Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
Did you get or give any chocolate? No matter how you spent your Valentine’s day, I certainly hope that it was a great day ^__^
We went to Grand Indonesia yesterday, thinking that we would try some new restaurants or fancy eating places. Just when we entered the lobby of the West Mall and saw this restaurant that we’ve known for sometime but never had the chance to try it. So we walked closer, a friendly waitress stepped out and welcomed us almost immediately. We browsed through the menu given by the waitress, and we decided it would be perfect, so we went inside.
Mad For Garlic
Ready for some garlic feast?
When we stepped inside, it felt like we were taken to totally different dimension. Why is that? The interior is dominated with black and red colors, very warming and rich. The stone wall emphasizes the European-feel of the whole room. I also find the minimum lights amusing, which I believe creating a mysterious yet sensual touch. There is a medium-sized tree decoration just in the middle of the room, which is pretty in its own way. In the other corner of the room, they also have smoking area, which is much brighter. We were seated in the middle table, just near the tree, because that time those booth tables were occupied. They looked very comfortable, though. Not that I complained about my table 🙂 Although those are just typical square tables and chairs, but I have to say that the idea for putting cushioned-chairs are really nice. At least it was really comfortable for us even if we didn’t get to sit in the booth.
Rich and luxurious interior make you want to stay longer

As soon as we were seated, (again) a friendly waitress came immediately and handed us the menu. It was simple, only 2 boards of menu, one is for the food and the other one is the drink list. We didn’t really have difficulties choosing because there is not much variety but still, everything seems unique just by reading from the descriptions. We asked the waitress about the recommendation, and she explained to us really politely and judging from her answer, we could tell that she really knows what she said. She also mentioned that they were having special menu for couple since it was Valentine’s day, but we didn’t take it.
Garlicky Salad – IDR 90.000+++
 They use rucola leaves as the main ingredients of the salad, topped with sliced cheese, and of course, garlic. The garlic was cooked with special sauce, and we just had to peel the skin off and eat. I was hesitating at first, but Mr. P said I should have tried it. It wasn’t a bad idea at all, because seriously it tasted nice. The leaves were not my favorite, though, because it was kind of bitter, and had some kind of unique smell that I couldn’t really bear after sometime. Apparently, rucola is an aromatic, peppery salad green and very popular in Italian cuisine. It is also very healthy and based from the information I read, the serving of 1/2 cup only have 2 calories, no more no less.

Garlic Snowing Pizza – IDR 115.000+++
The pizza was brought to our table by a waiter, who asked whether we would like to have some grated cheese on top of it. We said yes, and he took out a small appliance and started grating the cheese from that tool. The pizza looked so plain, thin-crust, with garlic chips spread on the top. But the moment we had our first bite, we knew we love it. The pizza was crispy, perfectly-baked, and the pineapple blocks and sauce really enhanced the taste of the garlic chips. In every slice of the pizza, we could find one shrimp, not much but it was unique.

Suicide Rice – IDR 60.000+++
Love, love, love this. They use long grain rice, probably the same rice they use to make risotto (because they also have that in the menu). It was very tasty, mixed flavors, almost too strong actually. I wouldn’t recommend to eat one portion alone, though, because it was kind of greasy, and when you eat some more, it gave a weird taste in the mouth. The diced octopus and squid also gave the familiar taste to the rice. Although in the menu they said that this is a spicy fried rice, but you can ask them to adjust the spiciness when ordering. Despite of the greasiness I mentioned above, it was still very delicious.

 
Cranberry Clown – IDR 35.000+++
This didn’t taste extraordinary, in fact, it tasted more or less like tea with lychee.

San Pellegrino Sparkling Water 250 ml – IDR 35.000+++
A very simple way to help you digesting the food when you go Italian.

CONCLUSION

Food:
Unique, theme-consistent, good portion and serving, enough variety.
Price:
Pricey but you get what you pay for. 
Service:
Silver-class service, totally excellent. Friendly and informative, well-trained and always-ready-around-you waiters/waitresses. They would do everything from your right side. And a waitress approached us just to ask whether we like the food or not. Rare thing to find in Indonesia. Way to show some care to the guests, two thumbs up.
Ambience:
Love it.

Mad For Garlic
Grand Indonesia Shopping Town
West Mall – Ground Floor-20A
Jl. MH Thamrin No. 1 Jakarta 10310
(62 21) 2358 1076