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.

Pizza Barboni (Plaza Festival): Proper thickness & plenty of topping

If Pizza Barboni's newly opened Plaza Festival branch is any indication, then the franchise has successfully built a sizeable customer base from its first parlour in Kemang. Pizza Barboni will possibly get most of its customers from delivery orders (which I think is probably the case in Kemang as well), but it does have a nice shop tucked in Plaza Festival, Kuningan.

While it's very low profile, the restaurant is quite cozy and worth a visit. The pizza itself is a very good reason to.

H Gourmet (Gunawarman): Reexploring American cuisine, the right way

When H Gourmet says American cuisine, it doesn't limit itself to the very-common burgers, fries, and fried chickens. This is one of the things that intrigued me the most; despite the aforementioned American dishes being widely known to the world, most of us know little of what's beyond that. Chances are, we don't know much of some of the dishes being served in H Gourmet.

I think H Gourmet's 'American' dishes leans a bit towards Louisiana comfort food. There's a bit of mixture between Spanish, English, and something else. There's even Caribbean.

But there's no summarizing the H Gourmet experience without talking a lot about its decor. Rustic, dusty, a bit of vintage touch, somewhat resembling a garage. The establishment captures the 'warehouse' feel impressively. This is a concept that many restaurants attempt to pursue, but I haven't seen it done as well as H Gourmet. This restaurant is something else.

Le Cafe Gourmand (Gunawarman): Comfortable, chill, non-pretentious

While the rise of luxury cake & coffee shops such as Cacaote & Amber is something to be celebrated, I can easily empathize if many find them intimidating. I've been to Cacaote, for example; granted, the cake was nice, but frankly there's too much bling for me. There's pressure to dress up every time, design was a little too feminine, and dare I say it's somewhat tacky.

Le Cafe Gourmand offers an almost similarly high-end feel, but a little less on the glitter side and more on the relax & enjoy. Picture this as a place you go to have nice & chill weekend after-lunch date, or a quick ice cream cone fix with friends. Some tables even have families with children. It's a very comfortable, almost lazy, cafe that you hang around in for hours.

RoCa Restaurant at Artotel (Thamrin): A hidden establishment with seriously great food

I thought this was going to be just another 'chic' places that serve half-hearted food. But anyone thinking the same thing are in for a pleasant surprise. There's no underestimating RoCa's cooking; they're mostly dishes you've heard somewhere else, and the choices are few, but taste is consistently good.

First of all, though, RoCa is a part of Artotel which, quite obviously from the name, is some kind of a hotel that attempts to be very artsy. I think it's also where hotel guests have breakfast, which makes it even more surprising that the food is of top quality.

monViet (Setiabudi One): Almost an exemplary Vietnamese restaurant

Despite its distinctive style & great dishes, I always thought that Vietnamese food is one of the least marketed cuisines in Jakarta's food scene. Sure, you have the regular types of Pho 24 or the more exotic E&O (which I think is associated more to Thai instead of Vietnamese), but the hype and presence of Vietnamese cooking still lacks.

My favorite is Vietopia in Cikini, which I think is not widely popular as it's not usually crowded. Personally, Vietnamese is possibly my most-preferred cuisine of South-East Asia (aside from Indonesian, that is), above Thai, Singaporean, or Malaysian.

So high hopes abound for monViet. It doesn't stray far from the regular formula; Pho, spring rolls, etc. They have a wider range of options to choose from, including some baked rice and vermicelli. Interestingly it has a dedicated baguette corner, serving sandwiches Vietnam style. An interesting ode to its French cultural influence.

Garcon (Plaza Senayan): Sassy, playful ambient matched with great French cooking

Garcon's appearance is not akin to most French establishments you've seen. The ornate interiors, sense of class, and refined cooking are still present, except the feel is definitely more lounge & nightlifey in a colorful kind of way. Dare I say it has a younger feel too.

But Garcon's colorful neons and shifty lighting shouldn't distract you from the good food that it offers. The restaurant has a wide range of French dishes (and, as always, a little bit of Italian) that will appeal to those looking for a serious & refined meal.

Tredici Ristorante (Senopati): Proper, fun, & fresh Italian

Tredici nails it in many ways; the decor looks believably Italian, the ambiance classy but fun, the food is quite enjoyable, and the ingredients fresh. It would have been a daunting task to offer something that the Senopati Road doesn't already have, but to me this establishment manages to accomplish it.

Bistro Baron (Plaza Indonesia): Won't Leave a Lasting Impression

Bistro Baron attempts to look like a chic French restaurant. And maybe in a way it does look a bit elegant; ornate furniture, European-looking paintings decorating its interiors, and so on. The menu offers some classic & contemporary French dishes, with serious ingredients and all.

But this place just doesn't strike the right chord with me. The food tasted just ordinary and nothing more, that's the main thing.

Typology (Wijaya): Cafe, Restaurant, Workspace

Typology takes its concept as a cafe a little further by claiming that it's a 'workspace'. It welcomes its customers to not just hang out and chat, but also to stay a while and open their laptops. It's a neat strategy I guess, and when I was here there were indeed people who seem to be working/studying intently.

Umabo (Wijaya): A Humble Establishment Specializing in Burgers & Rice Bowls

Tucked in the quiet Wijaya road (which I suspect will get busier soon with joints such as this, Beezy Kaffee & Typology paving the way), Umabo is a small & simple establishment boasting serious meals with decent price.

Tokyo Belly (Setiabudi One): Mediocre Japanese Fusion; More Style than Taste

There’s innovation that improves the value of a dish, and there’s innovation just for the sake of innovation. I feel Tokyo Belly falls to the latter. Albeit its ‘unique’ food presentation & concept, taste or ingredients freshness apparently fall behind.

Sinou Steak (Senopati): One of the best mid-priced steakhouses out there

I don’t get why Sinou Steak is rarely full. There are only 2-3 tables filled even in weekend lunch time. I think, and many who have eaten here seemed to agree, that Sinou serves arguably the best steaks around the IDR 100-150,000 price range.

On Korean Barbecue

Someone once told me, "Anyone from the West who believes they're good at barbecues have never tasted Korean barbecue."

Suntiang (Pondok Indah II): An Insane Fusion of Padangese & Japanese Cuisine

While Suntiang's idea was to be a Padang-Japanese fusion, I felt the Japanese influence was only as far as the dishes' shape and concept. The ingredients were mostly Padangese, and Suntiang is essentially more of a Padang restaurant than Japanese.
That said, it still serves some good food.

And, credits to it for being able to marry two cuisines which are very distant from one another in terms of almost everything.