buzz at Alila Jakarta (Indonesia)

Buzz is Alila Jakarta's restaurant cum coffee shop located at the lobby area. Service was good, but food took way too long to arrive. Even our drinks took some time to come out: we actually had to summon the waiters to remind him about the drinks. When the fruit juice finally came, it was lukewarm and watered down. I had to send it back to have it re-done.

The Nasi Goreng, a typical Indonesian hotels' staple and perhaps the best-known Indonesian food known to all foreigners, was not good at all. How can an

Melt at the Mandarin Oriental (Singapore)

The (Mandarin) Oriental at the Marina recently reopened after a few months of renovation. I squeezed in a last day visit to the hotel and ate at the coffee shop, called Melt. The place offered practically every popular food from different ethnicities: Nasi Goreng (Indonesia); Tom Yum Khoong (Thailand); Hainanese Chicken Rice (Singapore); Hamburger (America) and Sushi/Sashimi (Japan). A group of friends from different cultures need not worry about not finding what they like in the menu. The place tries to please everyone.

I just ordered the Tom Yum Khoong (the mildest sort was still very spicy) and the Hainanese Chicken Rice, both having big servings. The Tom Yum Khoong was

Straits Kitchen at the Grand Hyatt (Singapore)

By the time I checked into the Grand Hyatt Singapore, the hotel's coffee shop had gone through a renovation and re-opened as the current Straits Kitchen. Not having been to Singapore and/or stayed at this hotel for more than a decade, I had no recollection of how the coffee shop used to be, but the renovated version sure looked alive.

There are many stations for both western fare and different ethnic food, but most of the taste was mediocre at best. The exception goes for the South Asian

The Waterfront (Surabaya, Indonesia)

Ever since the opening of Cafe Sampoerna, chic cafes and restaurants have started to open in this sleepy city of Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia. One of the latest additions to the roster is Waterfront, a three floor cafe/restaurant on Jalan Kedungsari, a busy thoroughfare. The first floor features a dark interior with regular tables and booths, serving full menu of the restaurant as well as drinks. The second floor features a piano bar and lounge, although food can still be ordered there. The third floor, in the form of a traditional hotel ballroom, is used for formal occassions such as parties and conferences.

The food tastes good and the portions are generous; then again, this is East Java, whose food tends to have a sweet twist to it. My palate is very much amused by the result of their cooking, so caveat emptor; those of you who have a West Javanese palate (liking more salty and sour dishes) may not care too much for some of the food offered here. The Mapo Tofu is delicious; having had some in my new hometown of Tokyo, I was afraid that this restaurant would not execute it correctly, but on my second visit, I ordered the dish once more.

Their "Special Chicken", however, left much to be desired. These were small bites of chicken cooked in rather a sweet, sour and spicy sauce, but not drenched in the sauce. Unfortunately, the chef did not have the thought of removing the bones from these small bites; and the bones found in these bites happened to be the annoying kind: small and splintery. Do not order this, if you do not want to have to reach for the bones in your mouth.

There is a drink called "Number 1" that was basically a non-alcoholic fruit juice with crushed nougat in it. The taste was refreshing, but it depends on who mixes the drink and what fruits go into it; in other words, the drinks have not been prepared in a consistent manner yet. A friend who recommended it to me did not like the one she had while dining together. On my second visit, I ordered the same drink, and true enough, they did not taste quite the same.

One thing that annoyed me in both visits was the insistence of the wait staff to sell their products. On the first visit, while we were reading the menu, a waitress kept yapping about what food she or other guests liked; and she did not stop there. It got to the point where I had to ask her to come back while we tried to decide on what we wanted to order. On the second visit, this time only with one other friend, we ordered 4-5 dishes, which were quite a lot for only two people. The waiter then asked if we would like some vegetables, which we declined. After that, he started reciting the name of the vegetable dishes, which we again declined. Then he asked if we would like some soup, and again, we said no; but again, he started naming all the soups that were offered there. Finally we said no and made him realize that what we had ordered was plenty. The owner may have coached these people to sell, but s/he forgot to program these "robots" to recognize when to shut-up.

Places like these in Jakarta are like mushrooms, but here in Surabaya, it is just beginning...