Be at The Bee and was at The Bee

'Buka puasa' gathering has become the most awaited annual event for a bunch of my uni mates, besties and myself. I was like "Yeayyy!!" when I got the message about the gath. After considering various suggestions, we finally decided to meet up at The Bee, Publika Solaris Dutamas for Iftar. Wa, Nein, Reena, Shaz, Lynn, Yani, Ayie, Pek and myself - the 'confirmed gang' for the Iftar session.

I was the first to arrive. My first impression about the place was "Woww luasnya tempat ni!". It was spacious and I just love that! The flooring was nicely cemented, and the lights, decorations and furnishings are simple but yet modern. In fact, they do have a stage for performance and I was told that it is normally held every weekend. Overall, I love the clean look. Makes someone like me feel happier and comfortable :)

The setting inside The Bee

My friends arrived and we immediately browsed through the menu to order. The Bee's specialities include sandwiches, pasta, burgers and salad. After considering few options, I finally decided to order Bee Burger. Well, it's not like a burger with bees in it (haha you wish!) but just a special burger name, named after the restaurant. Since there was a special Ramadhan set, we took a package that had variety of appetisers and desserts (I think there was about five in total) with an affordable price. That was really worthy I thought.

Some photos of the food:

The Bee Burger I ordered

The appetisers - chicken nachos and smoked salmon caesar salad

The Bee Burger I had, when it first delivered on the table seemed like a simple and kinda plain-looking burger. But once I had it in my mouth, it tasted pretty good with its tender, juicy beef patty. In fact, they had all the ingredients, herbs and flavours right, which makes it even better. The caesar salad with smoked salmon was not disappointing either. The combination of the salad, salmon, egg and most importantly, the dressing was very enticing that it was the earliest appetiser to finish!

If it is not for Ramadhan, I think the nachos and chilli fries would have tasted awesome, topped with the melting cheese (the meal was prepared earlier, so the cheese was congealed when the food arrived for buka puasa). But I have to say the dessert was the best! The churros with nutella and caramel dips were yummy-licious and I think I don't mind eating just that alone!

I think this is a really nice one place to 'lepak' and chill out with your best mates. I don't mind coming back here again, to try different menu for different dining experience.

¡Hola! Ole-Ole Bali

A long, overdue meet up with besties was finally fixed, hurray! But the question is, "where to go for makan??" or to be exact 'buka puasa' since it is in Ramadhan. That kind of question usually makes me linger as I always find it a struggle to suggest a place that would suit everyone's appetite. However, Han without further ado, quickly suggested Ole-Ole Bali at Empire Subang. Well, I am not very fussy and Ana was pretty receptive to the suggestion, so we finally agreed to meet up there. 

I saw Han with her pretty baby already standing in front of the restaurant when I reached there. "I baru sampai," said Han after greeting me. Both of us went in, sat at the table and I instantly fell in love with the furnishing and the overall ambience of the restaurant. There was certainly a classy element in it but yet it gave me the pleasant feeling and comfort as well. "Hmm...fine restaurant should come with fine taste of food too," I thought. 

Ana finally came and we were ready to order. After browsing through the menu, I decided to order 'Siap Megoreng' (which Ana thought I jokingly mentioned until she saw it in the menu), Han with her 'Nasi Cumi' and Ana with "Bali Trio". 'Siap Megoreng' is actually Nasi Ayam Goreng but it does sounds cool right when you put it that way (haha!).

While we were waiting for our food, the restaurant was kind enough to serve us some condiments for Iftar. It came in a plate with sort of a small piece of kuih and a mini cup filled with black liquid. The three of us looked at each other and wondered "Hmm..macam mana nak makan ni? Kuih ni kena cicah dengan kuah tu ke?"

The condiments for berbuka

To save our embarrassment, I quickly called the waiter and asked what are those (when I actually wanted to know whether we should dip the kuih into the 'sauce'). "Ini apa ya?" I asked the waiter. "Oh kuihnya itu cekodok dan airnya cincau," he replied. "Ohhhhh...ok terima kasih," we thanked him. Three of us looked at each other again and were like "Fuhhh nasib baik tak cicah! Buat malu jer nanti!". We burst out into laughter.

Finally our order arrived. Some photos of our food:

Nasi Cumi for Han

Bali Trio for Ana

My Siap Megoreng!

We happily dig in our food, tasting the spices and bits of the ingredients that produced the lovely meal. My personal remark on the Siap Megoreng? Totally SCRUMPTIOUS. I for one, who loves to eat and explore authentic cuisines such as Balinese find that all of the ingredients and spices used in the meal were very fresh. From the crispy, freshly-fried chicken, complemented with the crunchiness of the long beans and tempe, added with the fresh lemongrass and spicy chillies made into 'sambal', devouring it with the aromatic turmeric rice, the meal perfectly suits my taste bud. Added with the 'rempeyek' cracker, it gave a 'kick' to the meal itself. Sedap!

Han and Ana enjoyed their meal too and this is me after Iftar:

One happy woman with a baby struggling to get out from her hug!