Sunday, May 29, 2011

Pesto Autentico


MD and I, along with a friend of ours, went to Pesto Autentico, a ristorante located at the Thamrin Nine, a rather new establishment in the bustling Central Jakarta. The name of the restaurant first came to my attention around a month ago, and as a fan of that certain Italian sauce made from basil that shares the same name, I felt a certain calling to come here.

We arrived here around 2pm,kind of past lunch time, and maybe that is why the restaurant was not so crowded. The place definitely had an industrial theme to it, which worked well for me. The lighting was dim at the right level, lounge/jazz music in the background was a pleasant touch. A pity the view from the window-side tables was not so great.


The Look

Appetizers were not in our interest that day; we went straight to the mains: ravioli with ricotta and spinach (55k), roast beef (99k), and fettuccine pescatora (75k). Where's the pesto, you said ? That's exactly what I asked to the waiter, who then pointed me to the only dish in the menu with pesto while saying "it was really just the name of the restaurant". It was not even in the recommended items. Was I disappointed? Yeah, pretty much.

My ravioli came in modest portion, 6 pieces of bite-size (admittedly MY bite-size is larger than most) ravioli. These morsels tasted nice, the best entree we had that day, but I definitely had better ricotta spinach ravioli before. The roast beef, which was the only item from the "recommendations" blackboard that we ordered, came out too ordinary. They served it with some baby potatoes and salad in a fried-wonton-skin-bowl (we thought the salad didn't look appetizing so we passed it). The fettuccine pescatora (description: a combination of handmade fettuccine with prawns, squid, and white wine cream sauce) was a tad too creamy.


Roast Beef

Fettuccine Pescatora

Our drinks were refreshing but nothing too special: fragolino (a combination of strawberry, orange, yoghurt; 40k); tropicana (a concoction of banana, lychee, strawberry, honey, yoghurt; 40k); and pesto signature iced tea (with strawberry, peach, selasih, lychee jelly, and mint leaves; 35k).


Fragolino

The only dish that lived up to its name and lifted us up that day, was the tiramisu (29k) we ordered for dessert. This guilty indulgence came chilled in a very cute canister. The ladyfinger biscuits (yes, not sponge cake) blended very well with the soft, creamy mascarpone and the not-so-subtle rum, sweetness of which was balanced by the bitter cocoa. The coffee beans gave some nice but unnecessary crunch.


Tiramisu

Overall Pesto was not what I expected. The place was decent but wasn't enough to make up for the food, especially with that price. If we ever wanted to come here again, it would be just for the killer tiramisu.

Summary:
Food: Average
Ambience: Good
Value: Average


Thamrin Nine, UG Floor
Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 10
Jakarta, Indonesia
Tel: +62 21 29937230
Web: www.pesto.co.id
E-mail: ciao@pesto.co.id
Twitter: @PESTOautentico

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Lan Na Thai

Thai and Indian are two of my favorite cuisiness. Both have strong flavors with the combinations of many kinds of spices. One day, my cousin told me about this restaurant, which serves both Thai and Indian cuisines, called Face Restaurant. 

The restaurant is separated into three rooms. The first room is a restaurant called Lan Na Thai, which serves Thai cuisines. The second one is a restaurant called Hazara which serves Indian cuisines. And the other room is used as a cocktail bar called Face Bar.

To satisfy my curiosity and to prepare myself for the trip to Bangkok next September (Amen), I decided to try the Thai cuisines.

As an appetizer, I had the prawn cakes (tod man goong), deep fried minced prawn and pork patty, served with sweet and spicy sauce. The minced meats were soft and perfectly blended. The prawn soup (tom yam goong) had a proper combination of sourness and sweetness which gave a very refreshing taste.


Tod Man Goong

For the main course, I tried the basil chicken (gai phad bai kra paow). The basil leaves created a strong taste which mixed well with the spiciness of the chilies. The pineapple fried rice (khow phad supparod) was a mixture of fried Thai jasmine rice with fresh shrimp and cubes of pineapple, raisin, topped with pork floss and strips of omelette. The pineapple and raisin infused some rather strong sweetness to this dish. Capped the night off with a dessert of mango with sticky rice (kha niaw mamaung). The overall taste of the coconut topping was just suitably sweet.


Gai Phad Bai Kra Paow

Khow Phad Supparod

Kha Niaw Mamaung

Unfortunately, although the room was beautifully decorated to reflect the Thai ambience, they didn’t take background music into account. Instead of playing the traditional Thai music, they played modern western pop music.


Food: Average
Ambience: Average
Value: Average

Jakarta Face Head Office, fa
#85, Kusuma Atmaja, Imam Bonjol
Jakarta, Indonesia
Tel: +62 21 31925037 
Fax: +62 21 3143501 
E-mail: jakarta@facebars.com

Price range: Rp500,000 (around 5 dishes)