Lunch at Union, Jakarta

Hello!

Had a short work trip to Jakarta so I asked to meet up with my friend Stella!

Stella is an Indonesian beauty blogger that I met back in... 2012 when we were both sent to Seoul by Etude House Korea! She found out I was one of the bloggers going on the trip as well so she contacted me & suggested that we extend our trip together. Which we did!

Surprisingly none of the other bloggers extended their trips, so at the end of the 2-3 days of Etude House events, we checked out & switched to another hotel together. And the 2 of us went to sightsee for a few more days! If you're bored you can take a look at my post on Everland (theme park) & Dongdaemun + Hongdae (shopping).

Anyhow, it was my first time to Jakarta (I think & if I can't recall any it means I was too young anyway). In all honesty... everybody I asked said there isn't much to see in Jakarta hahaha T_T The things friends did mention worth doing were namely... massages & hair treatments! Both of which I wasn't yearning to do. So I guess it was down to the usual eating + shopping (Singaporean hobbies)!

Naturally I asked Stella to bring me to a cafe where we can take nice pictures!

That's the good thing of hanging out with bloggers; they know what makes a good picture haha.

And you don't have to feel embarrassed about selfies...

The sad truth about my all-time favourite food (pasta) - it is generally unphotogenic

Have you ever seen an appealing picture of Bolognese? I haven't.

That was my Mushroom Truffle pasta which was good!

Overall the food at Union is pretty good. Thumbs up!

Fresh OJ & my Ice Lychee Tea.

I love fruit teas actually & lychee is possibly my favourite.

Long Time No Selfie

YOU KNOW I HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS A CRONUT.

I've heard about Cronuts for the longest time because they're apparently the latest craze in the States with people queuing hours for it. For those who don't know what a Cronut is, it's basically a combination of a Croissant & a Donut. Hence the Cro-Nut.

However I had never seen a picture of one, nor any in real life before.

The menu called it a "Flaky Donut" & we even asked the waiter to explain what that was.

Not once did he mention it was a Cronut. I guess he doesn't know either.

I had no idea till someone commented on my Instagram picture of it!

Anyhow, this particular dessert was good! As for the Cronut itself... it's just a round croissant no?

What matters more is how it's paired e.g. with caramel & ice cream as above, or other toppings.

Good lighting calls for more pictures.

I haven't mentioned this online yet, but the silver Chanel necklace was a birthday present from Wendy, Yutaki, Qiuting & Shuyin! I love it! Couldn't have picked a better design!

Oh yeah & by the way here is finally Stella hahahaha:

 

Her hair is so pretty right now!

Aside from the gorgeous silvery-blonde colour, the way it's layered & curls frames the face so nicely.

Can't do this without cutting my hair by a lot though so... not ready for that yet haha.

This is why I don't smile with teeth anymore! >:(

Till next time Stella!

I also got a firsthand experience of the infamously crazy Jakarta jams :O

Even the hotel concierge warned to avoid heading out/back during the evenings! The shopping mall is less than 10 minutes' drive from my hotel but we took over an hour to get back! All because of ONE uturn that Stella had to make to avoid getting "fined" by the police for changing lanes (IKR wtf). We left the mall around 5.15pm & when I finally got back it had turned dark lol.

Basically we were in the middle lane but needed to take the left lane. However some children on the road warned that the police was catching people further ahead for changing lanes! Insane! In no context is changing lanes (safely) a driving offence, except of course when the police want some money for their "kopi" or whatever else. So... we had to uturn to get back on the correct lane & that took almost an hour! :O

Stella mentioned that every day it can take up to 3 hours for her to get home because of the jams. And that because of the incertitude of traffic situations, no one is really expected to be on time & it's not uncommon to arrive after events have already ended, or for events to start an hour late to cater to this.

Madness. If I lived in Jakarta I might just take the train :O 

I can't imagine being stuck in a car for 2-3 hours, barely inching along!

So basically... don't go anywhere during peak hours haha. 

Either stay out or stay in till it's (somewhat) over!

Other than that... well the malls look somewhat like Singapore's.

Lots of high-end boutiques & mid-range brands.

Cafes are worth a visit though! The food is good & much cheaper compared to Singapore.

Ok tata!