Monsturo and the Festivity of Holidays - Signature Kempinski Hotel Indonesia

"Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays"

First of all Monsturo would like to say happy holidays to you all peeps, let us enjoy this moment of celebration with our loved ones and share your happiness to others. Despite the fact that Christmas is over, but we think the spirit of Christmas is still warm in everyone's heart. So Monsturo would like to share what we had for our Christmas celebration. The celebration itself took place in one of the popular Signature Restaurant that is located in Kempinski Hotel or formerly known as Hotel Indonesia (next to Grand Indonesia shopping mall). The place was decorated in a full blown Christmas decorations, even the food are specifically made with a christmas-infused dishes. During our dinner, Santa came to each table and gave out candies to children (The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of giving to one another right ). Actually this is not our first time here, but we always enjoy our time whenever we visited the restaurant. The food itself is dominated with local cuisine (trust me, its javanese meatball aka bakwan malang is one of the BEST !). 

 Grand Christmas Tree - photo spot for everyone

Here are some of the appetizer menu available for you to choose, do remind that it is a buffet-style restaurant where you can eat whatever and as many as you want just by paying a single price per person to enjoy all the cuisines provided.

All you can eat oyster (one of the BEST, besides Grand Hyatt's) 

Creamed Egg topped with Tobikko (so so good)

Must Have - Whole Roasted Beef Tomahawk (served best with bbq or mushroom sauce) 

Christmas Special Dish - Roasted Turkey (served with cranberry juice and turkey sauce as condiment)

Salmon En Croute (my personal fave, served with lemon  butter sauce)

Now go on to the dessert section, look at these beautiful Christmas-themed desserts

Signature Restaurant
Kempinski Hotel Jakarta (formerly known as Hotel Indonesia)
JL. M.H. Thamrin no. 1, Central Jakarta
Phone: (021) 23583800

Monsturo goes Mexican - Amigos Bar & Cantina

Monsturo know that there are only few options for good Mexican food especially in Jakarta due to the fact that not so many people here in Jakarta favour for Mexican food but Hey I love Mexican food ! It is really hard to find legit Mexican food and I know nachos is a Mexican staple but there are far more than nachos that Mexican food has to offer. Last weekend, Monsturo happen to wander around kemang area and we stumbled upon one of the most underrated Mexican restaurant. Despite we did not feel eating Mexican that day, but hey at least we came in and see what they have to offer and let us tell you this that it is HELLA GOOD ! We start off with a simple spinach dip and it was AMAZING, seriously one of the best spinach dip there is in Jakarta (we've been to several Mexican restaurant here in Jakarta but never found something that is right up to the flavour). Then straight to the main courses, okay enough with the mumbling, let the photos do the talking.

Spinach & Cheese Dip (comes with a handful of nachos chips) - Monsturo Favourite

Amigos Favourite Dishes -  Chicken Chimichanga (really hard to find a good chimichanga here in Jakarta yet this one is spot on)

Old school Crispy Tacos Shell with Beef

All main dishes comes with a condiments of salsa

Virgin-Rita (Margarita with no alcohol content)

Amigos Bar

Kemang Club Villas

JL. Kemang Selatan No. 1, Jakarta Selatan

Opening Hours:

Sun - Thu: 08:00 - 24:00

Fri - Sat: 08:00 - 02:00

Monsturo in Little Tokyo - Yuki Restaurant

The inside of Aburi Wagyu (more photos below)

Well I'm not saying its a clickbait but this restaurant is located in a small area called "Little Tokyo" within the Melawai neighbourhood, South Jakarta. Despite the fact that there tons of good home-styled Japanese restaurants here in Jakarta, Yuki restaurant is definitely one of the go-to restaurant for Japanese comfort food. The restaurant itself is not as hyped compare to other Japanese restaurant (you can see from the number of guests visiting this restaurant in the weekend), but I must say this one is one of the most underrated Japanese restaurant in Jakarta. Not only due to the friendly price of the menus but the flavour is just spot on ! This restaurant reminds me of the random food throughout alleys in Shibuya and Dotonburi, Japan. I must reminds you that this restaurant offer different menu between noon and evening, the one in the noon is more likely in bento sets (that includes rice, miso, and Japanese pickles), while evening menu is more likely into the ala carte menu. I have tried both noon and evening dishes here and I must say that both are delicious (some of the menus are the same, but some of the evening dishes can only be ordered in the evening - like the aburi wagyu). Here are some of Monsturo's favourite  dishes:

 Aburi Wagyu (you can ask them for well done or medium rare) - evening dishes

 Uma-kara Niku-Dofu Gozen (Spicy cooked thin sliced beef & tofu in hot sweet sauce) - Noon and Evening dishes

 Wakadori Kuwayaki (Grilled young chicken with sweet garlic soy) - Noon & Evening dishes

Kani Cream Croquette (Croquette with crab meat inside bashed in sweet soy) - evening dishes

Monsturo personal fave: Gobo Karage (Fried Burdock roots) - evening dishes

Yuki Japanese Restaurant

Jl. Melawai 6 No. 1, Melawai (Blok M area)

Open from 10:00 AM - 22:00 PM

Monsturo and the Christmas Buddies

Welcoming the holiday season with bunch of new friends is the essence of joy. Holiday is not about spending time by yourself but sharing with others, cos you know sharing is caring :)

I would like to introduce you with some of my new friends, Monsturo the Santa and Monsturo the Reindeer. They are in fact my distant relatives and they usually come visit us during the holiday season. Since Christmas is just around the corner, it is a perfect time to invite them to join us on this jolly season ! What better ways to spend your holidays with your relatives, am I right ?! Say hi to them guys :)

Monsturo and Coffee Time - Tanamera Coffee Roastery

Weekend is just around the corner and what is the best way to start kick-off your weekend, yes you guess it right, having a good cup of coffee. The saying of "coffee a day keeps the grumpy away" is completely true to me. I need a cup of coffee to start my day right and all it takes is a legit coffee. Despite the fact I prefer a coffee with milk (latte or cappuccino) rather than black strong coffee, but occasionally I do drink black coffee to jumpstart my day.

For those who haven't heard about Tanamera Coffee Indonesia, let me tell you this that their coffee is top notch legit quality coffee ! Especially for those who used to lived abroad (Currently I'm living in Indonesia where the majority of the coffee shops here  are rather playing with flavours not having a good coffee bean). Tanamera Coffees are more likely in the strong-coffee genre  meaning you can TASTE the coffee not just all the syrup or powder they mix with. Thus this Green tea latte is one of my favourite (strong coffee taste with a hint of matcha flavour). I miss Sydney's Lattes :( 

There are several Tanamera Coffee Roastery across Jakarta and I'm having the one near Gandaria City (Jl. KH. Ahmad Dahlan Kby No. 16, Gandaria, Jakarta).

Green Tea Latte - IDR 50K

Monsturo and the Home-Style Japanese Cuisine - Ootoya Restaurant

Little did you know that Monsturo likes Japanese food and it happened that we ate in one of our favourite Japanese restaurant in Jakarta. We often visited this Japanese restaurant chain that is located in Plaza Indonesia. There are 5 Ootoya location in Jakarta: Plaza Indonesia Level 4, Pacific Place Level 5, Kota Kasablanka, Lippo Mall Kemang Level UG, and Pondok Indah Mall 2. The restaurant itself provides one of the freshest ingredient including fresh sashimi in form of chirashi bowl, but we can't resist to have some other kind of Japanese-inspired dishes. Ootoya's specialty is traditional home-style Japanese comfort food that comes in a set of meal (you can also order in ala carte - without set meal as an option). Here are some of the food that we managed to have for our dinner: 

Gyu Sumi Tei - set meal (comes with rice, miso soup, and pickle) IDR 119 K 

Miso Chicken - Ala carte IDR 83 K 

Our Favourite Yakitori (Japanese Skewers): Tori Kawa (Chicken Skin) in Soy Sauce, Tori Kawa (Chicken Skin) in Salt, and Chicken with Spring Onion in Soy Sauce - Assorted Prices

Monsturo visited Heritage Millennials - Plaza Indonesia 2017

#Millennialsgoespink

In collaboration with PT Bank QNB Indonesia and Plaza Indonesia, Heritage Amanah as a wealth advisory management company is touching the millennial generation by presenting Heritage Millennials Fashion Collaboration 2017 at Plaza Indonesia Function Hall. The event itself was supported by 14 Indonesian young entrepreneurs in form of creating a social movement toward a good cause. This year, Heritage Millennials is trying to raise awareness of the society toward breast cancer and campaign on social health. Profits from the purchases of Heritage Millennials Fashion Collaboration will be donated to 3 foundations that focus on the breast cancer campaign which includes Love Pink Indonesia, Yayasan Srikandi Indonesia, and Yayasan Kanker Payudara. 

R. Andi Kartiko Utomo (Director of Digital Banking and Financial Inclusion PT Bank QNB Indonesia), Tania Nordina (Head of Heritage Millennials Marketing and Communication), Mario Nicolas (Head of Product and Business OY! Indonesia)

Source of image: wartaekonomi.co.id

Monsturo says Hi !

Hi blogging world, first of all I would like to welcome you to my new blog ! My name is Monsturo the Blue and through this blog, I would like to take you to a journey of my travel and food series around places - locally and internationally. You could also visit my Instagram page for "live feeds" too if you find my stories are interesting and unique :)

I am in fact the leader of the bunch and I will introduce you to the rest of my bunch:

You will see more of them in some of the posts, so don't forget to say hello !