Black Sugar Senopati

The Taiwanese dessert scene in Jakarta has been ongoing for quite some time now, in a sense it's getting overwhelming and... mainstream, but still, no matter how mainstream it could be, a part of me still couldn't fight the curiosity, and that's the exact case with this particular brand, finally the first Taiwanese dessert brand in Senopati! clap your hands say yeah to:

BLACK SUGAR!

Black Sugar is located just beside the famous Korean restaurant, Arang 22 (located right before the left turn to the area where emm... Publico is). As a regular customer of the Senopati area, I've been passing and checking this out excited for their opening and just a couple days ago, I did my first visit to this place for a report purpose with one of the most happening online magazine in town which is... keep on reading ;). Beside the exterior and the inviting black color (don't know why black seems inviting), the inner venue had nothing special and outstanding, it's just the proper place to have your dessert and clearly NOT a bad place to hangout with your fellas. I did count and approximately the whole venue can accommodate around 50-60 people and I LOVE how they managed to separate the smoking and non-smoking area!

Lamps hanging all over the ceiling.

Sneakily taking pictures of the production process, one of the owners happen to be real Taiwanese and will that actually guarantee the dessert to be a potential mazor-yumster and wear the others down?

If you're wondering why the photos are so CHIO, it's because I came with the amazing people from ShoppingMagz and they brought extra lamp for food photos. I am contributing for their issue next month so make sure you read it! BTW I bloody love the photos here!!!

Pudding Lover
IDR 46k
One portion of this dessert consist of pudding, grass jelly, vermicelli, douhua, vanilla ice cream topped with black sugar and condensed milk. First of all, the photo looks good (I know), but it's just that this dessert needs major improvement. It felt so bland with lack of sugar, before I started mixing everything, I tried each of the elements and eventually left with mixed impressions: the Douhua felt too milky for my liking, the grass jelly was a little bitter and the pudding was just okay. I honestly expected this portion to be a little 'wet', in a sense they could pour a little more syrup because even after mixing everything, the amount of shaved ice was a little more than the rest, and turned out a little 'dry'. Sorry to say but this one left nothing impressive for me.

If the previous one was a little disappointing, then this one was much better than the previous one, maybe because I am an avid fan of Matcha ice cream as the extra topping. I rarely found a dessert with condiments like real taro chunks and I was glad that they're using it plus the glazed the taro chunks with sugar so they were a little caramell-ish, the red beans and mung beans had this proper sweetness and I found no problem with them. Honestly, I was expecting the flavor of the Matcha ice cream to be sort of like what those other Taiwanese dessert brands in Jakarta are using: intense Matcha with a hints of creamy and milky flavor (kind of hard to explain it but if you've been having Taiwanese desserts, you'll know what I mean), it's just that the flavor of the Matcha ice cream they're using was a little light (couldn't really find the intensity), when I thought it should be tuning up the flavor and made a difference, however I still got to give them credit for their concept and preference.

Spicy Chicken Katsu Rice
IDR 35k
I was having love-hate relationship with this particular dish, the meat was a little dry while the seasoning was great. The portion of rice given to one bowl was pretty generous and in a way balance with the amount of chicken cuts given, the texture of rice was also lovely, I like the short-grain rice they're using, kind of reminded me of Japanese rice, only this one wasn't as sticky as Japanese rice. As in for the salad side, a little glimpse of mayonnaise should be good to add a little play of flavor and to give a little texture to the whole dish as I found it to be a little dry.

I hate to say this but I guess I must say that with the quality of desserts I tried in Black Sugar, they didn't pass my standard, I better stick with the already famous ones. I do think they need serious improvement for both desserts and staff, I didn't have personal issue with the staff but it's just that I overheard something that wasn't really pleasant for the ear of a customer and I do hope this review could be one hell of a smash of a feedback for the management, it just irks me when I know they have potential, but it's either they open too sudden and spontaneous when the preparation wasn't 100% 'mature', they just need better management, chances are always there :).

To be fair, I'll come for another 'secret' visit probably few weeks from now to see how they're doing and WILL update!

GOOD LUCK!!!

黑糖 Black Sugar
Jl. Tulodong Bawah No. 1
SBCD - Senopati, Jakarta Selatan 12190

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Map for Arang 22 (Black Sugar located just beside Arang 22)

Tong Fu Dessert House Pantai Indah Kapuk

Tong Fu is one of the newest additions to the Pantai Indah Kapuk's Boulevard of Fats and Guilty Pleasures (as what I have always described), some of you might think, okay... probably just another typical dessert house selling (mostly) the same stuff? What makes it different then?!

Well, you might be wrong about this one.

Tong Fu actually sells more fruit based (and I mean real one) desserts comparing to the other dessert cafes in PIK. Ordering the desserts here were sort of simple, firstly you just need to choose your base and secondly: your toppings selections. Two steps to the golden tickets, hmm, is it? And oh, not to mention, they also use NO sugar to their creations. Healthy indulgence check!

Mango QQ
IDR 43k

Mango madness, mango everywhere! The base was blended mango fruit (mango puree) and completed with mango chunks and QQ balls that pop in your mouth. I wasn't really sure if it's the mango or the "no sugar" policy but if the overall flavor of this dish could be sweeter, this would have been a lovelier dish!

Honeydew Rice Balls (additional QQ balls)
IDR 38k

If the Mango QQ wasn't as sweet as what I have expected before, this one had a better flavor balance as well as refreshing one, but overall I still chose the Mango QQ for certain reasons, especially since I am rooting for mango!

In terms of pricing, I honestly think they're slightly higher than the common brands in the range.

Appreciate the fact that they didn't use any sugar or harmful materials to their desserts but still could manage to produce such decent desserts which were refreshing and most importantly: healthy! I personally do like their desserts and willing to come back for more of the Mango QQ, still holding a grudge curiosity on the flavor. I hope I would have a sweeter and more vibrant one on my next visit :).

Tong Fu
Rukan Garden House Blok B No. 25
Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta Utara
021 - 2903 3265
Opening Hours: 11 AM - 10 PM
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Honeybean Dessert Pantai Indah Kapuk

I know I know, I can hear you guys already, you must be wondering why the hell am I posting so many dessert places this week?!

It just came unplanned! The last few posts of eatandtreats were the ones I had this week, I know right, crazy, and I thought they were worth blogging, actually I still have another one that I haven't blogged yet: Tong Fu. Madness.

Honeybean is the newest dessert house joint in Pantai Indah Kapuk's boulevard of guilty pleasures. It's unarguably that the Taiwanese dessert phenomenon is mad crazy at the moment and when one trend's rising, it's like everyone's competing to be mainstream, even though I am not into mainstream things but I still like desserts tho :p.

Honeybean is located just beside Tong Fu and few stores away from Hong Tang and to be honest, I didn't notice a significant difference between those three when it comes to the exterior and interior design except for a little interior play, logo and color. Don't forget they all sell Taiwanese dessert, only I guess Tong Fu sold more fruit based dessert selections.

Mango Royal #1
IDR 39k
Gotta tell you guys upfront that I was a little bit disappointed when this came to my table. The portion was just small, I was expecting it to be a little bigger or at least not that small. I immediately tried one scoop after I finished taking photos and guess what? It was NOT cold and the vanilla ice cream melted so quickly. I thought it had shaved/crushed ice inside :(, and not to mention bazillion people packed the outlet and it was just crowded it was HOT. Overall, it tasted like plain mango cream dessert. I was expecting something much more refreshing and bold.

Lovely Jelly Crushed Ice
IDR 38k
This was the savior of the day. I think every brand that tries to imitates this following dessert mostly succeed but the not-so-surprising thing from this was they all tasted almost the same and nothing too significant to emphasize anymore. It's also almost like the ice cream, in this case, Matcha ice cream is the bomb to these desserts. However, this one had a generous portion, smooth grass jelly and Matcha ice cream to save the day. One of the recommended one as well as best seller here.

Red Bean Specials
IDR 38k
If you really love red beans then you would love this but as for me, I wasn't really into this one because the beans were too much, a tad too sweet and there was no other elements to play around (like textures or flavors) so I found this dish to be a little boring and plain. However, the red beans were fresh, but again, if you really love red beans then this might fit you, maybe they could add a little milk or one scoop of ice cream to make this scream.

Overall, my experience with Honeybean was just okay but nothing really wow-ed me, except for the fact that so many people line up for desserts, I even saw some who were willing to sit on a chair outside the restaurant area just to have a bowl, I know right.. insane, but I think I would come back for some of their highlight desserts because I heard they have good coconut pudding.

In the mean time, I hope if any brand happens to open this kind of dessert house, please be nice and UNIQUE because it's starting to get a little too mainstream.

Honeybean
Rukan Garden House Blok B23
Pantai Indah Kapuk
Jakarta Utara
021 - 2903 3623

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Hong Tang Central Park Jakarta

Taiwanese dessert giant, Hong Tang, is finally opening its third outlet in Central Park!!! Happy happy news, especially to those who craze over this but find it too far having to go to Pantai Indah Kapuk or Muara Karang.

This outlet of Hong Tang is located in the UG level of Tribeca building and very near to I Love Taimei. The venue was not spacious, probably the one in PIK could hold more heads but I found this to be a little more comfortable and less hot! The one in PIK was just always crowded with people in day and night, and for a claustrophobic like me, I don't find it very comfortable.

Hong Tang #28

IDR 38k

Since I went here with mom and sister, and for a non-first timer like me, I knew the portion of Hong Tang is pretty generous so I decided to order two and share. First one is certainly not to miss, me and probably everyone's favorite/best seller here is the "Number 28" (oh, the ordering method in Hong Tang is to tell your selection's number to the waiter, they barely have names for the desserts here). I have been having this forever since my first visit and always stick with this one.

The things I love about Hong Tang desserts comparing to the other brands in the league were the creamy sauce which created the overall creamy dessert, but not overpowering my taste bud, and the generous amount of toppings, especially the grass jelly with decent balanced of sweetness... but hey, to be honest the toppings would depend on what you choose, but I was happy that in fact, the toppings for the one that I chose were generous :). Honestly for consistency of the grass jelly, I chose BlackBall for its smoothness and lightness (probably my favorite grass jelly topping), but Hong Tang's not bad too, they're way thicker and more solid. No comment for the matcha ice cream, the same as what every Taiwanese dessert brand is using and it's delicious! By the way, you can separate the milk cream if you don't want it mixed so you could customize how much you wanted it in.

Mango King
IDR 59k
HOLY SMOOCH mother of mangoes! The portion was super generous I bet you can't finish this your own unless you're really hungry or you're an epileptic baboon (jk). I had this with mom and sis, and still couldn't stand of finishing this (don't forget the #28 earlier)! This was totally one refreshing desserts, I love how generous they were with the mango chunks and the mango sauce. It's so beautiful but don't get too excited because it's so cold it could make you brain-freeze. Vanilla ice cream topping was decent too. Overall was just a little too sweet but still highly recommended.

Free Complimentary
I got this free complimentary from Hong Tang and since it's complimentary I didn't know the number, but first, thanks for the free complimentary but frankly speaking, this one was not my favorite. Not horrible but maybe it's just not my kind of dessert. I am not a huge fan of black sticky rice and I'll just stick to the #28.

Milk Tea with Matcha Ice Cream
IDR 22k
I didn't know if I have too much desserts already but I just didn't find this THAT exciting anymore, it's like having milk + milk desserts + milk drinks and I have had enough and felt kinda bloated already. I didn't finish this one but I didn't declare this as bad either, this was just not that spectacular of a beverage.

Hong Tang is still my top destination to fulfill my Taiwanese desserts crave, it's just that they're steady with the quality of the flavor and their desserts tasted good too. It's a fact that Hong Tang is one of the most famous (or probably THE MOST) Taiwanese dessert brand in the league thanks to social medias but the massive publication. I hope they will continuously keep their quality steady good or even better :).

FYI a lot my Instagram followers asked me if Hong Tang is better than SumoBoo, well to be honest they were different in some aspects: SumoBoo's soup was a little lighter and overall less sweet while Hong Tang was the opposite but overall I like them both and I couldn't really mark which one I like the best, but SumoBoo has a larger range of choices.

Hong Tang
Tribeca at Central Park Mall Level UG
Jl. Letjen S. Parman Kav. 28
Jakarta Barat 11470
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