Editor's Rating

9
Food/Drink
9.5
Ambience
9
Service

Have you heard about (or been at) this cute little shop called Temple Trees in Senopati? The Temple Trees which is located just beside Collette & Lola, is basically a creative design shop which sells beautiful stuffs from furniture, housewares, even fashion items. The shop itself has been existing since 2002 (that’s a great achievement considering how fast businesses come and go in the neighborhood!) and is still going strong until now.

Two months ago, they opened an eatery on the first floor called The Cubbyhole and I must say I fell in love with the place the moment I walked in! It’s too bad that I can only write about this place now although I visited it nearly a month ago.

As it’s located in the same building with Temple Trees (shop on the 2nd floor, restaurant on the 1st floor), we can get through both places through separated entrance access, but inside they are connected one to another.

The restaurant area is divided into 2 main areas: indoor and outdoor, and although the indoor area already gets natural light, the outdoor area is definitely a heaven for photo-takers. There are many vintage-looking decorations and the first impression was a stylish yet warm room.

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There are tables like this that I want to steal for sure!

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Small outdoor seating area with bright daylight and maximum comfort, especially because it is not too hot sitting there.

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The Cubbyhole currently offers Indonesian and Western comfort food, but I notice that some of the menu are also inspired by Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine. The owner (husband) is Sri Lankan so that explains a lot. There are many dishes in the menu which are made from their home recipes, so it’s even better because it means there’s originality.

Prices for F&B range from IDR 5,000 to 155,000.

Tuna Fish Cutlets IDR 25,000

Aren’t they cute?! The tuna fish cutlets were total eye candies and tasted good too. The tuna was well-cooked and seasoned with some kind of curry paste so they had quite strong taste for a starter. Not that I am complaining, though.

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Risoles Sri Lanka IDR 25,000

At the first glance, it looked like a pouched sandwich with meat filling. The bread was perfectly done and had a very nice texture: semi soft with extra crisp in the surface. The meat filling was actually some kind of curry, again, with distinctive aroma and flavor. I actually enjoyed this very much, not only the filling was good, the bread was also excellent.

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Seafood Salad IDR 45,000

A simple seafood salad with healthy lemon dressing, loved how fresh the greens were and the generous amount of seafood put inside the plate.

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Angel Hair Prawns IDR 65,000

Meet my personal favorite of the day! I am not even a fan of angel hair pasta but I really like this dish. Unlike typical pasta dishes, it was quite light and minimally seasoned, but still had lots of flavors going on. It almost looked like regular Aglio Olio pasta with additional prawns topping, but it wasn’t. The pasta was cooked nicely, and I loved how the hardness was perfect and the noodle didn’t stick one to another. The sauce had a hint of sourness from citrus zest and the result was a unique and refreshing dish.

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Nasi Bali IDR 42,500

Interestingly, The Cubbyhole has selection of Balinese food such as Nasi Bali, Ayam Betutu, etc. As recommended by the waiter, I opted for Nasi Bali, which consists of shredded spiced chicken, egg, potato cutlet, tempeh, sauteed young jackfruit and sambal Bali, served around white rice.

I am a fan of Indonesian food in general, and I can never resist a plate of Nasi Campur, Nasi Rames, you name it. Nasi Bali is always one of my first choices in term of “mixed rice dishes” so this really met my needs perfectly. Every “toppings” worked so well altogether and I loved the extra spiciness of the whole dish. Simply YUM!

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Bakso Cak Man Paket Nampol IDR 30,000

For you, bakso lovers, good news is that The Cubbyhole also hosts the franchise of Bakso Kota Cak Man from Malang. I tried their “Paket Nampol” and got mie kuning, bakso super, gorengan, tahu goreng, bakso kecil included. Sadly to say, it was very disappointing because everything tasted just like frozen stuffs. I understand that there is nothing to do with The Cubbyhole itself because they just get all the ready-to-warm-up stocks from Bakso Cak Man, so my advice is, unless you really crave for bakso, avoid ordering this.

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Seared Snapper IDR 70,000

Pan-seared red snapper, roasted vegetables, and butter sauce.

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A simple-looking dish that has so many benefits to our health, this is a good example that healthy food doesn’t always mean not delicious! The red snapper was fresh, soft, and not smelly at all. The butter sauce was fragrant and complimented the snapper very well. The highlight of the dish (beside the fish) would be the grilled sliced lemon, which is completely edible, and was very pleasant, aromatic, juicy and tasty in the same time. I had never known a grilled lemon can taste THAT good!

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Iced Chocolate IDR 30,000

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Brunswick BOP IDR 25,000

Interestingly, The Cubbyhole also offers selection of single estate loose leaf teas from Ceylon, Sri Lanka; and I tried one variant which is said to be quite strong. The tea has a very strong aroma, reddish brown in color, and the taste is distinctive. I actually like Dilmah tea which is also originated from Ceylon, Sri Lanka, and I think the taste was quite similar. This tea is best enjoyed with something sweet.

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Orange Poppy Seed Cake IDR 35,000

A very beautiful cake with my favorite ingredients: poppy seed and orange combined into one. The cake was quite dense and it looked like an “undercooked” cake in the inside, but I was told that it is supposed to be like that because they added sugar again afterwards (giving the wet look). I myself am a fan of lighter, spongy cake, and found this a bit too ‘heavy’ for my liking. However, the taste was really good, and I must give it all to the crunchy orange peel on the top. SO DELICIOUS!!

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Tried some of their other desserts as well, I think they were good but lacking of freshness. The problem is that the desserts are made somewhere else and brought there frozen (I think) so there were certain frozen smell and the textures were also quite ruined. I think warm desserts like tartlets and brownies are better served fresh from the oven, but that’s just my personal opinion 🙂

Apple Tartlet IDR 20,000

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Chocolate Fudge Brownies IDR 35,000

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Despite of all the imperfection, The Cubbyhole impressed us in one and other way. I love how original their dishes are (franchised Bakso Cak Man excluded), and we felt like we visited a friend’s house and were served homemade dishes that only the house can offer. Especially in Senopati area, which is already fulfilled with many superficial (sorry, gotta say it!) restaurants with zero personality, The Cubbyhole provides decent food with affordable prices in beautiful place. I hope that more people can enjoy the goodness of this place and we certainly are looking forward to try more new menu in the future!

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*The Food Escape team are not paid whatsoever for writing this post.

** This review is written based on our visit on 6 July 2015.

 

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THECUBBY HOLE @TEMPLE TREES
Jl. Senopati Raya No. 66
Kebayoran Baru
South Jakarta 12110
Ph. +62 21 726 1211