AFTERNOON TEA IN JAKARTA: PORTICO SENAYAN CITY

Even though "high tea" never actually become a huge trend in Jakarta comparing to the presence of "Red Velvet" or "Nitrogen Ice Cream" but there's still a couple of good spots for you to have your delightful, dreamy afternoon tea (BY THE WAY I use the term "afternoon tea" and "high tea" in exhange but it actually means the same for me). I used to question my interest for afternoon tea but now I seem to know the answer. I don't think it's a part of my need or lifestyle, it's just the platform and my favorite excuse to hangout with my friends in the more stylish and luxurious way!

After touring the places that actually serve afternoon tea in Jakarta, I recently came to Portico to try out their high tea promotion, when it comes to desserts, I'll always be on board, even when I don't have time, I will make excuse for one! A little information about Portico for those who don't know (really?), you can say it's one of the poshest, famous, stylish restaurants in town located in Senayan City shopping mall (and been there for almost 6 years), it's where the fashionable social people (yes mostly) go for drinks or comfort food, nah but I am not stylish or nowhere near skinny but I love food so whatever. It's under the OPCO group which organized some of the top restaurants, cafes and clubs in town such as Warung Tinggi, H5, Yellowfin, Stark Bierhaus, Domain and some more. I love the ambiance of this restaurant during the day because I always enjoy restaurants with a lot of access to the sunlight and since their outlet's surrounded by glasses everywhere that should make sense.

The indoor venue wasn't as spacious as the outdoor but it's certainly way cooler (me talking about the temperature) and they set the outdoor to appear like terrace and there's also a mini bar.

The concept of their high tea is buffet and to be noted, it is only available on the WEEKENDS from 3 PM-6 PM for IDR 165k++ per pax and this already included tea/coffee. They're using the Gryphon tea and I FREAKING LOVE GRYPHON TEA. I tried their "Nymph of The Nile" at it was very fragrant in the sexiest floral scent, a little musky and mysterious, the flavor was rich and I love the beautiful and exquisite blend of the herb, fruity and rosy. Personally I found the tea more of an afternoon/night rather than the morning tea.

The range of their afternoon tea was quite decent and they have the sweet and savory menu. For the sweet meny they have Apple Cherry, Crepes with Vanilla Cream and Peach Filling, Jelly Spaghetti, Frozen Strawberry Cream Cheese, Banoffee Pie in a Jar, Strawberry Pannacotta, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Apple Crumble and assorted chocolates, and for their savory menu they have: Balinese Satays, Mini Sandwich, Beef Skewer, Salmon Roll, Frikandel Puff Pastry and Mini Spring Roll. I didn't try each and every one of it because I was quite full and since some of the menu was running out, but here is the overview of the Portico High Tea set!

General menu overview

Banana cupcake with butter frosting, generally not a big fan of banana frosting but this one was quite light and the banana flavor was quite rich

Banofee Pie in Jar (lovely), Chocolate Pannacotta in Jar, Jelly Spaghetti, Chocolate Mousse Cake (lovely density and rich chocolate flavor), Frozen Strawberry Cream Cheese, Apple Cherry

Left: Frikandel Puff Pastry, Right: Beef Skewer. The Frikandel Puff Pastry had this decent pastry consistency but since they're mini you can't really expect much from the filling, while the beef skewer was lovely since I am a sucker for ham and sausages.

The salmon roll was also lovely and one of my favorites of the night along with the well executed lumpia!

Cute assorted chocolates

Virgin Apple Mojito and Berry Spritzer. Their Virgin Apple Mojito was refreshing, fruity and proper balance of sweet and sour, and the Berry Spritzer had this strong fruity berry flavor (raspberry, blueberry and blackberry), not exactly sour (sweeter than the mojito), topped with passionfruit but it was another good day beverage.

I love the teapot and cup, somehow resemble "royalty"

For a IDR 165k++ I think it's a good deal, considering the high tea was buffet and all you can eat (the tea however was not), the selections was pretty good, I wouldn't say everything was nice because I barely tried everything but some of the ones that I tried were not bad leh, the chocolate mousse cake was my favorite from the sweet station while the lumpia and salmon roll were two of my savory station favorites!

Portico is another awesome place to have your afternoon tea, not to mention the convenient venue (esp. outdoor) would make you feel like you're actually in a garden, but then not so much when you realize you're in Jakarta, not London HAHAHA!

Portico
Senayan City, GF
Jalan Asia Afrika Kav. 19
Senayan, Jakarta Selatan 10270
021 - 7278 1787
Opening Hours: 11 AM - 1 PM
WiFi: Yes
Dresscode: Sporty Casual (NO SHORTS AND SLIPPERS)
Pricing: $$, IDR 350k for two
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Map for Portico

COURTYARD AT THE HERMITAGE HOTEL JAKARTA

I love afternoon tea.

...and I am not talking about having a cake and a cup of tea in the afternoon and call it a day, but the more "luxurious" one with tiers and treats.

Went to this new cafe in town with AnakJajan last week after attending an event earlier that day and we've been craving for afternoon tea and desserts. Since the event was held around Menteng, we decided to give this cafe a try, we honestly didn't know or ever heard about this cafe before but since we were around The Hermitage hotel - also there's a big possibility that a hotel actually has an afternoon tea set -, we googled "afternoon tea hermitage hotel" which eventually led us to this gorgeous cafe!

Getting here was actually pretty easy, it's located in Jalan Cilacap, Menteng, just a block away from the famous Surabaya street (if you know Giyanti coffee then you're actually there already). This "old" hotel itself (built in 1923) is the heritage of the beauty, the architecture rang "colony", "classic", "elegance" but "sophisticated" and "ethnical" as well, it also had this "fort" feeling to it which I like.

I fell in love via Google and fell deeper when I looked at the venue for myself!

My first impression of this cafe was "so bloody English" from the simple chic design to the white and red color and that's actually something to do with the "Courtyard" itself, I don't know, there's just something so English about the word "courtyard" and back when I was in London, I actually stayed at this gorgeous hotel called "Courthouse" if that makes sense for you #slightdifference.

But if you've ever been to London (or Europe) before then I bet you'll understand what I am saying about the ambiance.

The venue was actually a little smaller than my expectation when I looked it up online, but the setting and the ambiance of the room made this little cafe the "healthier" sweet escape if you're tired of the metropolitan side of the city, venue wise, my ideal hidden gem and not to mention some parts of me was in desperate need of some greens.

It feels like you're in a park but in a way sophisticated.

Edited this photo using my "Peach Pastelle" tone on Photoshop and oh, I wanna tell you how happy I am for the response of my VSCOcam Photoshop Tutorial because people start leaving me nice comments and some personally emailed me to ask for more tutorials which I will so you better stay tuned to this blog regularly, especially on Sundays, but don't take me for granted only for the Sundays :(.

We ordered one afternoon tea set with three tiers and one cup of tea (IDR 170k) and added one coffee beverage, Iced Caramel Latte (IDR 55k). The first and toppest tier was dedicated for the sweets while the second and the third tiers belong to the savory items. Overall, I quite like the experience of having the afternoon tea but I must say nothing really fantastic about the treats, well, I quite like their berry macaron and the chocolate dessert (in the middle of the Hermitage logo and the macaron) as the flavor's rich, premium and inside there's another crispier layer, other than that, it was pretty ok, including the savory ones.

Since the place was really pretty, we took the advantage to do a little photoshoot on this green background. Kinfolk mode on!

This wasn't the shot I wanted. I couldn't seem to fit all my head in because the depth wasn't that overwhelming but at least this looked like a decent shot and thank you Marius for this.

Spent around two hours sitting here while slowly getting finishing the set, I must say I love the place and probably coming back to feel the ambiance. My review doesn't do so much justice because I only tried their afternoon tea set, but some of my friends who have been here before told me they have pretty good savory dishes so I kinda wanna go back to give them a try!

I don't know why but I am kind of sick with the mainstream or hip places lately, aside from the "responsible" to keep you guys updated with the latest F&B trend...wait a minute, it's not really my responsibility, it's more like I love doing it and I thank you for following, but if you really love my culinary adventure then I am sure you're going to love the journey even more as I am taking you to more of the hidden gems places. Now I ask you... aren't you tired of those mainstream places that only sell the design but not really the food?

However, any recommendations of the hidden gems would be appreciated. Hit me up on the comment bar.

But seriously, thanks for following my culinary journey so far! Going to keep you guys updated with more delicious treats, umm, I mean visual treats. Happy foodgasm-ing!!!

Courtyard

The Hermitage Hotel Jakarta

Jalan Cilacap No. 1, Menteng

021 - 319 26888

email: info@hermitage.co.id

Opening Hours: 9 AM - 9 PM

Pricing: $$

Dresscode: sporty casual

WiFi: NO!

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

FIND ME HERE

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email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com

Map for The Hermitage Hotel

Afternoon Tea with Torta Dolce Cake

It was a one mild rainy afternoon and just in time for a lovely afternoon tea with bloggers and Torta Dolce Cake. This brand might be a stranger to some but Torta Dolce Cake is actually an online bakery shop that offers you selections of cakes, cronuts, breads, macarons, cookies and cupcakes. Since online shopping will probably caused a little (or big) question mark inside your head before the products actually arrive in front of you, so I guess it's awesome to be invited to have an exclusive but casual afternoon tea with bloggers and actually dig in the fabulous cakes!

Beware, this post is going to be photo-heavy, what always happens when I am in a place filled with gorgeous looking cakes, can't stop taking photos!

The location on the afternoon was actually on the roof top of the building (the building was the office, factory and warehouse for the company's group). It was a little rainy, the weather was cool and the afternoon tea seemed like a nice salvation to it. When I arrived at the venue, I was slightly stunned by the view of a long table holding a lot of good looking cakes on top of it.

Macarons - Green Tea and Rose Flavor
IDR 10k/each
The macarons were such pain in the eyes, so pretty and tasty! I kinda expected the texture to be a little crunchier on the outside tho.

Croidos - Croissant Donuts (available in 10 flavors)
IDR 20k/each
I know right, the most attractive looking one must be the Popcorn Croido, it's a salty butter caramel dressed in Caramel sauce. The croidos were nicely fried, but however, I found the texture and the consistency of the croidos to be like donuts instead of cronuts.

Salted Caramel Popcorn

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Cinnamon

Original

A little Croidos cooking demo to show you the cooking process and the production process. No artificial elements included in the cooking process. So I guess it's safe to say that they're safe! ;).

I pretty much tried everything and overall, I was fond of most of the cakes. They're not overpowering sweet, nicely executed, moist and on such decent presentation. I didn't feel like bloating after eating that much cakes. The only thing I need is to learn how to behave so I didn't end up filling up all my plates with cakes and look like a hungry baboon! well, who cares?!

Anyway, you could place your order to www.tortadolcecake.com and they're having an ongoing promotion at the moment for their Christmas Hampers. Order before 15 December 2013 and get 10% OFF plus FREE DELIVERY FEE!

Jolly Holly Hamper - IDR 250k

Sweet Joy Hamper - IDR 280k

Winter Wonderland Hamper - IDR 300k

Christmas Eve Hamper - IDR 350k

I rarely upload a group photo of Indonesian food bloggers, so I guess I am going to show it here so you guys could be aware of the Indonesian bloggers. These are the ones invited to the event that day with the owners and the crew of Torta Dolce Cake :).

THANK YOU TORTA DOLCE CAKE FOR ALL THOSE AMAZING TREATS!

Torta Dolce Cake

www.tortadolcecake.com

email: info@tortadolcecake.com

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

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email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com