Cinoa-Dharmawangsa Square

In the urge to eat fancy food, I stumble upon an idea of trying one of the restaurant recommended by Female Radio reviewer. So I went to this fancy, tiny, red restaurant. Yes, it is red. The terrace has a red hood with big white writing CINOA.

This Chinese food resto is a bit strange. It serves street-food like fried bee-hon but their beverage list also shows "Esprit flavored mineral water". Roast duck (Peking style) is on their menu.. Along with cheesecake! Whatta strange combination. I think the owner is a baker. She/He sure can make good cheesecake, so why don't open a coffee shop? But again, why stops there? Why not a fancy restaurant? OK, so what's cooking? Hmmm... Chinese food is simple and cannot go wrong..

But the dishes is more than just simple Chinese food. It was G-O-O-D, good! I ordered corn and crab soup, sapo tahu with chicken, deep fried squid with salt and pepper, and a cup of hot tea.

The corn and crab soup was amazing. I gulped them in no time. The thickness is perfect and it has no overpowering smell of sesame oil. Just a hint of them. The crab meat was fresh and tasty, and in good quantity too. Too bad they don't have fish sauce and pickled chili on the tables. I can have another portion of this soup actually..

Sapo tahu, the stir-fried egg tofu, in combination with oyster sauce, soy sauce, red Chinese cooking wine, sliced ginger and a hint of sesame oil. Chicken fillet was then added to the mix in good timing. It was still fresh without any crusting on them, indicating that the chicken was added in later time of cooking. The vegie (carrot, baby bokchoy, leeks) was crunchy. I don't mind having two or more baby bokchoy in them... The sauce was warm to the feeling, thanks to the generous amount of sliced ginger. If.. only if.. they use MSG, they must be use it in very small amount.. Which is good.

Deep fried squid with salt and pepper. When this meal arrived in our table, honestly, I thought I choose badly. The appearance is in resemblance of classic Bandung street food of cireng (fried tapioca flour). This finely sliced squid was deep fried in tapioca flour batter. White and uninteresting. On top, there just sauteed sliced spring onion, mixed with a sprinkle of coarse salt and cracked white pepper. But don't be fooled by the looks, this stuff is taste good! The taste still linger in my mouth till today.

For dessert, my lovely companion, Sonia, choose her favorite oreo cheesecake. The slice is quite small actually, but extra whipped cream and a piece of strawberry on top made it look bigger. And nicer too. Small drizzle of strawberry syrup on the plate balanced the thickness of cheesecake and freshen up the entire dish.

The price is good too.. a bit pricey than the average noodle soup restaurant next door, but the quality is proper.. If only they serve it a little bit faster..