UNION

Last Saturday, Mom and I went out to Pondok Indah Mall to enjoy a lovely dinner at UNION. Mom has been to UNION before with Dad, but this time was my first time ever to dine at the oh-so-hype bistro. We had to wait in line for us to be seated even though we made a reservation for two people beforehand because the restaurant was crowded. And when we finally got our table, our stay at the bistro was timed. Approximately two hours. 

We only had a couple of hours to dine

For starter, Mom had a plate of Romaine Salad. Accompanied with Parmesan Chicken, and Truffle Soft Boiled Egg, the salad had a mountain of crisp greens topped with potato chips and pork bacon. The waiter asked us beforehand about what kind of bacon that we would like to have on our salad. "We have beef bacon, pork bacon, and turkey bacon," he said. It only took a second for us to make our choice. 

Romaine Salad, Parmesan Chicken, Truffle Soft Boiled Egg, Potato Chips, and Bacon - 85K

Just look at that runny yolk

I decided to go out of my comfort zone by choosing neither salad or soup for starter. I went for the Escargot. Yes, Escargot! The Parisian style land snails on a plate, fancily cooked with butter and bread crumbs - which explains why the dish reminds me so much of Pizza Hut's garlic bread - and not like the local land snails named Tutut that I had a few years ago. 

It was my first encounter with Escargot, so that explains why I was completely clueless regarding the proper way to indulge on these delicious looking land snails. I had no idea how to eat it. Like, seriously no idea. There were a couple of relish fork on my Escargot plate and, still, I had no clue what to do with them. My head was filled with options, more like questions, and it gradually became more like a battle between me and myself. 

"Should I use both of them to scrape the meat out of the shell? Or am I supposed to use just one of them to dig out the meat, while my left hand is busy holding the shell? But, isn't that just stupid and barbaric if I were to do something like that? How on earth am I supposed to eat Escargot? Am I adopted? Wait, what?"

I noticed a thong gripping the edge of my plate. For a second there, I thought that maybe the thong is one of the utensils used to eat the Escargot. I hold the thong and tried to lift it up, resulting in me lifting the whole plate. "That's not supposed to happen," I thought. So, I put the plate down and decided to leave the thong be. 

In the end, I decided to use both of the forks to dig out the meat from the shell. Which was a dumb idea to do, because later on, I found out that the proper way to eat Escargot is to use the thong to hold the Escargot, then use the fork to scrape the meat out. I feel so stupid. 

Escargot, Garlic Butter - 95K

Now, the cooked snails were not slimy like how I expected it would be. It had the same texture like cooked oyster, a bit chewy and tender. On the entrance of each snails was a teaspoon of what it seemed to me like marinara sauce, which gave the meat extra flavor other than just garlic and buttered bread crumbs. All in all, Escargot tasted pretty delicious and not as icky as I imagine. 

They look adorable and delicious at the same time

Dinner rolls to accompany your dishes with

Instead of not ordering anything to drink like I usually do, I decided to have me a glass of Melon & Mint Smoothie. The smoothie consisted of watermelon, melon, honey, and mint, which was very refreshing and healthy. What I love the most about the smoothie is that the bartender didn't throw out my most favorite part of smoothies and juices: the pulps.

Melon & Mint Smoothie - 55K

And then we moved on to the Main Course. Mom had a plate of spaghetti smothered in truffle sauce, topped with pork crackers and bacon lardons, and garnished with parsleys. I had a bite of Mom's dish and it was delicious. The sauce simply stuck on the spaghetti, resulting in a rather thickly creamy dish, instead of the slight liquidy sauce that we usually encounter on spaghetti. The flavor was very bold, yet in one place, while the pork crackers and bacon lardons did a great job in adding an extra savoriness to complete the spaghetti.

Pork Crackling, Bacon Lardons, Spaghetti, Alba Truffle Cream - 80K

Salmon was what I had for dinner at UNION. It was a Crispy Skin Salmon with Mashed Potato, Orange, and Ginger Soy. I was expecting a large and thick cut of Salmon, but instead, I was given a rather small slice. It could even fit on my palm. 

On the side were three spoonful of mashed potato garnished with a piece of celery on top, three pieces of orange, garnished with ginger soy sauce. I love the sauce as it was full of flavor. Even though the ginger slightly dominated the flavor, I could still taste the sweet and savory soy sauce. 

My salmon was well-done. It went splendidly well with the ginger soy sauce, despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of ginger. Both mashed potato and orange made a great intermezzo, in case you get that fed-up feeling of chewing the salmon. 

Crispy Skin Salmon, Mashed Potato, Orange & Ginger Soy - 140K

A way to spoil your taste buds 

Last but not least, for dessert, we shared a slice of UNION's most famous cake ever: the Red Velvet cake. Four layers of red velvet cake, with thick cream cheese in between and topped with sugary peanuts, would make your knees weak. The cake itself was not that sweet; while the cream cheese was very heavy and thick, and at the same time cheesy and sweet. 

The highlight of the cake was the peanut on top as it completes the whole existence of the cake. Even though the cake tasted delicious, I would rather indulge on just the peanuts and cream cheese, because both blended perfectly with each other creating this explosion of flavor in my mouth. 

Red Velvet Cake - 55K

UNION

Pondok Indah Mall 

Street Gallery, Ground Floor

Jalan Metro Pondok Indah

Pondok Indah - Jakarta

Contact:

+62 21 2952 9781

+62 21 2952 9782

Opening Hours:

Monday - Sunday: 11AM - 2AM

On The 23rd of September

My Dad turned 44 last September, on the 24th to be exact. We held a small party at home, with close friends and family. A round Red Velvet cake was cut into pieces and handed out to those who still have  empty spaces in their stomach for dessert. Two bottles of alcohol, a Glenfiddich and a Dalmore, were continuously poured into shot glasses and everybody who got a share clinked their glass with each others. The birthday boy (technically a man, but still a boy in his heart) was beyond excited to receive a box of GoPro as his birthday present. It was a fun small gathering!

It all started with my Dad telling me that he was going home on the 23rd of September. "You must not tell Mom, because it's a surprise," he said. I still don't get it why he threw a surprise for my Mom, when the one that should be surprised is himself. In the evening, 24th September Eve, Dad called me saying that he almost arrived at home. "I'm bringing the whole crew with me. Just tell Mom that you're gonna have friends coming over," he whispered. Again, I still don't get it why he whispered, when I should be the one who's whispering. I went to a warung (a small grocery shop) to buy some beers because my Dad told me to. Of course, I lied to my Mom, saying that I wanted to buy ice cream.

The clock showed that it was six in the evening. Three cabs arrived at my residence. Out of them, came out foreigners with fancy casual clothes. My Dad and I were very eager to surprise Mom. "Now, go get inside the house with the crew," said Dad. So, I did. Mom was having some companies, my dog's trainers to be exact, and they were all chatting in the living room. They had to pause when I exclaimed, "Mom, my friends have arrived!" The look on their faces was priceless as they saw grown-up foreigners popping out from the front door. My Mom got a "What even..." stamped on her face.

But then, my Dad popped out out of nowhere. My Mom was very surprised and we all cheered for reason that escaped me. Since we didn't have any food at that moment, the crew are welcomed to leisure at the backyard, with bottles of beer and packs of snacks that I got from my working place. Soon, my Dad's friends showed up one by one, and they brought food, which was a good thing because I'm pretty sure that the guests were all famished.

Tante Risni, the wife of my Dad's roommate in Doha, Qatar, came with ehr children. She brought boxes of traditional snacks, which were Martabak and Bolu. Martabak, you see, are deep-fried thin egg filled with meat, veggies, and some more eggs, while Bolu are cake. Later on, Oom Uda (Oom means uncle, but it doesn't have to be blood-related) and Tante Merry (Tante means aunty) came with their children. They brought big pots and dinning utensils, and the next thing you know, the table was decorated with food.

Preparing the Eco-friendly plates

Put this here and put that there

A bowl of mixed lungs, meat, and crispy skins

A plate of Martabak

The broth for Soto Padang

Various dishes, awesomely cooked by Tante Merry

Tante Merry cooked us wonderful dishes! There were Soto Padang, Rendang, Sambal Goreng, and many more. The dishes were spicy to my liking, but they were all awesomely delicious because Tante Merry is a great cook. I love her Soto Padang very much I even got myself a second serving. Soto is actually broth with mixed foodstuff in it. It's technically a soup, but soup and broth with foodstuff are two different things here in Indonesia. In Soto Padang, you can find crispy skin, meat, lungs, rice noodles, crackers, peanuts, and bean sprout in it. It is very delicious, a must-try for those who are not familiar with it. 

The guests were very happy to be able to try Indonesian cuisine as they were all foreigners, even thouse some couldn't handle the spicy dishes. I was very enthusiast to explain what is what and what to eat with what to them, it made me feel like some kind of a food expert.

Would you believe if I said that those people in the middle of the photograph are my friends?

Time to have some munchies

The crew had to leave early because they were very tired from a 9-hour-flight. I thought the party was over, but then my Dad's friends started to show up head by head. The house was crowded again and it was time to put some ice cubs into shot glasses. I had a medical check up appointment on the following day, so I had to force myself not to grab a glass of my own to be filled with Glenfiddich.

A friend of mine named Memes, who is the daughter of my Dad's best bud whom I call Romo, also came to visit. We didn't join the adults drinking and munching on peanuts, instead we devoured half a watermelon by ourselves.. with a spoon! It had been my long-life dream to eat a watermelon with a spoon, and I finally did it! Scooping watermelon is a lot more fun than clinking shot glasses.

The clock finally stroke twelve. Memes and I took out a box of red Velvet cake from the fridge and decorated it with pink and red candles. We brought the cake to the center of the living room and started singing Happy Birthday, followed with the others merrily and joyfully. My Dad gave a short speech before blowing the candle, thanking everyone for their presence at that moment and praying for each on of us. Then, he blew the candle and cut the cakes into pieces. I got my share and, I have to admit, although Red Velvet cake is getting too mainstream and boring, this particular birthday cake is delicious and very enjoyable. 

"Pakde" here share the same position with "Oom", both means "Uncle"

What are cakes without a shot of Dalmore?

Are you ready to blow the candles? 

Mom and I got my Dad a birthday present and he was over excited when he found out what it was.. a box of GoPro. He went full Joker, I could see the corner of his lips touched his ears. My Dad was overwhelmed, making my Mom and I happy as well. It was a wonderful birthday party!

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