Jason Pirelli Tandean (IG: @jasontandean)

Hello Monday. For most of us, monday is our big enemy, the most least anticipated day to come. Not in the mood to go back to work, or whatever, I hope you could still have a little time to look on you and your surroundings, be grateful that you still have a job to go to and get paid. Otherwise, remember you can always resign from your post and have those ocean of jobseekers replace your position. 

Due to a thing, we chose to do our works in a quite renowned Cafe in Surabaya, @locaahands_ . Set our laptops up, ready to go, and ordered some nice drinks and nibbles. I had my Berry Limeade, Thicc (yes, double C, folks) Bacon and Egg, and a side of hash brown. 

The limeade, tasty and refreshing. Not too sweet and overpowering. Those hash brown triangles look and taste the same as what I used to have in those Sydney cafes back in the day. And was a favourite of a mate of mine. Hands up for the perfectly cooked Hash Browns, crispy yet not greasy on the outside and moist on the inside. 

The star of the show, the bacon and egg. Thick and chunky slabs of bacon was indeed the star. Scrambled egg was nice and creamy, butter toasted brioche was served warm, crunchy, and toasty. Just perfect. A smother of mustard-mayo made it better. Salad greens to refresh your palate and get you ready for your next bite. 

The Thicc Bacon. I give it a dedicated paragraph as it deserves such a privilege. Smoky, chunky, crispy, I'm salivating just by writing this. Fyi this is pork bacon, just to let you fellas know. The moment you cut it to pieces, and send it to your mouth, you know it's gonna be gooood. And yeah I was right, it does feel good. Love the texture of the fat and the bacon meat, tastes savoury with a hint of smokiness, and call me a fatso but I believe I can have more than 2 pieces of them. Of course you gotta pay extra for them, Duh. Imagine 5 streaky bacons, stacked together, all for you to devour. Sauces are available at your disposal. 

Bottom line, get the bacon. For your (mental)health.

Sunday morning, time for a quick catch up session before we went back to our routines. @leonyaphar 's Sunday routine being going on dates with his SO, so here I am stealing some of his time in the morning lol 

Depot Bu Rudy (Bu Rudy's restaurant) is famous for her Nasi Udang aka steamed rice topped with crispy fried shrimp and some condiments such as serundeng (crispy spiced coconut flakes), house made sambal/chilli sauce (and a free flow jar of her famous Sambal Bawang/onion chilli sauce on the table), and stir-fried noodle. I felt like having Pecel (steamed veg with peanut sauce) that day, so here it is. Nasi Pecel Udang Empal (Nasi Pecel with crispy shrimps and fried beef steak).

The taste, as always, was good and comforting for Indonesian's palate. Legend says that Bu Rudy has been selling her signature crispy shrimps and Sambal since 1995 (I read it on their brochure) and I can understand why it keeps being one of the most-sought products by travellers when they come to visit Surabaya. Pecel on top of the dish simply balances and completes the meal for me, as I need some veg and fiber intake. It's a shame that the Peyek chips was tough and soggy @burudy.surabaya shrimp was nice and crispy, the empal/fried beef steak was tender and sweet. Nice 

I got no much else to say, as this is one of my favourite dish in my hometown. Oh just one thing maybe. Have a try yourself and correct me if I'm wrong 😊 

#plating #foodie #foodiesofinstagram #shrimp #prawns #crisp #crispy #foodie #food #instafood #restaurant #localrestaurant #surabayafoodies #surabaya #surabayafood #fried #fritters

What is the simplest, quickest way to entertain someone (or everyone)? Give them some food. Good food. Most people get cranky when they feel hungry, hence the term hangry is born. Preventive measure would be to feed them asap with a hearty meal (or feast).

And so Depot Sabat Jaya was the dinner place that we mutually chose. Legend says it tastes better than Pak Bas, another local chinese food place a few posts ago. Huge portion, affordable pricetags and finger-licking good. Isn't that enough reason to give this place a shot?

Order in. Ayam Goreng Mentega (Fried Chicken in Butter and Onion sauce), Red Fried Rice, CapCay (stir fried veggies), FuYungHai (fried omelette with sweet and sour sauce), and Babi Tepung (deep fried pork cutlets). 4 dishes for 4 people might sound overkill given the portion is family-size, but we finish them all no problem. Last slide would testify for this. 

The fried chicken was crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and the sauce was tasty. Just don't inhale the liquid butter sauce unless you wanna clog your arteries so bad. Capcay and FuYungHai was okay, so-so. Edible. Now, the pork cutlets was the champiom for me. The crust was crispy and not greasy, while the meat retains its juiciness. Perfectly cooked dishes coming from a humble roadside stall. 

Would love to try another menu items from this place, such as their seafood menu and another serving(s) of their fried pork cutlets. Totally worth my time and calories. 

#pork #porkonyourfork #cutlet #cutlets #fried #fritters #crispy #chinesefood #chinese #platter #share #sharingiscaring #omelette #vegan #vegetarian #veggies #vegetables #foodie #foodiesofinstagram #instafood #surabayafood #surabayafoodies #foodheaven #foodhunter #instadaily

The first day of the end of the week would normally be spent by lying around on your bed and do nothing. Some of you who are fortunate enough to have partner(s) or that someone (or two) with romantical interests looked forward to the weekends to spend some times together. Not for me and these folks: @lisabethcorry @itswinnyslife @ovaldosanjaya 

Despite all the hustle bustle of life, failed moving on process, simp, and so on (the list got longer and longer), we accepted our fate that as of today, the universe pulled the 4 of us together to just enjoy the presence and not overthink about stuff we can't control. What's better to enjoy this quality time with, if not a cup (or glass) of coffee? 

@thirty3brew is well known for their transparent-canned iced coffee with choice of Rum, Baileys, or Aren (palm sugar) flavour. Me personally would love to try the Baileys but damn they ran out of it the time we got there. It was a rainy day and the place was pretty crowded, so I guess we'll try our better luck next time. 

You get a can of your iced coffee and a separate cup full of ice if you'd like to enjoy it in the cafe, on the rocks. Sure it dillutes the consistency of your coffee a bit, but it makes it cooler and, for me, it balances out the sweetness of the coffee and worked well for my tastebuds. 

Since I believe this is the most recent outlet of @thirty3brew , the one in Dharmahusada, some hiccups are still tolerable for me altho a bit disappointing. They ran out of the Snack Platter due to they don't stock up enough fries/chips, and the POS system encountered a trouble of not syncing up or something, resulting in the EDC/EFTPOS machine become unusable. 

All those are well compensated by the professionalism and delightful manner of their operational team, kudos to all of them. All of them were polite, welcoming, and professional. As someone who used to run cafes and restaurants, I understand how much pressure they felt and the way they handled them was just perfect. Well trained and well played. Look forward for my next visit. 

#coffeeoftheday #coffee #plating #foodie #foodiesofinstagram #foodies #foodhunter #instafood #rain #icedcoffee #rum #baileys #spirit

The coffee on the previous post was good and gave us enuf energy to went through a Saturday. Off to this mall we went, and guess where these quarter-century old fellas headed to? Timezone. You gotta keep your inner child alive, folks 😄 

Now onto the culinary side of the trip. At the lowest level of Galaxy Mall 3 is a place called Gourmet or something, it's basically a place where you can choose your marinated meat and have them cook it for you, then serve it on your table. Sort of a steakhouse, for the poor (jk. Steakhouse for everybody). You can also buy some sides like frozen fries or anything and get them to cook it for you, so you can enjoy it while you're there. I ordered some beef kebab skewers and a piece of chicken thigh, they were served with a side of wedges and sauce of your choice. My sauce of choice was honey mustard. 

To my surprise, the marinated meat tastes wayyy better than that popular indonesian-fusion restaurant in Surabaya, the one that got famous because of their spin on sauce for their steaks like chicken steak, gallantine or whatever. Their sweet brown sauce. The one called *** cafe, *** *mi, yeah that one. I personally don't find that place a must-visit, but everyone tastes and feels differently so choices are yours. 

Meat are grilled and cooked perfectly, not under or overcooked. Still juicy on the inside, and the sauce completed them all, ensuring a party in your mouth. You can see on slide 3 that we did enjoy quite a big meal, and it's all worth the calories. For you who wants to have alternative dining experience with interesting concept, I'd encourage you to drop this place a visit. Trust me, you won't regret it. 

#gourmet #gourmetfood #plating #platter #grill #pizza #kebab #chips #steak #chicken #foodie #surabayafoodies #instafood #foodiesofinstagram #steakhouse #surabaya #indonesia #holiday #nightout

It was a long overdue catch up time, and lunch time as well. Since we feel a tad fancy at that day, @theneighborscafe was the place of choice for us. The burgers and loaded fries are what made us decided that this is a perfect place to host our little reunion session. 

The ultimate/combo burger that I ordered was exactly like what I expected, with both proteins that were cooked accordingly to perfection. I craved for proper beef patty burger since the day I left the Land Down Under and no burger places in my hometown come close. Burger is not a staple food here so looking for proper burger joint is a challenge of its own. That is, until I got introduced to this place. 

Burgers were juicy, pleasant, and satisfying. The only thing they could improve was simply its sauce that they smothered on the burger, too sweet to my liking. Tastes like I had burger with thick syrup, covering up the original tastes of the perfectly cooked beef patty and breaded chicken. Apart from that, love it. Worth every penny. 

The loaded fries was a must have too. They have heaps of variations, so pick your poison accordingly. We had the bolognese and the salted egg yolk with fried chicken pieces, and the golden one grabbed the trophy. The bolognese, again, problem with the sauce. Too sweet and heavy. The golden chicken fries? Simply delicious 👌 

#bistro #cafe #restaurant #localrestaurant #localcoffee #plating #platter #foodie #foodhunter #foodieofinstagram #igfood #surabayafoodie #burger #fries #loadedfries #beef #patty #friedchicken #chicken #fresh

After a pleasant burger lunch on my previous post, we wanted to just hang out and chill for a while, a luxury privilege that we could rarely afford back in our days of being a hotelier. Well, @luckyhutama was the last to join our club of ex-hoteliers, no surprise that he's the most excited one to just sit around and do nothing on days off. Not weekend off, as there are no such thing for true hoteliers. 

@tanameracoffee Surabaya was our place of choice and altho I personally have visited this place multiple times, it still feels inviting to me. Perhaps the homy interior, friendly service team, relaxing atmosphere, sweet memories with someone, or a combo of them? Heaven knows. 

We ordered coffees and bites, mine being the Tangerine Latte, and a plate of Onion Rings together with Tahu Cireng for the nibbles. Onion rings were ok, the batter is thick, reminds me of beer battered fish n chips. Tahu Cireng was great. This basically is fried stuffed tofu, and deep fried until both the tofu and stuffing becomes crispy and chewy on the inside. Cireng means aci digoreng/fried tapioca (dough), is one of favourite fritter menu in my hometown. The chewiness of the dough combined with the crispiness of the tofu made them perfect couple of ingredients to entertain these hungry and exhausted souls. 

Tangerine Latte, to me, is alright. Always a good idea to combine coffee drinks with citrus, and this is another example of that brilliancy. Sugar syrup was served separately, I don't need one as the drink itself is already sweet from the tangerine syrup (?) Cool to have it once in a while, but Tanamera's Cold White would always be my go-to chilled coffee option. 

#latte #coffeeoftheday #coffee #white #whitecoffee #orange #citrus #sweet #plating #beerbattered #pub #pubgrub #fritters #foodie #foodieofinstagram #instafood #instadaily #instagood #surabayafoodie #sharingiscaring #hotel #hotelier

Kinda missing the authentic taste of this Geprek, so here I am (we are) again. Ayam Geprek (Fried Chicken smashed with House Special Chilli Sauce), swap the steamed white rice with red rice for a healthier me (that's what they said), and add deep fried egg omelette and cabbage on the side. Healthy enough? 😏 

I chose the hot chilli sauce on purpose, as I need some party in my mouth at that time. Fried cabbage, well I love it. You guys should try it too, but not too much. Yes it absorbs the frying oil, but the taste and texture are worth the health risks. Spread it on top of a spoon of rice and smother it with the chilli sauce, heaven. 

Chicken was fried perfectly, succulent meat and crispy skin + batter. Again, the chilli sauce elevated the dish and it does its job well. Be careful with the chicken bones as the smashed fried chickens here are bone-in, not boneless. The tamarind soup/Sayur Asem is there, ready anytime for you to sip on it and refresh your palate. 

The fried omelette? Greasy, but good. Won't hurt to have it once in a while. Till next time 😉 

#chicken #chilli #sambal #plating #foodie #foodhunter #surabayafoodie #foodieofinstagram #foodphotography #instagood #instadaily #instafood #instafoodie #diet #mealprep #fiber #healthfood

Second day of the week, usually the most hectic day of the week. Since the nature of our work is interdimensional and international (put it simply: online-based), we decided to meet up somewhere and work together for a new atmosphere instead of sitting in the office, and The Library @thelibrary.sby was our pick of the day. 

The coffee was alright, black coffee with condensed milk and palm sugar. Kinda tastes like Vietnamese Coffee, and the cup it was served in made me reminisce my childhood days. Good coffee and good ambient. 

The pizza, on the other hand, was disappointing. Frozen ready to use dough, with the size of.... small. Small and not impressive. Will definitely go back for the coffee and ambient but not for the pizza. 

PS: The owner or Manager, reached me out humbly to explain regarding the pizza and is taking my input very well. I love non pretentious owners/managers like her who are open for constructive criticism. I sincerely hope this place could draw more and more patrons to dine and chill instead of giving its business up =)

#coffeeoftheday #chill #localcoffee #localcafe #localrestaurant #palmsugar #condensedmilk #plating #coldbrew #cuppa #icedcoffee #plating #foodie #foodiesofinstagram #surabayafoodie

Now, we finally got the chance to enjoy the Live Music, well, live. I couldn't remember the name of the band, I could only remember one of its personnel is the one and only Mr. @raymond_johan . I was one of his student back in my high school time when he was teaching my extracurricular lesson (economics, if I'm not mistaken?) When he was a college student (cmiiw bro) with his light blue Honda Jazz. Who would've thought that 13 years later, he became one of Surabaya's well-known singer. 

Believe it or not, the live music really did amp up the atmosphere of @kollabora.id . I really enjoyed the band's way of singing those song titles with the highlight for me being that in slide 2. I have no idea who the name of that singer, but please don't take him off your roster, folks 😂 the way he sang Waktu Yang Salah echoes to the soul of his listeners, according to @ovaldosanjaya 

The drink that I ordered was a cold black coffee with some kinda lychee juice. At first the waiter brought me Lychee Tea because its name's pronounciation is similar to "Lychee Tea". After I explained that she brought me an incorrect item, without further ado she apologized, took the lychee tea back to the counter, and whipped me up my order. Appreciate it, mbak. Sorry I didn't manage to get your name. Kudos to @kollabora.id team for such a service. 

While it sounds weird, apparently black coffee and lychee juice do complete each other nicely. Appreciate for the menu creator(s) in Kollabora for their creativity and courage in challenging the Status Quo, resulting in fresh and exciting menu items like no other. Keep it up. Considering to get your membership since lately you guys being one of our fave go-to place. 

PS: I am by no means endorsed/getting paid by Kollabora to promote their restaurant. I'm just a customer who enjoys their place, ambient, have few drinks and snacks, and pay my share afterwards, to enable them to keep on opening their doors for us. 

#coldbrew #espresso #coffee #dessert #plating #chill #livemusic #foodie #galau #quotesgalau #localrestaurant #foodies #surabayafoodie #foodhunter #lychee #cocktails #coffeeoftheday #mocktail