Jason Pirelli Tandean (IG: @jasontandean)

A good pizzeria is not an easy thing to be found in my hometown. I'm sick of having pizzas from those overrated chain pizza stores that tastes bland and boring. Over the past few years some people finally muster the courage to take a stand and open up proper pizzeria to show us that this is the real pizza. Together with their side dishes as well. 

Pizza Marzano happened to be one of middle-upper class, full service pizzeria located at the west side of Surabaya. We ordered their creamy mushroom dip and chicken wings for starters, pizza and lasagna for mains, and were left too full for dessert, so hot tea will do for now. 

Mushroom dip tastes creamy and comforting, served in that skillet kinda bowl thingy, keeping it nice and warm until the last scoop. Don't touch the bowl, or you'll scorch your fingers. Chicken wings, coated in house made sauce, juicy and pleasant. Lasagna served bubbly hot, not your everyday view in Italian style restaurant in Surabaya. Pizza, well this is the star for me. This is how Pizza should taste like. 

Pizza is oven fired, we can see from those scorches on its crust. Toppings are not overcooked, the cheese has not broken down into those oily greasy thingy yet, but they melt beautifully. Love it. Only thing is they do rely on the taste of their quality products, so for some of us this might taste a bit... less tasty. Have some grated Parmesan cheese and chilli flakes to kick it up a notch. Oh, the Parmesan cheese? Not those powdery stuff you usually find in pitsahat (you know who this is right?). This restaurant uses proper Parmesan Cheese, have a touch on it and you can definitely tell this is the real thing. 

Definitely one of some Pizzerias in town that you gotta visit, price won't come easy (but not that expensive) but the quality of the meal and the dining experience worth every single dime spent. 

#pizza #pizzeria #lasagna #lasagne #pasta #pastalover #italy #italianfood #pizzalover #chicken #chickenwings #mushrooms #mushroomsofinstagram #cream #entree #appetizers #starter #parmesan #parmesancheese #artisan #foodphotography #foodhunter #foodie #foodiesofinstagram #foodies #surabayafood #surabayafoodies #visitsurabaya #visitindonesia

Shao Kao. I believe in Chinese that means skewers (?). Basically most of your favourite food items are skewered then grilled to perfection, with a dash of savoury or bbq sauce. I strongly believe the savoury glaze that I always ordered consists of salt and some cumin and 5 spices powder. 

Ordered me Broccoli skewers, rolled bacon, pork cheek, chicken skin, chicken softbones, pork belly. I love pork and I love chicken. Why not both? Toss in some vege as well so it's not that "sinful" 

Broccoli was grilled and charred well, it still has a pleasant crunch to it and tastes wonderful thanks to the savoury glaze. Rolled Bacon, need I say more? Bacon is bacon no matter how you cook it, it will always be good. Cmon it's bacon. 

Pork cheek is kinda fatty and chewy, savoury. Love it. Chicken softbone was cooked well and the chicken skin as well. Only downside was the skin. It was a challenge to take it off the skewer, the skin simply breaks down and made a mess on my table. 

Again, it's not iced tea. A pint of beer to accompany the skewer madness, and was mentally prepared to have my pocket skewered by the bill 😂 

PS: lotsa customers opted to have them skewers with steamed rice, optional but kinda make so much sense to fill your tummy up. 

#shaokao #skewers #skewer #pork #baconlovers #bacon #broccoli #vegan #vegetables #veggies #green #porkonyourfork #chicken #cheek #skin #beer #lager #ale #cumin #5spice #5spices

Nasi Babi Peneleh. It's a rice dish with some variety of toppings. Its sambal alone consists of 3 varieties, making your lunch time vibrant and colourful.

It only opens from morning circa 8 AM until arvo around 3 PM, hence you can only have it for brunch/lunch, not dinner. Besides, who the hell would have this porky gluttony for dinner? Save your arteries, don't clog them.

JK, for dinner you can have them pork knuckles which I posted earlier. Save your arteries by actively moving and working out alright, folks. Don't just starve yourself and being idle 😂

You get some variations of pork meat and veg here. All of them are savoury and their flavours mix very well with each other. Those crispy slightly fatty pork and fried peanuts are there to give textures in your mouth so that every spoonful of them excites your tastebuds for more. The broth (pork) on the side helps when you feel the whole dish is too dry, and the meaty bones are there for your entertainment (you know what I mean, yea? Cleaning those bones off their meats give me unexplainable satisfaction). Wash them down with a glug of fresh cold orange juice (es jeruk. Not really orange juice but okay) and off you go for another quarter days of working.

#lunch #babi #pork #porkbelly #porkonyourfork #sambal #chilli #rice #crispy #orange #juice #iced #plating #foodphotography #foodhunter #foodie #surabayafood #surabayafoodies #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia #wonderfulindonesia

Coffee and some quite time alone are sometimes what you need to accomplish your tasks or simply to refresh your mind. Well that's what most people believe. To me, sometimes that's not always the case. 

Again guys, I couldn't manage to find the proper geotag for this place. It's Cafe Ludic in Surabaya, Jl. Raya Kendangsari No.97. @ludic.sub maybe you guys can work on it so everyone can start tagging your geotag on IG, for the sake of your business' exposure. 

Now back to the main topic. Having a powerful laptop (Gaming, preferably) means you have the freedom to work anytime and anywhere. Okay, heavy tasks that require massive computing power that no standard laptops or ultrabooks have. I was sitting there with my coffee (B1G1 promo at that time, I saved my second cup for later bcs I didn't want to bloat myself up before my late lunch with these folks), doing some work and refreshing. Slide 2 will get you what I meant. Of course, work for 1 hour and refresh myself for 2 hours. Hello college times, I missed you. 

By doing tasks I meant editing and rendering Video for my YT Channel, and by refreshing I meant playing Dota 2 with the cafe's wifi and plugged into its wall. Yes I do that sometimes (Ok. Often times). The place is comfy and cozy BUT the acoustic is a bit too much for me. As the layout of the room is so well arranged, a little change of sound/noise can impact heavily on your experience. The table next to me was talking quite loudly and laughing around, and I can hear them loudly through my well-isolated ear canal (by my TWS earbuds). Coffee is okay, similar to those with the same price range. No waiters here, you place your order on the cashier counter and they'll call you when your order is ready. 

I like the place and experience, overall. Just some minor inputs and I hope I will be able to visit you guys again sometimes. As I said on my previous coffee post earlier, always have one. Nothing could go wrong with it. Or am I? 

#coffee #cafe #latte #aren #palmsugar #milk #gaming #predator #dota #dota2 #logitech #logitechg #jabraeliteactive65t #localbusiness #surabayafood #surabayafoodies #foodphotography #refreshing #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia

That Nasi Geprek again. I guess closer to the end of the month, the financial crisis kinda creeps in strong, huh. Life of a salaryman. That's why it is mandatory, not only recommended, that all of us have some kinda of side hustles to generate us some extra income while we are working our best for that monthly salary (unlike you guys out there who got paid weekly/fortnightly salary/wage, here in Indonesia we got paid monthly salary). 

This time I tried their Ayam Geprek with Sambal Matah (the previous one was beef rib, this one is fried chicken), with some extra Tahu Crispy on the side (fried crispy tofu. Cheap snack yet nutritious and satisfying. Idk how such cheap food could be so addicting). Love the chilli sauce, might take a while to get used to its level of spicyness but it's worth your sweat and tears, if you are the kind who has no control over the waterworks when your tongue got chilli-burned (I am one of them). Chicken breast was juicy, the tamarind soup on the side was tasty and refreshing. Tofu? Oh champion it was so good on its own. 

Have this kinda meal with your mates and maybe couple pints of ice cold beer 🍻 to enjoy your after-work evening, before starting your side hustle. Remember, hustling is important but so are good friends. Happy Friday, folks. Have a short break and come stronger on Monday! 

#geprek #ayamgeprek #chicken #tamarind #sayurasem #vegetables #veggies #tofu #crispy #vegan #fritters #fries #foodphotography #foodhunter #foodie #chilli #chill #mates #surabayafood #surabayafoodies #surabaya #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia #wonderfulindonesia

Se'i Babi Aroma. In short it's smoked pork with condiments, served with steamed rice. Tastes like smoky bacon, smeared with Sambal Matah/chopped and shredded chilli+shallots with veg oil and salt, delish. 

I can't find a proper geotag for this place, the closest one being PHD Mulyosari. The outlet's address is Jalan Raya Mulyosari 378, Surabaya. 

I had this meal after my long drive home from Jogja. Just what I needed back then, porky smoky savoury goodness with chilli sauce and stir fried cassava leaves for fiber intake. There's a bowl of soup as well to soften all those spoonful of divine flavour to help your throat to gulp them. Soup tastes savoury, again, with soggy pork skin cracker on top of it (which tastes good, try it). Nothing really special about this meal, however the non-speciality thing about this dish is what make it special. (Or maybe the person who I had it with? God only knows) 

#babi #seibabi #porkonyourfork #porkbelly #pork #bacon #baconlovers #smokedmeat #smokedbacon #rice #cassavaleaf #veggies #vegetables #surabaya #foodphotography #foodhunter #foodie #surabayafoodies #surabayafood #adventure #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia #wonderfulindonesia

Another Feastaphoria, not lunch but linner (sometimes between lunch or dinner).

Nasi merah ayam geprek sambel spesial. Steamed red rice with chilli sauce smeared - fried chicken and soup. I honestly couldn't really translate it to English, but you guys got the idea. The fried chicken is smashed and folded with their special chilli sauce, served with steamed red rice and tamarind-broth veggie soup on the side. A normal modern Indonesian dish. 

HOWEVER. Normal is not my style. So there we have a side dish of crispy pork cheek. Fried, not roasted. Deep fried and tossed in fried garlic chips and five-spices powder. Sprinkled with freshly chopped green onions. Nice crunchy salty side dish, it really is an appetizing item. Dip it into its garlic vinegar dipping sauce, perfect. 

Beer. When you can, or whatever. Just get a pint of beer. Thank me later 🍻 

#rice #redrice #healthfood #healthy #chicken #chilli #chill #sambal #porkonyourfork #porkcheek #crispy #garlicchips #soup #vegetables #loop #surabaya #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia

Pig(Pork) and Beer. A match made from (earthly) Heaven. 

Got me and my mates a knuckle of pork and crispy pork belly skin on the side. Yep you read it right, pork skin as a side dish for the pork knuckle. Why, you ask? Because it is THAT good and because we can. You see, the 2 of them are die hard bike riders with their respective biking gears and early morning weekday rides plus out-of-town weekend rides. They burn those porky calories like nothing. As for me, well, I'm burning lotsa calories by doing regular lifting sessions. Lifting weights (of life). 

The dominant taste of these dishes are salty-savoury. Chinese five spices powder, garlic, salt, creates a punch of flavour however is a bit too much for my palate. That's when the garlic vinegar chilli dip comes in handy, and a plate of steamed rice. Flush them down to your happy tummy with a glug of beer/pilsner. What a life 

Perfect companions for chill afternoons, for you who are allowes to have pork in your diet, what are you waiting for? Put some pork on your fork, mate!

  #porkknuckle #porkbelly #porkonyourfork #crispy #roasted #fried #vinegar #chilli #garlic #sambal #chopsticks #handsinframe #beer #pilsner #pilsener #bintangbeer #chill #afternoon #bike #savoury #fivespice #fivespicepowder #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia

Sate Ayam Ponorogo aka Ponorogo Style Chicken Satay. One of the best Indonesian street food dish that is a must have everytime you guys come and visit my lovely country, Indonesia. 

Call me bias, but having my fair share of time in the Land Down Under, trying the satays over there which are mostly malay/singaporean fusion style, i say that none of them are comparable to this, not even close. 

You can choose between chicken meat satay or chicken skin satay. Never had chicken skin satay before? Mate you've missed one of the world's wonders. I ordered both satays, because it was late at night, we are hungry and maccas run is not applicable anymore here in Surabaya since the social limitation rules forcing maccas to close their stores at 10 PM sharp. 

Plump chooks skewers and layers of skins grilled to perfection, resulting in charred and juicy melt in your mouth skewers making it hard to stop once you take your first bite. You can tell the cook to grill them further to infuse more charcoal flavour into them (have them do this on your chicken skin, crispy and smoky are the magic words). Bathe them in the house-made creamy peanut sauce drizzled with sweet soy sauce and you'll agree with me that they taste divine. Shredded fresh shallots and freshly pounded chilli paste are there to refresh your palate and counter the richness of the sauce. Have them all in one bite, and tell me how you feel. 

The outlet serves customers until they run out of skewers, so it's an ideal late night snack option for you and your mates or partner where all other restaurants are closed at 10 PM. Dine in the restaurant or dine in your own cars are permitted. Add some traditional crackers (kerupuk) and steamed rice or rice cake (lontong) if necessary. 

PS: Thanks to you who introduced me to this place. You know who you are 

#satay #chickensatay #chicken #peanut #peanutbutter #soysauce

#shallots #chilli #hot #spicy #chickenskin #chargrilled #charred #bbq #skewers #skewer #barbie #rice #surabaya #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia

The second menu item I ordered: Bakso Urat Iga Gibah Gulung. Se pedes gibahan tetangga. Basically it's a chilli-infused meatball wrapped rib of beef served on bed of veggies and a pinch of noodles. Kudos to the team of @baksopaksarjuk.surabaya for the name. 

I have told you guys how I love the meatballs here. This dish just elevates it to another level. Chunky chilli-hot tendon meatball? Good. Beef ribs? Good. Both of them in one go? Divine. Enuf said. I don't even need to add any sauce to season the dish. And the Flinstones-like feeling when you try to have a bite of it while holding the bone? Will definitely make you smile while reminiscing your childhood. 

Oh, pricing wise. Have a look on the last slide and decide by yourself if the menus are overpriced, underpriced, or just right. 

#bakso #baksourat #igasapi #baksoiga #surabaya #visitsurabaya #visitjatim #visitindonesia #cabai #chilli #pedas #hotday