guess what this is? What's the first thing that came to your mind? It's PORRIDGE! Can you believe that?! Though it's just a plain white porridge, it's still super tasty. For this one, there's no wine pairing to it, just a healthy mineral water..lol!

Let's start the wine party!

SABABAY MOSCATO D'BALI

The first wine! Tasted the most acceptable for me, since it's 'sweet'! Don't really like strong alcohol, which in this case, it's not, so I like this! Anyway, I learnt something new from this wine dinner experience! Did you know that if you drink wine from this kind of glass, you don't have to swirl it around like how people do with the usual 'fat' glass? Everyday is a new knowledge, huh?

ROLLED YELLOWFIN TUNA
To accompany the first wine, here's the first dish! Okay, it doesn't look exactly Indonesian but the tuna inside is cooked with sambal matah, which is very Indonesian! It's a fancy kind of Indonesian dish after-all!

This was somehow refreshing! I guess it's because of the super spicy sambal matah, which can wake you right up, though I kinda get a Japanese feel from this, instead of Indonesian. Hmm?

P.J. VALCKENBERG MADONNA
Next wine! This time they used the usual wine glass, so swirl away~ Not a big fan of this one, since it's stronger than the last one and my taste buds just can't accept it.. Guess my tongue's not high class enough..lol!

Another guessing game! Bet you won't be able to guess this one either!

NASI LIWET

Yeap! It's Indonesian's nasi liwet made into a way higher level! Just look at those 2 huge perfectly cooked tiger prawns and they tasted awesome! I especially love the spices!

Ta-dah! Here's the rice, which by the way, smelt amazing! It's bland though, so you gotta use the tauco sauce!

HEARTLAND SHIRAZ
Last one's a red wine and trust me..this is my least favorite! Why? Cause it's one of those hell'a strong wines! I wasn't even able to finish a glass of it and it's not even half the glass! Really can't enjoy these stronger ones..why can't they all be a 'sweet' wine? :p

RAWON
Here comes the main course!! It doesn't look like rawon? Well because this is a new and improved rawon! Usually they're just a soupy black substance that isn't very flattering to take photos of but now, it's totally photogenic!

The rawon was made into somewhat like a steak, so the meat is covered by the soup made into sauce. They also gave extra sauce there but personally, I think the sauce covering the meat is enough!

Fyi, the meat's super soft and tender!! I don't know how a meat could be soft but it is! Perkedel on the side to add up some extra Indonesian and still equally delicious and fancy! Perfect!

FRIED BANANA CHOCOLATE MELT IN CRISPY LUMPIA
Or in other words....Piscok (Pisang Coklat), a signature Indonesian dessert! Love the melting chocolate and crispy lumpia skin! As expected for my favorite traditional dessert! Yum!

Not only was it good, it's also really pretty!! For desserts, they don't pair it with wine but with black coffee or Dilmah tea instead. What a great way to end this dining experience!

Big thanks to Vin+ for the exquisite experience of this Indonesian wine dinner! Even though I'm not a huge fan of wines, I'm still grateful that I was given the chance to try some! :D

CHEERS!!!

VIN+

Pondok Indah Mall

Jl. Metro Pondok Indah

Street Gallery

1st Floor Unit 106

Jakarta 12310

021-29529753

Opening Hours :

Everyday : 10:00 am - 10:00 pm

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WINE AND MEAT CO. PIK

Seriously?! Another one in Pantai Indah Kapuk?? Will they ever get tired of PIK or Senopati or Grand Indonesia? Not in the near future is what I'm guessing! Well, many new restaurants are blooming non-stop in our beloved Jakarta and I'm starting to question if that is a good thing or not! Lol! This time is a western restaurant that used to be Viti Wine Boutique, if I'm not mistaken (please tell me if I'm wrong), now it's called Wine and Meat Co.! There's not much different except they just added meat to it and you can probably tell that it's a place to enjoy wine and stuff! And where there's alcohol, there must be smoking involved, which is why the smoking room is more crowded!

Here's the outdoor smoking room and you have to get past this to get inside the non-smoking indoors! So with much effort, I made it safely inside! Lol!

The place is a more midnight hangout kind of place, which I can say from the fact that they open until 1 am everyday! It's where the 'mature' people are, enjoying their alcohol, definitely not for a kid like me! :P

The walls here are all made out of bricks as if to give off a feeling of a winery storage! It's also kind of medieval or like a pirate hideout to me. Thankful that the indoors are a great haven from smoke, which made it a pretty comfortable place for me!

There's not quite many choices on the menu here, just a really simple varieties of appetizer and soup, the main dishes are only pastas, steaks, and one choice of burger! The most dreaded part; ONLY 3 dessert menus!! :(

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA IDR 59K
For the size of the portion, this is a bit too overpriced! Just look at that! Looks like it came from the kids menu and the taste wasn't even that special to make up for the lacking portion!

SHORT RIBS - USA - 400GR IDR 185K
The special here is this 400gr short ribs. After the non-exciting portion of the carbonara, we were soothed by this huge short ribs that I bet you can't handle it yourself, unless you're very, very, very hungry! It was tender and adding the mushroom sauce just makes this a one irresistible meal! You can also change the fries to mashed potatoes or steamed rice, whatever you prefer!

CHARCOAL BURGER WITH ANGUS BEEF + FRIES IDR 55K
There's only one burger menu here and seeing it's a charcoal burger just triggered my curious senses! Might be small in portion but since it tastes AMAZING, it's forgiven! The buns are super soft and no questions needed about the Angus beef! It's too bad they don't sell the Angus beef in steaks, I'd really love that!

SHORT PLATE - USA - 200GR IDR 69K
Did you know that this is comes from cow's BELLY? I would never be able to tell the difference! Okay, maybe it does look weird, but tasted like any other beef steaks I had or maybe it's not supposed to taste different? Oh well, all I know is that this is really tender and I was recommended by the waiter to choose BBQ sauce for this one!

SIRLOIN - NEW ZEALAND - 200GR IDR 85K
Wow! Under IDR 100K for imported steaks, I think that's really affordable, don't you? And it's not like they taste crappy and all, on the contrary, it was pretty good! I'm impressed!

When I came here, I was a bit disappointed by the fact that they ran out of rib eyes, wagyu, and skirt, so all I can order was this on the photo below. Well, I can't say that I'm too disappointed after tasting it though, since it's all satisfying and very affordable! If you're looking for good western food with good price than this is the perfect place!

Wine and Meat Co.
Ruko Cordoba Blok G no.6-8
Bukit Golf Mediterania
Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta Utara
021-56945809

Opening Hours :
Everyday : 05:00 pm - 01:00 am

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RED & CO. PLAZA INDONESIA

Yeap! New restaurant, not so much of a surprise anymore, well, IT IS Jakarta. Red & Co. has just opened in August 2014 at Plaza Indonesia and fortunately it's near my workplace. Located near Ten Ten restaurant in LG floor.

By the way, the rose decorated flower is not the restaurants everyday concept, it's just a sample decoration for events here. So YES, they can decorate the place for you, if you're planning to hold an event at Red & Co.

Ain't it pretty? Roses everywhere, I can still remember how sweet they smell when I walk past this table. Wouldn't it just be the perfect place to celebrate an anniversary?

I just can't get enough of how beautiful and romantic this is!

Guessing that this place also sells those spirits and liquors cause you can see for yourselves that the prices are written there right on the shelves.

I think this place is almost similar to Corks n Screw, a perfect place for those who loves their alcohols. Just look at all those bottles, classy!

The space is ain't that big, might just be enough for only 20 - 30 people or so.

LEMON ICE TEA IDR 25K

Lemon teas, nothing can go wrong with. It's refreshing and cheap, the perfect acceptable simple beverage.

MARGHERITA IDR 55K

It's the classic italian pizza served with tomatoes, fresh basil and mozzarella cheese.

All the pizzas here range from IDR 55 - 75K and this is one of the simple ones. Pizza Margherita, was invented in 1889, the Queen of the Royal Palace of Capodimonte wanted a pie swathed in the colors of the Italian flag; red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella), which is why Margherita is so simple. The pizza's crust here is chewy, I prefer the crispy ones though. Since it is Margherita, the taste is really simple but with the generous amount of cheese offered, it became unbelievably good. Highly recommended for you cheese lovers out there!

AGLIO OLIO TUNA IDR 49K

Pasta sautéed with basil, parsley chili and garlic sauce.

Pasta: spaghetti / fettucini / penne / angel hair

For pasta at a restaurant like this one, the price is surprisingly reasonable, usually it'll probably hit 70K just for a simple Aglio Olio. The plating here is different, people mostly use tuna chunks or shredded ones, but here the tuna is still whole and at first glance, it really looks like chicken or other meat, don't you think? When you see the tuna this big, 49K is really worth it, the penne pasta also has a good texture, the only downside is the almost overpowering garlic. Be sure to have some breath mints ready or you'll probably scare even vampires away!

SURF N TURF IDR 135K
Sirloin, dory and king prawn served with barbeque fresh fries and mixed green salad.
Sauce: gravy / mushroom / black pepper / barbecue
Potato: french fries / potato wedges / mashed potato / baby potato

Seriously, who are they fooling? Sirloin + Dory + KING prawn only for 135K? Even I was a bit suspicious at first, but not wanting to be a pessimist, I decided to give it a try. My suspicion grew when they didn't even ask me how I'd like my steak. In the end, I was right, the portion was a bit small, the sirloin was well done and super hard to chew, the dory was bland, smelly even, and you can clearly see from the picture that that is NOT a king prawn, it doesn't even taste fresh. A big disappointment, but they've just opened so they should improve their taste immediately before people have bad first impression of the place.

I saw on Plaza Indonesia's website that Red & Co. is getting a renovation, hope that also means they'll improve their taste or they could just stick to selling spirits and liquors, which is a bit too bad cause they have such a great place. There's always time for improvements! Good luck Red & Co.!

Red & Co.
Plaza Indonesia
LG Floor, Unit LB #61
Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28 - 30
Jakarta 10350
021-31900386

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