Grand Opening: Ron's Laboratory

It all started with an email from an acquaintance whom I knew through this blog. He told me that he had a few extra invitations for the grand opening of Ron's Laboratory, and he would love to give me one. He did mentioned free-flow gelato and the possibilities of flavours which would not be on the menu (he was not lying).

And yes, he got me at: free flow gelato. Gosh I felt so cheap!

A little bit about Ron's Laboratory...it is an outlet specialize in nitrogen gelato. The concept itself is molecular gastronomy, meaning: it focuses on the physical and chemical reaction which may have different effect on the food. Although molecular gastronomy may sound new in Medan, it was not as new at it seemed to sound! It has been dated as far as the 18th century. Based on my research, the term molecular gastronomy itself was adapted in 1992 when an English teacher of cookery, Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas, proposed a workshop in which professional cooks could learn about the physics and chemistry of cooking.

The Invitation

The invitation was for two and I brought a companion with me. We arrived around 7 pm and the place was already crowded and packed like sardines! We practically had to squeeze among all of the visitors there to walk from one spot to another spot! My favourite were Accio Red Velvet and (something which taste a bit like Tolak Angin. Will ask the them on my next visit).

This is how it was supposed to look like (taken from Monarchy Production's youtube page): link

Pastel Pink Gelato

and this was what was served to all of the guests...(there was supposed to be two tiny marshmallow but I've eaten them before taking the pictures):

LOL, what do you expect?

Of course there's no way RON'S was going to serve the gelatos in their original presentations because the guests might feel full on the fourth or fifth giant scoop! A little bit of everything is always better than a big scoop of one thing, don't you agree?

Dragon Breathe

The thing with dragon breathe is: it looked like popcorn. I suspected that it was popcorn injected with some chemical ingredients. How it works? Simply put some popcorn in your mouth, close your mouth tightly, and you breathe as hard as possible. Hence, there would be smoke coming out from you nostrils and ears. Somewhat like this:

Donald may be the muse of Ron's Laboratory dragon breathe

except: you don't jump around, your mouth was closed, and there would be smoke coming out of your nostrils too!

Curiosity killed no one that day

As shown above: the very friendly lab experts deliberately sprayed (correct me if I was wrong) some liquid nitrogen on the table so that the kids (and adults) could feel the cold sensation. The kids were very happy and kept on asking for more!

The man on fire...literally.

Nope, he was not burning himself. Yes, it was totally safe. Nope, I did not try because the queue was quite long. It was totally safe and fun! Somehow, this event made everyone felt like a chemistry expert because of all the experiments were very fun! I wish we had something like these in high school! I've wasted my time on mixing some "not-fun" chemical ingredients and writing dull reports. *sigh*

"Sebentar ya Mbak, ini lagi diaduk.." he said to one of the guest who kept on asking "Sudah selesai belum?"

I think he would look hotter if he took off his gigantic lab glass...and build some muscle...and smile more.....

Avocado with Chocolate - I usually AVOID eating or drinking anything with avocado in it, except sushi and the gelato above. It's official: I am in love with this one!

The very humble founder himself: Ronald Prasanto

Mr. Ronald Prasanto himself demonstrated many fun experiments as well as explained about the chemical reactions...why and how it happened. Somehow, he taught better than one of my chemistry teachers in high school whom I disliked so much!

Lucky me, I got to talk to him. He told me about how he used to work in an oil company before he decided to start his own business. He was very humble. He was willing to share his knowledge and experience with others because he believed that he will be getting more by giving more. He was not the typical successful person who kept all the knowledge to himself.

Anyway, he did asked one of his subordinators to mix coffee and a little bit of rum for me. He told me that whenever he enjoyed experimenting and one of his assistants would note down what he experimented as future references because he was to lazy to lift the pen and write.

Have I mentioned that every month on the 15th, Ron's Laboratory is going to change their menu and put in something new? More over, they will always remove their best-selling flavour from the menu on the 15th. So, make sure to visit there every month else you will not get to taste these yummy treats!

Worry not! Gelato contains only 10% of cream (unlike ice cream) and the amount of sugar is very, very, low. So, consuming them will not cause any harm to your body or cause an excessive weight gain.

Ron's Laboratory

Jln. Haji Zainul Arifin No.:7

#LG-C30-31 Sun Plaza

Tel.: +62 61 4501041

Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Website: http://www.ronslaboratory.com

Instagram: @ronslaboratory

NOT DEAD...YET!

Somebody actually went as far as hacking into this account. I don't know who, I don't know why, but thankfully my account is back!

Will update soon asap! Ciao!

Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh (亚华肉骨茶)

Blogging about Bak Kut Teh in Singapore would be challenging. There were not few popular Bak Kut Teh stalls in Singapore, namely: Song Fa, Ng Ah Sio, Founder, and last but not least, Ya Hua. Out of those, I've only tried three but I prefer Ya Hua. Again, I am not blogging to rate which is the best in sequence. I pick Ya Hua because I went there more often since most of my companions prefer Ya Hua. But, our (or in this case, mine) taste does not define which is better than which.

It all started when a Singaporean friend told me: "die, die, also must go eat one bak kut teh at Singapore lah" and as a typical non-Singaporean residence/ typical clueless tourist who knows little about Singaporean slang, my response was: "what?!". To sum it up, she meant: no matter what happened, one should try eating Bak Kut Teh at Singapore at least once. During that time, I did not consider eating Bak Kut Teh as a must because back then I was an unstable teenager who thinks that one must eat Ippudo, Boon Tong Kee, Burger King, and have tea at TWG whenever come to Singapore (now I don't). Please be understanding. I WAS an ABG gaul (or trying to be one).

There are two Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh in Singapore. One in Outram Park, and another one in Havelock Street. I've never been to the one at Outram Park. Why? Because it is non air-conditioned! Why go to the non-AC-ed when there is an AC-ed store available?

Oh, for those who wondered, Bak Kut Teh is also known as Spare Rib Soups. It was meaty and juicy pork ribs cooked with simmered in a very complicated broth full of herbs and spices. Anyway, teh means tea. It was not cooked with tea, it was served with Oolong tea. I recalled my Mom telling me that Oolong tea is the must side drinks (?) while eating Bak Kut Teh, but a lot of people seemed to mistaken the Teh in Bak Kut Teh means the pork ribs was cooked with mixture of tea, herbs, and spices.

Spare Ribs Soup (肉骨茶) SGD 8.00

I usually ate 2 portion of Spare Ribs Soup + extra soup + 1 portion of rice + several side dish. The soup smelled good with a lot of black pepper. The braised peanut and braised salted vegetable are also some of the must order. Soft and tasty peanut + rich taste of soup + the soft and juicy texture of the meat in my mouth...this might be the perfect sentence to describe heaven.

You will also get to see a lot of pictures of celebrities who have eaten at Ya Hua on the wall. Namely: Chow Yun Fat, Jay Chou and Kang Gary. You can see some of the pictures here (link) but those were just a few out of many.

I even bought the nicely packed bak kut teh herb from this place so that I could give them to my Mom and asked her to cook for me in Medan! Unfortunately, I don't remember the price. I personally think this place is a little bit pricey. Not that I converted SGD to IDR (I raraly convert the price of food whenever I travel because the outcome will ruin my holiday), but I think the portion is a little bit too small compared to others. I would prefer bigger portion.

BUT overall, I strongly suggest everyone to come and eat at this place. I heard there are 2 branches of Ya Hua at Jakarta, I wondered if they are as good as Singapore's.

593 Havelock Road 

#01-01/02 Isetan Office Building 

Tel.: ++65 6235 7716/ +65 8282 7896 (Day)/ +65 9824 1066 (Night)

Sun: 11am–10pm

Tue and Thur: 11am–2am

Wed, Fri, and Sat: 11am–3am

Singapore

7 Keppel Road

#01-05/07 PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex

Tel.: +65 6222 9610/ +65 8282 7896 (Day)/ +65 9824 1066 (Night)

Tue to Sun: 7am–3pm / 5pm-4am

Singapore

Website: http://yahuabakkutteh.com/