polar opposites

So as this is our last weekend before heading out to Germany we decided to have a social one. Since the husband has some last minute work duties on Sunday, this makes it our only day together also. Shame we have to share the time with friends but as my father once said "a marriage is not an island, it is a union of two families and with that, you will never be alone". Well we did have lunch together so that was quite pleasant.

Our evening started early with dinner at Orient8 in Hotel Mulia with another couple. We've never been here but we have been to Table8 also at the Mulia and that was impressive so we already had some high expectations. The interior was very French baroque (just how Indonesians like it) and the food is a mixture of French and Asian. I think the problem with these upmarket restaurants is that they really want to cater to all taste buds and to serve French cooking with Thai, Viet and Singaporean is kind of ambitious to be honest which means it tends to be a bit of "Jack of all trades and master of none". So when the waiter came at us with a mountain of menus, it felt a bit like school times and was a bit turned off by having to study them. To make things quick, I asked the couple we had dinner with, what their recommendations were and went with that. Personally speaking, I'm not such a fan of high class restaurants in Jakarta because:

* it is targeted towards expats and rich Indonesians who want to be seen at expensive places
* alot of the time it is expensive and the food tastes average
* I always get food poisoning from expensive restaurants in Jakarta (I wish I was exaggerating)
* the food is expensive because you are paying for the quality of the decor in the restaurant and not necessarily the food quality itself

So I had the 3 course meal Thai tester. Basically I get 3 or 4 appetizers, 4 mains and 4 desserts all in small portions. The food came and oh dear, the presentation was amazing!
It was a little tricky to eat from though but sometimes we have to suffer for beauty. PS. I want that long tray

All in all the food was average...and spicy! and I mean, so spicy that I couldn't taste anything else except the chilli. Overall the food was pretty forgettable, and just as I expected, we only paid for the atmosphere. The table next to us seated a big family celebrating their child's 7 or 8 year old birthday. All the women were wearing Louboutin shoes, including the teenagers.

Orient8
Hotel Mulia
Jl Asia Afrika Senayan
Jakarta 10270

Next up, Immigrant for the second half of a friend's farewell. This was more our scene, a bit down to earth and relaxed. I suspected they had a blast on their first half as people were showing up quite merry with mixed drinks filled in mini Barbie juice bottles with built in straws, hung around their necks. We also learnt that they had just come from Eastern Promise and came all the way uptown on 30 ojeks escorted by police (dangit, would have loved to join!) The night was great filled with laughs, crazy dancing and catching up with friends. The husband and I did steal some time for ourselves and sneaked outside for a bit of air and caught this pretty view from the balcony.


Immigrant
Plaza Indonesia 6th floor
Jl. MH Thamrin Kav 28-30
Jakarta Pusat