IN-TER-NET

The above bowl of decadent gastronomic pleasures gives a whole new meaning to the IN-TER-NET.
IN = INdomie (Indonesian Instant Noodles)
TER = TEloR (Indonesian for Egg)
NET = KorNET (Indonesian for Corned beef)
and they added a mountain of CHEESE

I know I could make this at home, but eating it at a local "Internet" shop, amongst the chain smoking, young, hip and happening locals, IS the real essence of this experience (It's a place to see & to be seen, Wiwid at Fatmawati).

Bakoel Koffie

As a part of my growing sense of nationalism, I always crave anything Indonesian. Every time I visit my home country, I went all Indonesian-Crazy, I just wanna eat Indonesian food, Indonesian snack, Indonesian dessert, drink Indonesian drinks, wear Indonesian traditional clothes, just Indonesian EVERYTHING.

Thus, for coffee, I wouldn't even as much as glance at Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, I'd prefer something local. There are many lovely local cafes in Jakarta, and my sis, the true "drunk this-eaten that" Jakartanian, brought me to this delightful shop, Bakoel Koffie. I love the athmosphere, accented by local touches here & there. The huge blackboard behind me was full of coffee-related quotes from everywhere. My favorite one was "Chocolate, men, coffee, some things are better rich - anonymous".

Bakoel Koffie serves International selection of coffee as well as Indonesian ones. My sis and I ordered Indonesian Iced Coffee, Oreo cheesecake (too bad no Indonesian dessert available at that time), and kopi tubruk.

Bakoel Koffie Jl. Barito II, no. 11 Jakarta 12130 Indonesia, Tel: +62 21 7228353

Waroeng Podjok

Waroeng Podjok = Corner Cafe @Plasa Senayan

The ultimate Indonesian appetizer/snack: prawn crackers drizzled with...the one and only...kecap manis

The decor is very Indonesian-Colonial, framed old Indonesian newspaper articles adorned the walls, I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! My Filipina friend absolutely adores sate (Indonesian charcoal bbq meat skewers), so we ordered two different kinds (chicken & mutton), and hot serabi (Indonesian pancake with coconut milk & palm sugar sauce) for dessert. YUM YUM YUM

Smoky, juicy, tasty mutton sate (sate kambing)

My other favorite kerupuk (crackers)...I could eat unlimited amount of this, I could eat rice with just these crackers + kecap manis

Waroeng Podjok, miss you much!

Eating to the Fullest in Singapore

I lived in Singapore for about 1.5 yrs. I gained loadsssss of weight cos of the good, cheap food there. Every time I visit, these are some of the things I MUST have:

Fried Carrot Cake (diced carrot cake, covered with egg, pan fried) & Char Kway Teow (fried rice noodles, the Hong Kong version is just NOT the same)

Fried kway teow with gravy (those are all from Takashimaya Food Court)

No word can describe how much I miss this one: Dry Fishball Mee (this one is at Lucky Plaza's Food Junction)

Where does Hainanese Chicken Rice come from? Hainan? Noooo, Singapore!

The Street Ice Cream uncle's stall at Orchard Road

I got myself a Taro Ice Cream Sandwich, great for the hot, balmy day (Singapore weather report: hot, hotter, hottest. Balmy, Balmier, Suffocating. Opppsss, sorry folks!)

Caesar Salad & Chocolate Latte from Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at St. Elizabeth Hospital (yes, we, Indonesians, practically live there)

Get your greasy fix here at Old Chang Kee

The famous Curry Puff

When will I see you again, my little curry puff? (This was really someone's nickname).

Taipei Street Food Adventure

This is one of those happy business trips where we could "work hard and play harder". Work generally ended before 8 pm, and there are many night markets in Taipei still open. Too bad my trip partner at that moment was on a huge diet and always dismissed my ideas of procuring more food. No Fun!

The dim-sums for in-flight breakfast meal, how cute! This cures my morning sickness (not pregnancy related, I just hated having to wake up at 4+ am to catch the first 7am flight)

The deep fried tofu (a bit tasteless) and deep fried fish cake (super yummy) with pickles at Shi Lin Night Market

I learnt a valuable food ordering lesson from my trip partner: when you are on trip, browse the menu, find something you have absolutely no idea about, and order them. These are the results (from Xi Men Ting District): vermicelli noodle soup, beef balls, century eggs with tofu, oyster omelette with peanut sauce, marinated pig ears. Pretty darn good concept, I've been a faithful follower since.

I want to highlight this oyster omelette with peanut sauce, it is the best I've tried so far, compared to its Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore counterparts.

The Taiwanese version of Es Campur (mixed of many sweet goodies, topped with shaved ice and syrup)

My favorite Taiwanese drink: Winter Melon Tea. Super refreshing for hot summer days

We just roamed around Da An district to grab a bite before catching our flight back to Hong Kong. The place isn't really a tourist area, so we could try places where locals really eat. Applying the same ordering concept, mixed with "looking around other people's orders" we tried all of these goodies.

Thick & chewy noodle soup in with pork balls

Shark jelly

Sliced beef in spicy sauce

What a tasty trip! It was the first time I did not scream out "I wanna go back to Hong Kong!" every, like-2 minutes on a business trip.