Talking about quality bakery in Medan, there are only limited numbers of them to be found. There is this shop/cafe in the heart of the city called Gourmand Baked Goods and Ingredients that sells a wide variety of baked goods (as well as raw ingredients for pastry-making). Reaching this bakery is quite tricky, since you could only reach this place from Jl. Imam Bonjol. Without any "real" parking area, it does somehow imply that this place should be just a good short stop.

The exterior of the building gives the feel of colonialism with some touch of classic decoration. But then there is a hint of modernism if you look at the corridor leading to the kitchen. An open seating is provided, and would be best enjoyed in the afternoon with cloudy skies and nice wind blowing. The small water fountain gives a good sense of ease and serenity in the middle of a hectic city - as if we are in an oasis - very nice!

Inside the shop, the breads and pastries are displayed and prepared thoroughly so it is easy to take and choose from. Getting further inside there is cake and chilled/refrigerated quick meals to choose from, sadly, we are too full to try those quick meals. Maybe next time! There is a second floor which sells raw ingredients for pastry-cooking needs. There are great numbers of quality ingredients to choose, which mostly are imported.

After choosing a very limited number of quick bites (we're full, remember?), we chose our beverages from the cake/drink counter and paid at the counter next to it. We asked them to prepare our baked goods so that its easy to eat and share.

These were what we ordered/picked: Chocolate Banana, a good tasting bread with chocolate and banana filling - its obvious, right? The bread was very soft and tasted pretty nice, not too sweet, which was deemed good for us. And there is this banana filling which adds up to our daily fibre needs. 

Then there was this slice of cake, which was very sinful to be eaten. The size of this slice of cake was monstrous, and the taste was heavenly. The cake is layered with creams and the texture was somehow too soft that when we tried to pick it up with the plastic cutlery provided, it crumbled. It is not recommended for a single person, unless you haven't eaten for a long time, lol.

To stabilise our intake of sweet goods, we decided to try the crouton. Crouton is sliced bread that is re-baked and seasoned, hence the crispness. Our crouton of choice was the Parmesan Crouton - savoury and addicting. Back then, when we asked to prepare the crouton as well, we thought that it would be served on the paper plate as well, but then it was simply teared off at the top of the package. Funny.

While eating, we were the only ones occupying the seating area, maybe it was rare for people to enjoy a cup of tea at night? I saw this guy drawing on the blackboard at the end of the corridor leading to the kitchen. Such an interesting sight, such a good hand-drawing!

Looking at the great numbers of baked goods to choose from and how limited our picks were, I should make other visit - yes, it is worth another couples of visit. I am quite interested to try the baked quick meals - it should be next!

Medan, Indonesia is said to be one of the best kept-secret food haven in Southeast Asia. One can find best tasting food and eateries in many corners of Medan's chaotic streets. We could easily name some of the best delicacies in Medan - Bolu Meranti, Soto Medan, BPK, various satay, Chinese-style stir-fried noodles/rice, martabak, etc. Name it, and you can find the best tasting food of your choice easily.

Lately, Medan has been seeing mass appearances of street foods with unique concepts and presentation - but most of the time, lack the quality of addict-ability. Usually, the new-comers are only worth to try for once. Mad Wrap Pizza & Kebab Shop, fortunately is not one of them. I could say, they provide one of the most best tasting street-food-styled (movable and modest kitchen with fast serving time and affordable overall pricing)  pizza in Medan.

Finger-licking, stretchy-cheesy, meaty pizza for good! You would want more!

Outdoor-styled eatery.

Limited seatings.

If you visit this place in a large group - you are in advantage - you could order every single menu and everything should be tasty! The most recommended dishes are the pizzas. They use something similar or could be pita (bread base for kebab) as the pizza base, which is prepared and ready to be cooked. The pizza is not baked - but heated over a pan and burned by a cooking torch to melt the cheese as one of the most prominent ingredients in every of the pizza dish.

First menu served is the Pizza Mushroom, suitable for those who do not eat meats since it only contains tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and mushroom as the main ingredients. Tasted pretty good for a non-meat dish.

Pizza Mushroom (25K)

Next, the Pizza BBQ Chicken. I still could not believe how affordable the pizza's price is, even when I am writing this post (I literally double check the price to make sure it is not a mistake). This dish is one of the winners! The taste of the BBQ sauce combined with their homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese then topped with the marinated chicken was so memorable and I could easily have another pan of this.

As a reminder, this blog entry's dishes explanation and photos are chronologically set. What came next to our table was this Cheesy Nachos. Quite a simple dish, tasted pretty similar to the pizza. The nachos were crispy, but there were some of them that were quite hard to chew. There is just this note to how they present the dish - it would be far better if the cheese is spread evenly throughout the stack.

The Pizza Pepperoni didn't fall short of great taste and finger-licking experience. I really enjoy this classic pizza - and they served it great. I love how I could roll this thin pizza and devour a slice of it in one mouthful!

The last pizza to come out was Pizza Tandoori. Due to my liking of certain Indian food, this could easily be my favourite! In addition to the usual belly-winning recipe of tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, there was this additional authentic cream/sauce that added a new layer of mouthwatering taste to the flavorful pizza base. Wonderful!

Pizza Tandoori (30K)

We also ordered Kebab Crispy Chicken - which is good, but somehow the kebab is a little bit chewy.

Kebab Crispy Chicken (15K)

Overall our experience eating here was amazing, no less than that. What made it even better was that it was so affordable we felt like we could pay double the bill given. A very delicate therapy to our wallets, indeed.

Mad Wrap Pizza & Kebab Shop

Jl. Bantam (Turn left - coming from Jl. S. Parman - before Lady Batiq- Jl. Hasanuddin)
Medan, Indonesia

Tuesday to Sunday, 4pm - 10pm

+62 813 165 553 62

Jakarta, almost everyone has a love/hate relationship with this metropolis. It is the capital city of Indonesia, without doubt a charming nation. Jakarta hosts everything, literally, everything. You can find and do anything there. A city full of opportunity they say. Some mentioned that she is brutal - loves to trap the unawares into her sweet oblivion - the traffics, the heat, the people, and the vastness of herself. You could get lost and hypnotised, but then, somehow, you would want more. That's Jakarta - such an undeniably beautiful twisted city.

Surely, it is a concrete jungle, resides with humble-sized houses as the surrounding. The city experts (read: urban planners/architects) have had called her a giant village - there are no boundaries between the districts, houses usually found in villages could be found among the skyscraping buildings in the city centre. Those views will always catch our attentions while surviving the deadlocks of vehicle congestion.

But, hey, there will be a time in a year that we could enjoy the city with so much less traffic. Mentioned in my post before, it is when the people of Indonesia celebrate Idul Fitri. Thankfully I had the opportunity to enjoy the phenomenon. Cruising to our place of stay was very smooth that we spent only half the time it usually needs. Then I thought, why not visit the touristic spots - have been warned that there will be swarms of people - I insisted to go.

Smooth ride, almost no traffic to Batavia, had a great feeling - I have never been so wrong! PS: No endorsement of any brands intended.

In the itinerary I have set, our first stop would be Batavia. We would do some nice and relaxing walk through the historical streets of Batavia, the old town with rich history in every corner of the complex. I had planned which buildings we would visit and took photos of, where we would have some delicate afternoon tea and snacks.Those were my plans - which I really looked up to. Almost arriving at Batavia, I smelled something wrong. Traffics started to be built up especially when our destination was nearby. Moreover, all we could see were crowds of people, a never ending stream and flow of people getting in and out. Later, we were trapped - no way of going back - we decided to walk past through enjoy the crowds.

Arriving there, people everywhere!

Enjoying colonial architecture with people as foreground.

A lady Ondel-Ondel amidst the crowd.

Look at all those crowds! A plaza became a sitting area (lesehan). Traditional much.

I wonder - were they having the same enjoyment as I am? Museum Fatahillah (the focal point of Batavia) as the background, anyway.

Finally walk past through the crowd, found some sphere-shaped stones around the parking area.

No more crowd. Waiting for our next ride. A unique bistro building - wondering what's inside.

The experience above is truly unique - it adds up to the love/hate relationship of me and Jakarta. Too much crowd. We decided to rush and left Batavia for our next stop, hoping that we could find less hustle. We headed to Sunda Kelapa Harbour. Sunda Kelapa Harbour is an old harbour of the city before she developed into a metropolis today. The harbour houses lines of pinisi ship - traditional two-masted wooden sailing ship, exclusively found and used in Indonesia. The harbour is still active with much less activity compared to Tanjung Priok Port. Arriving there was breathtaking, furthermore, it was peaceful. With the sunset and clear sky, the view was mesmerising.

It was a long walk and a restless hunt of photographic angles. I was content. Numbers of captures were secured and I left happy. The harbour really gives an insight of how the shipping has developed through times. The wooden ships tell the tales of their struggles throughout the times. In the middle of our afternoon-evening walk, we saw a kid happily released flocks of birds that said would go back later.

Fast forward to the next day. I constrained myself to not visit Monas, Cathedral, Istiqlal Mosque, Imanuel Church, National Museum, etc. We would except that it should be much more enjoyable if we go to less touristic spots like shopping malls. Jakarta is well-known for the sheer numbers of shopping malls spread throughout the city. I recalled a news in 2010 that mentioned the number of shopping malls in Jakarta had reached 170. That's crazy. What's crazier? Even the shopping malls are crowded!

Because of certain concerns, we decided to visit some particular shopping malls. There were people everywhere. I would have never been so wrong to state that it would be like a ghost town in this particular time - or maybe because it was weekend?

Then, we decided to visit IKEA. In the morning, my brother's friend had warned that it will be very crowded. Somehow, I forgot the experience we had the day before and insisted on going. Another wrong decision was made - we ended up in a jam-packed, overcrowded megastore that could fit 3 football field. I miscalculated - thinking that a huge store like that would never be full of people.

After getting out of that store without buying anything (we lost our interest right away when we get inside the hall), we decided to go to Pantai Indah Kapuk - a complex of housing estate and some business area - for a dinner. Don't need to guess anyway, it was also busy, alive, and full of people queuing for seats of cafés of choice.

Ending the day, I realised Jakarta really never sleeps! Even though most businesses in the city centre or CBD cease to active, another businesses - eateries, shopping malls, tourist destinations - thrive and bloom! That's Jakarta for you - surprising the visitors - such a celebrated capital of Indonesia.

On the next day, we ended up lazing around the hotel property. We knew that wherever we go, it will be busy, moreover, it was Sunday - the Jakartans could be starting to head back to the city, preparing for the next day works which adds up the crowd. It was a good decision. I could explore the skyline of Jakarta more personally.

I love cityscapes as much as how I love landscapes. I take pleasure whenever I am surrounded in a built environment with a striking characteristic of its own. Jakarta surely is one of them. I am amazed by how the accidental chaos of urban planning and execution creates unique vistas.

It is growing - and it will always be ever-changing. I wonder how it would be like in the future. I couldn't imagine. To say, Jakarta and every other city is similar to a big living organism. I am in awe. 

Really, our third day in Jakarta was slow-paced. I enjoyed this day the most. At dusk, I had the opportunity to marvel at South Jakarta skylines. Curtain wall buildings soars with all the glistening lights and lamps. My eyes were spoiled - I could gaze the amazing view even for hours.

A taxi driver said that Kuningan, South Jakarta is one of the most congested area that could last until late at night. Thankfully, that area was the most tranquil when the nation-wide celebration hits the calendar. Later that night, I explored the neighbourhood around the hotel and found out how pedestrian-friendly the area is. The flyover structure even has been decorated with gorgeous lighting that makes it stands out whenever we pass through that road. Such a nice walking experience to end my last night here.

Through the last day of my short holiday in Jakarta, I took a more personal way of looking at the structures around the property. There are limitless number of pattern found if you look closely. Those patterns, created by the built structures, are what makes the skyline looks good.

Finally, we headed to the airport for the flight back to our hometown. We were blessed with a heavy rain before taking off, yet another beautiful sunset emerged before landing set a magnificent ending to our holiday. I am thankful.

I understand that there is much to enjoy in Jakarta more than this. But this shortscape (read:short-escape) truly allows me to experience Jakarta differently. That was such a sweet experience. I will visit Jakarta again for sure!

Raffles Jakarta really push the boundary of what it takes to show excellent services. Its true, and here's why. For five-stars hotels, turndown service is a usual gesture. What is it? It is when the housekeeping staffs do additional room service in the evening - preparing the bed for the guests to easily tuck in. Then, there are hotels that raise the bar of how they do the turndown service by providing additional services such as preparing small snacks, drinks, etc.

Ready to sleep?

The turndown service we received was exceptionally nice. Beside turning down the bed linen, they provided us bedtime stories tucked into our bed, prepared a couple of apples and bottled water, and set the hotel slippers beside our comfy king-sized bed. Such treatment really gave us a good night sleep and a good night dream!

Or finish a couple of apples first?

One of the bedtime stories provided - a popular Indonesian folklore (Rara Jonggrang).

Breakfast - let's talk about breakfast. Raffles Jakarta provides a good spread of breakfast, ranging from Asian to American styled breakfast. They even have a Show Kitchen area for some à la carte menu that is cooked personally by request. FYI, bacon (pork or beef) is available only from the Show Kitchen to make sure that it is always served juicy and tender. I ordered Brioche French Toast - its so amazing that I ordered it for the next day too. The breakfast spread taste pretty good, especially the pastries! Overall, the breakfast is so fulfilling!

The notorious Brioche French Toast topped with banana slice and garnished with various berries.

Have I mentioned the butler service they provide? A personal butler will be assigned to each hotel room. The butler caters every single needs of the hotel's guests to the most detailed things possible. We could call the butler anytime and they will be ready for us. But I really love how we communicate through written notes I left before we went somewhere else. Then, by the time we got back to our rooms, my notes will be replied and my requests would be done!

One of the notes left by the butler. What a nice handwriting!

Rooms were always cleaned well and looked pretty neat every time we got back, especially the bathroom with all the amenities replenished.

Bath salts and dried jasmine replenished inside the metal cup for a rejuvenating bath. The scent always left me relaxed.

Small towels and toiletries to pamper our skins.

Asprey toiletries - great fragrance and refreshing!

Above all of the extraordinary services Raffles Jakarta provide, there is a couple deeds they done that blew my mind away. (1) When I was asking for a permission from the security officer to use DSLR for taking cityscapes images at night in front of their property, he had stated that it was usually prohibited, but then he asked the head security if it is possible since I was staying there. Thinking that I would create much hassle and trouble, I decided to head back to my room. Then, I realised that they followed me and later asked me to wait for the permission. Shortly, the duty manager directly allowed me to do as I please. While capturing some photos, the security officer even showed superb hospitality by chit-chatting with me.

Voila - the result of the permission I earn through the hotel hospitality.

(2) During check-out, there was a miscalculation of our spending - we purchased an additional breakfast buffet package which was not listed on our invoice. Usually, other hotels (in my experience) would make us wait and bill us a new invoice - an expected procedure which I would comply with. But that time, the receptionist let us consider the mishap as a gift for us. I was truly impressed by the lovely act they did.

By those memorable experiences, I really felt the emotional luxury through Raffles Jakarta hospitality. And they would want us to just call it Raffles. What a wonderful stay!