Do you know what’s strange? When I am really excited about something, I find it really hard to do a blog post on it. Fellow bloggers and writers, do you experience the same thing? I really want to do a good job when I write about something I am really, really excited about so that I can let other people see and feel how I fell in love with a place, an experience or even a thing of beauty. Because of this it takes me so much longer to do the blog post. It’s partly fear that I wont do it justice. This is one of those posts. I first read about Plan B in Chuzai Living’s blog post about it but after hearing rave reviews about the Spanish food from my latina friend, I knew I had to go with TD. We were so excited, because before Plan B there was no good place to go for Spanish food in the city. Zero. Photos taken from my iPhone after the jump!
Though we’ve meant to go, TD and I can be massive procrastinators. (Ya think?!) But when we realized that it was our Wedding Anniversary the next day last November, it was the perfect place to go! (seriously we are both so bad with dates that we both forgot that our anniversary was coming up. If we weren’t complaining to DBB (Diplo Big Bro) about how we can’t be expected to remember other couple’s anniversaries, because we can’t even remember ours, it would never have occurred to me to exclaim: “OMG its November! What date is it today??? What date is our anniversary???” TD hurriedly removed his wedding band to check the date – YUP we still have to do that most of the time! To our relief it was only November 7 in the evening and we could still plan something for our anniversary the next day haha!
So TD made reservations (not really required on weekdays but it can get packed on weekends) and we got dressed up for dinner. Plan B is a casual dining place but we just wanted to make the dinner feel more special.
It was quite traffic to get there on a weekday but it was well worth it. I love the cozy interior design and use of unexpected materials. Even the small al fresco area outside is charming. The best thing about it is that they strictly enforce the no smoking in the air-conditioned area law.
Check out the laminated news placemats, denim cushion covers and the drop lamps using birdcage covered in reused paper .
The menu is simple and the dishes are well priced. Quite cheap considering the quality and of the authentic and imported ingredients used!
Have and ice-cold San Miguel Beer (Filipino Beer)
Love the graffiti artwork on the newspaper-ed walls!We loved the gambas and the chicken and egg croquettes! The patatas bravas was a bit spicy and yummy, though this is not how TD knows patatas bravas are made. Perhaps it is the way a different region in Spain does it?
The tuna empanada was yummy with non of the fishy taste (fresh!) – even non-fish-eating TD ate some! TD really enjoyed the toasted baguette with beef tenderloin, green peppers and onion.
We also got seafood paella. It’s quite big, even though it’s for 2 persons, we had to take home half of it because we enjoyed too many tapas. =) The paella was quite yummy and a great deal at IDR 130.000. I liked that they provided some lemon and mayonnaise which the Spanish owners told us is what we should eat the paella with. The lemon cuts down rich taste and the mayo adds to the creaminess.
The best thing about Plan B is the owners. They are super friendly and attentive. You know that they are passionate about what they are doing. They say hi to all the patrons and made sure to refill our wine glasses with the decanter of house wine that they were serving. Oh that’s another massive plus for me… they have good house wine at a price that cannot be beat!
We went home slightly buzzed from the wine and with happy tummies! We couldn’t wait to go back!I didn’t have any room for dessert but TD just had to have the Organic Chocolate drink. He loves hot chocolate and this one for him was very good.
More dessert to be had next time…. And more cheeses too! I can’t help but take a picture of the ladies room. This has to be the most pink ladies room I’ve ever seen in my life.
Two of the four Spanish owners of Plan B who made our first visit a wonderful experience! One of them is the Chef.
TD and I loved it so much that a few days later, we arranged to get together with our friends to try more of the food! We had a special treat because though, it is not on the menu, we were served Chorizo. The cold cuts and cheeses were also amazing. I can tell that they are authentic from Spain since my MIL gets her supply straight from Spain too! It was absolute heaven!
We ordered many of the tapas we ordered the last time. Like the croquettas, but this time we got to try the mussel croquettas as well. (I personally like the chicken croquettes best)
This time we tried the FIDEUA (below left). It’s like the paella but made with small macaroni shaped noodles. We got the seafood fideua, which is quite good too. Personally I prefer the paella version, but hey, I’m Filipino. We are suckers for rice! We also got the black paella (below right) which was yummy as well. Our adventurous friends also got the octopus.
For dessert we tried the different cakes I was eyeing the first time I came. Everything was delicious – the lemon tart, flan and chocolate mousse. My mouth is watering thinking about it!
We also enjoyed the house wine, their (strong) sangria and their homemade ice cold chupitos (Spanish tequila)! What a fun night with food and friends! I want to go back soon! Anyone friends who wanna come with?!?
P.S.
Sorry for any grammatical errors or typos! I didn’t have time to proof read this. I just wanted to finally get this post out there and share this wonderful Jakarta Find with you guys. ❤
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- Rukan Permata Senayan, Jl. Tentara Pelajar, Blok D22, Jakarta Selatan 12210
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Looks great! I will have to give it a try. After our trip to Spain last summer I constantly crave good tapas!
Hey we should have a double date with our hubbies, you me and kaho! Game???
Happy Anniversary! I am glad you had a great time and thanks for mentioning my post! Great photos! I love the wall art, too. Now looking at the photo of the wall painting on your blog, I wonder the painting of the man with plan B ball is either the owner of the chef.
This place is great! I always get a lot of freebies every time I eat here 🙂 The chef is Oscar – I think he worked in Melia before putting up Plan B with his partner. You can also order their paella for parties – he’ll offer to cook it onsite 🙂
Hi Jay, that’s a great tip for our readers who would like to serve paella at their parties! Thank you! I know what you mean about the freebies, the owners are amazing! It feels like I’m dining in someone’s home instead of a resto. So far I’ve only met 3 of the 4 Spanish owners. They are what make the dining experience different from other restos. It’s always so much fun going to Plan B isn’t it?
We do make our own paella for special occassions, from my Spanish MIL’s recipe. She sends us ingredients from Spain when someone comes from the Philippines. It’s very scarce though so it’s great to have Plan B when we are craving for some Spanish food!
Thanks for the information anyway. I went there to give it a try with my friends, we had a nice dinner that night. 😀
My pleasure! Glad to hear you enjoyed your dinner!