hotel hopping - part one

As I mentioned earlier, on April this year, I got a new settled job. And from June to July, my new job required me to attend and host several seminars held in hotels. And so, there I was being hotel-hopping. In total, I attended six or seven seminars, and each of which required me to stay for 3 days and 2 nights in a hotel. Besides all the work-thingy, I kind of enjoyed this hotel-hopping though. The room is nice and you don't have to make up your bed. The food is fine and it's free. The wifi is okay. And in one seminar, I got a suite room located on 27th floor. In several occasions, I also managed to hang out until midnight with my friends. So it did not seem like we're working at all. And the best part is, of course, I got paid. Anyway, I will not post each of the hotel-hopping experiences that I got. I will only post three of them, and the first one is Padjadjaran Suites Hotel.

Padjadjaran Suites Hotel is located in Bogor. It is actually a small hotel, especially when you see it from the main entrance. It has only 5 floors, but the rooms are fine. From my room's window, I could actually see Pangrango mount, if I'm not mistaken. And since it's located in Bogor, the air was fresh (and really cold in the morning). 

The first meal that I ate in the hotel's restaurant is dinner meal. The meal served in the buffet is pretty similar to those served in any other hotel's restaurant: appetizer that consists of soup and salad, main courses that offers choices of beef, chicken or fish and fruits and desserts. That night I decided to eat the fried rice with beef curry and stirred pak choi. I also tried the finger-size fish chips and the cream soup with crab and egg. Overall, the food tasted good. And the menu offered is pretty various.

On the second day, the lunch's buffet still offered similar menu with those offered for the dinner, and I ate the tom yum soup which tasted good and freshly sour. I also ate the fried rice (they actually also offered rice) with chicken stew and cap cay. All fresh and tasty.

To be honest, my favorite meal whenever I stayed in a hotel is breakfast! I love omelette so much! I never miss it. And for my breakfast, I ate salad with mayonnaise, watermelon, omelette with beef and chicken sausage and drink the fresh guava and orange juice. See? I am so greedy when it comes to breakfast!

And last but not least, here is one of the snacks they serve during one of the coffee break sessions that we had. Fruits tart and otak-otak (fish cake). And I made them into this straight-face looked emoticon. The fruits tart tasted so yummy and the otak-otak was tasty as proved by the fact that I ate more than one of otak-otak.

MP - macaroni panggang

MP - Macaroni Panggang, 2 June 2013.

Couple of weeks after my visit to MP - Lasagna Gulung, I finally had the chance to try the super-mega famous macaroni panggang (baked macaroni). I went there with my family for weekend lunch. Once I stepped in into the restaurant, I fell in love instantly with the atmosphere. The outdoor dining space is designed to offer a dining experience at a garden. There are several tables and each of which is placed under a giant white canopy. The garden is decorated with stepping stones and filled with beautiful flowers and small trees. There are also a couple of small ponds in there which add the beautiful atmosphere to the dining area.

Alright, now about the food. They serve pretty various menu, I'd say. From traditional West Java cuisine, Italian cuisine (macaroni, the main signature dish is originated from Italy, right?) to Western food. And incidentally, we order each of the various food offered.

For appetizer, we ordered rujak (mixed fruits dressed with brown sugar grind together with fried peanut, pepper and tamarind). I always find that rujak is the best appetizer ever since it always manages to raise my appetite. 

super fresh rujak

For the traditional food, we ordered sup iga (rib soup) and nasi timbel (a menu set consist of rice cooked inside banana leaf, roasted fish, sambal bajag and petai). 

And as for the Western food, we ordered fish and chips and beef sausage. The fish and chips was so so, but the beef sausage was tasty.

Last but not least, we ordered the main signature menu of the house, that is the macaroni panggang itself. We ordered the medium one which should serve for 6 people. And it was the bomb!

MP - lasagna gulung

MP - Lasagna Gulung, 11 May 2013.

I've never been hanging out in Bogor before. I really did not have much expectation because the last time I went there with my family, I don't think there will be modern and hip places there comfortable enough for hanging out. And boy, I was wrong. When my boyfriend and I went to Padjajaran Street, we found lines of hip restaurants. We then decided to go to MP -Macaroni Panggang. However, not until we arrived at the parking lot we realized that we entered the wrong restaurant. Instead of going to MP - Macaroni Panggang, we get in into MP - Lasagna Gulung, and it turned out that the two restaurants are located inside the same area. We were about to go out the parking lot when it began to rain. And, off to MP - Lasagna Gulung we go.

The place was designed to be warm, I supposed. And I feel a touch of Java style since the main dining area is located inside a pendopo (a large open structure made of wood). We chose the lesehan table (no chair, we just sit on the floor) because they look cozier and more comfortable. 

It was raining when we enjoyed our visit there. We ordered the medium-sized rolled lasagna and sweet hot tea. I'm not really a fan of lasagna and macaroni, so I thought I was just going to taste a bit of the lasagna. But, again, I was wrong. The lasagna was more than just delicious. It was perfect. It tasted creamy since it is filled with sour cream, mayonnaise and egg. It is also filled with beef, spinach and red beans, and the combination of which matches perfectly with the lasagna dough which was baked until it cooked perfectly. Instead of tasting a bit of the lasagna, I ate 3 slices of the super mega delicious rolled lasagna. Oh heaven!

shaded and warm nuance of the main outdoor dining area

cups of tea: perfect company during rainy day

the perfect rolled lasagna

self-made salad

Okay, I decided this post to be my first recipe post! And, the first one should be an easy one haha. I'm just kidding. I made salad simply because it is actually the only recipe that I could make. I love salad so much. Even though now I'm already back to being a carnivore, I pretty much still order salad whenever it is offered in restaurants. So, around March, I was unoccupied. I took a one-month long holiday before I began my new job. And at one afternoon, I decided to make use of my spare time for making salad for my boyfriend who should be on a diet, for God's sake, now that his weight is above 100 kg. So, I went for grocery shopping to find the ingredients needed for making the most delicate and complex salad. Again, kidding.

Green Salad

Ingredients:

- Lettuce (as much as you want)

- Red paprika (gotta love the color)

- Green paprika (green is better, still)

- Frozen vegetables (green peas, sweet corn, carrot and string bean)

- Tomatoes (as much as you want)

- Lemon for dressings (as much as you want)

- Canned tuna (if you like it, but I don't really. I use it for tuna sandwich, and the recipe for which I will not post though)

Steps:

1. First, you prepare the necessary ingredients.

2. Second, you chop everything the way you like it. But, do it the conventional way is always best, though.

3. You mix all the vegetables (yes, count tomatoes as vegetables in this case). And dress them up with lemon juice. And voila! Enjoy the Green Salad a la Moi.

never get enough of thai cuisine!

Jittlada, 24 February 2013.

I could never get enough of Thailand cuisine. So, anytime people asked me to eat in Thailand restaurant, it is most likely (if not affirmative), I will say yes. For me, it is a bless to have munching-buddy interested in similar food taste like me, i.e. loving sour and spicy food. And this time, I was lucky. My college friends took me to Jittlada, Grand Indonesia. The place was cool with soothing ambiance which you would find in any Asian restaurant located in big shopping centers like Grand Indonesia. The restaurant is dimmed in light and decorated with carved wooden tools with Thailand signature which I believe aimed to offer cozy and comfortable space for dining, and they did well. 

We ordered the must-try food I always order in Thailand restaurant, and that is tom yum soup. 

It is served in small portion. The soup tasted fresh, sour and spicy. But, still it does not beat the taste of Thai Express' tom yum soup. The soup was offered with rich amount of button mushrooms and a mixed of seafood such as shrimp and calamari.

We also ordered stirred edible fern with garlic. The fern tasted fresh and tasty because it was not overcooked, this has always been the perfect way of cooking green leafy veggie.

  

And we also ordered roasted chicken with garlic. It was delicious. And to accompany the dishes, we ordered Thailand hot tea served in this cute teapot set.