The Thirty Six

One of the coziest cafe in town...The Thirty Six is becoming one of my favourite destination, not only because of the tasty food & desserts they offered, but also because of the spacious reserved parking lots. A lot of cafes in Medan caused mass traffic jam around them because they didn't provide spacious parking spaces like The Thirty Six. This is what I loved the most about this place. I don't have to waste my time looking for parking spots!


That was just me being random taking pictures...but that was the ceiling inside the toilet. I know, who the hell brings their phones into bathroom, right? Like I said, random!



Apology for the blurred pictures...crappy mobile phone camera. The chicken was good. Very crunchy and tasty. Not too dry (which will hurt the throat), the chicken was just perfect. I loved the salad! Cafes in Medan rarely served good side dish, but this place is an exception.

Fish and Chips
I highly doubted that the tartar sauce was homemade (the waiter told me it was) because they tasted average.It it was homemade, the taste should be different from the bottled one in the supermarket, don't you agree? If it was truly homemade, yours truly have a suggestion for you: try Mark&Spencer's tartar sauce. Their tartar sauce is so far the most acceptable bottled tartar sauce in the universe.

Quesadillas
Finally, another good quesadillas in town! Crispy skin + tasty mozzarella sauce = totally loving it! Highly recommended!!!

Lastly, the tea. I've never heard of any tea brand called Pyrmont before. The only thing I knew about Pyrmont is that it is the name of a suburb in Sydney. The tea I had was good, but the smell and the taste is not as strong as T2Tea or TWG.

The Thirty Six
Jln. Multatuli No.:36
Tel.: +62 61 4530970
Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia
Mon to Sun: 10am-10pm

Bangi Kopitiam

A few weeks after the grand opening, a friend told me this place was nothing good compared to its original place (Malaysia). I decided not to come here for a few months because 8 out of 10 people that I knew told me this place was bad. I was not skeptical, because typical Medanese--they don't really care about the service they received, they mostly care about the taste of the food. Another typical Medanese, "let's sit/ hangout at wherever as long as we have place to sit" meaning they don't care about the restaurant (food and service), they are just looking for some place to sit down and talk.

Nasi Lemak
I've heard that Malaysian franchised restaurant were usually specialized in Nasi Lemak. I've tried it before at Malaysia, but I think the one served here was nothing compared to Malaysia's. Apparently, my friend was right. Maybe they were trying to suit the taste of the people here, but I personally think the Nasi Lemak tasted strange. The chicken was too oily (yuck!).

Kwetiau Goreng Penang
 Sorry for the blurred picture. Eating kwetiau goreng penang was torturous for me because the dish was too oily! I didn't finish all of my food because I felt disgusted. I think it would be wise for the chef to use lesser oil when cooking.

So far, this is the only acceptable food. I think it is safe to conclude that Bangi Kopitiam is suitable for those who wanted to eat small bites and drink. I wouldn't suggest any of you to have your heavy meal here (based on my tongue). But, I think I would come back and I hoped on my next visit, the taste of the food will improve. It would be such a waste to see another well-known franchised restaurant going far lower than expectation.

Bangi Kopitiam
Jln. Letjen S. Parman No.:217
#GF-G08 Cambridge City Square
Tel.: +62 61 4561715 / 4561716
Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Osteria & Pizzeria Mozza by Mario Batali

Will you believe me if I told you that I came to this restaurant thrice and during all of my attempts to get a table in this restaurant, I was told to wait for at least 3 hours? Thankfully, at my third attempt, I only had to wait for 2 hours. From 6 pm to 8 pm. Will you believe me if I told you that after I've finished my dinner (around 11 pm), there was still a long queue in front of the restaurant?

I was telling you the truth. Located at the B1 floor of Marina Bay Sands, this restaurant is always crowded (weekdays and weekends). It was always difficult to get a table during weekend, and you have to reserve at least one week in advance.

As you arrived at this restaurant, you will notice that the restaurant was divided into two parts: Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. I was lucky enough to get a table at Pizzeria Mozza after queuing for 2 hours because if I wanted to get a table at Osteria Mozza, I have to queue for about 3 hours. CRAZY!

The thing is that the menu on Pizzeria and Osteria are different. During my visit (crazy weekend), my server told me that we are not allowed to order food from Osteria because we were sitting at Pizzeria (I don't know if the same policy was applied on weekdays or non-busy hours).

Chicken Wings alla Diavolo - SGD 18
One piece of chicken per person, because our stomach is a bottomless pit hole. Chicken Wings alla Diavolo was very good. The skin was thick and tasty, while the meat was juicy. It was well-roasted and every single bite of it will makes you feel like heaven. One piece of chicken per person was not enough.

Bacon, Salami, Fennel Sausage, Pancetta, Tomato & Mozzarella - SGD 37
I loved how every unique ingredients (pardon my French!) can be put together perfectly! All of the food are fresh and good-quality.

Pizza alla Benno: Speck, Pineapple, JalapeƱo, Mozzarella & Tomato - SGD 35

Some of the pizzas that we ordered. All of the pizzas have unique flavour, mainly because I was get used to Pizza Hut's pizzas. This is what they called "authentic Italian pizza". The bacon was so soft but tasty. The chefs put generous amount of cheese on the pizzas. Not only cheese, but other ingredients as well. The crust were thick and the meat were thick. Overall, I was very satisfied with what were served.

Calamari al Forno with Fagioli & Oregano - SGD 18
The best calamari I've ever had. We ordered 3 portions because it was too delicious to eat only a small bit. Like I said, every single bite of food will make you feel in cloud nine!

Prosciutto di Parma & Bufala Mozzarella - SGD 32
Prosciutto di Parma & Bufala Mozzarella OR in short: bacon with mozzarella cheese. The cheese was FATTENING but the taste is worth the pain I will have to endure (guilty pleasure). Look at the amount of the bacon and the two big scoops of mozzarella cheese!

Nancy's Chopped Salad - SGD 20
A lot of people told me this place served the best Pizza in Singapore. So far, I've tried only a few pizzeria, but I think I couldn't agree more.

Currently, Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro and Mario Batali's Mozza are the only restaurants in Marina Bay Sands where you can enjoy eating in a celebrity chef restaurant without burning a hole in your pocket. In fact, dining in this restaurant did burned a hole in my pocket if I had to convert each SGD to IDR, but the food themselves were worth every single cent.

After trying this restaurant, a friend told me that there's Jamie's Italian in Vivocity. I was like "okay, I will try Jamie's Italian next time and compared it to Mozza and see, which celebrity chef served the better Italian cuisine." Just in case if any of you wondered, Jamie's Italian belongs to Jamie Oliver (James Trevor Oliver). He is a British celebrity chef, cooking show host (my favourite shows are Oliver's Twist, Jamie's 15-Minutes Meals), restaurateur, and cook book author.

Osteria & Pizzeria Mozza
2 Bayfront Ave
#B1-42/46 The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands
Tel.: +65 66888522
Singapore

Website: http://www.osteriamozza.com/ and  http://pizzeriamozza.com/

Excelso

The truth that this cafe improved so much really amazed me! Previously, this is one of the cafes that I detested the most! Bad services, endless hours of waiting for my drinks to arrive, mixed up orders, and not to mention ignorant servers...those were just a few out of many reasons I hated this restaurant. Once I tweeted about how bad the service was, and I received quite a number of replied from my friends. Apparently, all of them agreed to what I said! This cafe deserved "Worst Cafe of the Year" award.

BUT, all of those happened in the past. Today (and hopefully, till forever) this is one of my most-favourite place to hang-out. I loved all of the food here (except the Nachos. The nachos is good, but I never like nachos.) The service was great and deserved a credit.

Fettuccine with Chicken and Black Pepper Sauce - IDR 59,500
The Chicken and Black Pepper Sauce is very good. Although it is a little bit oily, the chicken tasted good. I think they marinated the chicken with black pepper for a few minutes before cooking it because you could actually felt some pepper in every bite.


Spaghetti Carbonara - IDR 59,500
 I love, love, love, love, love the spaghetti carbonara. I am not a big fan of carbonara (because most of the time, it is too creamy), but Excelso's is an exception.

Fettuccine Carbonara - IDR 59,500

Lemon Butter Dory with Fettucinne - IDR 59,500
This is my MOST FAVOURITE dish. The sauce was a little bit sour but sweet and salty. I don't really know how to describe the taste, but for those who loved lemon, this one is very recommended. They didn't put too much lemon on it so it's not too sour. Some people might complain that the dory fish is too salty, but you can always tell them to reduce the amount of the salt.

Dory en Oats - IDR 59,500
 This dish is rather simple. Fried the dory with oats...but I personally think it is challenging to fry the dory until very, very, crunchy. I would recommend you, dear readers, to try dory en oats with sauteed potatoes. Their sauted potatoes are one of a kind! So far, the best sauteed potatoes I've ever had in Medan.

French Fries with Cheese Sauce
Look at the cheese!
This is by far my must-order dish whenever I eat at Excelso. The french fries is ordinary except they sprinkled minced and chopped parsley (I think) all over the french fries but the sauce itself is why I always ordered this dish. It was sooooo good! 10 out of 10 people, whom I recommend this sauce to, would tell me that this is indeed the best cheese sauce they've ever had! It tastes...unique. I am still trying to figure out the ingredients they used in making this sauce.

Overall, this place is great! Good food, good drink, and good service. A little tip for you, I personally enjoy eating at Excelso in Hermes Place Polonia and Cambridge City Square compared to Sun Plaza and Mall Center Point. Especially Hermes. I think Hermes Place Polonia has the best chef  among all of Excelso outlets in Medan.

De' Excelso
Jln. Haji Zainul Arifin No.:7 
#GF-C18 Sun Plaza
Tel.: +62 61 4501080
Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

De'Excelso
Jln. Letjen. S. Parman No.:217 
#GF-P02/P02A Cambridge City Square
Tel.: +62 61 4517720
Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Excelso
Jln. Wolter Monginsidi No.:45
#GF-03 Hermes Place Polonia
Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia

Excelso
Jln. Jawa No.:1
#LG-13 Mall Center Point
Medan - North Sumatra - Indonesia