Staying at India House Hostel in New Orleans

I stayed at India House Hostel during my trip in New Orleans. It's my first experience to stay in a hostel. I would say that it's not bad and scary like what I thought, in fact, I liked staying at this hostel and maybe someday I will try again to stay in a hostel. 

There is no curfew or lock-out period in this hostel. The kitchen, common rooms and all facilities including free WiFi are available 24 hours a day. Local pubs, restaurants and supermarkets are reachable within walking distance and it's only 7 minutes from the French Quarter by car. 

The chubby cute hostel cat is sleeping on the porch. 

The lobby.

India House hostel  has an affordable price for backpackers. It's only USD 20 per night per person for the 8 - 12 people per room.

Communal bathrooms and toilets.

 The open air kitchen. 

Breakfast is available from 9 am to 1 pm. 

Besides toast, bacon, hash-brown, cereal, milk and orange juice, there are also:

Scrambled eggs with basil.

Pancake.

Sausages.

Location:
India House Hostel
124 S Lopez St.
New Orleans, LA 70119
USA
Tel: (504) 821-1904

Pancious Pancake House

Craving for pancakes! My colleagues and I headed to Pancious at Taman Anggrek Mall. The place was quite crowded but still good for hanging out and chit-chatting.

For the drinks, we ordered:

Peach Soda - Rp. 26.000 

Coco Banana - Rp. 31.000 

Ice tea - Rp. 11.000

I chose Peach Soda. It's like thickened drink!

Then,  Nachos became our choice while waiting for our pancakes.

Nachos with BBQ Bacon - Rp. 47.500

The nachos chips and the cheese already tasted good but with the BBQ sauce and bacon, the taste became overwhelming and very salty.

 Nutty Nutela (single) - Rp. 34.500

Pancake with one scoop vanilla ice cream, nutella and almond.

My choice of pancake:

Orange Suzette (single) - Rp. 31.500

Pancake with one scoop vanilla ice cream, orange syrup and orange zest. Tasted decent.

Pancious Original (double) - Rp. 23.000

Pancake, maple syrup and butter.

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

Current currency : 1 USD = Rp. 9.600

Location
Pancious Pancake House
Mall Taman Anggrek Level 3, Unit A02
Jl. Let. Jen. S. Parman Kav. 21
Jakarta Barat
Tel: 563 9130

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.

Tukang Lumpia Basah (Wet Spring Rolls)

When I was in Bandung, I can see there're so many street vendors selling "Lumpia Basah" (trans: Lumpia means spring rolls, Basah means wet). I think the reason why it's named "wet spring roll" because this spring roll is not deep fried :)


The main ingredients: thin crepes, egg, beansprouts, chicken, dried shrimp, jicama, garlic, soy sauce.

The process of cooking for the filing of Lumpia Basah:
* heat oil in a pan
* fry garlic
* add an egg (make like scrambled egg)

* add bean sprouts
* add the jicama which is already cooked with dried shrimp, chicken, sweet and salty soy sauce
* toss some salt and fresh chili sauce (the vendor added MSG)
* stir altogether

* prepare the thin crepes made from flour and water;
sauce made from tapioca/corn flour, tamarind water and brown sugar

* put the thin crepes on a banana leaf
*dab the thin crepes with the sauce
* put the "scrambled egg" on the thin crepes
The wrapping

It's ready to be eaten :)
Tasted quite savory!

1 Lumpia Basah costs Rp. 5.000 (about 50 cents US)

Kue Serabi Bandung

If you are visiting Bandung, give a try of the Kue Serabi Bandung which is one of the famous Indonesian traditional pancakes, made from rice starch/flour mixed with coconut milk with different kind of toppings.

If you are looking for an authentic taste, I will recommend the Oncom topping. Oncom is sediment of soy bean or peanut fermented by specific mold - an authentic food from West Java.

The traditional way of making Kue Serabi Bandung.

No electric stove but instead using wood.

Kue Serabi Bandung with Oncom topping
You can also have kue serabi with grated cheese.
It's tasty and rich of flavor.

Interested to read other Indonesian traditional pancakes? You can read:
Kue Serabi Solo
Martabak Mini
Kue Ape

Martabak Mini (Mini Pancake)

A week ago, I was at a bus station when I saw a man selling Martabak mini on a cart.
Here in Indonesia, we have 2 kind of Martabaks (sweet and salty).

Martabak Mini is the mini size of the original Sweet Martabak (the diameter size is about 35 cm). Sweet Martabak is actually sweet thick crepes/thick pancakes - often filled with cheese, chocolate, or ground peanuts. Main ingredients are flour, water, eggs, baking soda and margarine.

Martabak Mini with chocolate sprinkler and banana.

Martabak Mini with chocolate sprinkler and ground peanuts.

Folded.

Final touch, brushed the Martabak mini with margarine.1 Martabak mini costs Rp. 700 (about USD 0.50).

By the way, this early morning, I decided to make mini pancakes ;)

My own mini pancake creation:
3 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg

Mix altogether then fry on a mini pan.

Less than 10 minutes, 4 slices of mini pancakes are served to be eaten with homemade strawberry jam.

A perfect breakfast to start my birthday :)

Kue Serabi Solo

Kue Serabi is the traditional pancake in Indonesia. The main ingredient is rice starch/flour mixed with coconut milk.

Actually, there are many varieties of Kue Serabi.

Last time, I posted about Kue Ape or Kue Tetek (trans: Breast cake) which is also Kue Serabi, originally from Jakarta.

And now, I'm posting this Kue Serabi Solo which is originally from Solo (a city in the Central of Java).

Isn't this interesting, Kue Serabi Solo is being sold and cooked from a private car that just is parked on the street? ;)

The Serabi's batter

There are different toppings like banana, jackfruit, cheese, chocolate sprinkle or if you don't like the toppings, you can ask for plain Kue Serabi.

One thing that I noticed, this man is using little woks to make the Kue Serabi. The real Kue Serabi Solo is usually cooked in small clay pots.

1 piece of Serabi = Rp. 1.500

Mr. Pancake

A pancake restaurant in a new junction called Pluit Junction.

Kue Ape

Kue ape is one of the traditional Jakarta snack which you can find on the street. It's like pancake but crispy surround it. Some people also named it as Kue Tetek (trans: breast cake), hehehe