Friday, June 20, 2014

jimBARan Outdoor Lounge at InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza

Everyone who is Jakartans or has been living in Jakarta must know that Jakarta's traffic jam is crazy stressful, therefore a sweet escape is more a kind of need instead of desire of lifestyle, and if you think staycation is a little hefty for you, then I am very glad to announce that the highly anticipated jimBARan Outdoor Lounge at InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza is now opening for public!!! The chance to have a few hours of sweet escape from the city's crowd was just impeccable.

Cage seating for a casual and private chats with your buddies :).
I was obsessed on the first glance of this outdoor lounge, it was just so vibrant but in a way serene, tropical and earthy! Was very fond of the fact that this lounge was surrounded with so many greens, and by greens I mean trees, grass and plants. The genius designer behind this masterpiece is world renowned and Hong Kong's very own landscape architect, St. Legere! There are a few sitting areas in jimBARan Outdoor Lounge starting from the cages (for more private but still remains casual conversation with your friends or family) to the main seating surrounded by the "river", my favorite one has got to be the second one. I love listening to the sounds of water combined with the jazz-lounge tune they're playing along the operational hours.

Space wise, it was pretty spacious, I'm guessing approximately the whole area could fit 100-150 people, sure enough this place is so pretty just perfect for photo taking and photoshoots!

Lamps hung all over the trees.

I know you've been waiting for this top shot, so here you go!
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The venue looks so beautiful here!


I was humbly greeted by Mr. Wawan, the assistant director of InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza's Food and Beverage, as well as one of the so-called mixologists for the beverages here. He showcased his skill in cocktail making by making one called "Sunset in The City" which by the way one of those eyegasmic beverages! well, if food and drinks could be both pretty and delicious, why wouldn’t they?

The making of "Sunset in The City". Ingredients needed: passion fruit, MONIN passion fruit syrup, soda, rocks!




The mocktails here are just proper for the humid weather of Jakarta, I love my mocktails to have strong fruity flavor!

Yellow Bord
IDR 75k++
Lovely shade of yellow with lovely presentation, refreshing flavor along with majority fruity tones.


Afterglow
IDR 75k
I LOVE the color and the presentation, it was literally like the gradient of a sunset. Flavor wise, this was my most favorite beverages served that day, again fruity with a little hint of sourness which btw made it simply very great!

Evil Princess
IDR 75k
I gotta admit that I have this prejudice about cocktail beverages, but sometimes I happen to have the right impression after, because this was sorry-to-say not my favorite one, it was a little bold and heavy. I guess I'm sticking to the mocktails!




As in for the food, the food menu here is mostly comfort food, tapas style and the portion is proper for sharing, here are some of the menus served that day:

Seafood Bruschetta
Sauteed seafood on top of the Bruschetta, this was one hell of a treat, the seafood was cooked to a certain state of tenderness without being overcooked, the ingredients were pretty fresh and the seasoning was light and proper.

Red Pepper Stuffed Mushroom
As an avid fan of stuffed mushroom creations, I must say that this one won me over, I wasn’t expecting the red pepper filling to be very flavorful and good as I thought most of the times it was just plain, boring and more like a complimentary condiments, but with a little seasoning and creativity, this could just be the bomb and *ahem*, the main star!

Crab Salad on Baguette
Crab is a very risky dish when it comes to the freshness and the execution because if the ingredient itself wasn’t fresh then it could just be wrong, fortunate enough, this was a good dish because both the ingredient and the execution were decent, the seasoning was light and the crab meat was pretty generous for each baguette! 

Veal and Red Chili Sausage
This one was my most favorite dish served that day, the veal sausage was just so juicy, ultra tender and the red chili dressing was just beautiful, tad spicy but addicting, I love the play of flavor from the caramelized onion on top. This one is simply the must order on your visit.

Stayed here until the evening and I also got the glimpse of how jimBARan looked during the night!


Don't you wanna stay the night? GORGEOUSNESS!
In a nutshell, I had a pleasant time in jimBARan, this is somewhere I would go when I want to have a quick and near escape from the city's mad crowd, jimBARan is pretty close to my crib FYI, the idea is to spend a couple of hours here while being accompanied by my favorite mocktails (for you maybe cocktails) and snacks. They have pretty good range of comfort food and drinks. I suggest you going here after 4 PM (even though technically it opens at 5 PM, but a little sightseeing wouldn't hurt) to prevent the humid weather of Jakarta during its hottest hours.

Special thanks to Catrina for having me there, it was a few hours worth of relaxation, good time, breeze and most definitely, worth spending!

jimBARan Outdoor Lounge
InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza
Jl. Jendral Sudirman Kav. 10-11
Jakarta Pusat 10220
021 - 251 0888 ext. 6607
Opening Hours: 5 PM - 12 AM
Price Range: IDR 75k - IDR 200k
Dress Code: Smart Casual (NO SLIPPERS!)
Wi-Fi: YES!
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Map for InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza

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