Do you know that the famous Hog’s Breath Cafe has been (soft) opening in Jakarta since June 2014? Well, we did but it was not until last week that we finally visited the very outlet in one of the largest shopping malls in West Jakarta, Central Park. Hog’s Breath Cafe is an Australian chain of steak house restaurants, founded by Don Algie (a.k.a. the Boss Hog, LOL!), and the first outlet was opened in July 1989 in Queensland, Australia. Until now, there are more than 80 outlets around the world, including Singapore, Thailand, and now, Indonesia.

Since they will have Grand Opening soon around this month, I was invited to try some of their signature dishes (and drinks). Before this, I also have heard so many rave reviews about it, but had never visited any of its outlets yet.
The outlet in Central Park is located in Tribeca Park area, just next to Domino’s Pizza. The interior is more like saloon in Western movies, dominated with wooden furniture and a fancy bar. Second floor was not really opened during my visit but later it will also function as dining area as well as more private area for gatherings etc.
Hog’s Breath Cafe’s specialty is Prime Rib Steaks, but they also serve many varieties of food such as salad, soup, appetizers, pasta, pizza, burgers, wraps, sandwiches, and also desserts. Without further ado, let’s check what we tried that day!
Peach Iced Tea IDR 25K

The peach slices were given generously (not even diced) and the taste was quite prominent compared to usual ones in other restaurants.

Flavour Beer (Lychee) IDR 40K
Normally I quite enjoy flavored beer especially when mixed with citrusy fruits, but here, I tried the lychee one and to be honest it wasn’t that impressive.

Mushroom Soup IDR 35K
So they have Soup of The Day menu, and everyday it changes. I asked for mushroom soup because it is my fave among the selection (mushroom soup, tomato soup, corn soup, and broccoli soup) and it was a good decision because the soup was good. It wasn’t too thick and creamy, but mild and tasty enough.

Passion Fruit Virgin Mojito IDR 45K
Even the virgin mojito has many fruity flavor, and this was one of them. Honestly, passion fruit is a good fruit to be eaten just like that, but I have never considered it a favorite when it comes to extract, juice, or liquor version. And this one was refreshing, yes, but just not something that I will order again.

Super Mug San Miguel Beer 500ml IDR 50K & 1L IDR 100K
These are part of on-going promotion, and also they are currently having 1 kg steak eating challenge, which you can participate right away when you visit Hog’s Breath Cafe. Just ask for more details from the staffs.

Jumbo Finger Food Combo IDR 149K
Since the variety of appetizers are quite a lot, I was glad they have an option of Combo, and even complete set of appetizer platter! This set compiles all the available appetizers on one menu, including potato skins, buffalo wings, crumbed chicken tenders, salt and pepper dusted calamari, prawn spring rolls, Monterey cheese sticks, portion of curly fries, and served with lime sweet chili sauce & Hog’s Breath honey mustard. As usual, the appetizers are mainly fried stuffs so if you happen to avoid them, it’s better not to order any. In my opinion, all of them are kinda similar in one and many ways, but it’s a good starter to order for sharing.

Macho Nacho IDR 78K
These crisp tortilla chips are stacked high with melted cheese, chili con carne and topped with Mexicana salsa, sour cream and guacamole. I expected something better than this as it was more like Australian attempt to make nachos, so the result was not as strong like real Mexican one.

Mixed Berries Smoothies IDR 38K
This smoothies looked incredibly beautiful but I am not a fan of smoothie so I hardly enjoyed it. But well, the mixed berries had really prominent taste and for you smoothies fans, this is a right drink for you!

Green Apple Virgin Mojito IDR 45K
This drink had a nice, distinctive taste of apple although it was not as sour as I expected. I wanted my green apple based drinks to be sour with little hint of sweetness because that’s how it is supposed to be. I noticed that the diced apple inside the glass was actually red ones, perhaps that explained why the drink wasn’t that sour (and of course the added sugar).

Salmon Nicoise Salad IDR 98K
This salad was a great dish to begin with, and I tell you the portion is HUGE. I mean, it wasn’t only loaded with lots of fresh veggies, but also topped with pan-seared slaps of salmon fillet, accompanied with seasoned potatoes chunks, cherry tomatoes, whole black olives, french beans, then tossed with a light Italian dressing. If you see the price, you might think it’s ridiculous, but believe me, you’ll get what you pay for because it’s totally worth every penny. The salmon was fresh and soft, cooked perfectly and they weren’t dried at all. This can be easily shared among 2-5 person as a starter!

Fruit Punch IDR 55K
I also tried one of the mocktails menu, which is Fruit Punch, made from mixes of orange, pineapple, guava, Sprite, lemon juice and grenadine. FYI, Fruit Punch is never my favorite drink because normally it reminds me of cough syrup XD But here, I recommend this drink because it was different from usual fruit punch drinks and the taste of each fruit really connect together resulting in a very fruity and refreshing drink!

Chili Coconut Prawns IDR 98K
This beautiful-presented dish is actually pan-seared succulent prawns with chili coconut sauce and Cajun rice. Firstly, who had thought that the dish could be THAT spicy?! I mean, I am a vivid spicy food lover and I usually can handle spicy food well. This one had deadly combination of Cajun seasoning and Indonesian sambal, which made it even crazier. The prawns were regular-sized but very crunchy and fresh. Overall, it was a shocking dish and I think you either love it or hate it.

Smoked Pork BBQ Ribs (Half-Rack) IDR 178K
Hog’s Style braised pork spare ribs basted in Hickory Smoked BBQ sauce and served with curly fried or mashed and seasonal vegetables or salad. I enjoyed these pork ribs so much because they were soft and easily pulled off from the bones. The BBQ sauce was also finger-licking delicious!

Natural Prime Rib Steak (Boss Hog) IDR 289K
This is the signature dish of Hog’s Breath, where the Prime Rib steak is slow-cooked for at least 18 hours, then finished with high temperature searing on a char-grill. The main point is, although each steak has been slow-cooked, the rawness can still be maintained and believe it or not, we can still order medium-rare level (which is the most recommended level to enjoy the Hog’s Breath prime rib steak). This menu comes in 3 size options: Lite Cut (170 gr) IDR 198K, Regular (200 gr) IDR 229K, Boss Hog (300 gr) IDR 289K, and Big Boss or more by adding IDR 70K per every additional 100 gr. The Boss Hog version was big and thick, but since I ordered it in medium level, the steak was a bit dry although still very tender. I was really curious about the rawness so when I cut it, I was surprised to see the middle part of the meat was still pink. The other highlight of this natural prime rib steak is that they are claimed to be already good even without any sauce, so if you need any, they can be ordered with additional charge (IDR 15K/sauce). However, I really found the natural one wasn’t so tasty, and additional mushroom sauce really helped adding some flavors into the meat.

Garlic Prawn Prime Rib Steak (Regular) IDR 269K
This was actually better than the steak above, and the steak was more juicy, tender and enjoyable. This also comes in 3 sizes: Regular (this photo), Lite Cut IDR 238K, Boss Hog IDR 338K.

Burger and Curly Fries IDR 55K
For parents, don’t you worry because Hog’s Breath also serves decent kids menu which are available for kids under 12 years old! My nephew tried this burger with premium beef patty served with tomato sauce and curly fries. The size is very much Westernized, can’t even be considered a kids portion as this is quite big. The beef patty was thick yet soft, making it easy to eat even by kids. However, I think that the beef or sauce inside the buns was somehow spicy so unless the kids love spices, I don’t think they will like it (my nephew is the later, unfortunately).

Mixed-Herb Sausages (price to be announced later)
I also got the opportunity to try one of their new menu, which is a sausage platter consists of chicken, beef and pork sausages that are cooked with mixed herbs and served with a side (in this serving, I got mashed potato) and mustard sauce. Personally, I love sausages so this platter is definitely a nice addition to the already-complete menu. They are already very tasty and fragrant, so even without any sauce, I can enjoy them.

It has been a long post and honestly I am suffering now because I want to go back there and enjoy some of the food again! Maybe I will just go trying some of the dishes here in the original country, and will write about it later. 😉
*All prices are subject to 7% service charge & 10% government tax
*The Food Escape team are not paid whatsoever for writing this post.
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HOG’S BREATH CAFE
Tribeca Park, Central Park Mall
Jl. LetJen S. Parman Kav. 28
Tanjung Duren
West Jakarta 11470
Phone. +62 21 2920 0114
Opening Hours:
Mon – Thu 10.00AM – midnight
Fri – Sun 10.00AM – 01.00AM
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