Otel Lobby
Posted on February 24, 2012Two weeks ago, along with several food bloggers, I went to one of the new hip places in Jakarta called Otel Lobby. Located right at the back of Epicentrum Walk in a unique building designed with a classic motel-style signboard, this place is hard to miss. The interior is equally impressive, designed to look like a hotel lobby complete with a front desk & porter trolleys. On the left side of the lobby is the “hotel” bar and on the opposite side, the restaurant. The whole ambience is a bit dark, but classy. I love the rattan chandelier at the front desk and the ping pong lamps at the restaurant area.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, the restaurant was reserved for a birthday party, but we still got to sit at the couch near the bar. So we ordered several dishes to share. For the appetizer, we chose from the bar menu: OTL Meatballs 55K. For the main course, we went with Beef Wellington (tenderloin steak, mushroom duxelle wrapped in puff pastry) 135K and lemon and pear souffle 35K for a sweet ending. The OTL Meatballs: 5 pcs of meatballs came in tomato sauce topped with shredded cheese and accompanied by melinjo crackers. It was delicious. The meatballs were juicy and went perfectly well with the tomato sauce and cheese. The Beef Wellington was also superb. We asked for the beef to be medium-well and it was still juicy. So far, this is the best beef wellington I’d ever tasted. The souffle on the other hand was still a bit runny. The egg white taste was too strong and it was too sweet, but we finished it anyway. 
That was the only low point during our visit. Even the service was friendly, considering that we didn’t exactly dress to the nines, so we promised to be back for more.
A week later, I got an invitation to Otel Lobby for food tasting through Erza ST. So severals days ago, I went back with several food bloggers, Ve Handojo and Erza ST. While waiting for the food tasting to begin, we started with some house cocktails (89K each) from the bar. Since I prefer something spicy, I chose burning mandarin (vodka, hot chili, lemon, orange & cranberry), while the others picked herb’n'bourbon (bourbon, fresh herbs, strawberry, citrus, honey, bitters), uva bella (gin, green grapes, elderflower, lemon, orange bitters) and kudus (whiskey, dark rum, clove, bitters). I took a sip of all that *grin* and my fav is burning mandarin for a shocking hot sensation. Kudus also tasted good as I felt it to be quite strong and masculine, while uva bella was very smooth (I wouldn’t say feminine, though)
So let’s start with the food, shall we?
- From the bar menu, we got wagyu cheese burger spring roll 45K and OTL duck bun 35k/pcs. Both were delicious. I especially like the duck bun, which reminded me of the chinese style sandwich bun, but instead of babi hong, the filling was roast duck with balsamic sauce (CMIIW) and fried shallots.
- The next one was tuna crudo with beets cooked in three ways, balsamic vinegar and fried shallot which tasted light and refreshing.
- Followed by homemade squid ink malfatti with shrimp, chili and squid ink crumb 55/80K, very tasty. The squid ink pasta was cooked al-dente.
- After that, we got something off the menu: pan roasted snapper with corn cooked in three ways and orange marmalade. This was surely everyone’s favorite that night. The snapper were so good, the skin was crispy and the meat underneath were cooked perfectly and still juicy. It goes very well with the marmalade. If only the marmalade was a bit more bitter, it would be perfect.
- And then came something that looks like an experimental dish: braised shortrib with oyster tempura, homemade kimchi, slow poached egg and rice crisps. The presentation was a bit messy and I didn’t know where to start. So I started by cutting the perfectly cooked ribs and mixed it with the egg. It was delicious, very tasty. The rice crisps added a crunchy texture and I surely love the homemade kimchi (we even asked for more of it). I’ve never tried something like this before and it turned out much better than I originally thought.
- After that, we were treated with lovely homemade ice creams with various flavors: chocolate, jackfruit, raspberry, pineapple, rum raisin etc. My favorite was the pineapple one, which tasted as light as a sorbet.
Overall, it was a great night with great food and great people. After the dinner, we got more mai tai, kudus and rum a sutra (rum, strawberry, lemon, orange), which made everybody very cheerful. Thank you, Maya Aldy and Chef Raj for a wonderful feast and kudos to Otel Lobby
Otel Lobby
Jl.Epicentrum Tengah
South Gate Entrance
The Annex Building of Bakrie Tower – Kuningan
Jakarta Selatan 12940Operational Hours :
Sunday – Thursday 11.00 AM – 12.00 PM
Friday – Saturday 11.00 AM – 02.00 AMph. +62-21-299-41324
fx. +62-21-5610-0361
Posted in International Cuisine, JAKARTA, South Jakarta, Western Cuisine |
Tags: Food Tasting, Kuningan
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