MyFoodStroll: June 2017

CHITATO & QTELA Limited Edition

In order to welcome the 490th anniversary of Jakarta city, PT Indofood Fritolay Makmur through its well known snack brands, CHITATO and QTELA Singkong, launched Limited Edition Flavors. For some people who don't know yet, CHITATO is potato chips snack, while QTELA Singkong is cassava chips snack.

CHITATO Kerak Telor Flavor

QTELA Singkong Rujak Juhi Flavor

We are a little surprised and impressed by the flavor variant launched by them. For CHITATO they introduced Kerak Telor (egg crust) flavor and for QTELA Singkong they originated Rujak Juhi flavor. We could tell at a glance that the flavors were selected to represent Jakarta's signature dishes. Beside these two flavors, Jakarta also has other signature dishes, such as Gado-gado, Soto Betawi, Nasi Uduk, and Asinan Betawi. But Kerak Telor and Rujak Juhi surely are on top of the list. So this time, the flavor selection really goes well with the theme.

CHITATO through its history, always surprises us with their flavors innovation. For instance, last February coinciding with Valentine's Day, they also launched CHITATO Couple Edition. You can find the review here. However, for QTELA Singkong, as far as we know, this may be the first time for them to add a limited edition flavor innovation for its product line. When we first saw the flavor of both chips, we honestly have quite high expectations from the flavors offered, considering each dishes they highlight here have certain flavor characteristic that people already familiar with. Hopefully, they will match and fulfill our expectations.

So let's get into it!

**CHITATO Kerak Telor Flavor**

Kerak Telor itself is a street food you can commonly found in Jakarta. The vendor selling Kerak Telor always looks the same, like the one on the CHITATO packaging, At a glance, it is like omelette dish, mixing egg with glutinous rice and topped with fried shredded coconut (serundeng) and fried shallots. Usually we can choose whether we prefer to use chicken egg or duck egg. One of the thing that characterize the flavor in this dish for me, is the burnt egg flavor and aroma that is cooked with charcoal.

As you can see in the picture above, the seasoning color is bright brown to orange-ish and not very different with the other CHITATO regular flavors. However, as you bite the chips, the flavor here is quite distinct with their regulars. As we munch on the potato chips, we can taste the burnt egg flavor and aroma, which I think is the key element to the flavor. The spices also in the right balance for us, savory but not too salty. Overall, we can perceive this potato chip as Kerak Telor flavor if we already know the labeling name. But to be honest, if I didn't know it beforehand, I don't think I can guess the flavor correctly. On the bright side, it is pretty tasty!

CHITATO Kerak Telor Flavor

QTELA Singkong Rujak Juhi Flavor

Another street food authentic to Jakarta is Rujak Juhi. On a Rujak Juhi plate, we can see mixture of chopped boiled potato, noodle, cucumber, and shredded lettuce, covered with peanut sauce and complimented with shredded Juhi. Peanut sauce used here is more on the savory type, different with Fruit Rujak that use sweet peanut sauce. While Juhi is a dried and smoked cuttlefish, known for its distinct aroma.

QTELA Singkong obviously has different texture and taste with CHITATO, it has thinner slices of chips and different basic taste as well. Cassava has bitter and sweet basic taste characteristic, and I think it complimented the Rujak Juhi seasoning. This product achieve its goal in perceiving the targeted flavor, from the first bite we can taste the savory peanut sauce, which really goes well with the bitter sweet cassava characteristic. Further more, we can find a hint of smoked cuttlefish aroma without being to fishy.

QTELA Singkong Rujak Juhi Flavor

So, yeah I think you guys should definitely try these limited edition flavors from CHITATO and QTELA. If you do try, please comment and let us know how do you like it 😄

Happy Birthday Jakarta! Blessings to you, your people, and of course as the capital of our beloved Indonesia, we wish only the best for Jakarta. Cheers!

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, by Mr. A

Cherryblossom

Spring in Japan

Japan! 😍

One of the countries we've been dreaming to visit since our dating days. Back in the days, we would talk about our dream of exploring Japan for hours, from the amazing mountain scenery, how they maintain and cherish their traditions, and of course their cuisines. Well, mainly it was the food for us ;) So, it was only natural that we chose Japan as our honeymoon destination. Since this was our long anticipated first journey together, and moreover to our dream country with a lot of unique charm to discover, we decided several days there won't be enough. We finally agreed that this time, we will travel for two whole weeks!

Japan is one of the countries that became a tourist destination in recent years, and as widely known, the most highly anticipated season in Japan is when Cherry Blossom trees are blooming and the country is filled with pink carpets, in the beautiful spring. As this is our first trip to Japan, we can't help to depart during spring season. Although at first, according to the forecast, during our stay in Japan the Sakura trees would not be in full bloom yet, we are very delighted to say that we managed to saw them reach their full bloom as we moved on from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka.

Cherry Blossom

What makes this trip really special to us, was also because we planned everything on our own and we didn't use tour and travel guide services during our time there. Sure, it cost us a lot of research and planning before our trip (understanding the Japan public transportation system takes a lot of work!), and several times we were lost and sometimes it was difficult too. But I found that it was really rewarding when we finally found what we were looking for, whether it was a small local restaurant or a magical looking shrine. Most importantly, it makes our time there more memorable and personal.

Besides, people in Japan are incredibly friendly and helpful! Majority of them maybe can't speak english very well, but they will be more than happy to help you finding your way. We've heard about this from our friends and families who's visited Japan before us, and we actually experienced it for ourselves there. They didn't just telling us the direction, but they even walking with us until we reached our destination. How great is that!

TOKYO

Tokyo, Japan's capital city, is a fast paced city that’s ahead of the times and at the same time an astonishing, weird and eccentric city. I don't think I can find the exact words that can describe all of the uniqueness in this capital of Japan. This city offers from traditional shrines, beautiful gardens, shopping heavens until advanced technologies. No wonder international tourists loves Tokyo, and we are not an exception.

Shibuya Crossing

Shinobazu Pond, Ueno

Our adventure started in Tokyo, and this city didn't let us down. For the duration of six days exploring Tokyo, we managed to cover quite a lot of the must-visit destinations. But if you are really in a time constraint, you should be able to cover the main things in three days. Starting from the Ueno Park area, to the top tourist destinations like Meiji Shrine and Senso-ji Temple, until exploring Tokyo's different areas like Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Harajuku. If you have time like us, you can even add a day trip to Tokyo Disneysea or Disneyland, and a night spent in Hakone, near Mount Fuji.

Further reading :

Tokyo Guide (soon)
Hakone (soon)

Meiji Shrine

Ueno Park

KYOTO

What bounce to mind when you hear the word Kyoto? Do you imagine about ancient wooden temples and fascinating scenery? True, Kyoto was once a capital of Japan. Here, stored so many histories of Japan and traditions that continue live on in Japan until this day. The beauty of traditional Kyoto still has strong atmosphere despite the development of bustling city as it is today.

Kyoto, Japan

Kimono Rental, Gion

After enjoying our quite time in Hakone, we moved on to Kyoto and found an entirely distinct vibes from Tokyo. It is not exaggerating if one's said that Kyoto is the heart of traditional Japan. What we loved about Kyoto, it gave us the Japan we always dreamed of. Walking around in Kimono, exploring the narrow streets within a neighborhood of old traditional wooden houses, the fascinating temples and shrines, until walking the iconic forest of bamboo. A special annual event also going on during our visit, the Miyako Odori (geisha theatrical show), so no doubt we went to watch it!

We spent four days in Kyoto, which include a day trip to Nara on our last day. Within our stay, we visited the top destinations in a leisure paced, and surely you still can compact it into shorted visit. ;)

Further reading :

Kyoto Guide (soon)
Miyako Odori (soon)
Nara Day Trip (soon)

Nara Park

Fushimi Inari Taisha

OSAKA

Osaka is the capital of Osaka prefecture. We traveled head out of Kyoto to Osaka for 30 minutes by express train, the Shinkansen. Based on our experience in the Osaka, the city is a metropolitan city that resembles a frenzied Tokyo at some point of the city as it is called as the second largest metropolitan area in japan. Osaka also has an international airport called Kansai International Airport, and to be more time and cost efficient, we prefer to fly back from Osaka rather than have to travel back to Tokyo at the end of our trip.

Dōtonbori

Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum

Osaka didn't fail us either, we really had fun four days there and to think back, time went by really fast in Osaka! We did everything there, from the touristy Tempozan Ferris Wheel, to the fun and educational Osaka Aquarium, until the must visit Dōtonbori. Not to miss a day in Universal Studio Osaka, absolutely loved it!

Further reading :

Osaka Guide (soon)

Takoyaki

Universal Studio Japan

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, by Mr. A

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