TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - ‘Unique and comfy’ are may be the right words to describe the Toodz House that is situated on Jl Cipete Raya No. 79, South Jakarta. It’s unique because of the concept of the building that is designed to be homey. And it is comfortable because of its open space.
The first menu we ordered that day was Vanilla Affogato. The serving of this sweet menu as appetizer is really unusual. Vanilla Affogato is two-scoop vanilla ice cream with toppings of our choice. That day we had coffee and chocolate chips sprinkle on our menu.
Following Vanilla Affogato was Sauted Brocolli With Mushroom. This is some kind of snack served in a ceramic, rounded bowl in a not-too-big portion. It consisting of brocolli and champignon mushroom that are sauted together with garlic and a little bit of oil on flat frying pan. This method stri-frying is known as Sautee.
“After that, the sauted brocolli and mushroom are poured with cream,” said Debby Puspitasari, the team leader of Toods House service division.
Despite of its attractive appearance, the dish was too salty on my tongue.
The restaurant first opened in 2012 also offer other worth-trying snack named Chili Cheese Fries. The fried potato is oddly served with thick shredded cheese combined with chili sauce and minced beef on top of it. This kind of topping is usually served on Spaghetti Bolognaise.
Then it was time to have a taste on the main dish. The first menu was Steak Sirloin Mushroom Penne. The steak is made of 90-gram local beef marinated with basile leaves and salt for about one hour.
The beef is then grilled until it is completely done. Differently from the imported beef which can be served half-done, local beef would be too smelly and hard to munch if it is served half-done.
The sirloin is seved alongwith penne paste which is a boiled paste having shape of parallelogram. It is pured with mushroom cream sauce that is made of sauted mushroom and Bombay garlic alongwith whipped cream, parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper, butter and olive oil.
The flavor of Mushroom Sauce in this dish is a champion among other menu served at Toodz House. However, the sauce is not strong enough to overcome the beef. The sweet-savory taste that should be left on tastebud after the meal was not there.
The next main dish was Spaghetti Tuna Matah which is among the popular dishes at the restaurant. According some of the guests, the combination of Balinese and Italian taste is asolutely right. The sambal matah which is made of slices of chili, tomatoes and shallots tops the new variant of spaghetti.
“Spaghetti and the tuna are cooked as usual similar to spaghetti aglio e lio. And then sprinkled with sambal matah,” Debby explained.
Toodz House also has flagship menu called the Carbonara Rice which has been recommended by food bloggers. The rice is cooked with egg, cheese, and blackpepper, and according to the guests, it has convenient texture.
“The cream cheese is not too oily and does not make you nauseous,” said Shinta, one of the guests at Toodz House.
“However spaghetti has smooth outer texture so it is more convenient when matched with cheese and egg.”
After those oiliy dishes, it was good time to have the sweet Arabica coffee. One most-ordered coffee is the Iced Vanilla Sunkist Latte. It is a coffee latte mixed with shredded sunkist skin. The flavor and aroma of the coffee is still strong with addition of refreshing sunkist aroma.
Nowadays, Toodz House welcomes around 100 to 150 guests each day. Peak hours are at lunch and dinner. On weekends, there are more visitors up to 200 people. In addition to its homey place, the affordable price offered here is one of the reasons why this casual dining restaurant is favorited.
“Beverages are priced between Rp25,000 to Rp40,000 and dishes are between Rp30,000 to 50,000,” Debby said.
CHETA NILAWATY