Café Kitsuné PIK Avenue

Café Kitsuné Indonesia has just opened its second location in North Jakarta after opening its first location at Ashta District 8 back in 2020. Located next to the main lobby of PIK Avenue Mall, Café Kitsuné PIK Avenue opened its door to the public on April 27, 2022.

Departing from their turf green nature inspired interior at Ashta District 8's location, Café Kitsuné PIK Avenue chose hot coral as the lead color to decorate the modern space, combining it with the signature wooden textures that are often seen in Café Kitsuné other locations. One new addition to the cafe that sets it apart from the other location is the outdoor bar area that has been set up for those who are looking to wine and dine at the cafe instead of getting a caffeine fix.

I visited the cafe with my friend, Winda, and had the chance to experience dining at the newly opened cafe/restaurant earlier this week. First off, the service was good. The servers who waited our table were friendly and pretty attentive. One thing that I also appreciate was the fact that they seem to understand the menu. Not in the kind of I-memorize-the-description-of-the-menu kind of way, but it sounded more like they have actually tasted the drink/dish so they can describe the taste and give their opinions about it. This is quite a rare occasion in my personal dining experience in Jakarta (or maybe I just have bad luck with servers when dining out) so it's always a nice surprise when I do actually encounter knowledgeable servers which makes the dining experience even better.

Now let's talk about their menu. We had a chance to try a couple of their drinks, food and desserts. But since there were so much food, I didn't try them all because, you know, there's only so much space I have in my belly. I'll give my personal opinions on the ones that I tried as well as the explanations that we got from the servers and the chef.

DRINKS

When we were ordering our drinks, I asked our server on their non-coffee signature drink and he recommended the ube latte and charcoal latte, which honestly sounded pretty good to me. He personally likes the ube latte so I ordered the iced ube latte and gave it a try. And it was good. The drink is not too sweet, perfect amount of milk, and you can still taste the ube (which didn't taste artificial imho). It was refreshing and light.

During the middle of our meal, the manager came over and asked if we wanted to order another drink and I asked her the same question I asked our server earlier. Her answer was the same. It seems like ube latte and charcoal latte are the favorites around here. Although she personally like charcoal latte better than the ube latte. So this time, I ordered their hot charcoal latte and I have to agree with her on this one. I think I enjoy the charcoal latte more than the ube latte. Maybe it's because I ordered it hot this time that it makes the flavor richer and not diluted by ice. Taste wise, it tasted earthy with the right amount of sweetness and it kind of reminded me of the melting gray drink I had at Uni'con (which I'm sure probably use similar ingredients since charcoal latte has been trending these past few years). Their matcha latte was also pretty solid too.

Breakfast Menu

The first breakfast menu that I tried was the Truffle Eggs Two Ways which consists of egg “parfait”, scrambled eggs, white truffle oil, mixed mushrooms duxelles and it comes with buttered toasts. When the dish was placed on our table, the delicious truffle oil aroma immediately hit me. The eggs were perfectly cooked, it was seasoned well and I can really taste the truffle oil when I took my first spoonful of egg. This is a great dish for breakfast.

Smoked Salmon and Ikura Bagel is the new addition to the breakfast menu that's currently only available at Café Kitsuné PIK Avenue. This is also one of the chef's recommended dish.

For the sweet breakfast menu, we got a sampler of the Azuki Toast courtesy of the chef and the host which is a toasted brioche bun with smooth azuki paste, butter balls, icing sugar and fox shortbread. If you like red bean and looking for a lighter breakfast option, this dish is probably for you. The regular portion usually comes with three pieces of toast instead of one and I believe the chef told us that they made their own azuki paste as well. Also, I really like their buttery fox shortbread.

Sandos Menu

The Spicy Fried Chicken Sando consists of brioche bread with spicy fried chicken thigh, asian slaw, kale, and gochujang chili mayonnaise. Generous sauce, super flavorful and the spiciness is not over the top (I can't really eat spicy food but this was still bearable for me).

Quick Bites Menu

Truffle Mac and Cheese Balls were just okay for me (maybe just because I personally am not a big fan of mac and cheese in general). They were crispy, the breading was not too thick, plenty of macaroni with parmesan and cream cheese stuffed inside with a hint of truffle oil. The homemade tomato sauce was pretty good and it helps to cut the cheesiness of the mac and cheese and give the dish a better balance.

Soup & Salad Menu

The Wakame Salad was probably the most pleasantly surprising dish for me. I generally more of a meat person than a salad person and quite picky about the salads that I like. But this one was really, really good. The mixed mesclun salad, dry wakame, cabbage, carrots, cherry tomatoes with generous kewpie sesame dressing and topped with fried shallot was delicious. It was a great mix of sweet and savory, very flavorful yet super light and fresh at the same time.

Also in this picture is the Sea Salt Latte, one of their signature drink, which I tried just a little bit since it has coffee in it and it was pretty good too. I also overheard a couple people on other tables ordered this drink.

Main Menu

Kitsuné Burger
Beef patty, mayonnaise, emmental cheese, fried egg and bacon. Served with hand-cut fries.

The Grilled Salmon with Roasted Paprika was probably my favorite dish from this meal. The perfectly cooked salmon was paired with roasted paprika, creamy sautéed kale, cherry tomatoes, grenaille potatoes, light creamy sauce and bonito flakes. Everything was well-seasoned and when I took a spoonful of all the components in the dish in one bite, it tasted really, really good. It was creamy but fresh and juicy all at the same time.

Dessert Menu

Daifuku Mochi is mochi filled with crème d’ange and strawberries, served with chocolate crumbs. The texture of the mochi is pretty nice, not too thick and soft. Everything in this dish is made in-house from scratch according to the chef. I'm not really a fan of strawberries in general so this one was just okay for me.

Millefeuille is my favorite one out of the two dessert menu we tried. The puff pastry was buttery and crumbly with the right amount of sweetness. The vanilla cream was fluffy and light and it was served with a scoop of delicious cereal ice cream. Everything in this dish works well together and it didn't leave me feeling overly stuffed. I would definitely order this again on my next visit.

The head chef, Chef Andri, who’s also the head chef of Ashta’s location came to our table at the end of our meal to ask us about our dining experience and we ended up chatting for a bit about the menu since we have a couple of additional follow-up questions after our meal. He was really friendly and answered all our questions as well as gave us more explanations about other dishes that we haven’t tried. Additional recommendations from the chef include Pork Belly Katsu Don and Pork Ribs which he told us to try on our next visit.

All and all, everything was good. Some menu items are better than others (obviously) but I really enjoyed my visit there and had a pleasant experience overall. Would I consider coming back here again? Yes, definitely.

Lastly, there’s this photo booth that they have inside the cafe. It's a complimentary service that they offered to the patrons and me and Winda took a couple of pictures together inside the spacious booth. A couple of things that were funny were, first, the camera placement was a tad too high for our height (or maybe we're just on the short side) so we had to tiptoe if we want to be vertically centered on the frame. Second, the display screen was a little blurry for some reason. Only the screen though because the pictures on the photo strip were sharp when they came out and it gives you two copies per session. Third, there is no cancel option anywhere so if you don't like the shots, it'll still print them out for you anyway. I thought having the photo booth is a pretty good idea and it makes the experience of visiting the cafe/store more fun.

 

Café Kitsuné PIK Avenue

Address: PIK Avenue Ground Floor, Jl. Pantai Indah Utara I No.6, Jakarta 14470, Indonesia.
Telephone: +62 812-1116-2204
Hours: Everyday 08:00 - 22:00

Instagram: @cafekitsuneindonesia
Menu: Drinks | Food

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Arts Café by Raffles Jakarta

Two weekends ago, my friend invited me to dinner at Arts Café by Raffles Jakarta. I never been to this place before so it was fun to check the place out. From the unique décor of Indonesian traditional artworks juxtaposed in the modern space, to the sleek wavy wooden panels framing the dining area, the interior of this restaurant is definitely memorable.

As for the food, we tried their all you can eat buffet which offers different selections of Asian and Western dishes. The dishes of the regular buffet was okay. There are enough variations of the menu items and they are seasoned well. Although if you’re a fan of bolder flavors, you might find the dishes are seasoned more on the lighter side (at least imho), but they’ll make you full without making you feel like your stomach is going to burst (again, imho). The dessert selections are quite varied from cakes, pastries, to Indonesian traditional snacks and sweets and they’re pretty good.

The AYCE also includes the recent additions to the buffet package which are the live cooking stations and show kitchen with menu curated by executive sous-chef Lukman. The menu for these two sections are more unique compared to the regular buffet stations which I think is one of the reason to try this buffet. The menu is still Indonesian inspired but, dare I say, with a twist, drawing inspirations from other culture’s dishes as well.

My favorite dish from the menu was Tuna na niura which is tuna placed inside a crispy nori cylinder with andaliman peppers and calamansi. From the presentation itself, the dish already intrigued me. But what I didn’t expect was the burst of flavors that exploded in my mouth the moment I bit into it. The dish is in a perfect bite size and the taste of tuna combined with the freshness of calamansi and contrasted with the texture of the crispy nori was very well balanced. It was such a pleasant experience, I had to go back and order a second portion. Other runner-up menus that are pretty tasty include Nasi Bebek Ireng, Rendang Tortellini, Sei Sapi En Croute, and Rawon Bakso.

My friend, Winda, who’s a foodie made a reel about the place. Check her video down below:

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A post shared by 𝑊𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑎 𝑉𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑎 | 𝗝𝗞𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗢𝗗𝗜𝗘 🇮🇩 (@munchandsnap.jkt)

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Grandma's Recipe • 할머니의 레시피

Grandma's Recipe (할머니의 레시피) is a Korean restaurant that aims to recreate the taste of a mother's cooking in a modern and comfortable cafe-like atmosphere space. According to the website, the home-style restaurant is run by a couple who after returning from their expatriate life, wanted to share the familiar and comfortable taste of their grandmother and mother’s cooking. The menu offered is generally comfort food that Korean people will associate with the meals that they have at home such as beef bone soup, ssambap, bulgogi, spicy pork and grilled fish. Grandma’s Recipe is also included in the 2018 Michelin Guide Seoul.

I visited this restaurant when I was exploring Seongsu (성수동) by myself. Seeing that there’s a waiting list form hanged at the entrance, I assumed that this place must usually be crowded during lunch or dinner time. Luckily, I got there after the lunch rush was over and got seated not long after I arrived. The restaurant feels like a combination of a house and a cafeteria for some reason. Most of the patrons there came with someone and I was the only one who was eating alone. It’s not really a problem, I think, since they have tables for two people available. On top of the regular menu that they have, they also serve daily specials depending on what day of the week it is. On the day that I visited, the daily special was the Spicy Pork Set Menu (제육볶 정식) which I ordered. It came with rice, soup, banchan and fried egg. The meal was good. It’s simple and well seasoned and definitely reminded me of a home-cooked meal.

Note: These pictures were taken before the pandemic.

Update:

In early 2020, Grandma’s Recipe has moved to a new location two blocks away from this location the restaurant was previously located. (See new address below)

 

Grandma's Recipe • 할머니의 레시피

Address: 서울 성동구 서울숲2길 44-12
Telephone: 02-467-5101
Hours: Wednesday - Monday 11:30 - 21:00 | Closed on Tuesdays

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1989 Bistro • 1989 비스트로

My sudden craving for steak was the reason why I had an impromptu dinner at 1989 Bistro (1989 비스트로) during one of my neighborhood explorations in Seoul. There were a couple of other restaurants in the area but its outdoor seating really what sold me. It was a summer evening after all and enjoying the breeze outside was more appealing than spending my time inside an air conditioned restaurant.

I seated myself on one of the outdoor seatings and the friendly staff took my order immediately after. I ordered their Korean Beef Sirloin Steak (한우 스테이크) which came out not too long after. The meat and the vegetables were perfectly cooked and well seasoned and it came with a side of fried rice, which I found interesting because before this, I don’t think I’ve ever had steak with fried rice (even if I have, I can’t remember the last time I had it). Dinner was quiet and delicious and I spent a bit of a time people watching afterwards before I head back home.

Note: These pictures were taken before the pandemic.

 

1989 Bistro • 1989 비스트로

Address: 서울 용산구 회나무로13가길 37 1층
Telephone: 0507-1416-0185
Hours: 12:00 - 21:00 Wednesday - Sunday

Instagram: @1989_bistro

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12 months • 열두달

Eating at 12 months (열두달) is like eating in a mini cafeteria. The hanok restaurant that’s located at Ikseon-dong (익선동) actually housed 6 different brands that have different menus that focus on different things ranging from meat, pasta, vegetables to drinks. It’s actually a great concept for a group of people who might have different cravings but still want to eat together because you can just select from the different concept menus that they have.

The interior of the place is also very homey. Maybe because the original structure of the hanok is kept so I felt like stepping into someone’s house. I also like how they have different sections of seatings, from the middle area that’s lit by the natural lighting from the glass ceiling above to the more private seatings that are divided by shelves and walls.

The first time I went to 12 months (열두달) was when it was just opened. There’s always a line in front of the place on the weekends so I decided to go during odd hours on a weekday to avoid the queue. Sure enough, the place was not too busy when I got there. There were still people eating, but at least I don’t have to wait in line. After looking through their menu, I ended up ordering ROOT’s creamy mushroom pasta and it was delicious. The portion was pretty big, the sauce was the right amount of creamy with earthy flavors and it was topped with generous serving of sliced mushrooms. I’ve been back a couple of times since then with my friends and they all seemed to like the food there. Unfortunately, I think the place just closed recently and has been replaced by another store because I can no longer find it on the map.

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