Oktoberfest at Grand Indonesia

As you all know, this year's Oktoberfest has come to an end on the seventh day of October and will be continued next year around late September. Luckily for us, Indonesian, or Jakartan to be exact, we don't have to wait until late September and book a ticket to Munich to attend the annual beer festival because there is, or was, an Oktoberfest at Grand Indonesia for two straight days. I was able to attend the beer festival on its' last day, which is today! I had fun, ate lots of pork, and played the Beer Pong Game. It was fun while it lasted!

The Oktoberfest that was held at Grand Indonesia, on the fifth floor of the West Mall, was a collaboration event between Paulaner Brauhaus and Die Stube. Those two restaurant are examples of the so many German restaurant that you can visit in Jakarta. Today was the last day of the festival and I managed to join in the fun with my Mom, my aunt, my friend, Angel, and my cousin, Nuning. Although Jakarta's version of Oktoberfest is not as awesome as the one in Munich, it was still fun and entertaining.

Starting off with buying vouchers. The procedure is new for me as those who wished to have a plate of Pork Knuckle or Sauerkraut are obliged to have vouchers with them instead of money. You could buy the vouchers at the cashier for Rp10.000,00 each. When we acknowledged the only thing that we can trade a voucher with is a pretzel, we decided to buy lots of it.

The vouchers that you use to get food

We started with a plate of Pork Knuckle that costed us five vouchers. The Pork Knuckle came with a side dish, which is sauerkraut, or sour cabbage. I was disappointed by the fact that the pork knuckle was only as big as my fists combined. But it tasted delicious though! The meat was very easy to chew and there were not covered in fat like how I expected they would be. And the crispy skin was beyond crispy and savory, and oily too! 

Grilled Pork Belly for Rp50.000,00, or five vouchers

Our plate of Pork Knuckle with sauerkraut

Then we proceed to the next dish, which is pretzel! Again, I was very disappointed with the food. Aside from the fact that the pretzel looked malnourished, it didn't have any sea salts on it! Those pretzel looked much more like shaped bread to me. It even share the same texture like kneaded bread, soft and chewy, instead of as-hard-as-brick on the outside and soft on the inside like how pretzel are supposed to be. The pretzel tasted funny, but it was not that bad. I ended up buying another piece, to be honest.

Lines of soft-bread-like pretzel

The pretzel that tasted amusing

There were three kinds of sausages at the Oktoberfest, which were Pork, Beef, and Chicken. What kind of people are we for ordering a plate of Chicken sausage on Oktoberfest? We sticked with the Pork sausage, a.k.a. the bratwurst that costed us three coupons. 

The bratwurst were big and juicy. They were nicely grilled, until the outer layer, which is the skin that wrapped the entire meat, harden. Now, inflexible sausage skin is a good thing because genuine German sausages have tough and crunchy skin that pop when you penetrate it with your fangs. As the skin breaks, savory fluids and oil will come out from the sausage and filled your mouth with glorious flavor that would make your taste bud goes, "MANNA FROM HEAVEN!" I was satisfied with the bratwurst I got myself a second serving with Potato Salad as its' side dish.

A tray of  bratwurst being grilled

A portion of bratwurst 

What is Oktoberfest without beer, right? My Mom, along with my aunt, Angel, and Nuning, got themselves a glass of beer, while I sticked with a bottle of mineral water. They had a glass of Kilkenny, an authentic Red Beer that originated from Ireland. I took a sip of my Mom's beer, hoping that it would taste nice and preferable to my liking, but it was bitter and tasteless as usual. Sometimes, I wonder what would life be if I like beer. 

A funny thing happened when Angel and I were buying the beer! The bartender was being chatty and asked about where we go to college and stuff. Angel said that she goes to UIC college and that she is going to UK someday. Then the bartender said, "UK is in America, right?". We were speechless. If this were a story in a manga, there would be ". . ." written on my bubble speech and sweat drops on our foreheads. As a person who suck at world mapping, I am aware about UK being the United Kingdom, thank you very much!

A glass of Kilkenny

There was a Beer Pong Game that can be played if one owns a game coupon that can be gained from buying five vouchers at the cashier. We got lots of game coupons that can be spent, so we got ourselves ready and started throwing ping pong balls. The game was pretty easy though, we only have to throw a ping pong ball into a cup filled with water. The three of us won three drinks each, and Angel won a Pizza e Birra voucher. 

Let the Beer Pong Game begin!

A bottle of Teh Botol and a can of Guinness Beer

Pizza e Birra Voucher

Even though Angel and I had eaten a plate of Pork Knuckle, we were still hungry for more, so we decided to try the Pomme Frites. They were plain deep-fried sliced potato, but they were very delicious and amusing for some reason. Those deep-fried potato are glazed with chilly sauce, mayonnaise, and tomato sauce, and we devoured them in less than half an hour.

The sight of the potato being deep-fried

A cup of Pomme Frites

We couldn't just leave before we have dessert, so Angel and I went to the dessert section and bought ourselves a plate of German Chocolate Cake. It was a petite fudgy chocolate cake, glazed in vanilla sauce and chocolate sauce, served with a small amount of whipped cream. The cake was warm and fudgy. One mouthful of that German dessert could fly you to the moon. It tasted so good, it tasted even better if you eat it with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream.

Angel's German Chocolate Cake

Later on, Nuning and I went over to the dessert section and ordered ourselves a plate of Apple Strudel. The apple-filled pastry was glazed with various sauce, same like the German Chocolate Cake, but the chef didn't gave us whipped cream. The pastry tasted delicious, but it was too sweet and cinnamon-like for my liking.

Nuning's Apple Strudel

And by that, our adventure at the Oktoberfest came to an end. We strolled around the mall and paid a visit to a bazar that sold Indonesian products. There were handmade clothes and shoes, soaps that smelled like chocolate cake, funky earings with drawings of the Eiffel Tower on it, ice cream rings, and many more. There were even homemade delicacies being sold at the corner of the bazar area.

The one that caught my attention was Cake in a Jar, which is, obviously, a cake inside a jar. Now, this particular product is rather popular. I have been wanting to try one of Cake Velvet's Cake in a Jar ever since I saw a picture of them on Twitter. They have lots of unique flavor of cakes, such as Cotton Candy, Caramel Beer, Baileys Tiramisu, and even Hot Chocolate Marshmallow. I got my eyes set for those petite jars of Hot Chocolate Marshmallow cakes. I hesitated at first because they were very expensive, but I would eventually buy them in the future, so why wait?

Cake in a Jar

The sight of Cake in a Jar's booth

I collected my jar of cake

I got my eyes on those Hot Chocolate Marshmallow cake

I bought myself the Hot Chocolate Marshmallow cake for Rp35.000,00. I opened the jar and share the cake with everybody. The chocolate cake was topped with a generous amount of cream cheese and some marshmallows. I ate the marshmallows first, which tasted chewy and sweet, then I began to devour the sweet chocolate crumbs that lies at the bottom of the golden jar. Since I didn't know the proper way to eat it, I mixed the entire thing and scooped it up in my mouth... AND THE CAKE TASTED SUPER DELICIOUS! Pardon my caps lock.

The chocolate cake is very moist and delicious, it went well perfectly with the cream cheese. A spoonful of that cake tasted like Disneyland, while the other spoonful tasted like Saturn's rings. I didn't regret buying Cake Velvet's Cake in a Jar as they were really lip-smacking.

My cake (left) and Angel's cake (right)

A jar of Hot Chocolate Marshmallow and Caramel Beer 

That pretty much sums up my Saturday night. I ate pork and I ate cake, and I'm a very happy girl. It was fun being able to attend the Oktoberfest with my friend and family, and I'm hoping that I could join in the fun next year. 

Cake Velvet - Cake in a Jar

Deutschland Über Alles: Day 2 of Oktoberfest

It was in the evening when my parents and I arrived at Theresienwiese once again, yet the sun was still shining in a blinding way. I was in the mood for ice cream, even though my throat got worst. But, I guess I was born a badass, so I ordered myself a scoop of Tiramisu-flavored ice cream that costed me 1.50 € and dig in. 

Met some fellow Asians at the ice cream booth

Tiramisu flavored ice cream, yum!

"A friend of mine is going to come here and have dinner with us," said Dad, "so, in the mean time, let's have some more beer!" Then off we went to a small beer garden. My parents ordered themselves half-a-liter beer, while I gulped down the fresh and cold tap water that I got from the hotel.

Filling those glass with some Paulaner weissbier

Keep 'em coming

He was very determined to finish his beer

The pretty beer lady

Another round, perhaps?

While my parents were busy eating beer foam, I was determined to find real food to eat. I was lucky to find a rather attractive food stand near the beer garden. They were selling sausages in a bun like always, but they also have pork steak! Can you imagine? They were very wide and thick, wider and thicker than my palm. There were three different kinds of steak  and each of them costed 5 €. I wasn't going to get myself some of those delicious juicy meat, but I couldn't resist the temptation. I went back to the beer garden with a big sandwich on my hand, and my parents went, "What is that thing?!". 

I made a wise decision on buying myself a pork steak because that steak tasted superb! There were minor fat on the steak. It was well-cooked, and the sauce that they used was spicy and savory. It was served with a handful of fried onion, which didn't tasted so bad. The buns were soft and it went well with the steak. All in all, it was a well-spent 5 €. 

Schlemmerhutte's meat stand

Steak numero uno

Steak numero dos

The steak lady, filling some buns with meat and fried onions

Good Lord, would you look at that!

My Pork Steak Sandwich, ready to be indulged with pride

foodporn

The sun set and my Dad's friends came. They immediately ordered another round of beer before we all go grab some dinner. Friend numero uno was Louis, a Spanish guy that looks somewhat similar to Robert Downey Jr, and friend numero dos was Rich, a guy whose homeland escaped me who works in a submarine. 

Never start a dinner without beer

As I mentioned before, here at Oktoberfest you will find lots of big tents. Now, these tents are rather exclusive because we can enjoy beer and some food that you cannot find at the food corners outside the tents. There is a big ipen space inside the tent for musicians to play songs, for the people to dance or sing-along to. Some songs that they usually play are "We Are the Champion" and "Dancing Queen", and they also play other songs in German which I don't know the title. When a tent has reached its' quote, the door will be closed by the security, allowing those who didn't manage to get some seats to feel envious and agonized. The thing is, can you imagine the situation inside the tent when everybody is drunk?

The inside of the tent during day time

If you think this is crowded, wait until night falls

I was lucky to be able to find a table inside the tent, despite the fact that we had to share it with other people. Behind me sat a group of adults who apparently drank too much beer. "Where do you come from," asked a bald guy with a beer stomach. Do take notes that he asked the question with a rather incomprehensible accent and in a state where he is dead drunk. "Indonesia," I answered. A second later, he started to howl for my mother country, "INDONESIA! INDONESIA! BRAVO INDONESIA!" with a glass of beer on his hand.

"BRAVO INDONESIA!"

I was too full from eating the steak, so Mom and I shared dinner together. We had a plate of what it seemed to be grilled chicken. I know, it seems inappropriate and disrespectful to eat chicken at a place where we should be eating pork, but the waitress recommended us the chicken because it's the number one dish inside the tent. We decided to just go with it.

Not long, our food arrived. The chicken was humongous, at first I thought it was a mutant-chicken, but then the fact that animals in German are fatter and bigger so I calmed down. Mom started to cut the meat slowly and smoke came out from the fresh-out-of-the-oven poultry. The meat was well-cooked and it tasted good, the skin was crispy and salty, and whole thing was deliciously juicy. Dad, who ordered a plate of Pork, gave us some of his side dish which was a potato dumpling. Believe it or not, the potato was very very squishy and chewy! It's like a dumpling, but it's a potato. If you cut the potato, you can see how elastic the texture is as the yellow carbs slowly multiply. It tasted good, but it has a rather funny texture similar to a bread pudding. Weird, huh? 

My humongous dinner

That is one funky potato

"We Are the Champion" roamed around the entire tent. Everybody stood up on the tables, dancing around and singing-along to the song with pride. It was hectic and it made me flustered, but it was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, so I had to suck it up and act happily drunk like everybody else. People cheered as if they were watching a game of soccer, and Arsenal is acing. You cn shout as loud as you can, "I LOVE WOMEN!" or "I PEED IN MY PANTS!", and everybody will cheered for you and clink their beer glass to yours. Inside the tent, we are all friends and family.

CLINK!

A glass of beer is never enough

How about if we change the chandeliers to disco balls?

Everybody dance now!

Put your-put your hands up!

Everybody felt like a G6 that night

Either he wanted to sneeze, or getting ready to go boogie wonderland

Who that be? Why, that is me feeling like P. Diddy.

Beer, anyone?

The festival ends an hour before midnight. As my parents and I walked to the Goetheplatz train station, we stumbled upon drunk people, vomiting and rambling all over the place. it was a fun scene to watch. Seriously, people, you have got to go to Munich and attend the Oktoberfest, at least once. It's a fun and awesome experience, even if you happen to lost some of your precious belongins at the site like I did, and you will not regret it. Just don't lose your passport, okay?