In recent years, kopitiam has become a common view in Jakartans’ daily life. In some areas, such as Pasar Baru, you can find kopitiam at almost every corner of the street. In Malaysia and Singapore, kopitiam is where you would go for some breakfast, coffee, or casual chit chat. Kopitiam, which literally translates to coffee house, is now unofficially included on the list of tempat nongkrong anak Jakarta. Without further ado, say hello to PappaJack Kopitiam!

Bakmi lovers rejoice! Until January 24, 2016, there is something exciting going on for you: bakmi hunt. In collaboration with Green Sands, Bakmi Club Kelapa Gading offers a treasure hunt-esque experience for foodies and foodgrammers. Simply dine in one of the listed noodle restaurants, and you’ll get a chance to win a trip to the capital of Indo-Chinese food, Medan.

There are 10 noodle restaurants on the list. For a first timer, visit any restaurant you like, then ask for the Bakmi Hunt pamphlet. After eating, ask the staff to put a stamp on your pamphlet. Repeat the steps at the other nine restaurants. The restaurants are, among others, Bakmi Danau Toba, Bakmi Ayam Kampung A Tjuan, OTW, Mie Benteng, and Bakmi Sin Lun. Check out Bakmi Club’s official page for more details.

Now I’m going to talk about two restaurants I’ve visited: Bakmi Sin Lun and Mie Benteng.

If I had to sum up Hangover in one word, it would be “K-Pop”. It serves Korean cuisine; it is hip, like K-Pop stars; and is undeniably Korean without being traditionally Korean. And while it doesn’t exactly play K-Pop music—it mostly plays electronic dance music and remixes—and has no Korean design in any shape or form, it essentially is a funky bar that serves Korean food. See? K-Pop. Anyway, here’s my dining experience at Hangover Kelapa Gading.

Social media savvies most likely have seen a picture of cute-looking pandas on a plate of curry, or intriguing churros with chocolate inside a syringe. Those two dishes belong to Itadakimasu, one of the hottest restaurants in Pantai Indah Kapuk area. They look extremely cute that we can’t help but hopping on a car and visiting the restaurant as soon as possible. After all, what could go wrong when pandas are involved? A lot of things, apparently.

The Tim Ho Wan fever has infected Jakarta! Having tasted “the real thing" in Hong Kong just a couple of months ago — and some of you may have also read Maria’s dining experience at Tim Ho Wan in Singapore — I’m really happy to see that the delicious Crispy Pork Bun is just around one-hour of drive away from my house. But wait. Why are there so many negative reviews of Tim Ho Wan Jakarta on social media? Is it really as bad as they say? 

Do you know how hard it is to find a decent lemon tart in Jakarta? Despite the number of coffee shops and patisseries and bazaars that have been proliferating and happening all across the city, I can tell you that it is bloody hard to find. And it boggles my mind why it is the way it is. Maybe its acidic flavour is most likely too much for the majority of people? Or maybe the skyrocketing lemon price — health food trend, remember? — discourages bakers from trying to make one? Whatever it is, I’m glad to have found TOF Sicacilla at Kelapa Gading area.

Seorae is a brand new Korean chain restaurant owned by seven Indonesians and one Korean. Their cooks are from Indonesia but they learned and trained in Korea. Amongst other Korean restaurants in Jakarta, Seorae is perhaps most similar to Chung Gi Wa, as they both specialize in Korean BBQ. Seorae already has two outlets in Jakarta, the first one is located at Flavor Bliss (Alam Sutera, Tangerang) and the other one, where I dined, is located at Pantai Indah Kapuk.