Starbucks Holiday Gathering

I have always been in love with coffee.. one of the best brand coffee I've come to know is Starbucks.. my office mates know just how much I was in love haha.. so when last Tuesday I got an invitation to taste their holiday product, I was much more than excited haha.. so last Wednesday, I went to their newly opened Tomang branch with other food bloggers.. unfortunately, I came a little late due to the wonderful traffic of Jakarta..

once I stepped in the store, it felt like December already.. the Christmas decoration, red and green everywhere, even the baristas wore Christmas ornament.. it's definitely my favorite time of the year.. Starbucks' theme for 2011 Christmas is "Let's gather with good friends".. it's such a great theme, you know, hanging out with your loved ones while sipping hot coffee.. it's my paradise on earth.. off to the food tasting.. yummy..

Holiday Beef and Egg Bagel (Rp30,000).. it's actually onion and cheese bagel filled with smoked beef, scrambled egg, mayonnaise, lettuce and caramelized onion.. I have to say that it's my favorite dish of the night.. it's really delicious.. I have been in love with their onion and cheese bagel before and now, add smoked beef and scrambled egg, I'd definitely say goodbye to diet haha..

Cranberry Scones (Rp22,5000).. scone is actually Scottish bread made from wheat.. Starbucks' cranberry scones combined cranberries and walnut topped with white chocolate coating.. it was delicious, really.. not too sweet, the way I always like with a crunchy texture.. such a great companion for coffee..

Blueberry and Strawberry Cream Cheese Cake (Rp25,000).. to be honest, it's my least favorite dish of the night.. it actually looked very cute, with purple and pinky appearance.. it's sweet butter cake filled with cream cheese mouse and blueberry/strawberry topped with whipped cream and blueberry/strawberry sauce.. the cream cheese was okay, but too creamy.. while tasting, I don't know why but I just kept counting the calories of this small cute dish and I'm actually scared haha..

Raspberry Temptation (Rp28,000).. my favorite dessert of the night.. vanilla sponge cake covered with raspberry jelly and cheese butter cream topped with raspberry jam and white chocolate drizzle.. too much calories but too good to resist.. it tasted sour-sweet with a nice taste of raspberry.. I would recommend this cake to everyone.. and I want one more now..

toffee nut latte frappucinno - hot cranberry white chocolate mocha

Starbucks is not Starbucks without their coffee.. for the holiday season, the famous Toffee Nut Latte and Peppermint Mocha are back.. I picked toffee nut latte frappucinno which tasted really nice.. rich toffee taste combined with toasted nuts and Starbucks' espresso.. a nice way to enjoy life.. on 2011 holiday season, Starbucks introduced a new holiday drink called cranberry white chocolate mocha served hot.. it's the BEST beverage I've tasted in Starbucks.. it's the famous Starbucks' espresso combine with white chocolate, cranberry drizzle and cranberry sugar sprinkle.. I can't wait to have some more.. thank you for bringing this beverage to me..

of course we are not allowed to go home empty handed, so a goody bag was available for each of us.. it's filled with Starbucks Christmas Blend, a jar of Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies and a voucher to have a tall Starbucks drink.. I got to say that the Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies was very delicious.. it's crunchy, not too sweet.. it has definitely become my favorite cookies ever.. even my mom loved it so much.. thank you, Starbucks Indonesia for having me.. love you :)

Starbucks Coffee Tomang

Jl. Tomang Raya No. 25

Lunch @ Cheesecake Factory

Cheesecake Factory is one of the popular cake shop in Jakarta.. well, at least that's what I thought :) I love their mixed fruit cheesecake.. uda brapa kali dapet gratisan dari tmen yg bday :P tasted really good for me.. I love cheesecakes.. okay, apa si yang gw ga suka? anyway.. last saturday, had a lunch date at Cheesecake Factory Tomang with bf.. event nya adalah 21 months.. time surely goes really fast.. suddenly we've been together for such a long time.. happy :)

anyway, Cheesecake Factory ga cuma menawarkan kue-kue aja.. they also provided pasta, pizza, steak, burger, salad.. basically, just like the ordinary western restaurant.. we both had teh tarik for our drinks.. I had hot teh tarik and he had iced teh tarik.. I like the hot teh tarik.. it's nicely blended and not too sweet.. His iced teh tarik is really sweet, I think they poured too much milk there.. teh tarik cost us Rp15k each.. I noticed that their drink list is quite pricey..

bf had angel hair aglio olio.. it's listed as one of the chef's recommendation.. it's basically the angel hair pasta cooked in aglio olio way.. angel hair pasta is a very thin variety of Italian pasta; based on my googling it's also called capellini or capellini d'angelo.. which tasted like bihoon for me.. haha.. this dish actually tasted good; well it's typical aglio olio with not much spices.. it's cooked usually with olive oil and in this case, along with fresh shrimps and mushrooms then topped with cheese.. Cheesecake Factory's portion is quite big and cost us for Rp47.5k.. quite worth the price, imho..

I had this mushroom and spinach canneloni.. which looked just like lasagna.. and it's also marked as chef's recommendation.. well, the canneloni is filled with mushrooms, spinach and cheese and covered with some more cheese.. this dish is completed with pour of tomato paste and balsamic vinegar then goes to the oven for short bake to melt the cheese.. and it tasted AWESOME.. i LOVE it :) I love spinach, mushrooms and melted cheese combined with the tomato paste and balsamic vinegar.. well, I basically love it all.. matched my tounge really well.. and it also comes in a big portion and I can only finish half of it.. costed Rp45k..

since it's a celebration, we decided to order a piece of cake.. I was craving for tiramisu over the last few days, but when I came to the bakery section, I was distracted with other good-looking and drooling cakes.. so, I changed my mind and order this chocolate truffle (Rp17k).. which turns out to taste not as good as it looks.. um, it's too heavy for a dessert and after a few bites, my stomach begins to refuse eating more of it.. haha..

well, overall, we had a great lunch.. a cozy place and it's not crowded at Saturday noon.. so, we can spend as much time as we wanted and the place is comfy.. it's quite pricey for my standard but it's worth the taste and portion and atmosphere.. so yeah, it's for certain occasions only..

P.S I'm still drooling looking at the spinach & mushroom canneloni :P