Common Potion Brewing

"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of lidquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even put a stopper in death."

—  Professor Snape

My Mom, being a great Gryffindor that she is, managed to
pass Potion Class with flying colors

Khong Guan Biscuits

La Voila Bistro

La Voila Bistro is a petite restaurant, located in Dharmawangsa Square. It's a fine place to be for brunch. In this bistro, you can find a wide selection of pastries - starting from sweet and savory croissant to zuppa soup - cold drinks to quench your thirst, some warm beverages if you're in need, and various Indonesian and Western cuisine. Music is also available at this bistro, usually smooth jazz and oldies songs. Despite the fact that the food is a bit pricey, Rp 11.000,00 for  a glass of Iced Tea and Rp 28.000,00 for a plate of Smoke Beef Sandwich, it is suffice to say that La Voila Bistro make a fine quick-getaway place.

Fancy brunch

Order for table number eight!

Thirst-quenching at its' finest

Sweet and very refreshing

As you can see, La Voila Bistro has a big glass box to display its' pastries. The croissant caught my attention, as they have different toppings on top on each croissants available when I visit the bistro. One of them has fried bananas with chocolate jam on top, while the other one has fried sausage with cream cheese. As much as I would love to try La Voila Bistro's croissant, the smoked beef sandwich captivated me.

Various selection of pastries

I didn't exactly know the name of the sandwich, for it was not written on the menu, so let's just refer to it as the Swiss Smoked Beef Sandwich. This particular sandwich was served with some complementary appetizer, which was a couple slices of tomatoes and some lettuce covered in Thousand Island dressings. I don't usually eat the vegetables, but this one turned out pretty good and juicy.

The sandwich itself was filled with some smoked beef and melted cheese. I couldn't recognize what type of cheese that was used for the fillings, but it sure tasted damned good and savory. The melted cheese was attached to the inner part of the sandwich, making them all squishy, savory, and somehow sweet. The top of the sandwich was decorated with slightly burnt melted shredded cheese. What I love the most about this Swiss Smoked Beef Sandwich was the crust. The crust were slightly burnt, crispy, savory, and sweet. It was delightfully delicious! Save the crust for the last, trust me on this.

A plate of sandwich that comes with vegetables for dessert

Make sure to leave the best part for the last

I can still taste the melted cheese in my mouth

Those melted cheese, on top of the sandwich, deserved a two thumbs up

The sight of the sandwich's fillings

Complimentary candies, served at the cashier

La Voila Bistro
Dharmawangsa Square, Ground Floor Unit 49
Jl. Dharmawangsa VI, Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta Selatan - Indonesia 12160

[GIVEAWAY] A Pouch of Milky Goodness

Good day, readers!

It's been four months since the very first post of Milky Way Cafe. To celebrate this cyber journal's 100th post, I would like to spread the joy by giving one lucky winner a pouch of chocolate, worthy of milky goodness and creamy sweetness. Come on down and join the fun by simply following the instructions!

1.) Answer the questions below. Type down the answers on the comment box provided, and write the name of your Facebook and Twitter account.

- Which Milky Way Cafe's post you like the most? Why?

- From what Disney's movie this picture is? What is the name of the restaurant?

2.) Tweet about this giveaway. Copy the url of this post and simply tweet about this giveaway contest, and don't forget to include the #MILKYWAYCAFE hastags. 

Pretty easy, huh? I bet you Disney-enthusiasts can answer those questions in a blink of an eye.

The winner will be announced on the 31st of August, 2012!

Have a great day, spread the joy, and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Mom's Delicious Masterpiece

Recently, Mom made this fried chicken drumsticks covered with sweet and savory sauce, and it has been my favorite chicken dish that my Mom has ever made. It's pretty simple and easy to make, judging from the appearance and the presentation of the dish. If Mom decided to build a restaurant and include this plate of finger-licking good chicken in her menu, I would be a regular customer and visit the restaurant everyday. 

My Mom didn't immediately fry the chicken on a non-stick pan, yet she boiled them first. "I boiled the chicken drumsticks and the chicken wings first, then I deep-fried them using the pan," she said. When the chicken is perfectly cooked, she started to make the sauce. The ingredients were oil, soy sauce, ketchup, teriyaki sauce, and some garlic. Mix them all together and voila! nectar of God.

The texture of the chicken is a bit different, since it was cooked twice; boiled and deep-fried. The skin was crispy, yet the meat was rather soft and easy to bite. Don't hesitate to smother the chicken with some sauce before you take a big bite, for the sauce makes the chicken ridiculously scrumptious and savory. I'm not a person who can wipe out an entire chicken because I have issues with squishy chicken skin and chicken fat, but I literary finished the entire plate once. Hard to believe? Why don't you come to my house and let my Mom cook you some of this chicken. 

Toko Kue Kari Umbi

Toko Kue Kari Umbi is the best traditional cake shop in Melawai. I've come back to this shop weekends after weekends just for the sake of buying a couple of its' famous chocolate crepe and some traditional sweets named Ongol-ongol. Other than traditional sweets, they also have deep-fried food, pastries, cookies, biscuits, and drinks at Toko Kue Kari Umbi. They even provide some plates and chairs incase if you want to dine in. What more can you expect from this awesome shop?

The great Toko Kue Kari Umbi

My most favorite snack of Toko Kue Kari Umbi is the chocolate crepes, and my second favorite is the eclairs. The chocolate crepes consists of rolled thin crepe, with chocolate cream inside. It's pretty simple, nothing fancy about this particular dessert, yet it tasted deliciously sweet. The eclairs are also delicious. Most of the time, the pastries are softened, but probably it's because I usually visit the shop in the afternoon. The size is not too small, and not too big, and the cake boss gave a generous amount of fillings inside. 

From left to right: Onde-onde, Chocolate Crepe, and Klepon

Those eclairs are tasty as heck

The cake shop also provides a wide variety of traditional snack and deep-fried food. They usually stack the traditional goods on the upper shelf, while the deep-fried are on the bottom. They have lots and lots of traditional snacks, such as Kue Lapis, Bolu Kukus, Dadar Gulung, Kue Bugis, Nagasari, Kue Ku, and many others. Dadar Gulung and crepe are somewhat similar, because their basic ingredients are pancake batter. What differs are the fillings that they use. 

Why don't you buy one from each kinds?

Another favorite of mine is this traditional sweets named Ongol-ongol. Ongol-ongol has a jelly-like texture and it's very sweet. It is covered with shredded coconuts so that it wont stick on our hands when we grab it. It's fun to eat Ongol-ongol! At first it tasted like squishy jelly that's about to burst, but as you chew it, the shredded coconut and the sweet compound combine and make the entire snack itself rich in taste. Sweet from the palm-sugar-based jelly-like compound, yet milky and savory from the shredded coconut. A definite must-try!

Ongol-ongol are the one on the left

A tray of various traditional snacks for Tea Time

As for the deep-fried goods, they have Fried Tofu, Spring Rolls, Fried Meatballs, Batagor, and Siomay. My favorite is the Batagor, which is deep fried dumpling-skin covered dough, but this one has a boiled quail egg inside. Whenever I feel like it, I always grab a plate that was provided in the shop, took a couple of Batagor, asked the shop keeper to cut it into pieces, poured some nut sauce, and dig in.

Batagor are the one on the left, while Fried Meatballs are on the right

Cut Batagor, ready to be indulged

Don't forget the nut sauce!

The color of the Mochi matches my nail art

For those of you who haven't visit Toko Kue Kari Umbi, go order yourself a cab and drive to the designated place. The food here are not pricey, yet tasted great and in good conditions. With Rp 50.000,00, you can get lots of snack, either it be traditional snacks, pastries, biscuits, or deep-fried food, and you wont get hungry for the rest of the day. 

And, perhaps, if you want to buy something to break the fast, Toko Kue Kari Umbi usually sell some Tajil during the Ramadan Season. They usually sell this particular Tajil named Biji Salak, which is a cup of sweet-potato-based sweet balls in a mixture of palm-sugar and coconut milk sauce. I personally love Biji Salak, and you should try one if you haven't try it before. 

Toko Kue Kari Umbi
Jl. Melawai Raya 166
Melawai Plaza, Lt. 1 / 259
Melawai, Kebayoran Baru - Jakarta 12160

Phone: (021) 739 3387

Breaking the Fast at Galaxy

It's not the moon, it's the Space Port!

The Ramadan season has begun and the Muslim people has started their daily fasting activity. Numerous food vendors on the side of the road, chanting "Fresh juice!" and "Get your food for your breaking-fast!", is a common scenery. It's a good thing a nearby housing complex, named Galaxy, provides such environment. My Mom knows how I fancy this kind of stuff, despite the fact that I tend to get all flustered when I'm surrounded with people in a hectic place during a chaotic situation, so she took me for a walk to the housing complex. 

It was around five in the evening when we arrived at Galaxy housing complex. The side of the road was decorated with countless food vendors. There were some that sell drinks, yet there were also some that sell food and snacks. The place was jam-packed with people and delicious delicacies. Only a few minutes left before the second break-fasting of the year, people started to get fired up and advertised their products aggressively. 

Deep-fried food to your liking

Thirst-quenching drinks to begin your break-fasting

Trays of traditional snacks that contained cakes and deep-fried food

Grab yourself some cooked-in-a-cauldron Gudeg

A wide selection of home-food for those who longs for their Mom's dishes

Madun is buying himself a glass of fresh fruit soup

Queueing customers at a Fruit Soup booth

I don't know what those are, but they sure look tasty

I spotted a tray of Rendang 

Look, more home-food!

Some chocolate puddings and cupcakes for the sweet-toothed

Some High School fellows who opened their food stall at Galaxy

This is the most attractive and appealing food stall I encountered at Galaxy

I'm gonna buy his dish when I get the chance to go back to Galaxy

When selling food became too mainstream, the seller decided to sell shoes instead 

To open a food booth has become too mainstream, so that's why the seller
used his motorcycle to display his pastel-colored beverages

My Mom and I decided to rest our bottoms at a place named Warung Tenda, which is where some food vendors set up their carts and chairs are available for those who would love to dine in. 

Welcome to Plaza Galaxy's Culinary Adventure

One of the booth at Warung Tenda

A definite must-try: Roti Cane with Kari Ayam

Seafood was also available at Warung Tenda

Ayam Presto are a kind of chicken-related dish where we can actually eat the bones

It was pretty early to have dinner, so we decided to buy ourselves some Kue Putu. Kue Putu, you see, is one of Indonesia's traditional food. This particular cylinder-shaped steamed cake is made from a mixture of rice flour and shredded coconut.

A traditional snack originated from Medan, Sumatra Utara: Kue Putu

Kue Putu is made using bamboo-based shapers

The sight of the Kue Putu booth

Some palm sugar as fillings

Some Klepon for a customer

First, the cook will take a few cylinder-shaped bamboos, how many bamboo-based shaper that will be used depends on the customer's order, and fill it half full with the Kue Putu mixture. Next, he will fill a bit of the inner part with some palm sugar, then he will top up the remaining space in the bamboo with some more mixture. He then proceed to bake the compound by using steam. In about ten minutes or so, when the entire mixture in the bamboo are clumped together, the cook will shove the traditional cake out from the bamboo with a wooden stick. And there you have it, fresh Kue Putu ready to be indulged.

A mixture of rice flour and shredded coconut for the base of the Kue Putu

The process of inserting the palm sugar to the Kue Putu base

Kue Putu are cooked with steam

Can you spot the steam?

The Kue Putu seller, shoving the traditional snack out from the bamboo-based shaper

A portion of Kue Putu, fresh from the steamer

Add some shredded coconuts on top for the finishing touch

Some sate, or meat in a skewer, to your liking

A bunch of Chicken Sate ready to be grilled

The chip vendor, scooping a spoonful of tofu chips

Some Martabak, perhaps?

Various choices of deep-fried doughs

Sugar-glazed donuts is available at this particular food booth

After we bought some Kue Putu, we continued our journey around Galaxy. It was five minutes to break the fast, and the food sellers got more aggressive. Lots of "Aunty, come and buy our fresh and cold drinks!" and "Cupcakes on sale, buy one get two!" roamed along the side of the road. Suddenly my Mom said, "Es Podeng! Es Podeng!" pointing her finger to a yellow cart in front of us. She knows how much I love Es Podeng, so we decided to approach the ice cream man and bought a glass. 

Es Podeng is one example of Indonesian traditional ice cream. The main ingredients of Es Podeng are pink jelly, cut bread, black sticky rice, and ice cream. Sometimes, depending on the ice cream man, Es Podeng is served with some slice of avocado, chocolate sprinkles, roasted nuts, and canned milk. I love this traditional ice cream the best, especially if the seller give a generous amount of black sticky rice and roasted nuts.

Es Podeng, one of my favorite traditional dessert

The ice cream man is generously sprinkling chocolate sprinkles
 and nuts on top of the Es Podeng 

Es Podeng consisted of pink jelly, black sticky rice, and bread

Not far from the Es Podeng vendor was a Bubur Jagung booth. I'm not sure if it was a booth or not, because the seller sold his corn porridge with a motorcycle. My mom and I have not tried Bubur Jagung before, so we decided to buy a glass just for the sake of getting familiar with the taste.

My first encounter with Bubur Jagun, or Corn Porridge

Scooping those porridge like a boss

Finally, it was time to break the fast. My Mom and I don't fast because we're Christian, but we decided to join the crowd by pretending that we were. We bought a glass of Juice Kedondong and sip the entire drink alongside with the other Muslim people. I have never tried Juice Kedondong before, so I was a bit excited to drink the juice. It turned out that the juice was sour, yet sweet, and very refreshing. Kedondong, or Golden Apple, or Ambarella, is one tricky fruit. The fruit itself is sweet and juicy, yet it has a thorn-like pit. If you bite the wrong side of the fruit, you might get stung by the thorn. It's not that painful though, but it sure is disturbing.

I have never drink a glass of Juice Kedondong until today

It was getting dark and the food vendors started to pack things up to go home. My Mom and I decided to went home too now that we got ourselves some food for dinner. I'm planning on going back to Galaxy housing complex before the Ramadan season ends. Anybody care to join me?

From left to right: Es Podeng, Kue Putu, and Bubur Jagung

Es Podeng

Very milky and sweet. Somewhat share the same texture with Milkshake when the ice cream melts. Make sure you ask the ice cream man to give you a generous amount of roasted nuts, because it's the best part of the ice cream. 

Bubur Jagung

It tasted funny and a bit weird, but it was tasty. Bubur Jagung, or Corn Porridge, is somewhat similar to Mungbean Porridge and Black Sticky Rice Porridge - only, this time, it was corn. The soup itself was sweet and it tasted like corn. If the porridge man add some more boiled corn to the porridge, I'll give this dish a two thumbs up. 

Kue Putu

This particular Kue Putu that I bought at a booth at Warung Tenda was very light and delicious. I was expecting a clumpy and rocky texture, but this one would just disperse into fragments in your mouth. The palm sugar was not too sweet and not sickening either. Very delicious, balanced flavor, well-cooked, this Kue Putu deserves a two-thumbs up. 

Taman Galaxy (Galaxy Housing Complex)

Taman Galaxy Raya, Bekasi 17412