Le Jardin - Moovina

Jakarta and it's unstoppable growing number of hangout places! Le Jardin is the new addition tenant at Plaza Indonesia and in fact under the same management with "Ocha & Bella"; the restaurant that is situated at the Morrissey Hotel (JL. KH. Wahid Hasyim No 70, Menteng). In general 'Le Jardin' which literally means 'The Garden' has the same feel with their principal 'Ocha & Bella', dark warm lightings, indoor plants and flower pots, spacious layouts and rather similar 'food genre'. They serve Italian, western and continental food, the ever popular pasta & pizza, sandwiches, steak and other grilled meat. Well, I must be honest that I'm impressed with the place's ambiance but not so much with their quality of food. Before I was there to first hand try the food, a couple of my friends told me about their 'negative' reviews and thus below are my very own thoughts without being pre brain washed.

Menu : Diable

Price : RP 70,000 ++

Score : 5.5 / 10

>> This thin crusted pizza consist of fresh tomato, mozzarella, Italian spicy salami on a bed of tomato sauced dough. I like the texture of the thin crusted pizza and the slightly burnt edges that gave a slight smoke taste on the taste buds. The spicy salami were good but too little scattered around. However all of that were forgivable except for the fact that their mozzarella smelled strong and thus overpowered the entire dish. I couldn't get pass the cheese strong smell of it's dairy property and thus didn't settle too well with my  preference.

Menu : Jambon Cru Et Fromage De Chevre

Price : RP 75,000 ++
Score : 6.0 / 10

>> This difficult to pronounce titled menu is actually a simple dish. A sandwich with rocket salad, warm goat cheese, parma ham, sun dried tomato with deep fried potato matchsticks on the side. I love the 'matchstick fries'!! Extremely crispy, well seasoned, not too oily nor soggy and definitely a good alternative to the normal french fries or mash potato that other restaurants usually provide. The sandwich itself was mediocre. The portion was alright, the ingredients inside wasn't plenty and could benefit with an extra slab of mayonnaise or other sauce to make it more moist. I wasn't a big fan of the bread either, might be better if it was toasted.

Bottom line, I'll come back for the place itself, have coffee or enjoy their wide range of alcoholic beverages but not so much on meals. Do try it and see it for yourself.

Le Jardin ; Moovina

Plaza Indonesia, 4th Floor.