Jani Journey Journal

I always wonder, why something sinful is always tempting? Even though you get worried when you did it, the adrenaline somehow made you smile after (no, I'm not proud of myself about it). Yeah, you name it. Starting from violating the rules to eating in the middle of the night. Oh yes! Especially eating in the middle of the night. This thing always made me end up with a sinful layers of fat.

Well who can resist the Legendary Nasi Uduk Kebon Kacang? Just by hearing it's name, I already drool all over the place just like I did when I wrote this post on my blog. Kidding. But seriously if you never heard of this legendary street food in Jakarta, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, MAN???

Well after two big meals in a row, I think we need another coffee break. After a long discussion we decided to go to Goni Coffee at Kemang. Unfortunately the moment we arrived there, it was the moment when the barista turned off the coffee machine. Sad. Still figuring out where else to go, one of my fellow foodies suggested to go to Honey & Me. The still-considered new and apparently hip place for youngsters in Wijaya. So there we are heading straight to Honey and Me at Wijaya.

Confused. We don't know where else to go since all of us were more like go-with-the-flow person. As one of our fellow foodies suggest us to go to a sushi restaurant, we asked the driver to drive us there. Where? We went to Umaku Sushi Resto in Mampang this time. If you have a hard time looking for this place, just remember the entrance to this restaurant is located right behind the Indomaret building. Like literally behind it.

Being the fourth stop of the day, I was planning to have something light. I was looking for something new too from Umaku since I eat at Umaku's another branch (the one in Tebet, read the review here) almost everyweek. My eyes stopped at Hana Roll with a new sign on the side. While my friends order the Sake (salmon) Aburi, Sake (salmon) Salad, Volcano Roll and some maki platter.

Third pit stop of the day! After a few hours of coffee break, we were ready for another big meals. Bring it on, baby! We don't even feel full at all. This time we decided to go middle eastern all the way, thus we decided to go to Al-Jazeerah restaurant at Cikini. This is the first time I visit the restaurant. I usually order their food via telephone and have them deliver it to my house. Since my foodies friends and I want to explore the whole Cikini/Pecenongan/ Menteng area, so why not?

You won't have a hard time finding this particular restaurant as they have this huge signboard in front of their restaurant. The interior brings up a middle eastern feeling in every corner. They even have a separated room for man and woman. Oh by the way we also heard that they provide camel meat. When we ask about it to their manager, he said the meat came about twice a month and you have to preorder it way before the day.

Then after those big feast, we were looking for some sweets and probably some cup of coffee for our palate. So we headed to Menteng area, Loteng Cikini to be exact. Located right above the Tjikini Cafe, it was kinda hard to find this place when you're not familiar with this place. Just remember the tiny blue door with a gold writing on the glass. You'll probably thought that this place was tiny from the outside but on the inside it was rather huge, I must say.

The cafe brings an old vintage feeling to me somehow. I'm not sure why but it feels cool and scary at the same time. We ordered their Pannacotta, Baba au Rum, Strawberry Punch, Nutella Iced Coffee, Milkshake Oreo, Ice Caffe Latte, Sunset, Ice Coffee and Cappucino to accompany us talking all afternoon.

I'm not familiar with Cikini/Pecenongan and the surrounding area. To be honest I never been there at all, neither for some food nor just strolling around. I don't know if there is any good food around there, I don't know if there is any sightseeing around there, I don't even know where exactly on map is that area. No, not at all. So when I got invited by PergiKuliner.com for a casual meet up/culinary trip to this particular area (based on our group agreements), I raised my hand in full of excitements. And I'm not disappointed at all.

The culinary journey was on Sunday, 8th of February 2015. I know it's been a month since we went to these places but I've been very busy with my life lately, so here is the stories about my journey with them. Oh since we came to several restaurants (six restaurants to be exact plus three which unfortunately closed when we arrived there. Super freakin' sad), I will post my stories in a several entry, based on each restaurant we visited that day. So let's start with the first restaurant, Sulaiman Resto at Batu Ceper.

I know I know. I haven't write anything on February and this only means that I've been a really bad blogger for these past months. Therefore I really am sorry.

I've been very busy with my life, especially with everything that just happened last February. The requirements in my dentistry co-assistant program are killing me. I really need to finish this whole thing soon. Working part time at my aunt's clinic was exhausting too. I've been constantly going back home around 10PM everyday. Even I passed out one day. Seriously. Then there is scuba diving lesson that I took and somehow addicting and I can't stop myself for not practicing every Saturday. Will let you know about it soon. And there are still lots of things going on last February that made me hard to spare some time and write a new post.

But what matter the most was I managed to escape my busy life a while by going on a quick trip to Pulau Pramuka. Well ... it was some sort of a mandatory exam trip for the scuba license though. However I'm uberly happy for escaping my busy life even for just a couple days. Oh! I will have a special post about this trip, soon.

Well I guess that's it. A quick little update about my hectic life. And hereby I promise to write more often even when I'm extra busy with my life.