Mercure Hotel now available in Setiabudi, Bandung

Bandung is definitely one of the go-to cities in West Java, and like every other popular city, the demand for accommodation is high on weekends and holidays. So it’s no surprise Accor has opened another hotel to accommodate guests in Bandung.

Even though Mercure Bandung Setiabudi has been open since October, the official launch was not held until Monday. This grand opening means that most of the facilities and rooms are now available to be booked and enjoyed.

Situated on Jl. Setiabudi, hence the name, the hotel is fairly close to popular tourist destinations. It is only around 30 minutes from Husein Sastranegara Airport and Tangkuban Perahu, one of the most famous tourist attractions near Bandung.

Joining Novotel as another mid-scale option under Accor management, Mercure Bandung Setiabudi has 205 modern-designed rooms, all decorated with a touch of West Javan tradition.

Mercure hotels are non-standardized, meaning that each Mercure hotel has its own characteristic in style that usually represents the local tradition. As with Mercure Bandung Setiabudi, the touch of West Javan tradition can be experienced from the moment you enter the lobby.

As for facilities and amenities, this four-star hotel leaves no room for complaints. Two restaurants serving international and oriental cuisine are ready to pamper your taste buds. A bar is also available in the lobby and another is being prepared to open next to the pool.

While perfect for families or couples to spend their holiday in Bandung, Mercure Bandung Setiabudi also has a grand ballroom with a capacity of up to 1,700 people besides six standard meeting rooms, all equipped with modern meeting facilities.

The lovely pool located in the center of the hotel is also unique. For example, the water is treated to a warm temperature so guests can be comfortable enough to swim even when the daytime temperature drops to 22 degrees Celcius.

Lastly, the view from the room is spectacular. From the window or the balcony, you can see a beautiful view of the city at night to the south or the divine view of mountains to the north. And if you get a poolside-view room, the sight from above is romantic at night.

Why Bandung's Trademark Market is the biggest yet

The rain has started to pour frequently and heavily in Bandung these days. On Thursday, despite such weather, Trademark Market VI opened for the first day of its four-day event at Miniapolis, Paris Van Java Mall at Jl. Sukajadi, attracting crowds not only from Jakarta but also from neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.

The sixth event of the Trademark Market, one of Bandung's most-awaited fashion markets, promised to bring out the biggest event it has done so far to live up to this year's theme: "The biggest yet to come." This translated into 120 of Bandung's tightly selected fashion brands and 10 food and beverage brands, all set to lure shoppers and visitors.

"This year, we set up the Trademark Market in a much larger space to anticipate the crowd," said Saira Nisar, the Trademark Market's founder and director, who added that the event occupied an estimated 2,000 square meters and successfully attracted 70,590 visitors in the four days it was open.

Despite its highly selective tenants, according to Saira, most of the products sold at the Trademark Market were less pricey compared to those offered at similar events in town.

This fact was also observed by Carline Darjanto, who came all the way from Jakarta and had marked it down in her calendar to purposely attend the event, bringing along some of her team to feel and observe the event's ambiance: what interested the crowd and such things. Carline is a founder and creative director of her own established and popular fashion brand, Cotton Ink.

"I also noticed that the Trademark Market offers quite large collections and brands of men's wear and apparel compare to similar events in Jakarta," said Carline, adding that most of the brands also offered street-casual wear at affordable prices suitable for teenagers and youngsters.

One of the tenants' staffers, Rina, commented that the young crowd could come to at least two out of four days if not all.

"On the first day, they would probably just do window shopping, eat and hang out while enjoying the music, but I found that they always come back the next day to shop," Rina said.

At the Trademark Market, besides hunting for fashionable items that suits their styles, visitors could also savor delicious culinary treats at the food and beverage booths and enjoy musical performances by DJs and bands such as Marco & Marce, Barsena and Dira Bongs, among others.

The Trademark Market, in the end, showed the talents and creativity of Bandung's young fashion and culinary entrepreneurs and their role in making the city's creative economy trendy and thriving.

3 must-visit new parks in Bandung

When in Bandung, one way to get to know its citizens and the city is through its parks, which offer many fun yet free activities.

Bandung city government has kept its promise to build more parks around the city. Offered with various thematic designs and concepts, they have become the locals' favorite spots to unwind in public spaces.

Fitness Park

Yearning to keep fit while traveling in Bandung? Then go visit this very interesting park on the corner of Jl. Imam Bonjol.

Last October, Bandung mayor Ridwan Kamil inaugurated the Taman Fitness park and, as the name suggests, it is designed for those who wish to keep fit and in shape.

At the park, you will find a football field surrounded by a pathway designed with stones providing a surface imitating reflexology therapy and, on one side of the park, sport equipments similar to that found in a gym.

That afternoon, a female and male team seemed to be practicing American football.

I also met two local residents, Yanti and Ivon, who came to the park as first-timers.

Yanti, who walked around on the stone pathway, said that she found the park quite pleasant.

Ivon, who lives nearby, added that she wanted to lose some weight and had high hopes that the routine she'd been meaning to do at the park would help her reach that particular goal.

The library park at Taman Tongkeng

This latest edition to Bandung's unique parks opened just last month in the city's residential area of Jl. Tongkeng.

Designed and built in dominant red and themed around the library, it offers a library corner, small playground in one corner -- equipped with a sand pit and interactive play area -- and a futsal field nearby.

According to Tini, the park's library staffer from the GSSI foundation that runs the library, they have around 400 books available, mostly children’s books.

Open every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., the library has an affordable membership fee of Rp 20,000 (US$1.56) and monthly events are set to be held in 2015 to enliven the park.

If you happen to come by in the late afternoon like I did, chances are you'll see a batch of mothers or caregivers wandering about with small plates or bowls in their hands feeding their toddlers, who typically still have wet hair fresh from their afternoon shower, a sight that somehow shows a hearty warm scene of typical daily life in the country.

Skate Park

Located under Pasopati bridge near Balubur Town Square on Jl. Taman Sari, the park neighbors Taman Film and Taman Jomblo; the latter is uniquely designed for singles to mingle.

When I came in the afternoon, some teenagers were seen practicing their skating skills by gliding along and trying to jump.

According to a young skater I met, Iwan, the skate park is open for everyone who wants to play or learn how to skate. In fact, he said, usually at around 3 p.m., a batch of young children from the area would gather, watching and learning how to skate.

"Usually the older boys, or anyone who's here, are more than willing to teach. Just come and join in," Iwan said.

Whether you skate or not, or merely interact with the locals, watch the skaters practicing and take photos, the park is indeed a fun place to visit.

Airlines ready to include airport tax in ticket prices

Domestic airlines say they are ready to include the passenger service charge (PSC), also known as airport tax, in their ticket prices, following a call by Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan.

The minister recently called on all airlines to include this tax in their tickets, saying the tax and ticket must be in “one package”.

According to Garuda Indonesia sales and marketing director Erik Meijer, the national flag carrier was ready to comply with the call, as long as the practice was implemented in accordance with the standards set by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), of which it is a member.

“We are ready. The system is there because we already implemented it for two years,” he said on Thursday.

Garuda began embedding the tax in its ticket in 2012, but decided to drop the procedure in September 2014 as it suffered losses from uncollected payments.

It attributed the losses, which stood at around Rp 2 billion (US$164,217) per month, to differences between the information technology (IT) system that it used and that used by domestic airport operators, represented by Angkasa Pura I (AP I) and Angkasa Pura II (AP II).

Meijer said the airline had received numerous requests from its passengers asking for the tax be included in the ticket price again as it was more practical.

At present, the tax to be paid differs from one airport to another. It stands at Rp 40,000 per person for domestic flights from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang and Rp 75,000 per person at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar.

Meanwhile, the tax is set at Rp 35,000 per person at Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang and at Rp 75,000 per person at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya.

Passengers must make the payment in cash at a separate counter at the airports.

Meanwhile, Sriwijaya Air corporate communication senior manager Agus Soedjono said that the private airline was ready to implement the practice, provided that a clear system and regulations were first put in place.

“We are waiting for the system to be developed by all Angkasa Pura companies because there are several issues that must be made clear,” he said.

Among the issues, he added, were those related to the tax implementation on multi-stop flights and payment collection between airlines and operators.

Audrey Progastama, AirAsia Indonesia spokesperson, said that the company would also support the tax integration policy as long as it was executed consistently across all airlines.

AirAsia Indonesia currently includes an “airport charges and fees” component in its ticket price for several routes, information on its website shows.

Separately, AP II corporate secretary Daryanto said that discussions were ongoing between the company and its fellow airport operator.

“We are still in the early stage of the system development. We have so far held informal talks with AP I and have not met with the airlines,” he said over the telephone.

AP II currently manages 13 airports, including Soekarno-Hatta and Kualanamu. AP I also oversees 13 airports, such as Juanda, Ngurah Rai and Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado.

Daryanto said that the company hoped all processes would be complete by December.

Bandung's most popular desserts on Instagram

One of Bandung's traits that keeps attracting visitors, especially from Jakarta, is its always-exciting culinary adventure.

During the 1980s, it was the baso tahu goreng or batagorfor short (fried fish and tofu eaten with peanut sauce) and an array of pastries and cakes from big bakeries that were the sought-after food souvenirs from Bandung.

Nowadays however, continuing the city’s legacy of always moving forward and creating new trends, new hybrid foodpreneurs are emerging; offering a totally new style and concept in desserts, which are not only exciting and show creativity but also genius in pampering our taste buds.

Though not all of them have managed to establish a store, all are creating a lot of buzz on social media, especially on Instagram.

So, prepare to savor these treats when you are in town.

Pompidou
Think about pretty, elegant, and at the same time modern cakes or cupcakes, which upon eating will give you a lot of happiness for the soft and delicious texture combined with a satisfying creamy buttery icing.

That's what Pompidou, a little cake shop at Jl. Ciliwung 14, is all about.

Founded in 2009 by Irma and Arthy, the duo started out by receiving custom-order cupcakes for friends or family. Their interest in cakes and cupcakes began after reading a red velvet cake recipe in a Martha Stewart cookbook.

Pompidou now offers cakes, cupcakes and pies, starting from Rp 18,000 per cupcake. Pompidou's chocomalt cake, red velvet and salted caramel cake, are among their best-sellers.

Fat Bites
Astrid and her partner have a passion for food and so the two often experiment to create new exciting dishes. The duo's exploration later resulted in an online-based business named Fat Bites which offers their product through an Instagram account.

"We wanted to explore new tastes and flavors of food and beverages as well as new unexpected ways to present them," said Astrid about her business.

At the moment, she said, Fat Bites offered ice creams, sorbets and pies. The varieties are quite rich with cheese cake, Oreo, apple caramel, vanilla, bubble gum for the ice cream and strawberry punch and lavender lime for the sorbets and banana soufflé, strawberry soufflé and salmon wasabi for the pies.

According to Astrid, Fat Bites' signature and best-selling menu item are Summerfling, which is a lychee drink with fruit popsicle, the fruit and ice cream S'more -- ice cream with butter cookies and melted marshmallow -- and the salmon wasabi pie.

"Currently we still do a lot of pop-up events and participate in culinary festivals. But we have a pick-up point for our customers who order through our LINE account or email, which is at Jl. Bagus Rangin No. 7," Astrid explained, adding a requirement of three days’ notice for customer orders.

TnC
Chef Kamal's tiramisu is more than just a delicious dessert dish but also a success story amid hard times.

His tiramisu dish started gaining popularity in 1997, but then the monetary crisis hit and Chef Kamal, who worked in a hotel as a pastry chef at the time, tried to join the line of street cafes that emerged in the Dago area, as a response to the crisis and a demand for new affordable eateries.

To his surprise, his hotel-quality tiramisu, which sold at an affordable price, started to gain popularity.

Long story short, five years later Chef Kamal decided to quit his job and started his own business called TnC (Tiramisu and Coffee) by Chef Kamal at Jl. Sawah Kurung IV No. 14.

Following the trend of social media, TnC also set up an account on Twitter and Instagram, resulting in a new batch of younger customers who praised his tiramisu and proudly posted the experience online.

Arromanis
Armita Sunaryo had never baked a single cake in her life before. But the global trend and craving for red velvet cake in 2011 sparked her curiosity. So she Googled and YouTubed and tried out one recipe and had great luck with a result that was delicious.

As a person who actually doesn't really enjoy sweet treats, Armita then developed recipes using low-fat milk and less sugar, resulting in a healthier product for everybody to enjoy but still offering some indulgence in the flavor.

At first, Armita used social media to market Arromanis. From word of mouth, Arromanis became more popular so that in January 2014, Armita finally established a small shop at Jl. Wira Angun–Angun 14.

The most favorite items from the Arromanis Corner Shop are the banoffee pie and matcha whoopie pie which sell around 500 pieces per month.

The Wooden Spoon
Founded late last year by Amy Fahmi, The Wooden Spoon (TWS) offers mouthwatering but lower-in-fat as well as halal versions of the Italian panna cottas.

Amy's version of the dessert dish comes with vanilla, almond and hazelnut flavors and up to 12 choices of toppings such as latte macchiato, summer berry coulis and yoghurt, and apple sauce and cookie crumble -- all priced at Rp 165,000 (US$13.53) per half-dozen.

Thanks to interesting promotion through Instagram, TWS’ business has grown quite fast in less than a year with around 800 to 1,200 cups of panna cottas sold per month.

According to Amy, loyal customers from Jakarta regularly order her panna cottas and have them delivered to the capital city.

Cokelatia
Mila Savitri, an architect and foodie, posted on her Path account a batch of chewy green-tea cookies topped with white chocolate. She raved that the treat was superbly delicious and she was proud to be among the first customers who savored the new product from Cokelatia.

But before the chewy cookies, it was Cokelatia's RockyBars that were so popular and established many loyal fans.

Tia, founder of Cokelatia, the small company she runs with her sibling Poji, started out the business as a hobby. Tia blogged about her fascination for chocolate and baking cakes on her blogspot site, Cokelatia, and started to receive orders from friends and family.

Among the orders, she noticed that her RockyBars -- which offer an interesting new look and taste from the usual brownies -- were really sought after. So, in 2012, Tia and her husband and Poji, founded a small business dedicated to selling their RockyBars.

At first they sold RockyBars online. But several months later they started to rent a space at Jl. Raden Patah 12 in Bandung and created the RockyBars' Open Kitchen where they baked and provided a customer order pick-up point.

From the original RockyBars, now Cokelatia has created many variants of RockyBars and also a new product called ChewyCookies.

Actively participating in Bandung's chic culinary festivals such as Keuken, Cokelatia offers menu items such as the RockySundae, which mixes RockyBars and ice cream and always turns out to be one of the crowds' favorites.