Ramadhan at Arts Cafe Raffles Hotel

Ramadhan is here and we already feel the festivity. Can't decide what to have? Arts Café at Raffles Hotel Jakarta offers delicacy from all over the archipelago. It's Fiona's second visit to the place and this time was an invitation from my bestfriend, YennyW.

It wasn't only the ambiance, but how they décor the space (with Oscar Lawalata's design on the ornamentals) is really homey and elegance for a hotel buffet. I arrived to the week of Balinese food. Yes, they change the menu every week. In the first week of Ramadhan, the journey begins with dishes from Bali and Lombok, then moves north to Sulawesi and Kalimantan in the following week. After that, is the tantalizing tastes of Sumatra and finally we hit home at Java in the end. 

Bali offers dishes from all over the region, from the delicate texture of Daging Katernak, to the flavorful Bebek Betutu and Udang Panggang Jimbaran. But before that, a cucumber cooler arrives on the table, perfect for breakfasting. It was even more special because we got to dine with the mastermind behind the dishes, Chef William Wongso, who recreates the Indonesian flavors with Chef Daniel Patterson, Arts Café executive chef. The buffet itself was this elegantly presented dishes of baby lobster, kecicang salad, lawar, sate udang and Bali fish with spices. Served with 6 different sambal on the side. If you're a fan of Balinese food, then tasting this is a must. 

Food isn't just on the table, but at the show kitchen. It was quite open, so we can see how veggies, satay lilit, large prawn served with sambal matah, nasi campur are prepared right before they're served at the guests' table. I was drooling over Yenny's prawn after I finished mine. I pronounced it my favorite dish of the night because it's so tasty and didn't smell fishy. The flavors were real because they're using real spices. Dining with Chef William Wongso, exchanging spices stories with other foodies, as Gamelan music playing on the back is really a memorable experience. 

Bali is only the beginning, as the date rolls on, Sulawesi and Kalimantan (13-19 June) and Sumatra (20-26 June) will take turn and visit the Arts Café. Javanese food will be served from June 27th to the end of Ramadhan month. The buffet price is IDR 398,000++ with the first seating from 5.45 PM to 8.30 PM. The buffet price of IDR 298,000++ is available during the second seating from 8.30 PM to 10.30 PM

Where is This?
Raffles Jakarta, Ciputra World 1, Jl Prof. Dr. Satrio, Jakarta 12940 – Indonesia
Tel: +62 21 2988 0888 

www.raffles.com/jakarta

Meat Brunch Story at C's Grand Hyatt

Sometimes it's desperately hard to find tasty meat on brunch buffet. You'd find many other dishes from different ends of the world, but meat can be as rare as we love them to be. Fortunately, there's C's, where meat eaters (like Fiona) and seafood fan (like Ruth) can enjoy the best of both worlds.

One weekend, Fiona attended a brunch at C's. Here's her tale.

Get ready for a fine-dine all you can eat at C's

I'm familiar with C's already, their quality, their service and their ambiance as I've been here a couple times for dinners and special occasions. (Check out our previous C's review here). Now they're doing this brunch buffet thing and I'm wondering whether it would be the same (especially quality-wise) with their regular serving. C's is still the same dim-but-homey-restaurant I remember. It's quite dark for around lunchtime. I was welcomed by the restaurant's friendly waitress to meet Pak Muara Sipahutar, the hotel's Digital Marketing Manager. He showed me the line up for meat and seafood, waiting for customers to come. The meat and seafood are cut-to-order. I couldn't wait.

So here's what's on my itinerary:

• Tropical Lobsters, King Crab Legs and Oysters. Pick them up right away because I have no doubt that this is fresh. I don't have to worry about allergy (and yes, I was right).

  

• Meat. This is what I was here for so I ate them all. Wood Oven Roasted Canadian beef sirloin, Beef Tenderloin Carved To Order. All meat are served medium, but can be cooked to your preference. Selection of sauces are C's Housemade Steak Sauce, Mushroom, Red Wine, Bernaise, Hollandaise and Remoulade. They have chicken too.

Foie Gras. Freshly cooked in front of you upon order. Served with delicious bread. The first bite, with melted foie gras, makes you want to get second, third and go on. But the list (and the day) is still long. So I'm moving on.... or not, because I'm going back to meat, Rack Of Lamb this time. Honestly speaking, the meat doesn't need any sauce to taste good. But if you don't like your dish to be dry, feel free to add a little sauce on.

 

Finishing off with dessert, C's has an array of interesting selection. My favorite is Spicy Chocolate Cake, presenting you with sweet flavor in the beginning and spicy aftertaste. A combination that prevents me from stopping. Ice cream and Sorbet are great. Despite not being an ice cream person, the homemade sweets they have here convinced me to try. I event went on second round for the sorbet.

Homemade Ice cream at C's vs the refreshing sorbet

I was focusing on meat the whole time, I missed their Asian selection. So I'm determined to return for their Peking Duck and Dim Sum. Peking Duck Pancakes, Chili, Leek, Cucumber side by side with C's Assorted Housemade Dim Sum provides an alternative to those wanting to have something lighter than the meat. C's also has a Wok Fried side for its seafood (from Garoupa to Crab, Prawn and Lobster) and is complimented with Szechuan, Dry Chili, Chili-Crab or Black Pepper sauce. Definitely too many to mention.

Children under 12 are free when dining with adult, so I'm sure they'd be excited with the unlimited ice cream served at C's. Well, I did.

Where is this?

Grand Hyatt Hotel

M. H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30, Jakarta Pusat
(021) 29921383

Grand Dinner at Grand Cafe

It's Friday night at the end of the month. Our office postponed a grand project so we thought we need a grand break to refresh. We gathered several of our best buddies and laughed the night out at Grand Cafe, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Jakarta.

What's popular on our table?
Sashimi (both salmon and butterfish are lovely) and oyster. The raw seafood seems to receive much love tonight. Then meat is always popular. The tenderloin with BBQ or mushroom sauce goes second. Go for BBQ if you can't decide over which flavor to pour.

Moving aside, cheese and bread attract Ruth right away. Brie and Comte paired with dinner roll instead of crackers. But don't cross over to dessert just yet. Trust us, we're still a long way from the final sweets. Instead, cross to the traditional Indonesian food or order a pasta. Shawarma is served generously too. If you fancy Chinese, Grand Cafe has wide selection ranging from duck and noodles to dim sum. We were slightly distracted by the spices decoration next to the assorted Chinese table, so we took a peek while our noodle got prepared. 

The chef arrived with a complimentary Angus steak for our group. Medium cooked, served with sauce that tasted sweet. The night can't get any better. It was juicy, tender, and cooked to perfection. You'd know they don't compromise the beef quality because it's something you'd fall in love with at the first sight. Fiona even doesn't need to mix the sauce in. 

Finally time for desserts. Hurray! While aiming for the sweet potato kolak, none of us ended up with a bowl of that dessert because we're distracted with the neatly arranged brownies, tiramisu, blackforest, pound cake, cheesecake, Strawberry shortcake and assorted traditional Indonesian cakes. Ice cream makes the perfect end of our filled-with-laughter night. Coffee ice cream rank first (According to Ruth), even though chocolate, jackfruit and pandan are calling out our curiosity.

We parted goodbye with happy tummy and a recollection of the best dinner ever. It was definitely grand.

Where is this?
Grand Cafe
Grand Hyatt Jakarta
Jl. M. H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30, Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta Pusat 10350
(021) 29921234

Huize Van Wely Buffet Adventure

A lunch buffet voucher brought us to visit Huize Van Wely in Kemang. Although Kemang isn't our usual lunch destination, and to make it more dramatic, we’re stuck in traffic and thunderstorm halfway there. But apparently, nothing stopped us from a good lunch.

Salad Selection

It’s easy to find Huize Van Wely, it’s right on the lobby of Papilion, which also hosts SHY Rooftop. But coming up from the basement parking, we’re a little lost in finding the restaurant reception as there are tables which we believe are part of the restaurant. We took a shortcut and walked though the children store, Petit Pavilion, to reach the restaurant. We were seated at a table outside the restaurant and had to walk to reach the buffet. We’re faced with a silly dilemma of whether we should leave our bags on the chair while we indulge on the buffet.

As Fiona had researched before (she always did), the buffet is Japanese Fusion, prepared by a Japanese Chef, Hideaki Takahashi. We wanted to start properly so the firsts to be on our table were: Wakame Salad, mashed potato and some vegetables. The chef is really fast in helping these two confused lunch-goers, as he humbly pointed out the perfect sauce for the salad in our bowls.
Fiona: (seeing Ruth returned with similar salad) Did the chef help you out picking the sauce?
Ruth: Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. I was picking what I though was Caesar and he told me to use this sauce. What sauce is this anyway?
Fiona: I think this is sesame sauce
Ruth: (after trying the salad) This is seriously tasty!
Fiona: (while eating) They are definitely using very fresh ingredients. Mashed potato is super good!
(It’s a common knowledge between us that Ruth doesn't like greens, so please take this compliment seriously haha)

Entering the main course round, Fiona took Chicken Teriyaki, Stir-Fried Vegetables (Paprika and Mushroom), and Meatball Soup. Ruth added Fried Meatballs to her plate... something that she thought was mushroom covered in bread crumbs and fried. Chicken Teriyaki seems ordinary but it tastes great. There’s something soft but chewy inside the meatball, which Fiona thought was tofu, but remains a mysterious ingredients until now. Soup broth is also refreshing. Well, nothing compares to meatball soup slurped during heavy rain, right?

Dish of The Day

It took them a while to refill with the salmon, so each of us returned for a second trip to the main course area.
Ruth: Finally got the salmon
Fiona: Yes, the chef suggested me to use this sauce with the salmon and this is great. The salmon is fresh, not dry and very moist. It’s perfect with the sauce!
Ruth: We still need to try the dessert...

We’re lagging behind everyone but we still got to try every dessert: Green Tea Choux, Strawberry Cheesecake, a swan bowl of Dorayaki and Mochi, and a shot of Black Sesame Pudding with Crushed Caramel. Every bite is a surprise. The green tea filling is very delicious, the strawberry cheesecake is moist and dense.

Arguably the best (and cutest) dessert ever!

So far, it’s been an adventure. There’s a joy inside our mouth and our heart, especially when the ambiance and decoration is already singing Christmas carols. After enjoying our latte (should have been hot chocolate), we realize we’re late to go back to reality... Oops!

Where is this?

Huize Van Wely

The Papilion, 

Jl. Kemang Raya No. 45AA, 

Kemang, Jakarta

(021) 7191975