Kintan (Pacific Place): Extraordinary Yakiniku restaurant, offering top quality meat cuts

Simply put, Kintan is an exceptional Japanese (and Korean) barbecue restaurant. The meat is top notch, the seasoning is delightfully tasty. It's a familiar yakiniku concept; you grill your own meat using the sauce provided.

Typically I don't prefer self-cooking restaurants, mainly because it requires a bit of work and usually the taste isn't optimal if you don't cook it right. But this is a pleasant exception. I don't eat that many self-barbecue restaurants, but Kintan is arguably the best I've ever been in.

Dill (Plaza Indonesia): Colorful cafe serving all-day breakfast & casual food, with unexceptional taste

Dill looks a bit out of place at a glance; it's colorful place with strong character, in the middle of a shopping mall. In terms of design & decor, the joint looks as if it was plucked out of Senopati or Kemang and forcefully put into Plaza Indonesia. It has a very photogenic & inviting appearance.

The 'gourmet cafe', as it calls itself, serves all-day breakfast, home-made juice, pastries, cakes, specialty coffee, and all sorts of simple comfort food. They have so many things to offer, though most of the dishes are nothing new.

Moi Bistro (Gunawarman): Small Vietnamese-French restaurant, serving delightful Pho

As I said before, it's relatively difficult to find an exceptional Vietnamese food in Jakarta other than the usual chains such as Pho 24 (which is not necessarily bad). Moi Bistro attempts to take Vietnamese cuisine to the 'high street' of Gunawarman/Senopati, competing with reputable heavyweights in the Jakarta food scene.

A blend between Vietnamese & French cuisine is not uncommon. To my understanding, there is quite a French influence in Vietnam's culinary identity as France once colonized the nation. I'd say a more accurate description of Moi Bistro's style is Vietnamese with French influence (instead of French-Vietnamese) because essentially it's more of a Vietnamese restaurant.

The place has some personality; there's an effort to create a brand for the restaurant, the decor is well-thought, the dishes are rather unique. Moi Bistro leaves quite an impression for its customers.