MAGNUM CAFE

"Money Talks, CHOCOLATE sings!"

When it goes for chocolate, I'll be the first on the line! Now, who's with me?
If you want to taste a new experience of chocolate, you should go to this place, Magnum Cafe.

Magnum Cafe is a place to experience the taste of chocolates courtesy of the Walls ice cream, Magnum.
They have opened once and now are re-opening with a new concept.

I was too curious about their new Cafe, and I went there at about 11am.
and guess what? There's a line. It's a waiting line.
So it wasn't just me that was too curious :p

After about 20 minutes waiting, I entered Magnum Cafe with excitements!
Great interior design, cute posters, cute kitchen appliances, cute furnitures! 
I love the vibe. Chocolate vibe it is :)

Looking through the menu, I knew what I want to order.
It's De Velvet Seduction.

After around 10 minutes waiting, my De Velvet  Sedcuction finally arrived. 
It's too seducting too be true. It was pretty nice but honestly I could find better red velvet cake in Jakarta,
My friend ordered the brownies, and it tastes YUMMM....
SO I recommend you to order choco thingy here! I think they experienced best on the chocolate stuffs :)

Finished eating the Velvet, I was not satisfied enough so I ordered one more thing before I go home..
I went to the Dipping Station and I was so excited to choose my own ice cream.
So I choose Vanilla flavour as my Magnum Stick, Belgian Dark Chocolate as my Chocolate Dip, and Green Crumble also Almond as my Toppings (maximum 2 choices of toppings).

And YES, I WAS SATISFIED.
Looking around enjoying the vibe for some moments, and I went home with a smile :)

Want to try my chocolate experience?
Run to MAGNUM CAFE
Grand Indonesia Shopping Mall,
West Mall Level 5
Opening Hours : 10am-10pm
Price Range : IDR 20.000-IDR 65.000

Travel options :

By TransJakarta Busway : Get off at Bunderan HI or Tosari ICBC shelter, then walk to the mall. (costs IDR 3.500 for the TransJakarta)

By Taxi : Blue Bird taxis are available outside the mall. (cost depends on what taxi you're taking and where you're staying)

By Train : Get off at Sudirman Station, then take taxi to the mall. (costs IDR 6.000 for the train, and around IDR 10.000 for the taxi ride)

Canteen

Located in the City's busiest street, Canteen Jakarta is one of the famous cool down place to go to. Canten has a restaurant + bar concept, and you can find most of your favorite western and Indonesian dishes. They also create special dishes on special events, like now in the holy month where they create lamb gulai dish.

I visited Canteen last Friday and they offer me a ramadhan special promotion :

so I ordered classic caesar salad and pan fried dori fillet with iced tea, while Eda ordered onion soup and pesto spaghetti. Our other companion, Otin, ordered spaghetti aglio olio, and Maico who came for a smoke decides on a cup of hot chocolate.

they add some mint leaves and basil seeds in your drink. I have to admit it compliments my iced tea as basil seeds fells funny as you bite them.

my classic caesar salad. crisp romaine lettuce, croutons, crispy beef bacons, half an egg, and grilled chicken. it is absolutely delicious and a lot! I literally have to take few minutes of break before I dig in my dori fish.I love how they use real caesar dressing, because I once ordered caesar salad where they use thick mayo as dressing. I never came back to that cafe, but canteen's caesar salad? I'm in love.

Eda's appetizer, onion soup with a slice of baguette and camembert. I'm actually never a fan of onion soup as they tend to be sweet, and I don't dig sweet but supposedly savory dish, but this soup is different. although its still a bit sweet, it is also savory and kind of pepper-y, especially when you bite the baguette after each spoonful of soup. I don't eat soggy bread, and this way of eating soup works for me.

Maico's hot chocolate. Bet he recognized my quirks by now as he repeatedly said "panda, panda! take a picture!". I now recognize his as I saw that is a monkey. But maybe its a hippo. I don't know. Hahaha.. So they serve the hot chocolate in a small glass cup with a small brownie cube. I didn't taste the chocolate nor the brownie, but judging by how Maico gulped it fast, I bet its delicious and rich in chocolate taste, but not too milky.

Otin's Aglio Olio. I never not loved Aglio Olios. I am in a deep affair with Aglio Olios. Canteen's Aglio Olios differs than any other that I have ever tasted as they toss bacon pieces, cheese grates, and some lettuce in it. Everything compliments the pasta. Simply the best Aglio Olio ever!

My pan fried dori fish, served with potato tartelle and tomato puree. They didn't mention a splash of pesto in the menu, but I'm glad they toss it in there. The only disappointment was that because it was a bit crowded, they served my fish before I finished my salad, and it gets cold when I took my first bite. I asked the waitress to reheat it, but they can't. maybe they didn't provide big enough microwaves to fit the plate, or afraid that it'll taste funny after reheat, but who likes cold fish? I didn't finish the fish nor the potato, but I did finish my broccoli, the only thing on that plate that still taste good cold.

Canteen gets crowded on weekends and you may need prior reservations to get a table.

Canteen

Plaza Indonesia Extension,

5th floor, #E02, E10

Jl. M.H Thamrin, Kav 28-30,

For Reservations : +62-21 315 6537

Central Jakarta, Jakarta

Travel options :

By TransJakarta Busway : Get off at Bundaran HI shelter, the mall entrance is on the left side of the exit. (costs IDR 3.500 for the TransJakarta)

By Taxi : Blue Bird taxis are available outside the mall. (cost depends on what taxi you're taking and where you're staying)

By Train : Get off at Sudirman or Cikini Station, then take taxi to the mall. (costs IDR 6.000 for the train, and around IDR 10.000 to 20.000 for the taxi ride)

J.

Quick escape from the city bustle : Bogor Botanical Garden.

The title said it all.
When you're tired of the bustling Jakarta with its famous traffic jam and pollution, come get a quick escape here in Bogor Botanical Garden. Located just 60 km (1 hour or closer if you stay in southern Jakarta) from the city, bogor is a great escape destination. Bogor is famous for its food and natural environment. It has big old trees everywhere you look. Although is has too much Angkot (mini bus) and it gets packed during weekends, it wasn't very crowded when I came, maybe due to the Ramadhan Month.

The garden entrance. It was recently fixed I guess, as I didn't recall ever passing this door when I came to the botanical garden in the past. 

The view from my picnic spot. quite pretty isn't it?

When you decide to visit the garden, a couple of thing that you need to remember :

1. There are no food stalls in the garden, so you have to bring your own, and make sure they are heat tolerate food as it may end up soggy on your way to the garden. Remember, Indonesia is a tropical country. I packed some fried rice and salad for my picnic.

2. Clean up as you go. Bogor Botanical Garden doesn't employ many cleaning services, but only landscape gardeners. They are not responsible for your trash, and any non-environmental friendly things you left behind may ruin the plants habitat. Don't forget that Bogor Botanical Garden is also functioning as a reserve area.

Have fun escaping! 

Kebun Raya Bogor (Bogor Botanical Garden)

Rangga Mekar, Bogor, Indonesia

Phone : (0)25 132 2226

Travel options :

By Train : Get off at Bogor Station, then take Mini Bus or Angkot to the Botanical Garden. (costs IDR 6.000 for the train, and around IDR 3500 for the Angkot ride)

J.

Edward Maya Ft. Havana Brown, the Rave Party!

If you consider yourself as a party-goers, there's no way you don't know the awesome DJs, "Edward Maya" and  "Havana Brown". And once again, if you consider yourself as a party-goers and luckily live here in Jakarta, there's no way that you missed the last Saturday's rave party! Because Edward Maya and Havana Brown are in town, babes!

14th of July, that's the date. Located in Dome, Pantai Karnaval, Ancol, the venue is big enough for hundreds of people dancing in the dark. It's 11 am when I jumped in to the venue with a guest DJ starts playing chill music. Somethin caught my eyes, there are some booths selling drinks, where you can have mineral water, beers, to screw driver or long island. And they surprised me with the affordable price! IDR 50,000 for the screw driver, kamikaze, cosmopolitan, and berry vodka, and IDR 75,000 for the long island and illusion. Craving for a bottle of vodka with mixers? you can have them for IDR 600.000 only!

it's gettin hawt around 12am, people starts filling the huge place, dancin with DJ Tiara Eve's music. She really made the beats till the amazing DJ Havana Brown took the stage and our breath away. This pretty woman really is awesome! She has the perfect song list to have the audience keep on dancing all night long! But the place went on an earthquake while she run the night with her song "WE RUN THE NIGHT"! Run'em like run'em, run'em!

I was almost crazy when the gorgeous DJ Edward Maya directly continued striking the night with my favourite song "STEREO LOVE"! People really couldn't stop dancing :) when I was thinkin about having some water, the rave just really can't handle me when Edward Maya made me dance more with "DANZA KUDURO"!

one word, AWESOME! Well, see you on another party, babes!


Location :
Dome, Pantai Carnaval - Ancol Bay City Jl. Lodan Timur No. 7

For more rave and nightlife events in Jakarta, click : www.indonesiaclubbing.com

xxxx,

E.

Maybelline Baby Lips lip balm

Hey, Maybelline Baby Lips are here!

Yes, in a silver platter, there they are, three variants from all six!
I don't know why they only sell three variants here, but I am happy anyways. I was introduced to baby lips by my favorite beauty guru on Youtube, Rachhloves. She said this lip balm help her to moisturize her lips and it doesn't get to glossy and oily. The thing is, my lips tends to dry in a snap, so I have to put on lip balm as often as possible, but all lip balms I have tried always made my lips look too glossy and I don't like it, because my lips are not plumpy, as in they're not this full gorgeous kind, so its not good with lip gloss. Plus, my face is oily, and lip gloss exaggerate it. As the result, I don't wear lip balms too often at daylight, but I do put them on before I go to bed. So my lips are dry on daytime. That's why I keep looking for a good matte-ish lip balm until I heard about Maybelline Baby Lips.

I definitely had to try and coincidentally, Eda bought one. I tried it on and it was really satisfying! So obviously I had to get one..err..two of them, as I love love peach so very much, and I am thrilled to try their white colored Quenched. Baby Lips definitely help me with my lip problems. After all, a smile is girl's best make up. I am so happy that Maybelline Indonesia decided to put them in the market. I bet they will get sold out fast!

Retail Price in Watson's Kelapa Gading Mall Jakarta : IDR 18.900 (and they're having their monthly promo, if you purchase anything with minimum price of IDR 40.000, you can get Baby Lips for 10.900 only! My lips and wallet are happy :) )

Maybelline baby lips are now available on major beauty stores, drugstores, department stores, and Maybelline counters in Jakarta.

Grab them fast and get babylipcious!


Watsons
Kelapa Gading Mall,
Jl. Boulevard Kelapa Gading,
Mal Kelapa Gading 3, Ground Floor #LG-07
North Jakarta, Jakarta


Travel options :

By TransJakarta Busway : Get off at ASMI shelter, then take a taxi to the mall. (costs IDR 3.500 for the TransJakarta, and around IDR 15.000 for the taxi ride)

By Taxi : Blue Bird taxis are available outside the mall. (cost depends on what taxi you're taking and where you're staying)

By Train : Get off at Cikini Station, then take taxi to the mall. (costs IDR 6.000 for the train, and around IDR 40.000 for the taxi ride)

J.

Mr. Curry : Japanese Curry & Sweet House

Decided to visit Mr. Curry for a good afternoon tea. When the waitress hand me the menu, I can't take my eyes off the Assorted Mushroom Omurice. Basically its fried rice (here you can choose between tomato rice or butter rice) in an omelette blanket, with assorted mushroom in two kinds of sauce on each side of the plate. Its like edible Yin and Yang. Unfortunately as I'm too hungry, I ate them clean before I remember that I should've took a picture of it.

I also ordered Potato Salad with Baguette. I was actually hoping for that crunchy outside but soft inside kind of baguette, but turned out they baked the baguette so its crispy inside and outside. The potato salad was cold, but not to cold, so its fresh kind of cold, which is great. The crispiness of the baguette, softness of the potato and that tangy flavor from the cherry tomato blend together in your mouth was awesome.

For the dessert, we chose Green Tea Ice Cream Parfait, a stack of ice cream on the top of crunchy cornflake, glazed with chocolate sauce and pocky sticks, topped with a cherry strawberry. That green tea and vanilla ice cream combined with cornflake is the best dessert for saucy dish. The vanilla ice cream is light, it balances the green tea ice cream, so it doesn't make you fell too full. Satisfied, but bot too full.

The view outside my booth is also intriguing, as the restaurant is on the fourth floor. Its better during the night, but because this restaurant is close to the business district, a lot of people come here after working hours and its crowded. So I recommend you come for a tea at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The whole meal cost us 156.500 rupiahs including two refillable ocha japanese green tea and tax.



I will definitely come back here for another tea time!


Mr. Curry : Japanese Curry & Sweet House
Grand Indonesia
West Mall level 3A
@mrcurry_

Travel options :

By TransJakarta Busway : Get off at Bunderan HI or Tosari ICBC shelter, then walk to the mall. (costs IDR 3.500 for the TransJakarta)

By Taxi : Blue Bird taxis are available outside the mall. (cost depends on what taxi you're taking and where you're staying)

By Train : Get off at Sudirman Station, then take taxi to the mall. (costs IDR 6.000 for the train, and around IDR 10.000 for the taxi ride)

J.