Last year, I did not know what special about Selig was. What I knew was, I went there (-or better say... tried to dine there) in 2017, three times with couple of my friends but Selig was full booked in all of those times. At my fourth trial last year I found out that Selig just closed down.

Yesterday couple of friends, my boyfriend and me had an intention to go out for dinner. As I heard that Selig has reopened their restaurant in another location, I suggested to my friend to go there and they agreed. So we decided to meet there, 5pm on the spot.

It was raining as we arrived, so we quickly got in and just wanted to eat something warm. As I entered, I was so surprised of their decoration. They have asian styled wooden chairs and tables in three colours: black, light brown and dark brown. What I like most is that they use Chinese lantern as light source, just a perfect fits to their wooden ceiling.

The Interior

They have big menus, all of them are written in chinese with a little bit explanation in German. The good thing is, they also have the pictures of the food so if you are too lazy too read, you can just see or point the picture to the lady and they will bring you the food like in the picture.

Smoked Pork Belly

The first food that we ordered was smoked pork belly. This is how they serve their pork belly, thinly slice, every piece considered. The smoked pork belly was sauté-ed in chilli oil together with mushroom, pepperoni and spring onion. The whole was great and the mushroom were crunchy that is so interesting.

 Tofu with Minced Pork

I admit that I can't read chinese, so we just pointed the picture as we ordered the second dish. But as I tasted it, the taste is so similar with "mapo tofu". The tofu were so firm, minced pork was good, especially if they are combined together with the sauce and chilli.

 Beef "Goulasch"

The third dish that we got is a kind of chinese beef "goulasch". They stewed it in a mini wok on a fire pot until it soft. The meat was sooo tender. Those carrots are sweet and firm. What I like the most from this dish? The sauce! They add pepperoni that crisps and szechuan pepper that makes the sauce so pleasantly pungent and spicy. Just love it!

 Fried Duck

The fried duck was one of my bae's lovable dish last night. The duck's skin was crispy but it was so tender inside. This dish has variety of color, texture and taste in it. The onion crisps, also the paprika was crunchy, sweet and so fresh. Mushroom was soft, spring onion was fresh and the sesame seeds add pleasant nutty flavor on it.

 Shrimp-Satay with sweet and sour souce

The last but not least, their shrimp satay. It happened to be our favourite food last night. They covered the shrimps with thin dough on them and fried them. They serve the satay with onion, paprika, and spring onion with sweet and sour sauce prepared on a hot plate. Sounds great? Well it tastes delicious too!

What I learned last night, we got rice as a complementary as we ordered food. What dissapointed me that night was... some of their drinks were already out of stock eventhough we were there at 5 pm (it is not even "normal" dinner time). But no worry, as I ate their shrimp-satay, my wounds got healed :D since it was great.

Savvy loves... Shrimp Satay with sweet and sour sauce

Savvy tip... they have business lunch from 12-3pm so you can get most of their food with a LOT of cheaper price (6,8 Euro instead of 14-16 Euro) so give it a try!

Last night, we ate slowly and had super nice conversation. It makes me realize that eating together is a celebration of friendship.

Where I came from, Indonesia, it is easy to find fresh fish with affordable price... or cheaper (comparing to Berlin), happy miracle. Sadly, in Berlin is not that easy to find it. "Maybe I have to fly to somewhere else", my thought. But tight schedule makes it impossible and rearrange an appoinment is sometimes harder than I thought.

That Thursday my bae and I had a day off. It is for us a luxurious chance, since due to my work and his work we are not always be able to spend our day together. So I am just going to appreciate this chance with eating out. We are going to go eat "bowl", a kind of food that is trendy this time in Berlin. Thanks to the hipster community!

We spent our day wandering the market near S-Bahn station Hackescher Markt, uncovering their unique multi cultural street food. After spending our time observating the market, we have appetite to eat something fresh. We like eating fish fresh, that has glorious texture and worshipful taste. So we went to Ma'Loa, Hawaiian Poke Bowl. As we saw it online, Ma'Loa has 4,4  stars rating from 5. Sounds good.

Ma'Loa can be found not far from S-Bahnhof Hackescher Markt. Bae ordered Big Island Bowl as he loves tuna and I ordered O'ahu Bowl because I love Salmon. You can order your personalised bowl with the ingredients that you can choose directly at the bar but we were just too lazy and just ordered things from their Ma'Loa Favorites bowl. After then they made our bowl fresh in front of us at the bar so you can see how they prepare your food - plus experience! :D

The interior of the restaurant is unique. As i entered the restaurant I saw their menu written on a wooden surf board, it feels like I am in surf shop like Quiksilver or Roxy in Bali. However the Theme is Hawaii. They have a big shelf full of plants to separate the room to a part where the customer can order and another part with table and chairs so that the customers can eat in. So cozy!

 Wooden surf board

 The shelf full of plant used to separate the room

For my O'ahu Bowl, I chose sushi rice as base then they add salmon, sweet shoyu flavour, spring onion, cucumber, Edamame, cashew nuts and seaweed salad. I usualy don't eat spring onion but surprisingly I love the bowl and I enjoyed eating the spring onion from my bowl. I think it is because of the combination with the salmon and sweet shoyu flavour. If you don't know what shoyu is, no worry I can share a bit about it. In Indonesia, sweet shoyu sauce is called "kecap manis" it has darker colour comparing with the "normal" soy sauce. It is made from fermented soy beans mixed with wheat so it has round sweet flavour. You can normally find it on your sushi, especially when you order fried sushi or fried roll in Japanese restaurant.

O'ahu Bowl

My bae ate one spoon of his Big Island bowl and didn't looked happy so I asked him why. He said that the bowl he's having doesn't meet his taste so I asked politely either I am allowed to try and have a small spoon of it. After tasted, I asked him either he wanted to switch our bowl since the Big Island bowl is also fine for me and he agreed. It has sushi rice as based, tuna, Ma'Loa Flavour (which I can taste that it is a soy sauce - the salty one), spring onion, onion, cucumber, avocado and peanut. I love the combination of tuna with soy sauce, avocado and peanut! Spring onion + onion was for me too much but it was still in the level of  "okay" for me :D. It is also nice to learn that the next time we come, it is better to have our own bowl.

 Big Island bowl

Savvy loves... how you can have your own bowl!

Savvy tips... they also have Hawaiian beer too. Try have one!

If you want to eat something affordable and fresh in Berlin, you can try their Poke Bowl adapted from Hawaii - because fresh is Hawaii.

You can NOT reserve before you come here. Since it is near Hackesher Markt and also counted to be trendy, it can be crowded anytime. But it is worth the wait!

"Let's have some sushi", said Bae as we did our weekly shopping. We usually cook every day, but not today. We both are taking our days off today and decided to finish some things, like getting the balcony door repaired, doing our weekly grocery shopping etc. After finishing the to do list, we just want to lay back and enjoy the rest of the day. So we decided to just eat near the appartment.

Thirty minute later, we sit already in a small restaurant called TTP Sushi in Olivaerplatz, Berlin. Looking down at the menu card, I marvel the broad choices of food they offer. They have all kind of sushi, sashimi, don and even udon! We admit we were afraid that we take a wrong choice.

For this dinner, I made my choice for suzuki sushi. It is a avocado-cheese rolled sushi with unagi and special sauce on top. Bae decided to take a sushi menu which has maki, inside out, nigiri and fried roll sushi in it. So these sushi will be our first trial of our dinner today.

Me Enjoying Miso Soup and Green Tea

As we waited for our sushi, they give us one miso soup and one green tea as a complimentary for order one sushi menu. I ended up eating the soup and drinking the tea because bae refused to eat/drink it as he ordered one glass of beer. Lucky me! The miso is nice, not too salty like instant miso in other restaurant. I think the miso was freshly made and also the tea. I hint some green tea leaves in my cup, it was nice thou!

 Our Sushi Platter

By the time bae and I finish our sushi,it is a generous portion for menu. The rice was nice, seasoned with smooth rice vinegar. The fish are fresh. I am the fan of their suzuki! They torch the eel that is already marinated with sweet sauce, making a caramel layer on it.

Though we are almost full, we are all excited and ready to try their udon. Having curiousity in tasting their udon, we ordered once more. This time for their udon.

 Beef Udon

Ebi Tempura Udon

Moments later we enjoy our udon. It was my bae's first udon. And he admit that it was good. The beef is grilled and the broth is so tasteful and the udon is toothy and not  chewy. I must say that the beef udon was good even though its not original japan, more of modern cooking or fusion between vietnam and japan. My ebi tempura udon was well but maybe it is just not my taste.

Savvy loves... Suzuki!

Savvy tips... Try their beef udon! It's so interesting.

Sushi does have a way of satisfying our cravings, maybe that verges on addiction.

I would suggest that you make a reservation before you come there. Since it is located in olivaer platz that is famoust as tourist attraction area, it can be crowded everytime and anytime.

Today I got the privillege to stay at home instead of working. Berlin doesn't share its warmth today. It's raining and cloudy all day long. I was sick but I had arranged an appointment to see an appartment so I did have to go out from the warm blanket. But unfortunately it didn't work out also with the appartment. Dissapointing with the result, I took a walk in Tauentzient street.

After awhile, I started to feel hungry and thought about food a lot. Afraid that I choose the wrong food to eat, I decided to go to the nearest imbiss in Charlottenburg (Kantstr.) called Ampai. I love to eat, but trust me, it takes more pleasure in eating asian food especially thai food.

Why go? 

In Ampai, the food options are simple but delighting. We ordered pad thai with shrimp, larb nam tok and guay cap (I know I don't eat innards, but we just wanna give it a try). After waiting for around 15 minutes, the food came and for the next 5 minutes we enjoyed our food and talked about the taste of the food. My shrimp pad thai was served up with lime and nuts on the side so you can assemble it as you like. The taste was good, I must admit that it is the tipe of sweet pad thai instead of sour-salty-sweet pad thai. So I added more fish sauce and of course chili. The texture of the noodle was soft make it feels good in my mouth. My mood was softly stabilized.

 Pad Thai

Lard Nam Tok

Larb nam tok is one of my favorite food. It is a salad ala thai. Don`t be confused if you order salad in thai restaurant, because in their salad is more "meat" instead of vegetables. I find it so unique and tempting. Our larb nam tok was served up with roasted rice powder and mint leaves on it. The sauce was made from the mixture of lime juice, fish sauce and chili. SO FRESH! I love it. I was about to give up my pad thai after I tried it.

 Guay Cap

As you may know, I don't eat innards. But in contrast, we did order Guay Cap, noodle soup with innards combined with vegetables and egg. There was a little sense of discovery for me as I tasted the dish. It was a bit fatty but still comfortable in mouth. That was a delight end to what was happened today.

Savvy loves... pad thai!

Savvy tips... Try their fishcake!

For this raining and cloudy day in Berlin, I think it is the answer of the question : what do you do to make your day better?

It was a cloudy Saturday evening as I picked up bae from his work to have dinner. He had no idea what to eat, and bae was so hungry. Afraid that we might go wrong, I decided to show him one of my favorite thai restaurant that I know in Berlin, Papaya. It took around 7-10 minutes walk from S-bahn station Savignyplatz. I was kinda afraid that we won't get seat because it is usually full and bae was in a grumpy mood (because he was tired after work and he was hungry). Lucky us, this evening we could find a table for two.

The decoration of the restaurant was pretty simple, dominated by the light green colour. Even they put light green seat pillow on the wooden chair. The tables were decorated with candle light and orchid.

Why go?

Friendly service and the choices of the menu is wide! Less than 5 minutes that we sat there, there was a waiter brought us two menus. The menus they're offering are authentic thai food. You know it is serious because they do not serve sushi like any other asian restaurant in Berlin. 😆

Even though it is not the first time I go there, this time is different. I usually eat catfish salad there, but not this time. My bae speaks thai so he did order for us and let me surprised with the chosen dishes. Yes, in thai language! For you who do not speak thai, don't worry. The menu is written in thai, german, and english. The waiters speak both of those three languages and they offer a lot of guidance so you won't get any trouble in ordering even when you are a tourist.

A moment later, the waiter came out and brought us the drink. He got me oliang tea, and thai tea for himself. Oliang tea is one of my favorite thai drink. Well, based on my knowledge, I can not really call it a tea because this oliang is a drink made of coffee mixed with seeds and other ingredients. They can be soybean, corn, or sesame. But I think there's the brewing process in it so maybe that's why they call it as a tea. Compared with an oliang tea that I have tasted before in Thai Park, the version that papaya has was sweeter. My bae also claimed the same. But it was still rewarding.

Oliang tea (behind) and thai tea

Few moment after that, the foods came out. I was so confused because I did not think that we would order that much. But he did! I did not have any idea what food did he order. They look like mistery dishes to me, except one. My pad thai gai. He ordered two kind of menus with noodles (one of them was my pad thai), one kind of sausages menu (I think it should be as a snack) and one dish with beef and dipping sauce.

Pad Thai Gai

As I wanted to start eating my pad thai, bae sliced the misterious grilled sausage dish and handed it to me. I took a bite. The skin which I think from pork collon has a light crunch and shiny with fat. The transparent crunchy sausage skin was filled with soft minced pork and seasoned with strong herbs, chili and I think curry sauce too. The taste is perfect. Even though for some of people it is too spicy. For example for me, from the scale from 1 to 10, it was level 3; but for bae it was level 6. Later on I know that the name of the dish is Sai Ua. It is served as appetizer ot snack.

The next misterious dish was Suea Rong Hai that is served as salad. It is a grilled beef with basil leaves and chilli dipping sauce. "Try this", bae told me as he took one stripe of beef and dipped it in chilli sauce to show me how to eat that. I tugged a piece of smaller cut of beef. It was tender, moist, juicy and flavorful. The chemistry of this deliciousness? I am pretty sure that they infuse the beef with a kind of sauce (maybe a mixture of fish sauce, soy sauce, pepper and coriander) and then grill it so it has amazing smoky and salty flavor with caramel brown colour.

Like many people I have been crazy for pad thai for as long as i can remember. It is one of my obsession and real deal. It is a stir fried thin noodle ala thailand with tasty egg, crunchy soybean sprouts and any kind of meat or shrimp that you can choose. But today I had it with chicken breast. The taste is a mixture of wonderful sweet, salty and savory that I can not describe. Just great!

Sai Ua and Suea Rong Hai

The portion was generous and my stomach was so full. But my bae did not stop there. He ordered dessert, mango sticky rice. The mango radiate fresh yellow colour, the sticky rice peeking out underneath glossy sliced mango. How it tastes? The mango is especially sweet and smooth, the sticky rice was combined with coconut milk gives creamy and velvet texture. It is extraordinarily delicious!

Mango sticky rice

Savvy loves... Suea Rong Hai!

Savvy tips... Try their catfish salad, I promise you won't regret it.

I think I will never forget this dinner. Because they have good taste and authenticity. But maybe also because I was accompanied by my bae who graciously introduced me to new thai dishes and instructed me how to eat it. But I believe that the secret of excellence dinner is the balance of those factors. 😏

For a while I forget that I am not in Europe. The exquisite dinner today let me find a taste of Thailand in Berlin.

Today is still summer in Berlin. Usually if I hear the word "summer", I always associate it with "friends, fun and food". But not this morning. Sadly, I got too many bad news in a day today, four bad news in one hour, felt like being strike by the lighting thunder. In summer? Sadly, yes.

This sad thought lingered in my head until bae asked me out to accompany him go shopping and watching Transformers : The Last Knight movie in cinema. As you might know that my german is not perfect, I want to improve it so we decided to watch the movie in german. He chose to go to alexanderplatz area, where the two of us could first go shopping and directly go to the cinema on time with no rush.

Seeking fresh air outside, I watched two kids with ice creams on their hands. Five minutes later, we've been standing in front of an ice cream stall in Alexa shopping center, Giovanni L, choosing the ice cream we wanted. I thought I've had a pretty bad day today, so I am going to choose something safe. So I went for one scoop of black vanilla, and he ordered eierpunsch ice cream (which I didn't have any clue about) and pistachio ice cream. Off the stall, we found a sit somewhere near and enjoyed our ice creams.

Black Vanilla Ice Cream (left) and Eggnog Ice Cream + Pistachio Ice Cream

I dipped my tounge in my black ice cream and was stunned. It's delicious, yet misterious. The silky texture of ice cream with bourbon vanilla flavour and the flaky crunch of rice milk. How is this ice cream so good? "Try my ice creams", bae said charmly. The yellow eierpunsch started with milk base, smoothly flavored with eggnog flavor. It was a bit watery in texture but the sweetness was perfect. I tried the second ice cream of his. I just like it! A rich, smooth and creamy textured ice cream with slathering flavour of pistachio.

I wondered, how did this simple ice cream changed my mood in a good way? No explanation, however after all I think everyone would be agree if I say that ice cream is cheaper than therapy. 😉

Dear Mom,

11.158 km is the distance between me and you. But I know that your love is with me everywhere I go. Happy birthday! (29^th of May 2017) The last time I met you in person was last January 2017 and you were still as beautiful as you were.

And I? I am the almost-28-years-old girl still trying to figure out the world. I remembered the year 2013, when I decided to take a big step. Which means leaving my family, leaving my job, leaving my career and friends. But you believed in me. Especially when NOBODY else did. You have always encouraged me to do what I want to do, to go for my dreams rather than expect them and never let me makes excuses.

Thank you for teaching me to never rely on anyone, making me independent, pushing me to be financially and mentally stable on my own. It makes me the best version of myself.

Thank you for the time picking up the pieces, my pieces. Hugged me and held me while I cried. You have been my best cure and listener through my goodbyes, breakups, hard decisions, and new chapters. You are my lucky strike!

Mom, it must be hard raising the twins and my brother by yourself. You made so many sacrifices over the years. You taught us to be humble and treat other people with respect. You are the most kind, hardest working, and passionate person that I have ever known. Being an incredible mom will be inspirational for me.

Thank you for always put your family first no matter how hard it is. I always admire how you care for dad until the very end. I don’t even know how could you stay strong in those agonizing years. I still remember the days you picked me up from school, returned to the hospital accompanying me, my sister and brothers doing our homework while holding dad’s hands on the hospital bed as he fell asleep at night till the last day of his life. You taught me to love unconditionally. Thank you for being my role model so I know how to love my own life partner. I thank Jesus for you every day.

Mom, no words can describe how lucky I am having you as my mom. I hope one day I can make you proud of me. I hope I can be the lady of your heart. Thank you for absolutely everything. Once again, happy birthday my hero!

With love,

Your stubborn daughter

Photo taken at my last journey to Indonesia when I was flying back home in January 2017