Monday, November 23, 2015

The Duck King at Kemang

I have been to The Duck King numerous times before and had enjoyed their duck (obviously), fried rices, tofu, spinaches -- you name it. The funny thing never once did I ever paid for dining in The Duck King until the day of which these very pictures are taken. Be it from a seminar invitation, a birthday celebration and graduation party, proving that the restaurant is ideal for gatherings. I never even dined at The Duck King with my family and having to spend it all on our own. This time, my brother and I finally made our own purchase at this very franchise after watching The Little Prince at Cinema XXI. It was a quiet afternoon and the restaurant were not busy. The restaurant had two types of seating, inside the actual restaurant and the outer seating that is placed near the escalator, but the indoor seating were fully closed and were cleaned up upon our arrival that day. Anyways, let's get to the food.



Bebek Panggang dengan Nasi Hainan (IDR 50.000)
The signature roasted duck paired with Hainanese rice is one of the most classic things you can have at Duck King. Upon order, the server would confirm whether you wanted the duck to be served with or without bones. My brother chose the bone-in serving, only to have most of his duck being heavy with ossein -- which he regretted, thinking at first that the bone will give extra flavor to the duck. This duck is crispy on the outside and pretty moist on the inside, but this wasn't served piping hot on the table which is unfortunate. The Hainanese rice is pretty fluffy and had a good amount of ginger. The portion comes with a hoisin sauce and a bowl of soup stock.



Nasi Goreng Seafood dengan Saus XO (IDR 56.000)
This seafood fried rice is huge! I was expecting something about the half serving of this portion but I was really happy that it was served on this big plate as it becomes easily sharable between the two of us. The fried rice were very good and the good thing is that they were served right off the pan as it came out blazing hot. The vegetables and the seafood tasted fresh and the XO sauce is blended very well into the rice. I always love the flavor of XO sauce as it goes really well with seafood. This one is our best purchase for the day.



Cheong Fan Goreng dengan Saus XO (IDR 28.800) 
Chee cheong fan is one of my ever favorite dish. The silkiness of the rice noodle sheet served with protein, drizzled with the sweet-savory soy sauce and sometimes topped with sesame seeds made the humble dish very special to me. It was interesting that the restaurant has a variant of fried cheong fun on the menu, so we decided to try it out. Different from the dry cheong fan, the fried cheongfan consist of the rice noodle rolled with shredded fried shrimps and topped with diced scallions, salted fish and fried shallots. The rice noodle exterior is crunchy while its insides were very soft and chewy -- although a bit mushier and thick and there were no protein that adds another texture on the inside of the rice sheet. I would prefer the usual cheong fan any day as this is a bit too 'shrimpy' for me. The XO sauce here is part of the topping mixture but does not give enough significant flavor.


Braised Tofu with Shimeji Mushrooms (IDR 68.000)
The braised tofu is such a nice side to have here, however, this particular dish fell a bit flat as it was lacking seasoning. Usually, the sauce were thicker and slightly darker. Decent dish otherwise, but it was not our lucky day.


Lumpia Goreng Isi Udang (IDR 26.800)
This dish consists of diced shrimp and spices wrapped inside tofu skin (or beancurd). This came out right off the fryer and were delicious, especially dipped within the soy sauce. This consist of three rolls that are cut into 6-pieces bite sized lumpia. A good appetizer to the whole meal.


The two of us spent about Rp300.000 and were very bloated. All those dishes above were successfully rummaged by the two of us and we gotten too full to function. I was a bit surprised that the food were actually fairly priced, I was a bit hesitant that some of these would dramatically damage my pocket. For great service and a good variety of Chinese food, The Duck King shall always be an option. My only input is to watch over the consistency of the food and for the staffs to be more attentive as my card were charged without the promotional discount during check out which is VERY unfortunate yet stupid of me as I only notice this once I got home. Aside from all those it was overall a good meal - maybe next time I will again pay it by myself (or shall I just wait for another invitation?) hehe.

The Duck King
Lippo Mall Kemang
1st Floor
Jl. Pangeran Antasari No. 36
South Jakarta

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Sushi Kiosk at Lebak Bulus




Sushi Kiosk is a little joint established by the same group of Sushi Tei, offering similar sushi product as the bigger establishment but the meal comes in already prepackaged. The food and beverages were put on display and you can just take it onto your basket to finally be purchased by the register. This is a fun concept as incidentally Sushi Kiosk in Lebak Bulus is located one floor below the Carrefour supermarket, their product were also available near the fresh produce section of the supermarket. After taking the meal of your choice and paying it at the cashier, you can have the food bagged and have it to-go or enjoy it inside the kiosk. The usual condiments like soy sauce, wasabi and ginger can be taken by the counter on the back and some are already pre-packaged for people who wanted to have the sushi to-go.



Sushito Otsu Mamino Set (IDR 115.000)
The sushi I had as pictured above and below is part of one package, namely the Sushito Otsu Mamino Set. I purchased this for IDR 64.000 because of their monthly promotion in October. It was an amazing deal since I got a portion of chuka idako, chuka wakame, chuka kurage alongside with 6-pieces of avocado ebiko makki. That is only the things pictured above



Within the same set as above, the package also includes three egg (tamago) makki,  two shrimp (bi) sushi, salmon (sake) sushi and tuna (maguro) sushi. With the plate above, these consist onto two menus. With the promotion, the menu becomes such a great deal. The dish itself were delicious considering they're not exactly 'fresh' and were placed on the fridge or heater -- depending on your meal selection for a couple hours, but don't worry as every package has its expiry checked on by the hour as well as a reminder for the ideal time for consumption. My main problem is the rice on the cold selection as it gotten too hard;  the crunch on the hot selection had gotten stale and lost it texture. Aside from that, the dish were good as it is although not to the par of the actual dishes that Sushi Tei offer.




Birthday Sushi (Free!)
I went here at October and at the purchase counter and the cashier asked whether or my birthday falls on the month of October -- slightly different than Sushi Tei one week before and one week after your birthdate promo, Sushi Kiosk gave out free birthday sushi based on your birth month. This complimentary dish is such a cute thing although it's not available for takeaway. This is made by the 'request' order and took a couple minutes to get to your table.


The staffs were very friendly so don't hesitate to consult them on their recommended menu. They would even nicely hold your purchase basket for you. Sushi Kiosk also have some decent promo and I would definitely come revisit anytime there's a good promo like this one. The Mogu Mogu Cubes I had? It comes in a buy one get one promo. The great news is they're always coming up with promotions and as the prices are inclusive of tax the checkout becomes a breeze. Good deal, good food, I might come here again tomorrow.

Sushi Kiosk
Carrefour Lebak Bulus
Ground Level
Jl. Lebak Bulus Raya
Lebak Bulus Sourth Jakarta
+6221 75911929

Bing Go at Gandaria


From the first time I tried out Korean pat bing soo, I've already taken a liking to the milky shaved ice dessert that can be topped with a variety of choices from fruit, syrup or even heavy amount of Nutella. After having lunch at a Korean food joint, my friends and I decided to try out Bing Go, a dessert cafe that is located next to Churreria in Gandaria City to continue on with the day's theme.



Chocolate Bing Go - Small (IDR 46.000)
The bing soo offered at Bing Go comes in two sizes: large and small. Even the small one is easily shared by two persons or more as it came with heaps of toppings in a pretty good size of serving bowl. The chocolate bing go has a very good variant of texture and the chocolate sweetness were not overpowering from bits of cocoa powder, chocolate wafers and shaved chocolate as its main topping.


Oreo Bing Go - Small (IDR 43.000)
The oreo bing go consists of layers of shaved ice, crumbled oreo and chocolate powder, whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate fudge and one whole oreo cookies. This one dish is so light that eating it can be a challenge as the crumble went all over the place. The crumble gives the whole dessert a grainy texture.




Bing Go is a good option for desserts as they offer not only Bing Go but also other Korean desserts such as ice cream, mochi (injeolmi) and butter toast. I cannot recall whether they have savory dishes on their menu but really the desserts are the point of this joint. They have both indoor and outdoor seating so you can choose your liking. Also, I would try to try some of their injeolmi since it looked so appetizing!


Bing Go
Gandaria City
Upper Ground Floor
M-U33C
Jl. Sultan Iskandar  Muda 
Kebayoran Lama
South Jakarta
+6221 29236839

Monday, November 16, 2015

Indonesia Comic Con 2015

With this, I shall pass.
No, I was not one of the Exhibitor. Just got the perks of being one.


The first day of Indonesia Comic Con 2015 falls on November 14th, 2015. Right after hosting a seminar on foreign investment law and joint venture at my faculty (on a Saturday!) I went to Jakarta Convention Center with my brothers. I actually was looking forward into buying some local comics and just seeing the overall design of the event as the promotor is also the one who held New York Comic Con. Despite the initial confusion with Jakarta Comic Con that was held on late September, Indonesia Comic Con offers a good look into the world of both international and national comics, animation and cinematic scenes. A great portion of the participant was looking forward to Star Wars merch in anticipation for its newest movie installment, but a good amount of Western and Eastern pop culture blended well within this particular event.







One thing that is a distinct appeal of Comic Con(s) worldwide is the fact that it is a great media for comics enthusiast to express themselves through cosplays. Attending the event on a Saturday, the number of cosplayers were not as much as the ones coming in on a Sunday -- the convention's cosplay competition is held on the 15th. But even on Saturday I spotted a lot of familiar characters who are more than welcome to have their picture taken with you if you ask nicely. People really went all out and it is such a great sight that people had the liberty to do so through the means facilitated by this event. I spotted different characters from a guy sporting Naruto's signature jacket to a number of people dressing up as Superman(s) and Supergirl(s) going around in groups. 








Although there were not many people were sporting local comic characters, but the number of local participants by itself is a good growth in the Indonesian comic industry. Hopefully one day Indonesia can independently have its comic industry holding its own pillars and that the creatives are recognized worldwide for their amazing talents. Coming in and seeing things on up close, Indonesian Comic Con had given me greater hope. The event definitely delivers the highlights on the toys, games and comics, but I hope the event will get bigger in capacity and had even more to showcase.

Check out more on their official website here, their Facebook page, their Twitter handle, and Instagram page for recaps! Now let me enjoy some time reading some more comics I just bought :-)

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Sushi, Cakes and Sushi Cakes

Happy 20th Birthday! (Part 3)

Kani Tamagoyaki (IDR 20.000)

Chicken Katsu Udon (IDR 68.000) 


 Yakiniku Ju (IDR 55.000)

 Kani Mayo (IDR 28.000)

 Spicy Hotate (IDR 38.000)

 Okosama Sushi Set (IDR 50.000)

Ebi Tempura Maki (IDR 28.000)

 Negitoro Gunkan (IDR 28.000)
Chuka Kurage Gunkan (IDR 18.000)


Complimentary Birthday Sushi


Chuka Chinmi Gunkan (IDR 18.000)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------








A little continuation of my birthday celebration with cakes from Kak Tiara and Uda Vito.
Bloated but nonetheless I am blessed :)

Part 1 • Part 2