Convivium

"During a Convivium, a banquet with emphasis on richly prepared and novel food, the partaking of which was a pleasure - a conviviality - which would be accompanied by a generous flow of wines." ~ Stuart J. Fleming

And what a conviviality dining here was. This homey ristorante stole my heart from my first visit in May and since then I’ve been here two more times; and I will keep coming. There are lots of places that serve Italian dishes in Jakarta, but not many do it right like Convivium does.

I first heard about this restaurant sometime in May from my friends who swore by Convivium’s red velvet cake. MD actually passed by the place once around the same time, saying how the place was small and didn’t look so inviting. I managed to drag her here though, after a not-so-successful lunch (go to page), for the sole purpose of trying out their famed red velvet cake for ourselves. 


This little establishment was crowded at that time; the parking space was full so we had to park a bit far from there. Walking in, I immediately loved the interior; the bookshelves with their cooking books and cute kitchenware, the chalkboard with menus on it, the cupcakes on the serving dish, the open kitchen, everything. 

The Look

Once seated, we ordered a slice of red velvet cake (they call it torta passione here) (35K), a slice of mocha delight (recommended by the waitress) (35K), and two cups of caffe corretto (30K each) (literally “the right coffee”; a concoction of espresso and liquor which MD thought tasted like jamu). 


The torta passione was indeed scrumptious. It was moist, crumbly, and creamy at all the right levels. The cream cheese frosting was spread thinly it wasn’t overwhelming like with most cakes; and with some desiccated coconut, it was heavenly. The cake itself was delicious; with a bright, charming red color and fitting hints of cocoa. The mocha delight was a decent chocolate cake but we still prefer the one from that famous chocolatier franchise from Singapore (go to page). 

Red Velvet Cake

On our next visit, we came as they were opening the store at 11AM; and we got to choose the seats of our wanting. This time I ordered spinach and ricotta cannelloni (65K) and iced caffe latte (28K) while MD had lasagna (65K) and caffe mocha (28K). 

Iced Caffe Latte

Caffe Mocha

The cannelloni and lasagna came in around 20 minutes looking very tempting it was so very hard to hold ourselves for 5 minutes to take these pictures. Both of the dishes were in generous portion with generous fillings. 


I loved the tangy sauce of the cannelloni, and the pasta was also cooked perfectly. 

Cannelloni

The lasagna was very meaty, which is good, and the sauce did marvelous in distinguishing this dish from the rest of its ‘average’ counterparts in Jakarta. These dishes were served warm, and you’d want to dig in while they are; eat first, talk later.

Lasagna

So Convivium is now our most favorite Italian place in Jakarta. Service may be a bit standoffish at times (for such a small joint, it was kind of hard to get the staff’s attention), but the food is great and the place is cozy. We will definitely be coming back here for more pasta and desserts, and so should you 

Ocha & Bella

This is a long, overdue post. On my birthday last month, we went to one of the hippest place in town currently, Ocha & Bella.

From the name of it, one is sure to guess that this place serves Italian and Japanese. And maybe a fusion of both. The idea of such fusion itself is no cutting-edge concept; well at least to us. Some places in town have been serving mentaiko spaghetti or pizza con wasabi for a while now. And though several of my conquests to these places have proven scrumptious, I still prefer to have these two exquisite cuisines standing on their own. A restaurant that serves both would surely deliver perfection at neither. Or so I thought. Hence, I went to Ocha & Bella almost half-heartedly. The only thing that drove me to go there was these great pictures of the place that I saw over the internet. I thought I would at least go home with some decent pictures. IT turned out I also went home with a new favorite hang-out place in mind.

This place was smooth! Well, the outside area, at least, we didn’t really care about the indoor space; too…. heavy. Outside, they had these little gazebos with seating for around six people, perfect for a Sunday lunch with the family or maybe lingering lunch with some friends. There were only the two of us that day however, so we opted for an ordinary table.

We were given two different menus upon sitting, one for the Italian dishes and one for the izakaya (Japanese-style bar, look it up on the internet if you’re curious) –esque fares. There were only a few fusion items in the menus, namely the mini burgers in the Japanese division, and boy, were we glad about these. 

We decided to try both cuisines and ordered Ocha costolette (350K) and crunchy roll sushi (45K). For drinks, we had Berry Mojito (90K) and OB Negroni (martini) (90K), both of which were refreshingly awesome, especially the mojito.

The sushi were okay. They came hot, straight from the fryer, but honestly, I prefer the ones I ate some good five minutes later, when they were a bit cooler.

Crunchy Roll

From the description on the menu, the Ocha costolette was supposed to be this massive 650g slab of rib eye cooked to perfection with a special Ocha & Bella sauce accompanied with mashed cauliflowers, baby tomatoes, and tuilles. Our maitre d’ even boasted on how the dish was enough for four. Well, his previous customers must have been on a very strict diet as when the ribs came we felt a little cheated. They must have had accounted for the weight of the plate. Anywho, the ribs were indeed tender and succulent. They were cooked just on the level I liked, the level where those thick meat would just fall of the bones without so much of an effort. The said special Ocha & Bella sauce was pleasant, a bit on the sweet side, but nothing to write home about. The mashed cauliflower was something we wish hadn’t been there. The tuilles were also unnecessary; bland, plain and hard that you, too, would end up hoping they would have had omitted the vigorous process of making these and simply mashed some potatoes instead. Ordering rosemary roasted potatoes (35K) on the side was one of our best calls that night.

Ocha Costolette

 

Roasted Potatoes

About the time when the rib was the only thing left on the plate, we were craving for some sweets. Their list of desserts was pretty regular and predictable: tiramisu, panna cotta, melted chocolate cake, etc. As we were on the hunt for the best tiramisu in town, we immediately asked for the tiramisu.

The tiramisu (50K) came with an unusual platter (as seen on the picture). They gave a separate coffee sauce for it, which we thought was nice as it added extra moisture to the ladyfingers. The mascarpone was generous and delicious too. The only thing lacking was some kick from rum, but maybe it’s just us.

Tiramisu

Overall we loved this place; we stayed for almost four hours that night. Yes, the price might be on the high scale, but for a nice, warm quality time, sometimes you just feel that it’s worth it.

Summary:
Food: Good
Ambience: Good
Value: Good

Jl. KH Wahid Hasyim No. 70
Menteng, Jakarta 10340
Tel: +62 21 310 5777
Web: http://www.ochaandbella.com/
Twitter: @Ocha_and_Bella

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