It has been so long since we last visited Soto Rendi, which, in my opinion, is the best soto madura I've ever tasted in Jakarta. We returned last week to savor the soto once again. From what we heard, Soto Rendi has expanded and opened a second (bigger) branch near Kampus Anggrek Binus. We tried to look for it but couldn't find it. So we decided to visit the old one instead. Located in Kompleks Sandang, the place is very very cramped. We were lucky to find two empty seats inside. We ordered the usual bowl of Soto Ayam Nasi Campur (rice topped with all the soto inggredients & drenched in chicken broth) at 8K per bowl, a very reasonable price, although it has increased since our last visit almost two years ago. The ingredients were not as generous as I remembered, but the taste is still every bit as good as the last time, especially when you add a dash of lemon & some sambal. Soto Rendi was even reviewed by Laksmi Pamuntjak in her newest edition of Jakarta Good Food Guide.

Today we tried this new restaurant called Warung Tengil at Kelapa Gading that serves Balinese suckling pig. I was so excited the first time I heard about this place because Balinese suckling pig is hard to find in Jakarta. the place was quite easy to find, not far from the big roundabout, and they put up a big smiling pink pig sign that is hard to miss. The interior makes us forgot that we're actually sitting in a shophouse. Decorated in warong style, with bamboo structures, exposed bricks wall, eccentric chandeliers, lots of paintings & brick flooring. I kind of like this place. :)

I read about this place on Jalansutra mailing list about 2 months ago. Several members said that Saji serves up decent and very reasonably-priced Thai cuisine. So one day, along with some colleagues, we went there for lunch. The restaurant is located in a shophouse in Sudirman Park Apartment area. The interior is very spartan, just like a cafeteria with a bit of Thai accent in the corner.

The menu turned out to be a combination of noodle selection (mie ayam,mie bakso, mie goreng, lomie etc), rice (nasi goreng, nasi capcai, nasi goreng ikan asin, nasi goreng hongkong, etc), chicken (ayam goreng mentega, ayam goreng ala thai, ayam kungpao, ayam kuluyuk, etc), beef (sapi lada hitam, sapi panggang thai, sapi cah jamur, etc), prawn (udang mayonaise, udang cabe garam, udang tauco, etc), fish (gurame asam manis, gurame tahu tausi, etc), veggies (kailan polos, kailan cah sapi, bayam taiwan polos, etc), and some other common chinese dishes.

There's no specific heading for Thai dishes, so we just picked several dishes that have Thai sounding names or are well known Thai dishes: Tom Yum Kung 22K, Ayam Daun Pandan Thai 20K, Cumi Cabe Garam 25K, Udang Goreng Cabe Garam 30K, Kangkung Belacan 12K with Thai ice Tea 7K. Overall, the meal was not bad. I especially love their udang & cumi cabe garam. The Tom Yum Kung, though tasty and aromatic, was not my favorite as it was not hot & spicy at all.

RM Saji
Sudirman Park C/32
Jakarta
ph. +62(21) 32302363

After late lunch at Sari Melayu we still have some time to kill before picking SC's sister from the airport, so we headed to Casa - Kemang determined to try only the dessert. Located on the second floor of Aksara Book Store. I like the decor of this place, it was so sixties. The place was still empty so we can have our meal without having people smoking next to our table.