Samudera : High Class Foods with Middle Class Price

I go to Anggrek Mall, West Jakarta, a few times a month. Usually I watch cinemas, buy some stuffs, or eat in some fast-food restaurant there. Why fast food? Because they are relatively cheap, taste friendly, and of course my favorites too. But it was a special day, my parents’ 20th anniversary exactly, at November 28 2007. So we went to Anggrek Mall to dine in Samudera Restaurant in the 4th floor (not Samudera Suki 3rd floor). Really it was my first time eating there. It is a buffet restaurant and focusing in sea and Chinese foods. A person costs around 80.000 rupiahs, excluding beverages, tax, and service. Well, it is pretty expensive for my wallet but who cares? My parents could afford it, haha.. So we booked a round table consists of 10 seats. My family was 7 persons that time.

So firstly I ordered a lemonade drink while seeing the menus. Wow!! Those were expensive and high class foods!! Crabs, shrimps with mayonnaise, eels, and many more!! And it is all-you-can-eat!!! So we ordered everything we wanted to eat and trust me, they tasted very delicious and luxurious!! Fortunately for Samudera, we brought 2 grandmothers who couldn’t eat as much as me. My stomach was very full before my uncle told me to finish some plates on the table, but luckily we did it. It was very worth-buying. My uncle had a Mega Credit Card so we got a 25% discount in the bill. 7 persons cost less than 600.000 rupiahs, including beverages (enough portion of course), tax, service, and discount. For those lines of wonderful foods, that price is cheap! Later I will ask my friends, much-eating ones, to dine in there again.

Ikan Bakar Cianjur, Fully Seated Almost Everyday

That night was not just a night (December 28 2007). I and my family went to a restaurant in Batu Tulis Street, Central Jakarta. There was a little church fellowship with some other couples whose friends with my parents. Ikan Bakar Cianjur (IBC) is an Indonesian seafood restaurant in Central Jakarta. It is beside the Laguna Restaurant on the same side. We came there at almost 7 p.m. and a little bit surprised. It was fully seated and been waited by some other visitors. We were going to book around 12 seats there, the same thing with he other visitors who brought many relations too. The fact is almost everyday the place is full especially lunch and dinner time. We can’t book any seats on the weekend. Actually the place was not enough anymore after seeing this crowd, but then we could sit finally after a few moments. We didn’t want to move into another restaurant either.

The menus were various enough for a seafood restaurant. The price was not too cheap for us but still worthy. So we ordered some favorite main courses such as fried and steamed fishes, cooked vegetable salad (ind: karedok), boiled vegetables, fried chickens, fried soybean curds, dish of raw vegetables and a spicy sauce made with shrimp paste. And additional drinks too. The fact was, everybody liked it. The taste was very suitable and remarkable, especially the sauce. The flavor of the fishes and chickens were also great. These are the lines of wonderful Indonesian foods. You can’t just imagine the taste until you try it by yourself. This is a highly-recommended seafood restaurant for seafood lovers that every visitor will be addicted to.

Finally, the bill came and we paid it by a credit card. Discount 15% for member card holders. The bill was less than 620.000 rupiahs (@50.000 per person, discount and tax included, we were already full, really..). Don’t you want to try??