19th Avenue

Hi Eaters.

West Jakarta maybe isn't as hip as Pantai Indah Kapuk, or South Jakarta in particular when it comes about good and hip spots for dining. You will find a lot of malls and shopping centers here, but to find a great spot with a line of nice restaurants wouldn't be as easy as if you go to Pantai Indah Kapuk, or Senopati.
Having to work at an office located in West Jakarta, it sure helps to know that there is one cool spot to hang out after work and get a decent meal. I'm talking about 19th Avenue.

This restaurant is located at Greenville. The restaurant's name, if I may guess, must be derived from its location which is at Greenville avenue no. 19. Just a guess though.
The outlook of the restaurant is pretty catchy. You can never miss this restaurant since it has a big signage too on the side of the street.

The theme of the interior is industrial. When I arrived here, what I found at first sight was this big giant metal door as the restaurant's main entrance. Pretty unique, right? But it's kinda heavy too. Don't worry though, there will be someone opening the door for you.

Entering the restaurant, I was bedazzled with the beautiful interior inside. Since it's applying industrial theme, there are a lot of hard material involved in the interior design. Wire fences on the walls. Dark colored stone for the tiles. Dark wood for tables and chairs. A lot of picture frames with unique messages in it. The lights were dimmed to give more comfort. So yes, it's so unique, cozy, and comfortable.
I was seated at the second floor. In this floor most seats are sofas so it's more comfortable up here I think.
So what about the food? Let's see what I tasted that day.

Chef Mini Garden Salad - IDR 42K.

Since this is a foodtasting event, I can't really be detailed about the whole dish (do forgive me). Well, you know how it is in a foodtasting event, you took snapshots of this dish and decided not to tasted it first because you want to take photos of another dish and when you went back to try suddenly it's all out. Yeah, that's pretty much what happened to me. 
But according to my foodie friend, well it's quite decent. I don't know what exact ingredients are used there, but I reckon there were some mushrooms, tomatoes, and bellpeppers involved. Sorry can't inform you about the taste, but if you should ever come to 19th avenue do please order it and let me know how it taste.

Mushroom Soup - IDR 35K.

 Mushroom Soup

This one is my favourite. It tasted pretty good. It came with a slice of baguette that had melted cheese on its top. Yummy. The sensation of chewing that baguette after dipping it in the soup was exquisite. I sure do hope there were not only one baguette served in the menu since it's tasty.

Tomato Soup - IDR 35K.

 Tomato Soup

At first glance I thought this was a bowl of pumpkin soup. Looking at its pale orange color, I'd never guess this is tomato soup. Well, I prefer tomato soup to be reddish, and had a sweet savory taste. This one is more sour. And for my palate I don't really like a taste of sour tomatoes. But the overall taste was nice, just not my desired palate.

Nachos Mexicanos - IDR 52K.

What's great about the nachos is that they poured salt in it so it didn't went bland like regular nachos elsewhere. Since it was also seasoned with jalapeno and chilli con-carne well it had a bit of spicy punch. Mexican food should be spicy, right? So it's a well executed dish.

Karage & Fries - IDR 48K.

 Karage & Fries

A nice dish. Tasted a little salty but hey, I loved salty food. The chicken was crunchy, and the batter was seasoned perfectly. The fries on the other hand, maybe needed to be salted a bit more.

Mushroom de Ajilo - IDR 42K.

It's actually had a decent seasoning. But I felt that the mushrooms weren't that fresh. Maybe just my bad luck that day. But if you do like mushrooms, you will like this menu.

Aglio Olio with Prawn & Mushroom - IDR 62K.

Served with big chunks of prawn. Visually, it looked so appetizing. The taste was also delicious too. The pasta, in this case is the spaghetti, was seasoned nicely. The mushroom and the prawn were so savory. Loving it.

Cheese Madness - IDR 58K.

I just loved cheese and this dish had me sent to cheese haven. Super delicious. The cheese wasn't that heavy so eating it mouthful after a mouthful was nice. The fettucine was cooked al-dente and the smoked beef was so generous. There are just a lot to love about this dish. Cheese lover, this is a must try!

Gyutan Don Teriyaki - IDR 68K.

Japanese-style rice bowl with deliciously cooked oxtail covered in a savory teriyaki sauce and also katsuobushi. Enough said. I just want to tell you that this dish is so recommended. I rarely eat oxtail, but I'm sure gonna love it thanks to this dish.

Chicken Katsu Curry - IDR 62K.

I loved the big portion of this dish. But maybe for my palate the curry sauce needed more flavor booster. I'd prefer a bold flavor when it comes to curry, and this one was a bit mild. The chicken katsu however, came with diced potatoes, diced sweet potatoes, rice and nori. The texture was a feast. 

Pepper Chicken - IDR 76K.

A nice perfectly grilled chicken. The seasoning was great. The meat was so tender and juicy. I found some fat still lying around. But it's no problem though, some people might found this fat to be an elevating factor of the dish. The mashed potato that came along was also savory, and the gravy tasted excellent.

BBQ Beef Ribs - IDR 129K.

The most loveable dish that day. Every component of this dish was just stunning. Visually speaking, it's sooo appetizing. The taste was awesomely delicious. The meat was just executed to perfection. Juicy and so sooo tender. And you just gotta love the waffle fries. They're so crunchy and savory. A very recommended menu.

19th Avenue Awesome Pizza - IDR 98K.

A signature pizza dish from the restaurant. The dough was mixed along with squid ink in the process, resulting in a black pizza dough that had a unique taste. The toppings were bellpeppers, caramelized onions and seafood (in this case mostly prawns). The dough are quite thin, resembling the genuine Italian pizza. It's overall taste was good and pretty savory too. I just felt that maybe it's too oily though.

Pesto Champion - IDR 88K.

Never had pesto incorporated in any dish besides pasta before. This is my first time trying a pizza that uses pesto sauce instead of tomato sauce as its base. Well to be frank, it actually tasted nice. The toppings were mushrooms, basil leaves, onions and bellpeppers. If you want to try a twisted kind of pizza, you've got to try this one.

Wild Fungi - IDR 86K.

Mushroom feast! Yes, that's pretty much to say to describe this pizza. It uses three kinds of mushrooms: portabella mushrooms, champignon mushrooms, and button mushrooms as its toppings alongside with mozzarella cheese and onions. The base was tomato sauce. Yummy, and personally I liked it.

Now let's move to the beverages. At 19th Avenue there are quite a lot of choices of beverages, starting from choices of teas, coffees, juices, sodas, smoothies, mocktails, and beers. Here are some that I tried.

19th Avenue Ice Chocolate - IDR 36K.

This is a smoothie made from fresh milk, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream. It tasted nice and the sweetness was just moderate for me. Just hoped that the chocolate had a bitter punch though.

Fresh Milk - IDR 19K.

The taste was really just like what a fresh milk should be. If you ever had tasted any UHT white milk, well that's the taste I'm talking about. What's good about it was that they didn't add any sugar so the milk stayed at its original flavor and not turning to be a milk candy.

Banana Berry - IDR 38K.

An overall refreshing drink. Sweet and nice, especially topped with that whipped cream. Yum!

Blue Lychee Soda - IDR 36K.

A mocktail. I loved it. So refreshing. And there were also a couple of lychee fruits inside.

Pepppermint Lemonade - IDR 36K.

The lemon taste was pretty strong. So yes it tasted more sour. And since it's incorporated with soda then there's a sparkling sensation when I drank it.

Mango Tango - IDR 49K.

I highly recommend this one. This drink is a mix between fresh milk, mango ice cream, mango extract and strawberry fruit. The taste is delicious. All ingredients mixed up so well. The texture of the smoothie was so soft too, and you might get some bity surprise from the strawberry fruits.

19th Avenue Lemon Tea - IDR 36K.

Given the restaurant's name stitched to menu is a whole lot of pressure. When I see menu like these, I put high expectations. And surely this signature lemon tea from 19th Avenue was no disappointments. It tasted pretty nice. I can surely taste the strong lemon, but it's not so overwhelming the tea either. A perfect balance. What a perfect drink after those savory dishes.

Choices of Ice Cream (Single Scoop) - IDR 19K.

There are quite a lot of choices of ice cream to choose from. Chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, mango, green tea, and coffee. This one is the strawberry ice cream. Served with whipped cream and strawberry sauce. The ice cream was nice, soft and not too sugary. A good way to close my meal that day.

Overall conclusion, this is a good spot to hang out if ever you should travel around West Jakarta and feel bored of going to the mall.
It has got great ambience, a good service, and food that might be comfy to the tummy.
A nice to hang out with its location that's quite strategic amongst the culinary area of Greenville.
Prices are classified medium, starting from IDR 19K up to IDR 129K. Do remember there are 10% tax and 5% service charge.
So, give it a try. Some menus might become your favourite. Well, I have my own favourite menus at 19th Avenue now, and can't wait to get back there and have them again.

Keep on chewing!


Jazzy Dee

Twitter: @jzzydee
Instagram: @jzzydee
Questions: http://ask.fm/jzzydee


19th Avenue
Green Ville, Blok AV No. 19, 
Phone: (021) 29401119
Green Ville, Jakarta Barat