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