A Well-spent Money

Tukang Bakso, or meatball seller, is one of the most common food vendors that you can find in Indonesia. There are some who open up a small Bakso restaurant on the sides of the streets and there are also door-to-door Tukang Bakso who usually use carts to carry their product. Those Tukang Bakso have the tendency to signal their presences by making sounds with a kentongan, a wooden-based instrument attached to the cart, by hitting it with a wooden stick. When you hit a kentongan, it will produce a high pitched sound that echoes through out the neighborhood. I usually can tell if there's a Tukang Bakso roaming around my housing complex, even when he's actually five blocks away from my house. An obnoxious high-pitched sounds like that are hard to miss.

I didn't have lunch today, which made me starve during the whole lesson of car driving class. I drove a car an hour long, with my stomach singing the song of its' people, can you imagine? When I arrived at home, I was lucky to find a Tukang Bakso parking his cart exactly in front of my house. So, I decided to buy a bowl to satisfy my need for food.

Tukang Bakso doing what he does best

The sight of the Bakso Cart

"A portion of Bakso, please," I said to the man. This particular Tukang Bakso's Bakso are a bit different, but in a good way. His Bakso are light and chewy, and it didn't taste like flour, like any other door-to-door Tukang Bakso's Bakso I have tried. The broth also tasted delicious and savory, especially if you eat it with some cut spring onion. Noodles and bihun were added to the bowl, making my early dinner looked appealing and colorful. "Rp 6.000,00, miss," he said. I paid the man and he went off, leaving me with a bowl of hot and delicious Bakso.

Scooping some broth to the bowl

In about 15 minutes, I finished the whole thing and I was satisfied and happy. I ate the noodles and bihun first, leaving the best part for the last. The combination of the meatballs, the spring onion, and the broth flew me to the moon. I enjoyed every scoop of it. It was, by far, the best Rp 6.000,00 I have ever spent!

My bowl of Bakso, with some noodle, bihun, and spring onion 

A close up look of my early dinner

When Less is More

It has been a week since I share the same occupation as Ayuzawa Misaki from Maid-sama and I have enjoyed every second of it. Being a waitress is a tiring job indeed, but I had fun and learned so much from my colleagues! I even learned the fact that there is a small shop that sells instant noodles and drinks just across Villa Jatibening, where Gudang Rottie is located, and I have been visiting the small shop most of the time during my break time. 

It was during my third day of work when I first saw the small shop. The shop is located between a large Warung Masakan Padang and a meatball shop. This particular small shop was far from fancy, but it was love at first sight. I entered the shop immediately and observed like an excited kid in an amusement park. There were a couple of benches, organized neatly at the side of the table. Instant coffee sachets and frying pans decorated the lousy cardboard wall. The shop was small, yet cozy. 

A young lady came out from the back of the shop and asked me what I would have with a big smile on her face. "A glass of orange juice and a bowl of noodle, please," I said. The young lady nodded and prepared my order immediately. "Would you like to have your noodle well done, or medium rare," she asked. I prefer my noodle a bit chewy and slightly bitable, so I asked her not to over cooked it. Ten minutes later, my orange juice was served, along with my noodle, and I spent my break time enjoying the little things in life. 

A glass of instant orange juice

A bag of deep-fried tofu that I bought at a Gorangan vendor near my Gudang Rottie

A bowl of medium-rare noodle, topped with vegetables and an egg

Being A Waitress At Gudang Rottie

Dear readers, 

I got a job as a waitress at Gudang Rottie, woohoo! I finally share the same occupation with Rachel Green, from F.R.I.E.N.D.S., and Ayuzawa Misaki, from Kaichou wa Maid-sama, and I couldn't be happier! 

I started on Saturday. With a big grin on my face and a tied-up hair, I greet the customers welcome and serve food and beverages. Still with a big grin on my face, that made me look as if I was a pedophile serial killer, I wrap buns and swiped the floor. I also organized the wrapped buns on the shelves accordingly, based on the flavor of the buns, and mopped the floor. I've always thought that a waitress' job was only to hand out orders to customers, but it turned out that waitressing is a lot more than that, and I love it!

Wrapped buns. Wrapped buns everywhere. 

A new comer from Gudang Rottie, Pizza Twists and Cheese Twists

On my first day at work, I managed to make friends with the other Gudang Rottie workers. There were two other waitresses, one of them is the head waitress and the other one is a newbie waitress like me. Sherry is the head waitress of Gudang Rottie, a plump friendly fellow who taught me bits and bots about being a waitress. Venna, on the other hand, is a fellow newbie waitress who just started to work a week earlier. Both of them are really kind and willing to teach me the proper way to wrap Blueberry Flower Buns and bread loaves.

Labeling the cookies to be sold

Cleaning the dinning utensil to perfection

There are three baristas at Gudang Rottie and those guys can sure make awesome latte arts. Ichsan, Fandy, and Rizky are their names and they were very nice to me on my first day of work. They even taught me how to decorate cakes, how to drink Espresso, machines that baristas use to make drinks, and how to serve drinks to the customer. I'm planning on learning how to make latte art with them next week. 

Fancy high-tech coffee machine for the baristas

Organizing the cakes so that they will look attractive and appealing

CAKES!

I decorated them cakes with Strawberries and Cherries like a cake boss

The chefs at Gudang Rottie, Rangga and Umar, were also very nice. They let me observe their cooking techniques and they even let me tasted their delicious food. Rangga once made this delicious spicy and sweet sauce that was going to be applied on steaks and ribs. Working at Gudang Rottie definitely makes me feel like as if I have a VIP access to just about everything related to food and beverages that are being made in the restaurant. Talk about the ultimate bliss!

Boiled green peas

Chopping up some vegetables for a customer's order

Grill them ribs with fire!

Order for table number 5!

A heavenlier side of hell's kitchen

Despite the fact that I have been working for merely a couple of days, I had fun and learned so much already. I still have a lot of things that need to be learned though, including how to make latte art, that's why I'm pretty excited and can't wait for Friday to come. If you happen to be free and feel the need to have a sip of coffee, why don't you bring yourself a book and come to Gudang Rottie. Cakes, buns, grilled food, blended drinks, friendly services, we have it all right here at Gudang Rottie!  

My fellow Gudang Rottie workers

Gudang Rottie
Rukan Villa Jatibening Tol
Kav. A4, Bekasi 17412

Phone: (021) 9737 2883

Opening Hours
Monday- Sunday: 6 AM - 10 PM

Endless Urge to Eat

This is one of those days when I would have an endless need to eat, eat, and eat. Fellow Eves might know this kind of feeling. It's been three days since I stuff myself with whatever food I can find. I even have a food stock in my room, most of them are biscuits and chocolates, Lord have mercy on me. If I'm not mistaken, I had four meals and munched on various snacks today. I just couldn't help it. 

One of the meals I ate today was a plate of toast. The urge to have some bread suddenly popped up in my head, then I immediately ran to my neighbor's mini shop and bought myself a pack of cheese and a can of milk. A step-by-step slideshow of how to make a nice toast is being presented in my mind. "I'm gonna make myself a plate of non-fancy toast like the one served in most Warung Kopi," I said to myself. 

"Warung Kopi" or "WarKop" is "Coffee Shop" literary translated, but Indonesian's coffee shop is far similar from Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Any place in Indonesia that has "warung" for a name is usually a simple and rather traditional place where you can get either food or daily necessities. The same thing goes with Warung Kopi. They usually serve low-cost coffee, tea, porridge, toast, fried bananas, and half-cooked eggs at Warung Kopi. It ain't fancy, but it ain't so bad either. Warung Kopi has a unique and traditional atmosphere, and somewhat comfy. 

Toast, or Roti Bakar literary translated, is one of the popular dishes to be served in a Warung Kopi. The toast usually filled with a mix of chocolate sprinkles, cheese, and canned milk, and it tasted great despite the fact that its' served messily. I made some for myself, with the exact toppings that they use in Warung Kopi. My Roti Bakar looked nice and tidy, but it lacked of its' WarKop touch. But, hey, at least I'm was full and happy! Maybe I should stop by at a WarKop tomorrow.. 

Warm yourself some slices of bread

Add some chocolate sprinkles and shredded cheese, but don't use all of the
cheese cube because you're going to need some for the finishing touch

Put the sandwich in the microwave, or oven toaster, or regular
toaster and let it cooked until it's golden brown in color

Slightly burnt my toast, but that's okay

Topped with some shredded cheese and, finally, added with canned milk

Let it pour, let it pour, let it pour~

Voila! Your WarKop toast is ready to be indulged!

Nasi Kucing for Dinner

Nasi Kucing means Cat Rice if we literary translated it into English. Most of you would probably think that this dish is one bizarre food, where rice and cat meat is mixed into one. But, you're stand corrected. Nasi Kucing is a regular rice that we can eat with other side dishes that were available, but the portion of the rice itself is very small, as if it is used to feed cats.

Unlike restaurants, the sellers of Nasi Kucing carry their food with a cart. They will place the cart in a strategic area, mostly at the side of the road, and set up some woven floors so that the customers can dine in. I know, it's not as comfy as it looks, but if you dine in with your friends, it will feel delightful and fun.

The sight of the dinning area

Other than food, the sellers also provide drinks, such as tea and coffee 

Usually, three large teapots can be found at most Nasi Kucing dinning place

The price of Nasi Kucing is rather cheap, depending of the side dishes that you chose to have. Deep-fried soy bean cake, or tempe, and tofu will probably cost Rp 500,00 per item, while the price of the other food on sticks may vary. 

I love to dine in at any Nasi Kucing dinning place. The atmosphere is very different from McDonalds or KFC. You can feel the simplicity and humbleness of this place. People from different kinds of social backgrounds can be found at this particular area, having low-cost luxurious dinner while exchanging stories with their friends and family. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can overhear people who are sitting close to you talking. That way, you can learn the about the person's life, despite the fact that you don't even know each other. Quite fun, huh?

To dine in at any Nasi Kucing cart that you can find at the side of the roads is highly recommended for those of you who fancy food-ventures.

One of the man who owns the food cart

A wide varieties of low-cost food  for dinner

Dozens sticks of otak-otak and gizzards

Lots of quail eggs to feed the hungry people

My dinner, rice, a stick of quail eggs, and deep-fried tempe

Mango Lover

I once had a dog who loves Mangoes. 

He will be forever remembered. 

Eimar von Greenhill, 19 November 2002 - 25 June 2012

A Feast at Moe's Place

A small introduction is necessary, yes?

Today was a well-spent day, indeed! I went out for brunch with my friends and we ate lots of delicious dishes. We were going to crash at Hamptons Cafe in the first place, but the place was closed when we arrived, which made me feel disappointed. How could I not? I spent the night browsing through Hamptons Cafe's Facebook page to examine the menu and made a list of food that I want to eat. I was so ready to order a nice set of lunch since I hopped into the car. I didn't even had breakfast so that I would have spaces to fill in my stomach! But then the "Sorry, we're close" sign popped up. Dinkleberg. 

Thank goodness there was this restaurant named Moe's Place right beside Hamptons Cafe, so we entered the building and dominated a table for five. Moe's Place is a really nice restaurant, and it has this New-York-like atmosphere. The restaurant deserves a two thumbs up in terms of interior design.  The walls were decorated with street-photographs which took place in, probably, New York. The dinning area are divided into two sections, which are indoors and outdoors. The ceilings were decorated with hanging lamps and shelves that were used to placed empty bottles. All in all, Moe's Place is a fine and cozy restaurant for you to dine in with your friends and family. 

The choice of food were a bit limited as they mostly serve pasta and ribs. But there were also other main-courses that looked very interesting, such as a various choice of chicken platter and Moe's signature burger. We skimmed through the menu, asking each other what we would like to have. It took us about five minutes to decide what we were going to have.

Sally and Angel ordered themselves a glass of Iced Lychee Tea. It looked a bit different from what I expected it to be. Iced Lychee Tea should look refreshing and contains, at least, a couple of canned lychee, yet Sally's and Angel's looked like beers instead. Maybe Moe's idea of Iced Lychee Tea is a bit different, which is all bubbly and fizzy. On the other hand, the presentation was very nice and simple, and it looked like it would quench your thirst.  

The bubbly Lychee Iced Tea

Velly ordered herself a glass of Iced Tea. Nothing special, just your regular sweet iced tea. The presentation was very appealing as they put a leaf and ice cubes inside the drink. Again, it looked very refreshing and as if it would quench your thirst. I bet the iced tea would taste best if you drink it after you finish a jog.

Iced Tea; the quenchiest drink in the restaurant

Being different from the rest of the group, Icha ordered herself a glass of vanilla milkshake. Decorated with a stick of chocolate wafer, she drank nearly half of the glass before the food arrived, which made her pretty much stuffed. I don't usually drink milkshake because it always give me a feeling of nausea if I consumed it too much. But, I gotta say that, I look forward to order myself Icha's drink when I got the chance to visit Moe's Place someday in the future.

Icha's Vanilla Milkshake, decorated with a stick of chocolate wafer

As for me, I didn't order myself a drink. It would cost me a quarter of my allowance just to have a glass of Iced Lychee Tea, so I didn't bother to drink during brunch. 

A few minutes after our drinks arrived, the waiter came back to our table with our food that we ordered earlier. Sally had a plate of spicy chicken wings. It was nicely decorated with celery on top, and crushed spices and herbs on the sides of the plate, making the dish looked like a birthday present with confetti. 

I took a bite of the chicken wings. The meat was well-cooked. It was soft and slightly chewy, but the outer skin was a bit crunchy at some parts, making it deserves a two thumbs up. What I like the most about Sally's dish was the sauce that the chef used to coat the chicken wings. I have no idea what kind of sauce it was, but it tasted deliciously spicy and finger-licking good. I would finish the whole plate if Sally allowed me though. No, seriously.

Sally's Spicy Chicken Wings

A plate of Chicken Quesadillas was what Velly had for brunch. As I examined her dish, I found out that Chicken Quesadillas are slices of soft taco shells, or thin roti prata, filled with chicken and vegetables. You will mostly find tomatoes and paprika inside a slice of Chicken Quesadilla, usually covered with some fresh spicy sauce and mayonnaise. It tasted great as it was rich in flavor. It was sweet, spicy, sour, and very much refreshing. When you took a bite of the Chicken Quesadillas, you will definitely feels sparks of fireworks inside your mouth. The flavors would just burst and make you want to say, "LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA!"

Velly's pinatta-like Chicken Quesadillas

Icha and Angel ordered the same main-course, which was a plate of grilled chicken enveloped with barbeque sauce, garnished with french fries and salad, and topped with celery. The chicken drumstick was rather large in size and contained lots of meat. The meat was very soft and a bit chewy, not to mention white in color and delicious. The barbeque sauce was to die for! When I tried a bite of Angel's chicken, I couldn't help but to want a bowl of rice to go with it to achieve perfection in terms of compatibility. 

The french fries were rather thick. Thicker than those skinny fast-food restaurant's french fries. I'm guessing that the french fries were coated with some kind of seasoning to make it tasted more savory and salty. The salad was very fresh, not to mention the sauce that they were using was very delicious and sweet. Shredded carrots, purple cabbage, and green cabbage were the ingredients chosen to make this lovely salad, and I enjoyed every bite of it.

Icha's and Angel's finger-licking-good Barbeque Flavored Grilled Chicken

All of my friends were having chicken for brunch, so I decided to have something different. Angel helped me to chose the meal, which was Moe's Place signature burger named Sloppy Moe's. I've heard of Sloppy Joe's a couple of time, which is ground-beef-filled burgers. The name Sloppy Joe's described the condition of the food itself - sloppy, wet, and messy - but I've read some articles on the internet saying that people LOVE Sloppy Joe's with capital L-O-V-E. So, I decided to try a plate of Sloppy Moe's, hoping that it would be worth it to spend such amount of cash for a stack of messy burger. 

Good merciful Lord, Sloppy Moe's was beyond worth it! The food looked better than I expected it to be. It was big, juicy, generously filled with shredded sweet pork topped with melted cheese, coated with some sweet mayonnaise, and garnished with salad. This is, by far, the most delicious pork burger I have ever tasted! This burger is AWESOME and EPIC! The pork tasted so sweet and delicious, not to mention crunchy and crispy. I wouldn't mind to have this burger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of my life. The salad, contained of the same ingredients that were used in Icha's and Angel's salad, was very energizing and sweet. The melted cheese was very savory, especially those that were laminated to some of the pork. My burger also came with a handful of nachos, topped with fresh tomatoes. It was very crunchy, salty, and juicy at the same time. Good Lord, bless this food because it tasted beyond delicious. 

My superb Sloppy Moe's

Good Lord, would you just look at that delicious mouth-watery stacks of shredded pork!

Am I badass enough to join the epic series of Man Vs. Food?

The best pork burger I have ever ate so far

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, do visit Moe's Place and try their Sloppy Moe's. You will never regret it. It reeks of incredibility and awesomeness. It tasted epic. Don't be shy to take a big bite of it because the flavor will explode in your mouth. The term "Burger-gasm" suit this dish very well. Go grab yourself a plate of this delicious Sloppy Moe's and enjoy yourself, now!

Moe's Place
Jl. Benda Raya No. 1A
Kemang Selatan, Jakarta Selatan

Phone: (021) 7135 5555

Opening Hours:
10 AM - 10 PM