Red Bean Restaurant – Indonesia Restaurant

We have found a new restaurant in Jakarta – The Red Bean Restaurant recently. You might like the Red Bean Restaurant.

Well, technically, Red Bean Restaurant is not a new restaurant. We have seen its branches in many shopping malls in Jakarta. Just we haven’t tried this particular Red Bean Restaurant before.

The Red Bean Restaurant we go to is in Poins Square, a locally shopping mall in south Jakarta. It is not a very fancy shopping mall so to speak and is always crowded.

But the good thing about this Red Bean Restaurant is it was newly opened last year, and is quite bright, clean and modem. It is located on the top floor of the Poins Square shopping mall and has less customers. Lucky for us as we always try to avoid  crowded places. Indonesia is the 4th most populated country in the world. Crowd avoiding is an art here. 😀

Banner at the entrance of Red Bean Restaurant. They serve Oriental / Fusion dishes.

Nice ambiance. No smoking is what we like when we go out with Miss D. Quite family (kids) friendly, don’t you think?

Customers are mostly local Indonesians and families. So many babies in this photo, but it didn’t feel very noisy that day. Not at all. Something to do with the ambiance?The lights and walls might have a magical calming factor on the babies?

Food served is fast, and prices are very reasonable, within reach of the local people.

Wall features. A lot more similar ones on the walls. Nice touch.

These are what we ordered:

Guong Bao Ayam (Chinese Sichuan style chilli chicken)

IDR 38,500 (1 USD = IDR 9,600)

Udang goreng mayonnaise (Fried prawn with mayonnaise)

IDR 43,900 (1 USD = IDR 9,600)

Cap Cap – Mixed veggetables

IDR 28,500 ( 1USD = IDR 9,600)

Mapo Tahu ( Tofu in chilli sauce)

IDR 35,900 ( 1 USD = IDR 9,600)

Pocai Cah Bawang Putih (Stir Fried Veggie with garlic)

IDR 26,900 ( 1 USD = IDR 9,600)

Deep purple cranberry juice

IDR 19,900 ( 1 USD = IDR 9,600)

Ice Lemon Tea

Easiest drink to order. Served in all Indonesia restaurants. When we run out of ideas to order drinks, we just order the good, old Ice Lemon Tea. Can’t go wrong most of the time.

Location of the Red Bean Restaurant we went to:

Red Bean Restaurant

Poins Square, Lt 1

Jakarta Selatan

Tel: 75921199

 

Related articles:

• Restaurant Find Jakarta – May Star
• Restaurant Find Jakarta – Fish & Co.
• Nasi Goreng – Indonesia Fried Rice
• Jus alpukat
• $1.5 Buffet Lunch – Indonesia Restaurant

$1.5 Buffet Lunch – Indonesia Restaurant

After a short visit to the Australian Embassy, we went to the Ambassador Mall, a local Indonesia shopping mall. The two were pretty close to each. About 10-15 minutes drive, depending on your luck on the traffic.

Ambassador Mall is a good place to find cheap electronic products. Actually when thinking about cheap electronic products, there are two shopping malls come to our mind: the Ambassador Mall and Ratu Plaza. Of course, we can also find cheap electronics in China town, but that’s a bit fishy in our mind.

Anyway, by the time we were at Ambassador Mall, it was almost lunch time. We started to see office workers coming in, loads of them, dressed in local office attires: either normal western shirts, pants or dresses; or local batik shirts and batik dresses with the full muslin headscarves etc. We could tell from the badges they wore, the same as those office workers going to lunch in Sydney.

All these office workers didn’t stop much at the electronics or clothing stores. Most of them go straight to the top floor of the Ambassador Mall building. You know, most of the shopping mall top floors were Food Courts here in Jakarta.

And yes, we were right, another Food Court:

See what we had found:

A buffet lunch station as soon as we enter the Food Court. And the price got us so very excited: it was written on the wall: RP15,000.

RP15,000, that’s like USD1.5! Can you believe it? So how to order? We watched the other office workers. One by one they got their Nasi Puti (steamed white rice, there was also yellow rice from memory, not sure). Then they picked their main meals, such as a piece of Chicken (Ayam) or Fish (Ikan). There were 4 kinds of chickens and fish to pick from.

After that, they picked whatever they wanted for the vegetables or tofu. We counted and there were about 8 of these. Beans, bean sprouts, egg plants, cauliflowers, etc, etc…

There, we were done. For US1.5, this was what we got (minus the chicken, we forgot to take a picture of it). And yes, we had been very moderate, the other male office workers had twice or three times as what we had. And they were paying the same price! See the office workers in batik below. They ate a lot more than us and seemed really enjoy themselves.

After got our meals, we got to order drinks too. For RP5,000, we could choose water, or tea, cold and refreshing right out of the fridge.

And yes, the buffet owner actually speaks English. So no problem if we don’t know how to order. They will show us in our own familiar tongues. How good was that!

Oh, if you are not a fan of Indonesia food. There are plenty other choices. How about KFC? Or some steaks? Come on, you can afford them.

And the verdict on the taste? Well, it is authentic Indonesia food, with lots of chilli. Just like the ones we would find in any other local Indonesia restaurant, minus the price tag. Not a fancy Indonesia restaurant, alright? But simply a normal, everyday Indonesia fast food eatery for middle class Indonesia office workers. Just like the ones back in Sydney, the lunchboxes at an everyday shopping mall.

Related articles:

• Restaurant Find Jakarta – May Star
• Restaurant Find Jakarta – Fish & Co.
• Nasi Goreng – Indonesia Fried Rice
• Jus alpukat
• Gado Gado – Indonesia Vegetable Salad

The Stomach Knows

31 Days In Jakarta Day 25

OK, since this week’s quiz is about Indonesia street food, why not do a ‘Restaurant Find Jakarta’ about Indonesia street food?

As soon as we arrived in Jakarta, we were told that there are two kinds of expats here:

One who never tries street food.

One who enjoys street food and has it all the time.

Well, guess we are none of these. We’re sort of in the middle. We want to enjoy local food. ‘While in Rome, do what the Romans do’. Right? But we are not gaming enough to try the street, street food. Maybe occasionally, on an impulse, we might buy a few street food here and there, but that’s kind of rare for us.

Our favorite food is always our home country food, wherever we are. The stomach knows where the home is. That’s what we think.

What meals do you eat while you are overseas?  Not for a short trip, but for serious living for an extended period of time?

So today’s restaurant review is about a street food place in the shopping mall. In some of the shopping malls in Jakarta, they have street food corners that show case the ‘real’ street food in their original presentation:

Mie Kocok Bandung. Noodle from Bandung.

Siomay Bandung. A dim sum from Bandung.

Tahu Tek Tek. Selling some kind of noodle together with tofu? Not sure.

Our food is great! See all those local food on this poster. Very inviting.

Local vegetable. Lots of them. All different kinds.

Fried eel? Not sure. Looks interesting.

What we had that day.

Chicken with tofu and rice.

The chicken looks great. Miss D enjoyed it.

Rice noodle soup. Some kind of soup with fish balls and rice noodle. Quite nice.

Special Indonesia soup.

Pickles. Very refreshing. Love the color.

Chilli sauce. Always, always accompanied with chilli sauce.

Menu. One of the menus we saw. There were many more.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. You have to try some of the wonderful street food that Jakarta offers if you are ever here.

Related articles:

• Restaurant Find Jakarta – May Star

• Restaurant Find Jakarta – Pizza Marzano

• Restaurant Find Jakarta – Fish & Co.

• Nasi Goreng – Indonesia Fried Rice

Restaurant Find Jakarta – Pizza Marzano

31 Days In Jakarta Day 19

Do you know? They serve nice, yummy chocolate brownies in Pizza Marzano in Jakarta. Dessert after pizza, that’ll certainly put a few more kilos on our tummy!

We went to eat at Pizza Marzano because Miss D wanted Pizza. We have to have pizza once in a while, especially now that we are on holidays. What do you think?

Entrance at Pizza Marzano at PIM (Pondok Indah Mall), one of the fancy shopping malls in south Jakarta. Many people ate there the day we went and we had to wait for 30 minutes for a table. That said something about this pizza shop, right? Or, was it because the promotion sign of 50% discount by using credit card? Everyone loves a bargain, no matter which country we were. That’s the universal truth we learned over the years.

But hey this is a great promotion, especially when we saw that some other restaurants were almost empty while we need to wait for our pizza. Well, Miss D wanted pizza, what can we do?

We didn’t waste our time while waiting. We loved watching the live pizza making at Pizza Mazarno. Also loved the stripped T-shirt by the way. Nothing beats a freshly made pizza dough.

Talking about that, ever since we bought our bread-maker, we have been making our own pizza dough at home. The pizzas we made are heavenly. Have to show you some of our own home-made pizza soon.

Pizza of the month: Indonesian Beef Rendang Pizza. Beef rendang is a classic Indonesia dish, very flavorful and spicy. We wondered what it tasted like but didn’t gather enough courage to try.

As always and the same as all other Indonesia restaurants, the good old chilli flakes and chilli sauce were served in Pizza Mazarno. Supposedly, we should dazzle our pizzas with these goody and make them super yummy. Again, we didn’t try. Maybe we haven’t stayed long enough in Jakarta yet? Would you put chilli flakes on your pizzas?

We were also given forks and knifes to eat our pizzas. Nice. But we prefer the conventional way to just eat use our bare hands.

This was what we ordered at Pizza Marzano. Note prices this time were from memories, as Mrs D lost the receipt 😀

The American Pizza.

(IDR 89,000. Pepperoni, mozzarella, tomatoes.)

The Romana Pollo Pancetta Pizza

(IDR 85.000. Chicken, yellow peppers, crispy beef bacon, peperonata sauce.)

The Four Seasons Pizza

( IDR69,000 , mushrooms, pepperoni, anchovies & capers, mozzarella, olives)

For drinks, we all had coke (IDR 20,000 each). That’s what we always have while eating pizza. We might try other soft drinks occasionally, but we go back to coke eventually. How about you? What’s your favorite drink while eating pizza?

For dessert, Miss D shared the chocolate brownie with Mrs D. (About IDR 30,000?)

Pizza Marzano also serve Italian starters and sides, salad, pasta, deserts and many kinds of drinks. We would like to try their pasta next time we come.

We had to Wait for the cashier before we leave Pizza Marzano. Very warm welcoming wall color and nice golden framed paintings.

Pizza Marzano has many outlets in Jakarta:

Overall, we enjoyed our pizzas, and would love to come back to Pizza Marzano every now and then.

The Pizza Marzano we went to:
Pizza Marzano PIM 2 
Jl. Metro Pondok Indah
South Jakarta
Tel: 75920990

Related articles:

Restaurant Find Jakarta – May Star

Restaurant Find Jakarta – Fish & Co.

Nasi Goreng – Indonesia Fried Rice

Jus alpukat

Restaurant Find Jakarta – May Star

31 Days in Jakarta Day 10

Last week was Chinese Mid Autumn Festival, we went to May Star, an upper market Chinese restaurant to enjoy some authentic Chinese fest.

There are many Chinese restaurants in Jakarta and May Star is one of the best. May Star is especially famous for the Dim Sum menu it serves. Its Dim Sum is tasty and fresh, one of the best among the many Dim Sum restaurant in Jakarta.

According to Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2012, Jakarta is ranked no. 61 , up 8 places from last year. It is actually not cheap to eat in a good restaurant in Jakarta, especially when sea food is involved.

(Miss D enjoyed watching the fish tank in May Star.)

(Team of Chefs in May Star)

(We are having Chinese Tea, nice China they use in May Star)

May Star serves sea food, chicken, pork, vegetables among many other things. Fish is seasonal price and is quite expensive. Luckily, we took advantage of the 30% off by paying with credit card.

In Jakarta, there are always promotions on in various restaurants. If you own a credit card, you can certainly take advantage of the deals from the restaurants, the savings can be as high as 50%.

(Steamed Fish, IDR 275,000, 1 USD = IDR 9,600)

(Chicken Grilled Chef Choice, IDR 62,000, 1 USD = IDR 9,600)

(Mapo Toufu, IDR 60,000, 1 USD = IDR 9,600)

(Baby Pak Choy Garlic, IDR 66,000, 1 USD = IDR 9,600)

We enjoyed all the dishes we have. Next time we want to try the Dim Sum menu in May Star.

The address of the May Star we went to:

GANDARIA CITY
May Star Restaurant ke-4 berdiri 5 Agustus 2010,
bertempat di Gandaria City Main street Lt.GF No.38-39
Jl.Sultan Iskandar Muda (Arteri Pondok Indah) Jakarta 12240.

Tlp: 021-29052922

31 Days In Jakarta Day 2

Restaurant Find Jakarta – Fish & Co.

Went to Fish & Co. restaurant last week. It is one of our favorite restaurants in Jakarta. We really enjoy the fish and chips in Fish & Co.

Back in Sydney, we love to eat fish and chips every now and then. There is this corner fish and chips shop near where we live, and they serve the most amazing fish and chips in our area.

Can’t wait to go back!

Mr D checking out the famous Fish & Co. menu one more time.

Cute black board at the Fish & Co. entrance. BTW, Love the mermaids!

Nice ambiance inside the Fish & Co. restaurant. Very friendly waiters, too.

Fishing season begins… Let’s dig in!

The Best Fish and Chips in Town

(Rp 69,000, 1 USD = 9500 RP)

New York Fish and Chips

(Rp 79,000, 1 USD = 9500 RP)

They have 7-8 kinds of fish and chips, and each one is slightly different. They serve flavours from around the world so anyone will enjoy these scrumptious meals!

One huge Swordfish Collar! The meat is juicy, sweat and tender. But boy, it is big! And has a few bones, so you might pass on it.

(Rp 99,000, 1 USD = 9500 RP)

Fish & Co. also has grilled fish, baked fish and poached fish. They’re all served with chips or salads. Oh BTW, the soft drink is free flow. Miss D had a few glasses of coke and was really happy (not Mrs D though, sigh).

For variety, Fish & Co. serve fish bites, sea food plates, and a few Indonesia specialties.

Fish & Co. has branches in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Middle East, Philippines and Singapore. So if you are in these areas, you might want to check it out. Many of our friends like it.

Where we went:
Fish & Co. in Gandaria City

Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda

(Arteri Pondok Indah)

Kebayoran lama

Jakarta Selatan 12240

Indonesia

Tel: 021 – 29053205

Photo credits: Miss D 😀