Lyon

Do you know the city Lyon is famous for it's culinary standard? There have to be a reason why French are snobbish, well besides their taste for fashion and architecture, food is an addition to the column in their resume 'things to brag about'. Anyways, thousands of kilometers away from France, I was celebrating a special day and decided to head to Lyon in Mandarin Oriental Hotel situated at the heart of the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia. It was a dinner on a weekday and thus I wasn't expecting a large crowd. The concept of the place was pretty much straight forward; French fine dining. Price tag is definitely on the heavier side of the scale but I believe in you get what you pay for.

The decor of the place screams 'clean, spotless and professional'. It has elegant and subtle colors of ivory and wood tones. I wouldn't suggest you taking your kids to a lunch or dinner there. It's more for couples and corporate people who wants good food and doesn't mind paying. The service was spot on, attentive yet not bothersome. As for the most important part; the food, two of us tried a few of their dishes and how did my verdict turns out?

Menu : Fresh Bread

Price : Complimentary

Score : 6.0 / 10

>> I supposed this is an 'Artisan bread'. Good thick solid crust with a soft inner part. Resembles a smaller version of a sourdough. The bread itself is good, nothing wrong with it. But I would like a garlic or truffle spread to go with it. Besides the normal unsalted butter, garlic or truffle butter would definitely been much much better.

Menu : Escargots

Price : Rp 108,000 ++
Score : 8.0 / 10

>> Delish !! I would love to a full dozen of these all by myself. The escargots weren't over cooked. Juicy, chewable and definitely not 'gummy'. The abundance of olive oil and the ever good garlic and other herbs was totally infused into the escargots. Love the generosity of the herbs and garlic in the dish. I took the complimentary bread and soaked it into the olive and garlic concoction just to make sure I finished every bit there is left. Good stuff !!!

Menu : Tomato Soup

Price : Rp 78,000 ++

Score : 9.0 / 10

>> The best tomato soup I had ever have. I loveeeee everything the Chef put into this. The texture was spot on, flavor was wonderful, the viscosity was perfect and even the orange color was beautiful. What can I ask for more? Well maybe besides another huge bowl of this beauty. This tomato soup has a creamy side that is not overpowering, it is subtle trying to lift the soup as a more 'fuller' dish. Imagine a watery soup and I bet you'll won't be fanatic about it. By the way, the small looking pastry bread at the side was delish. It's a garlic and herb pastry bread; definitely needed to go along with the tomato soup. Yummm and I bet you'll love it too.

Menu : Seared Duck Foie Gras on Risotto

Price : Rp 288,000 ++
Score : 7.0 / 10

>> Consider me weird but I don't like foie gras. Whether it was the animal cruelty facts that goes behind the scene or the mushy texture, bottom line I'm not a fan. It would be a little bit biased talking about this dish. I didn't taste the foie gras but the rest of the dish definitely tasted great. When was the last time you had the perfect cooked risotto? It's not an easy job cooking risotto, much more difficult than cooking your ordinary white rice with the comfort of your rice cooker. Their risotto was top notch and I'm not sure what type of cheese they grated on top, but it completely matched the dish. Next time, I'll re-order this but with seafood or red meat instead of foie gras.

Menu : Steak Frites

Price : Rp 258,000 ++

Score : 8.5 / 10

>> A big portioned and a well done steak. I asked for medium and got exactly that (super crucial for me). The steak has the perfect balance of fats and meat, thus making it juicy and at the same time to my liking. I got to compliment on the fries on the side too. It was of course much better than Mc'Donald's hahahaha and just to make things better, the garlic mayonnaise on the side hit it a home run. My tummy was 70% full from the escargot and the tomato soup but did I manage to finish this? Hell yeah I did, but a little bit left over on the french fries.

Will I go back again? Truly yes. Now a taste of France is only 30 kilometers away from my home and I'm a sucker for their addictive tomato soup !!

Lyon

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Jl. MH Thamrin. Jakarta Pusat 10310.

Phone : +62 21 - 2993 8888

Porter House

I did talk about the transformation that Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) had become in a short period of time. And so... the next time you're making your way down to the stretch of cafes that PIK has to offer and confuse on picking which one to check out, you might remember this post. 

Porter House is one of the busiest cafe that you'll notice. Three units of shop houses (Ruko) were combined to become a two level restaurant / cafe / hang-out place. They offer an indoor and outdoor separate place, both smoking and non-smoking areas, private rooms are available too on the second level.

Even though parking might be a slight hassle, I'm guaranteed a table every time I'm there to visit. Availability is a very important thing to me, I'm definitely a kind of person that wouldn't want to queue for an hour just to get a seat, unless the world is ending tomorrow and I must eat my last meal at a specific place, hahahaha ...

Menu : Hungarian Beef Goulash

Price : Rp 28,000 ++

Score : 7.0 / 10

>> A warm hearty and a rather good size bowl of soup. The fillings inside were generous; diced beef, bell peppers, capsicum and all the typical ingredients you expect to find in a goulash were there. I like the balance of flavor, a good kick of tomatoes to the tongue. This soup reminds me of a cross between a marinara and a bolognaise sauce. Good stuff!

Menu : Scallop de Horenzo

Price : Rp 25,000 ++
Score : 6.5 / 10

>> When the dish arrived on the table, I was slightly disappointed on the size of the scallop. I expect it to be like the ones served on Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen, but when I was reminded on the price tag that this rather perceived as 'expensive' seafood is a mere Rp 25,000 (for 3 pc), I shouldn't complain much. The well cooked scallop were place on a bed of buttery spinach with melted cheese and cream glazed on top.

Menu : Escargot Bourguignon

Price : Rp 55,000++

Score : 7.5 / 10

>> This time, I was surprised by the amount of escargot they serve on the tin plate. I usually find restaurants serving it on a much smaller quantity and charging with a much higher price tag. I love the generous amount of garlic, buttery, olive oil sauce served on the bottom layer. They definitely should serve this with more slices of toast. One of my favourites on the menu!

Menu : Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Price : Rp 45,000++

Score : 5.0 / 10

>> If you're hungry then you shouldn't order this dish. The size was a let down! It couldn't satisfy me, let alone if you're an adult male. You probably end up ordering two main courses. For the taste, I'd say I had better ones. This was a little bland, I couldn't find the typical strong garlic and spicy taste that Aglio Olio need to offer. But don't get me wrong, it didn't taste bad or disgusting; still fit for human consumption as long you are not picky about your pasta.

Menu : Penne Carbonara

Price : Rp 47,000++

Score : 8.5 / 10

>> A very big difference in terms of taste with the 'Aglio Olio'. I'm not a big fan of creamy pastas, but the next time I'm at Port'er House, I'll order this again. This is not the typical tasting Carbonara that I've ever tasted anywhere else. A generous hand of bacon over a rather 'garlic' tasting cream sauce. I'm forgetting about Aglio Olio and changing to this instead!

Menu : Beef Mignoettes ala Pizziola

Price : Rp 55,000++

Score : 6.0 / 10

>> Size is again an issue here. The beef was very well cooked, perfectly medium just how I usually like mine. However, the fact that it is only a 3 slice beef medallion dish couldn't satisfy my hungry tummy made it a slight let down. They served it with two types of salad; a potato salad and a spinach salad on each ends. A super small portion of penne were placed on the bottom of the beef and a beef reduction glaze was poured over tying the dish together.

Menu : Oreo Thousand Layer Cake

Price : Rp 30,000++

Score : 7.0 / 10

>> I know the fact that Port'er House get their 'thousand layer cake' for a local vendor in PIK. They have two flavours; original vanilla and oreo. To be honest, I like both and doesn't mind which one to have. Be quick to order it early because they usually ran out of it before they close.

Note : First Love Patisserie in Plaza Indonesia is better than this by a mile! 

Porter House

Rukan Crown Golf Blok B No 38 Pantai Indah Kapuk
Phone : 021 - 44632017
Mon - Thu : 11 am - 12 am
Fri - Sun : 11am - 2 am