PORTAFILTER COFFEE ARTISAN KELAPA GADING - JAKARTA
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Recently, I went to this newly opened coffee shop and cafe in Kelapa Gading which I believe is going to be the talk of the town anytime soon: Portafilter Coffee Artisan. The coffee shop is strategically located near Rumah Sakit Gading Pluit (Gading Pluit hospital).
I seriously love how this coffee shop is designed, from outside it had this cool minimalist-industrial Singaporean cafe vibe about it (I did feel that way) and I was glad that it did not look like cluster cafes! I fell for the cafe as soon as my first step inside, it had this open-space feel to it even though I technically knew I was indoor, maybe it was the glass window surrounding the space allowing the sight to see the outside as well as the warm-loving natural daylight wildly streaming in. Short to say, I felt like I was in a quite spacious home with cool rustic-industrial interior plus the lingering smell of the fresh-brewed coffee. Perfect.
Portafilter occupies the outdoor area for the smoking guests. The outdoor area has the capacity for 12-15 people while the main indoor area had the capacity for 30-40 people with long communal table in the center.
The coffee bar area - La Marzocco machine to deliver good coffees for you!
Something about the branding and the logo that I really like!
Beverage selections are mainly coffee and tea, the coffee selections here are pretty common yet focused like espresso, piccolo, americano, cappuccino, latte, mocha (for chocolate fan), iced white and cold brew with price ranging from IDR 20k-40k. Talk about "common" they're using Common Grounds coffee here (sorry for the pun), and as for the tea, they have premium selections like Earl Grey, Wild Berries and Camelia Mangifera.
Hot Cappuccino - IDR 30k
I did not ask for specific latte art design nor I did even ask for me, but turned out yes the try to impress you guys with great latte art! Never have I ever given such pretty gold fish latte art so I was awed by this one *happy tears*. I can tell that they're pretty serious with their coffee as this hot cap was delicious with medium-bodied flavor, nice aftertaste and creamy too!
Shooting the cold handed barista working on its latte art magic! Now they gave me graceful swan!
For the food here, expect to discover mainly Western food selections of light bites, salads, all day breakfast menus, pastas, burgers and desserts with price ranging from IDR 32k-75k, price wise, freaking affordable. Unfortunately I didn't try their desserts as I was super full after all the food you're about to see but I notice they have good looking cakes and eclairs (omg their eclairs are so tempting looking I will go back for them)
Goma Salad - IDR 50k
Their Goma salad is one of the recommended salad menus here (they have Caesar salad and Vine salad too). This salad consist of mix greens, cherry tomatoes, carrots and served with fried tortilla bowl and sesame (Goma) dressing. I am a sucker for salads with sesame dressing so this one works really well for me, greens were fresh, dressing was generous enough for a single serving and the edible fried tortilla bowl can be eaten separately or crashing it together as additional cracker to add more texture.
This particular pasta is one of the best sellers from the main course tab and I found it really delicious, when you look at the ingredient, it's actually quite simple and even though they say it's creamless, it's actually a bit thick with cream coating the pasta but not wet creamy. The seasoning was nice and overall bold enough without being overly milky, the truffle oil drizzle was generous hence it's aromatic enough to live up my palate.
Sweet Potato Fries - IDR 32k
Their sweet potato fries was simply one of the food highlights of the day! I suggest having it fresh as soon as it's delivered to your table if you want to experience that crunchy batter coating the perfectly fried sweet potato. As for the seasoning, they went with basic salt and umami seasoning, but if you want me to be honest, I really like the state where the fries got a little more moist and less crunchy by time, because I had loaded food on my table that day, by the time I finished taking all the pictures and went back to the fries (after around 10 minutes), I found myself liking the gooey fries texture even better.
Grilled Wagyu Burger - IDR 95k
I don't know if it's me or Kelapa Gading is really where all the good burgers are at? You got Five Monkeys at Food Centrum, Bun N Bite, Six Ounces and now this! The burger was actually pretty simple with common condiments in the brioche buns such as beef patty topped with cheddar cheese, fresh lettuce and tomato and caramelized onion. Not only that I love the fresh looking food presentation, that muthafuckin beef patty was BOMB! It's lightly seasoned with salt and pepper but the ground beef was fresh, tender and juicy (maybe a little truffle oil drizzle would be amazing)! If you're an avid burger fan then order this.
The serving came with fries and chili sauce.
Wagyu Fried Rice - IDR 78k
I was lucky to be able to try their new rice dishes which will be launched very soon so I am officially the first one to cover it for you guys :P. Here is their Wagyu Fried Rice which consist of fried rice topped with wagyu beef, sunny side up, garlic ships, lettuce and cherry tomatoes all served in this cute cup-bowl. When it comes to fried rice, I HATED the mushy rice and was glad that they did not over cooked their rice. I expected stronger salt seasoning from the fried rice, but that quickly resolved by the tender wagyu beef topping and the simple goodness sunny side up it is!
Katsu Truffle Don - IDR 65k
Cold brew coffee (IDR 35k) - beautiful blend of their signature coffee and caramel, just a tad too sweet but really nice. I personally love having this with rocks.
Portafilter is definitely recommended! I would say that my first experience was very impressive, yet made me believe that it's going to be the next hottest hangout spot in Kelapa Gading (hopefully right after you guys read this post). Awesome interior, good food and coffee, friendly service, affordable price, well basically the whole package! BEST OF LUCK!
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Portafilter Coffee Artisan
Jl. Boulevard Timur - Pegangsaan Dua
Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara
021 - 452 8526
Opening hours: 8 AM-10 PM
Average spending for two: IDR 200k
Dresscode: none
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