Tummy Prosperity: Red Door Koffie House, Dining in the Wonderland

It’s been quite awhile from the first time Red Door did post the teaser about its soon-to-open venue. I had passed the outlet itself for multiple times as it’s indeed not far from my ‘radar’, looking at the tall and elegant building occupying the corner space of the shop house array at Ruko New Jasmine Gading Serpong. Finally the long awaited day came and there it was, opening it’s literally red door for the very first time for public today!

I was hyper excited to visit the venue, looking at its distinctive design that carried out the theme of fairy tales. Coming in and visiting each level, I was mesmerized by every single one of them, which strongly delivered the concept of Alice in Wonderland, yeah perhaps with slight contemporary twists. The giant picture of the Mad Hatter, the petite artificial candles on the table, and the tea cups as well as classic tableware decorating the shelves placed at several corners, were just some of the properties proving it.

Just like a little girl being able to enter her dream world, I was so curious to explore all the corners and I was exposed to different settings at each floor. I wasn’t sure if this coffee shop belonged to the same owner as the Red Door in North Jakarta area, yet this one also had that peculiar staircase seatings at the first level, which wasn’t only photogenic but also super cozy for spending time chatting over coffee.

Going to the second floor. You would meet the long communal table at the back side which gave the view of that staircase seats; whereas the front side offered seats for small groups.

Heading up by one level, there was the private room to be utilized for either dining or meeting or small events. Other public seats were also available at the other polar. Then finally the top level, which had several musical instruments for live performance, and several sets of tables arranged at the balcony located next to them. It’s such creative and efficient brain behind all of them, able to transform a shop house to a castle of Alice!

All the attendants and baristas were so friendly, shown from the way they greet me right at the second I took my first step into the cafe. It felt like going back home, cozy space and warm welcome, which made you simply didn’t wanna move; exactly represented its tagline of 'make yourself feels like home'.

Hot Spanish Latte (IDR 49k)

Actually if you went through their beverage menu, I bet you would get as dilemmatic as I was in making your final choice as there were tons of variants provided there, for both coffee and non-coffee ones. Many of them were also innovative, meaning that you would rarely meet them elsewhere, just like this Spanish Latte of mine. Despite that it might be not invented by the house, it still wasn’t that common to be served in all coffee shops, blending medium-roasted beans with condensed milk. It wasn’t bad at all, though my demanding coffee palate asked for stronger coffee flavor to balance the sweetness from the condensed milk. Perhaps alternatively I might request for less sweet next time :)

Iced Dollatte (IDR 59k)

Another peculiar drink, and called as the house’s specialty as well, was this Dollate. Basically it mixed caramel and coffee, but further added the extra happiness from coffee jelly. It’s actually quite funny yet indulging at the same time, how they made the jelly became the sweetener for the whole glass. A nice one to try :)

Iced Vietnamese Coffee (IDR 49k)

Nonetheless, if you asked me which one was the must-try, I would easily call out this Vietnamese coffee, served in that signature dripping style. It was so aromatic with bold coffee flavor, not acidic taste, and not overly sweet condensed milk. Each ingredient complemented the others very well, making it a lovely cup to pamper all the caffeine lovers.

Singkong Goreng (IDR 39k)

Now let's begin the food round! Starting with these light bites, I felt like going back home where these type of snacks were like mom’s super-powerful nuclear weapon to gather the whole family on the dining table for afternoon chats (Oh, how I missed home!!). As expected, it’s not as simple as the homemade one, coated in special batter, which weren’t only delivering indulging crispy texture, but also more flavorful ‘dance’ on the palate. The sauce on top wasn’t just mere decoration as it did serve as complementary taste to the cassava itself.

Nachos Tempe (IDR 39k)

Looking like that signature gift from Malang? Yeah this was indeed crispy soybean cake or tempe. Called as nachos, the kitchen did slice it thinly making it become so crunchy, enjoyable at each bite with that precise seasoning and yummy colorful dressings on top. It’s simply like the ‘next-level’ crispy tempe!

Chicken Carbonara (IDR 59k)
Listening to the owners’ sharing, she was actually a Keto-dieter (yeah, that recently phenomenal no-carbo diet), hence she’s able to serve some ketogenic diet foods as she did cook for herself. One of them was this Chicken Carbonara, which she put on the menu to ‘test the water’. PS, she did mention that you might raise your request for some Ketogenic menu you desired and she would try her best making them happened.

Please don’t lose your appetite too early listening to this, as you should believe me that you’d better not giving a single comment till you gave it a try. I had my first bite on this cheese-shelled diced chicken served in creamy carbonara sauce, and I was immediately blown away by the awesome taste! Though it’s a bit salty, I enjoyed the taste as it’s more into uberly cheesy flavor and I was indeed a big fan of cheese. Super duper good that all of us sitting on that table right away thought of taking Ketogenic diet, just to have these appetizers served every day on our dining table.

Red Door Cheese Pizza (IDR 89k)

Another cheesy one, yet not anymore a Ketogenic diet menu. Yeah, that nice thin crust was surely carbo fellas, yet forget the hips effect for now as the tummy did deserve its happiness. The house actually had two choices of Pizza; Cheese and Pepperoni, for which I went for the first. As simple as its name, the pizza did mainly feature cheese as its topping. Nonetheless, it was a decent one for me especially if you desired to go for something not too heavy and could be shared.

Ayam Panggang Kecap (IDR 69k)

If you started to worry as you hadn’t seen rice being mentioned since the beginning, sit in chill guys, you would get your portion real soon! The beginning of the ‘heavier round’ was this grilled chicken. The chicken was pretty juicy and tender, just that a bit overcooked at the skin part. Fortunately the sauce saved the overall dish, combining sweet flavor from the soy sauce and spicy taste from the chili. In my guesstimate, they’re using the big chili in majority as the hotness level could definitely be born by those spicy-intolerant palate. The rice which was not mainly the plain one, though I wasn’t sure of the ingredients mixed with it, balanced the protein as it somehow served as the savory part.

Baso Cabe Ijo (IDR 69k)

This following main course might be not the best-looking one, yet it did come as the attention stealer at the first place. The aroma it spread was amazing, making you couldn’t help yourself from drooling. Smelled so good that all of us couldn’t wait to give it a try, and the real taste did proof us right!! The meatballs themselves might have common taste compared to the ones you had in other places, but the green chili sauce, in which they were sautéed, were too good to be true! That burning sensation on the taste bud, was flawlessly blended with the garlicky smell and flavor. Served them with hot steamed rice that’s being further complemented by sliced omelette, you would get your TOP NOTCH!

Matcha Lava Cake (IDR 79k)

Visiting ‘Alice’s house’, I knew I would get what my palate was crazy about, what else than DESSERT??!? Yeah I wish I could be into the movie and joined Alice’s tea time, getting sugar high with her! Well, forget my nonsense and let's see what I had as the finishing.

I initially thought they mistakenly made chocolate lava instead of matcha as the color was pretty dark. Nonetheless, taking a closer look, I could spot the green color of the cake, showing it’s indeed my correct order. You might think this cake was quite pricey, same as I did, yet I had to admit it’s quite rich of ingredients, serving not merely the cake but several companions to it.

Slicing the lava cake, you could see the moment of truth, the molten green tea burst out beautifully, creating that big temptation to right away ate it. The moist and sweet cake was flawlessly mixed with the strong coffee flavored ice cream, landing the impeccable balance of taste on the plate.

Those little elements like crumbles, caramel bites, and chocolate chinks weren’t to be underestimated as for me they added the indulgence to the overall dish. If you loved sweets too much and you’re a fan of matcha, you would totally be hitched by this!