"Sarong Inspirations" Cookbook by Chef Will Meyrick

About a week after the Grand Opening of Jakarta Culinary Festival 2012, a few bloggers and I met up with chef Will Meyrick for a great chit chat at the Skye Bar.

SKYE Bar in the evening

It's captivating to learn chef Will Meyrick's deep passion for Asian cuisine. With a Scottish inheritance, married to an Indonesian lass, chef Will Meyrick discovered the uniqueness of Asian cuisine from the street food stalls, in the kitchens of local families and at local markets. His culinary journey began from London to Sydney, then all the way to Southeast Asia countries like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, before settling down in Indonesia. 

Chef Will Meyrick

We had Skye's cocktails and mocktails.

During this meet up, chef Myerick shared his first cookbook "Sarong Inspirations" - signature dishes and solo travels around Asia. This cookbook was released during the Jakarta Culinary Festival 2012. The official launching was at his Sarong restaurant in Bali last weekend. 

"Sarong Inspirations" available at Sarong and Mama San in Bali. 

Aksara bookstores: Kemang, Plaza Indonesia, Pacific Place and Citos.

In this cookbook, you will find not only 75 simple and delicious traditional recipes from across Southeast Asia by chef Will Meyrick but also his personal twist in pictorial and stories behind each recipe. It's a wonderful and inspiring cookbook!

Inside the "Sarong Inspirations"

Chef Will Meyrick's signing his cookbook.

From left to right: 

Daniel, Natalia, Selby, Chef Will Meyrick, Imel, Dino, Jed.

Location:
SKYE Bar
Menara BCA, 56th Floor
Jl. Jend. Sudirman
Central Jakarta
Tel: 2358 6996

Kerri Yakiboy - Casual Pork Ribs

I had lunch with Cindy at Kerri Yakiboy today. We decided to have our lunch here because both of us, we have heard good reviews of this small cozy restaurant. I quite like the decoration here. It's dominated with red and broken white colors then there are a lot of white cylinders on the ceilings and also the two mirrors at the left and right side in the back.

The open kitchen. 

It's interesting  to read their slogan in front of the open kitchen's window. It says, "PORK eaters are better lovers." I wonder whether this is true ;) Well, for sure all the dishes in the menu contain pork.

Beef Lover with Bacon - Rp. 58.000

Special marinated grilled prime beef with crispy streaky bacon and mashed sweet potato.

I ordered this from the menu. The beef was quite tender served with black pepper gravy. The purple mashed sweet potato with grated Parmesan cheese on the top didn't impressed me. It's more suitable as dessert instead of staple food.

Triple Lovers - Rp. 62.000

Mix babyback ribs, beef fillet and streaky bacon.

Cindy had this Triple Lovers. I could tell that she really enjoyed every bite of her food. I tasted a little bit of the babyback ribs and the beef fillet with BBQ sauce. Very good! I should order this dish whenever I eat again at this restaurant.

All prices subjected to 5% service charge and 10% government tax.

Current currency rate: 1 USD = Rp. 9.650

Location:
Kerri Yakiboy 
Gandaria City 2nd Floor
Jl. Sultan Iskandar Muda
Jakarta
Tel: 290 08058

Disclaimer: The review and opinion expressed here are purely according to my personal taste. There's a possibility that the taste of the food might change later on, which could affect the review and opinion here. I also affirm that no monetary or non-monetary compensation has been received from this restaurant for writing this review.

Lunch at Waduk Cirata (Cirata Dam) Sindang Jaya, West Java

Last month, I went together with my colleagues to a little village in Cianjur, West Java for a location survey. It was already lunch time when we were done with our survey. Since the village is not so far from the floating restaurant in Waduk Cirata (Cirata Dam), thus we decided to have a lunch there. 

Cirata Dam's reservoir.

Waduk Cirata is an embankment dam, located about 17 km from Cianjur and 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Jakarta. This dam serves several purposes which are hydroelectric, power generation, aquaculture, water supply flood control and irrigation.The area of Cirata reservoir has a surface are of 62 km2 (24 sq mi).

To get to the floating restaurant, we had to charger a small boat with a capacity for 10 people. It costs Rp. 10.000 per person for a round trip.

The floating restaurant

Approaching the floating restaurant

The restaurant.

Aww... there's a little cute cat  :)

No chairs. Customers have to sit on the floor.

Fresh young coconut - Rp. 5.000

Morning glory with garlic - Rp. 15.000

  Grilled Tilapia Fish - Rp. 30.000/ kg

Sweet soy sauce with birds' eye chili, shallot and tomato - free

Rice - Rp. 3.000 /person

Simple.... but totally delicious! :)

Btw, if you are already hungry and don't want to wait for about 30 minutes of the fish being catch and the food being prepared, it will be wise enough to call them first and order what you want to eat so when you arrive at this floating restaurant, the food is ready to be served. But then, if not you don't mind to wait, during the 30 minutes of waiting for the food to be ready, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery around there; you even can do fishing or feeding the fish. 

The kitchen.

Feeding the fish.

Fishpond.

Our boat already waited for us to bring us back to the land. 

Current currency: 

1 USD = Rp. 9.600

Valen's Group
Pemancingan Kolam Apung - Tambak - Penginapan
Pusat Ternak: Ikan Gurame - Ikan Boboso / Malas, Ikan Nila Merah - Kan Nila Hitam - Ikan Mas
Contact Person: Aswanda Dantji
Mobile Phone: 0818 0646 10014 / 0878 2178 8486

Location:
Daerah Pariwisata Calincing
Cirata Sindang Jaya Ciranjang
Cianjur, West Java

Disclaimer: The review and opinion expressed here are purely according to my personal taste. There's a possibility that the taste of the food might change later on, which could affect the review and opinion here. I also affirm that no monetary or non-monetary compensation has been received from this restaurant for writing this review.

Pizza Marzano PIM 2

My ex-colleague and I couldn't resist to walk into Pizza Marzano when we saw the promotion sign of 50% discount by using BNI card. It's a great deal. The promotion will last until December 2012. What I feel about the the food in Pizza Marzano these days are not like in the old days. It's still good although I could not feel the umph factor anymore. Should I go back again for this 50% great deal?

Fusilli Con Funghi - Rp. 60.000

Mushrooms in cream sauce.

Fettucini Salmone - Rp. 70.000

Smoke salmon, asparagus, red onions, dill, cream sauce.

  Pizza Quattro Carni - Rp. 79.000

Chicken ham, spicy beef, pepperoni, chicken

Pizza Romana Pollo Pancetta - Rp. 85.000

Chicken, yellow peppers, crispy beef bacon, peperonata sauce.

Lasagne Classica - Rp. 65.000

Bolognese sauce, tomatoes, bechamel sauce, grana panado

Penne Piccante - Rp. 65.000

Chicken, mushrooms, red onions, mozzarella parmesan and pesto sauce, grana padano. For me, the onions flavor was overwhelming in this dish.

Panna Cotta De Al Fruitti De Bosque - Rp. 35.000

Cream sugar, vanilla pudding, berry coulis

One of my favorite desserts.

Chocolate Fudge Cake - Rp. 40.000

Served with vanilla ice cream.

Ice Lemon Tea (refill) - Rp. 22.000

All prices are subject to 5% service charge and 10 PB1 government tax.

Current currency: 1 USD = Rp. 9.600

Location:
Pizza Marzano PIM 2 
Jl. Metro Pondok Indah
South Jakarta
Tel: 75920990

Disclaimer: The review and opinion expressed here are purely according to my personal taste. There's a possibility that the taste of the food might change later on, which could affect the review and opinion here. I also affirm that no monetary or non-monetary compensation has been received from this restaurant for writing this review.

A TavoLa Italian Gourmet & Resto

It was a Sunday afternoon when several food bloggers and I attended a food tasting invitation at A TavoLa Italian Gourmet & Resto in Kemang area.

A Tavola - Literally means everything that goes to dining table. I like their concept which is to bring the traditional Italian culture together with original Italian products. In another word, A Tavola is a place where to gather, taste and appreciate the original Italian cuisine enjoying the slow food philosophy according to the old Italian life style.

A friendly atmosphere with an antique decor.

You even can feel a romantic atmosphere here in the evening ;) 

The only thing that I don't like in this restaurant is the plasma TV; hangs in the middle of the wall that could ruin the romantic atmosphere although soft Italian songs are played as the background music.

So, here we go with the food tasting menu that had been prepared by this Italian Restaurant. Buon Appetito!

Italian House Red Wine - Rp. 60.000

Elle Sanzalo - Merlot 2009 - Spain Red Wine

Appetizer

Cheese Platters - Rp. 175.000

L'esperto: Bel Paese, Atiago, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gorgonzola, Pecorino Ramano & Giana Padano

Bruschetta Al Pomodoro - Rp. 20.000

Baguette bread served with tomato salsa in extra virgin olive oil.

Bruschetta Con Funghi - Rp. 20.000

Baguette bread served with mushrooms and cheese.

Fresh Pasta

Ravioli Di Manzo - Rp. 35.000

Layered pasta filled with pumpkin, ricotta and beef served with tomato sauce

Ravioli Con Funghi - Rp. 38.000

Mushroom and ricotta ravioli in mushroom sauce.

Main Course

Tagliata Di Manzo - Rp. 115.000

Thin slice of 200 gr New Zealand sirloin backed with Italian herbs, mushroom and mozzarella cheese.

Involtini Di Pollo - Rp. 75.000

Rolled chicken breast filled with mozzarella cheese and beef pepperoni served in creamy mushroom sauce.

Desserts

Red Velvet Cake - Rp. 42.000

Mele Alle Creme - Rp. 25.000

Apple crepe served with rum custard and vanilla ice cream.

Torta Di Cioccolato - Rp. 30.000

Home made warm chocolate cake served with vanilla ice cream.

All prices are subjected to Government Tax & Service Charge

Current currency: 1 USD = Rp. 9.600

My verdict of the food, it was luscious but for the desserts, they did not extent of doing wonders just yet. I really enjoyed the cheese platter very much. The romantic atmosphere in this restaurant definitely will bring me back here again someday.

Location:
A TavoLa Italian Gourmet & Resto
Jl. Kemang Selatan Raya no.125
South Jakarta
Tel: 71793580