Djournal Coffee & Bar

Oh my gosh, it's been soooo long since my very last post here, quite frankly I miss it. Things has been quite hectic with all my campus projects and freelance works (freelance graphic design stuffs, in case you're wondering). I hardly had the time to chill, hangout with fellas and tryout new restaurants. After quite a while, I finally got the chance to go to this newly opened cafe & bar, located at Grand Indonesia Mall, DJOURNAL.

Me and some of my fellas have been waiting for this cafe to open, because it looks like it's gonna be a cool place, especially knowing that it's created by Ismaya Group, one of the coolest business groups around here. And my predictions are true, the place is super kewl.

Since I'm a design kid, I enjoyed the designs very very much. I love the "Take a Smile" concept of spreading business cards as well as the color scheme of the place. The graphics work well with the style of the place, adopting vintage classy feel and the warmth of hand-painted things. Everything is well put-together. The place oozes out hipster aura as strong as a super saiyan oozes his super aura.

Okay, enough with my design talk and let's move on to the place's tongue-pleasers. They serve coffees, teas, light bites and of course, desserts. I ordered one of the barista combos there, and they are......

Nutella + Cappuccino Barista Deal : 55k

Ta-Da! The mighty duo of Nutella Cake + Hot Cappuccino! I'm such a huge Nutella fan so I had high expectations on this one cake.

The Nutella cake is out of this world. Really. The outer layer is soft cream with soft taste and the inner layer is the "punch of sweetness" with moist and crunchy texture. The cake is a mixture of dark chocolate flavor with strong hazelnut and Nutella here and there. I completely loved it. I took each bite, pause the conversation, and go "Mmmmmh.." like really, because it's THAT good. Even my friend is amazed by my reaction towards the cake. A little taste of heaven I may say. My advice to you cake goers, TRY THIS.

I took the Cappuccino without adding sugar, I like that it balances the sweetness of the cake. Plus points for the cup color, matches Bingo really well :D
Overall, I recommend Djournal for anyone who is looking for a nice place to hangout, talk, work, or just collecting some thoughts. I will come back here for sure some time. If you see a girl with geeky glasses, a Nikon DSLR and some little toys on the table, it will probably be me.

Address:
Grand Indonesia Shopping Town, West Mall, Ground Floor
Jl. MH Thamrin 1, Jakarta

Price:
+/- Rp. 40.000 - Rp. 65.000 / person

Rate:
9 / 10

Bar/Coffee

Friday is my most tiring campus day, from 07.30AM 'till 07.20PM with a 4-hour break in the middle. What do I usually do to fill in the 4 hour break? Do assignments, attend meetings, and just last Friday, I tried out this new place at Senayan City called BAR/COFFEE. The place is barely visible, to be honest, it is on one of the corners of Lower Ground floor, and probably because of that, the place is still very not crowded. I came there with Bikki at around 11.30AM and we're the only customers there.

The place is not so full of light, but it's a pretty nice hangout spot, for reading books and doing assignments (and gossiping if you and your fellas are the only customers). I like the decorations, some doodle-ish illustrations on the wall, quotes, and a book cabinet with big artsy books. What I get is that the concept of the place is Jazzy New York-ish coffee bar with lots of wood material to keep it "warm". The background music is all jazzy and swing-y. "This place wakes up my inner hipster.." Bikki said, then her design assignment got more hipster, lol :D

When the waitress asked me what I want to order, it took me quite a while to decide what to order, why? Because I sort of expecting an Irish Coffee on the menu, turned out they don't have it, so I went on and ordered an Iced Hazelnut Latte. Bikki ordered something that sounds more interesting, Iced Salted Coffee.

The Iced Hazelnut Latte tastes mild and light. The Hazelnut flavor doesn't really come out, but well, I quite enjoy it. Bikki's Salted Coffee sure tastes interesting. Turns out they salted the whipped cream, and when I tried it apart from the coffee, it tastes like....butter. The coffee itself is pretty nice, not the most aromatic coffee ever, but it's okay. Combine the coffee and the whipped cream and the taste is just....unique.

We also ordered the Peanut Butter cake out of curiosity. The cake is not photogenic at all, I know. For the taste, well, if you're a big fan of old-fashioned cake, you'll love this one. It's a sponge cake coated with cream and chocolate sprinkles. The texture is nicely soft. Too bad the peanut butter flavor doesn't really come out, the most dominant flavor is the old-fashioned-sweet cream flavor. I'm preeetty sure my mom would love it. Anyway, the plate pattern looks like chinese swirls doesn't it? Doesn't really match the rest of the decorations, inner designer speaking :P Oh and in case any of you is wondering who Bikki is, her real name is Carissa Vicky, she's a campus fellow. I call her Bikki for...fun *grin*

My conclusion of this place, it's a nice place to hangout, the price is fine, the products are okay, I guess I'll come here again some time to do assignments during my 4 hour break time :)

Address:

Lower Ground Floor, Senayan City

Jl. Asia Afrika Lot 19, Jakarta Selatan

Price:

Rp30.000-Rp65.000/person

Rate:

7,7/10