What to eat in Medan

Holla! It's been so so long since my last post. I was busy maintaining my blogging activity and my first month working as a math teacher, so I've been having a little trouble managing time for myself. Here are some places that I visited and foods I tried during my food hunting trip in Medan.
1. Ondo Batak Grill (Jl. Pabrik Tenun No.45)
My favorite dish is the grilled pork which are thinly sliced and grilled to perfection.

2. Sam's Patisserie (Jl. Uskup Agung No.15)
Stopped by here for a tea and dessert during heavy rain in Medan, and we were well impressed with the beautiful desserts and relaxed atmosphere of this place. It looks like a cozy villa with foliage and flowers outside and beautiful wooden-style furniture and decor. I sat at the best spot, the terrace, which allows me to enjoy the outdoor view. For the foods, cronut and cake were so-so. It's good but I think I expected a lot more. Sam’s Patisserie Boulangerie is located right beside Roemah Kopi Wak Noer.

3. The Traders (Jl. Pattimura No.423)
One of the most famous western restaurant in Medan. It's a good place to hangout or have a meeting because of the formal ambience. It's well known for the steak but I ordered pizza instead because I didn't feel like eating steak and spending much money for it. The pizza was average though!
5.Selat Panjang Street
It is definitely a must visit culinary spot in Medan (lucky me it's right behind my hotel, Swiss Bell-inn). The first thing you have to try is Mie Tiong Sim. It's just noodle with pork meat and pork dumpling, but the taste is so delicious!
  

After spending 4 days in Medan, it's time to continue my trip to Singapore :D So I headed to Kuala Namu International Airport. Anyway, I was amazed by how nice this Medan new airport is. The Indonesia’s second largest airport to-date is certainly built to accommodate future growth. Once inside the terminal, I could feel how neat, clean, and modern the building is. The interior is dominated with glass walls which offers bright and spacious atmosphere. There are also some shops and cafes; Starbucks, Swatch, Cotton On, Kipling, NewLook and Accesorize.  

La Maison & Howey Medan

For those who follow my instagram, you might have known that I checked myself in to Medan last month. The main reason is to gain weight, and yes I was so curious and wanted to authenticate how good the culinary spots are. This time, I wanna share my experience with these two popular patisserie shops in Medan, La Maison and Howey. (PS: this is my personal opinion and I don't have any intention to offend anyone).

LA MAISON

My long wait is finally over. I want to try La Maison so badly since I'm a fan of the chef. In fact, I've been a fan far before she had the idea to open La Maison hehe. So, I took a cab from hotel and visited La Maison with my best friend who's also have a sweet tooth. The store was small and well arranged. I started to stare at those yummy cakes, eclairs, and gorgeous macarons in the display. I think cakes at any restaurant in my city have nothing on their beautiful handmade desserts. All pastries seemed so delicious and I really wanted to try every single of it. However, they're expensive for their sizes so I hold my craving and tried to choose wisely. Finally, we decided to buy two cakes, croissant, one dozen of macarons, and an eclair.

 

The macarons were perfection, texture, sweetness, flavor, everything is on its place. Though all flavors were great, the salted popcorn is definitely a winner and it's highly recommended (sorry Laduree, La Maison wins my heart). Move on to cakes - both cakes were so yummyyy, I think I finished it in less than 2 minutes.  How I wish the price were cheaper so I could buy more. The eclair was average, very small, and expensive (40IDR), definitely not a favorite. The croissant (no picture) was good, it's like one of the best croissant ever! The day after, I came back and buy another croissant (along with cupcakes and macarons too). Cupcakes were awesome, texture was soft and fluffy, but very expensive for the size. All flavors were delicious, I couldn't choose one.

Selection of macaron boxes in different designs and sizes 

with the beautiful & talented chef <3

HOWEY

Howey, another great patisserie in Medan. Unlike La Maison which is located in a house, Howey has its own store. The place was cozy, chic, and modern. The display was amazing and colorful, with lovely christmas decoration. We bought macarons, flaky doughnut, quiche, then took a sit there. The macarons were bigger than La Maison's and price was slightly higher. The texture was chewy and good too, but if I have to choose, I'll choose La Maison's. Doughnut was too hard for me, while quiche was nice and definitely worth trying! Actually, we wanted to try the cheesepots but the minimum purchase was 12 and we're quite full that time, so we canceled our desire.

 

Does Money = Love in a Marriage?

I read an interesting article yesterday on the Sunday Times Lifestyle about couples planning their special wedding. I read about how one couple spent $160,000 celebrating their grand wedding at Sentosa Cove. I was also intrigued at how another couple spent only $900 on their entire wedding (it was for 30 close friends/relatives at their flat).

The interesting thing is that the couple that spent $900 on their wedding were not poor. Their household income was over $10,000 a month. They believed that spending more money was not necessary in making their wedding special. What made it the most special was the people who are invited and celebrating it in a place where they could feel comfortable and intimate (their own home).

While there is nothing wrong with spending a lot of money if you can afford it, I really admire this couple for making decisions based on what they believe will make their marriage special, and not what others may think…bowing to societal pressure of holding it in a grand hotel, where it becomes so impersonal.

I will not be surprised if the $900 couple ends up having a much happier and longer lasting marriage than the $160,000 couple. When love between a couple is truly strong, how much you spend making each other happy is really not important.

I have been married for 13+ years and every year, my wife and I give each other birthday presents costing less than $5- a hand made card written with all the words of gratitude, love and appreciation for each other. Whenever I ask my wife what she would like on her birthday (I’d buy anything for her), she always tells me that a hand-made card from the heart is all she wants.
Adam Khoo, Singaporean entrepreneur, best selling author, trainer