Hartwood Bandung: Great Food & Place To Dine Out

No matter that many new restaurants and cafe are coming to Bandung, still I found it hard to decide where to take our family for dinner. Saturday evening is always very crowded in Bandung, so easy access (and less trafiic) to the restaurant is very important. Yes there are many beautiful restaurants in the northern part of Bandung, but it is far away from my house which is located in the southern part of the city.

Restaurants in the heart of the city has been our preference, and one of them is Hartwood Bandung. The restaurant is located on Jalan Cimanuk (near Jalan Riau), very close to the factory outlets area on Jalan Riau.

Hartwood Bandung is also only a few meters away from our favourite coffee shop in Bandung: Two Cents. Read our full review of Two Cents: A Cafe To Start Your Weekend in Bandung.

The entrance to Hartwood, just next to a tea cafe called Pocci

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Jogjakarta in One Day: Our Mommies Day Out Trip

Lately, I made many short trips with my family and friends during weekend. Having limited days of leave from the office was the main reason, other will be to have "a me time" with my friends. And that what we did when we decided to explore Jogjakarta in one day.

Thanks to many flights from Jakarta's International Airport Soekarno Hatta to Jogjakarta. We left Jakarta at 06.00 am (Garuda Indonesia's first flight) and took the 09.00pm as our return flight.

During the day, what we did was mainly shopping and enjoying Jogjakarta's culinary. We stopped by at Ullen Sentalu museum, but did not join the tour until the end because of our time constraint. We ended our day at Epic Coffee, a very nice coffeeshop in Jogjakarta, my favourite so far.

Here's our Mommies Day Out Trip, from breakfast to dinner in Jogjakarta. Pssst, we made 10 stops in one day!

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Enjoying BBQ Spice Grill at Hardy's Dining Room Mercure Bandung Setiabudi

When you are staying in a hotel which is located in the northern part of Bandung and Lembang, it's better to stay at you hotel for dinner to avoid the traffic jam in the area. That's what we did when we stayed at Mercure Bandung Setiabudi.

 

What's better than having a BBQ in the cold air of Bandung? We went downstairs to Hardy's Dining Room around 7.30 pm. The restaurant was already busy with other guests who were enjoying the BBQ Spice Grill at Mercure Bandung.

 

The BBQ area just outside Hardy's Restaurant

 

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[Guestpost] Berburu Tiket Pesawat Murah di GATF - Garuda Travel Fair 2016

"Menurut saya ya Bu, mungkin rejeki Ibu itu dalam mencari tiket pesawat!" seorang teman kantor yang sering saya "tebengin" kalau saya lagi edisi manja enggak mau nyupir, melontarkan pernyataan yang membuat saya termenung dalam perjalanan pulang ke rumah.

"Lah, Bapak ini ada-ada aja" jawab saya sambil tertawa geli.

Ia pun melanjutkan, "Serius Bu, setiap orang itu ada rejekinya. Kalau rejeki saya, dalam hal mencari parkir. Di mall saya selalu langsung mendapatkan parkir, tanpa harus menunggu". I was like, "What?! Never heard about such a thing:D" 

Ealaaah benar saja, ketika kami mampir ke Cibubur Square, baru masuk ke area parkir, langsung ada lahan kosong untuk mobilnya. Keren! Padahal saya kalau cari parkir di Cibubur Square enggak mungkin langsung dapat, apalagi sekitar jam sholat Magrib -_-

Perbincangan di dalam mobil membuat saya merefleksi pengalaman (dan drama) saya dalam membeli tiket pesawat. Dipikir-pikir, mungkin ada betulnya. Selama ini dewi fortuna berada di pihak saya ketika hunting tiket liburan.

Misalnya, tiket dari Istanbul ke Cappadocia pada musim liburan musim panas, berhasil saya dapatkan dengan harga USD19 saja per orang (harga normal USD50). Alhamdulillah timing-nya pas, sewaktu saya membuka website Fly Pegasus, sedang ada promo. Padahal kan saya enggak paham jadwal promo maskapai Fly Pegasus. Lah, wong baru sekali itu membuka website mereka.

Dan rejeki mendapatkan tiket murah pun berlanjut ketika GATF 2016 tahap 1 dilangsungkan minggu lalu. Tante Princess, sebut saja demikian, berhasil mendapatkan tiket super murah untuk saya, Jakarta-Osaka PP. Slightly more expensive dari gambar di bawah ini.

Sumber: Katalog Promosi

Kisah sukses Tante Princess yang single, traveller (dan available), saya imbangi dengan pengalaman Om Yunuz yang baru sekali ke GATF dan gagal mendapatkan cashback Rp 1,5jt, padahal BNI Platinum ada di genggaman! *deg!* (maaf Om, tidak bermaksud membuka luka lama looh!) Apa pasal?! Mari kita baca guestpost dari Tante dan Om kece berikut ini:)

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Mercure Bandung Setiabudi: The Perfect Hotel For A Weekend Getaway

I often received questions from my friends and tesyasblog's readers about where to stay in Bandung for their weekend getaway. Then I question them their need, budget, and itinerary. 

Bandung as you may know is very hectic during weekend, especially long weekend! All the factory outlets, cafes, restaurants and tourist attraction places from Kawah Putih to Lembang Floating Market will be packed by locals as well as visitors. Choosing the right hotel for your itinerary is really important, otherwise you will be stuck for hours in traffic.

If your plan is to explore Bandung plus Lembang area, I would recommend staying at a hotel which is located between the two cities. Mercure Bandung Setiabudi is located in the northern part of Bandung, in the middle between Lembang and the heart of Bandung. 

Mercure Bandung Setiabudi is a semi resort. After your busy day eating and shopping in Bandung, you will feel a different ambience when you are back to the hotel. And of course, being the only international chain hotel in Lembang area, you will feel a top notch service as well as a modern and lovely room.

Every room has a backdrop with Bandung's icon on it.
Ours was the old building of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung 

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