OKU, Hotel Indonesia Kempinski 1st Anniversary

Hi Eaters.

Whoa! It's been a year already! Days seem to pass by so quickly then suddenly it has already been a year since Oku opened its doors to public. I remember coming here when they just started service for maybe a couple of days. You can check out my post about that one here.
I clearly remembered how amazing the food was and certainly this time it was certainly an honour just to be back and invited for their first anniversary.

It was a cloudy Saturday afternoon as I prep myself for the invitation. They specifically mentioned a Japanese touch for the dress code, but since I didn't have anything on my closet that screams Japanese so I went wearing black (sorry for that) coz I thought it just matched my Instagram feed, LOL.
The restaurant itself hasn't change in a year, you can check out how the interior looks like at my previous post about Oku (link on the first paragraph).
They served the guests with a 7 course meals, not include their well-known dishes which apparently were also served too (yeaayy!!). 

Oku Karaage

I'm gonna start by talking about the dishes that wasn't included in 9 course meals, the first is the popular Oku Karaage.
If you check my previous blog post about Oku then you will know this one is the dish I highlighted in the review. It's so unique! Well, frankly speaking, the size has gotten quite smaller but the taste was still awesome. It may not look appealing, but this blackened chicken karaage is some serious stuff. So delicious and yet crispy on the outside but moist and tender in the inside.

Oku Chirashi Don

I failed to try this one, and truly I regret it as now I am looking at the photo. Those beautiful bright colors from the various sashimis are certainly appetizing.

Truffle Gyu Don

One menu you must (and I mean MUST) order is the Truffle Gyu Don. As a fan of everything truffled I must give this dish a 2 thumbs up. Kudos to the Chef, this dish is insanely awesome, and I mean literally everything on the plate is just mind blowing. Starting from the rice, the sauce, the egg, and that crazily juicy beef slices, they're just some deadly combo that will take your tastebuds to heaven. Maybe you think I'm overexaggerating, but honestly I can eat this dish forever.

This grilled lobster (I don't know for sure the name of the dish) was truly tempting. Luckily I got the chance to tried it, and yes it was delicious. The lobster was so good, so juicy, and that sauce was just spot on.

So now let's start talking about the 7 course meals, shall we?

Kaki – Japanese Oyster | Wasabi Sorbet

When you talk about Japanese food, you gotta talk about their fresh sea produce, wether it's the fishes or clams and oysters like this. This one is oyster served with salmon roe, wasabi, and signature stock. Gotta love this dish, it's so fresh yet without any tangy smell coming out from the oyster. The signature stock was just spot on and truly elevates the whole flavor of the oyster, giving it a rich savory flavor that was so indulging.

Uni – Sea Urchin | Chutoro | Seaweed Cracker

This premium sea produce was the one that I anxiously waited to be served. Uni is like the treasure of the ocean, and this one is served along chutoro (fatty tuna) on a bed made from deep fried seaweed cracker. Apparently that day I ate it the wrong way since I didn't recognize the seaweed cracker at first glance and thought it was a sea shell, LOL, pardon me for that. Well, nothing can beat the taste of some fresh uni, and this one was mine blowing. My favorite dish of the day!

Nodoguro – Soup of Rosy Sea Bass

A clear soup with sea bass. The taste was quite light, not my kind of dish though I think some might like this kind of light-flavory dish. 

Tsukiji Market – Seasonal Fish from Japan

A plate of various fresh seafood produce: salmon, tuna, squid, lobster, and one thing which I think is hirame (olive flounder). All seafood produce served on this plate were flown from Tsukiji Market itself so the freshness is beyond doubt. One thing cute from this plate is the fish-shaped-jelly soy sauce. Really cute!

Karasumi Pasta – Ikura | Angel Hair Pasta

Ah angel hair pasta, my favorite kind of pasta! The dish was splendid! I really really really (I said it like 3 times, which must mean great) love this dish. The truffle was really dominant in every single bites and slurps of that perfectly cooked pasta. It's just so amazingly tasty!

Kamo – Duck 3 Ways | Smoked with Rice Straw | Aged Soy Salt

Tender chunks of diced duck meat, perfectly cooked and seasoned. It's so juicy. I wish there were just more on the plate.

Unagi – Fresh Water Eel Rice Porridge | Charcoal Grill Rice

More reasons to smile that day after a cute littel bowl with unagi inside was served. Served on top of grilled rice, the way to eat it is to first pour some stock into the bowl. Well, frankly speaking, the stock was pretty light but the good thing is the flavor of the rice and the unagi was quite bold so the stock was just there to elevate the almost perfect dish.

Mizu – Water Mochi | Kinako | Anmitsu Sauce

It wasn't my first time having water mochi. It's definitely a cute dessert, I have to say, and most certainly unique. This one is served with kinako (roasted soybean flour) and anmitsu sauce which is thick and sweet. You have to eat the whole 3 elements at once, because if you only eat the water mochi then you might say it's bland and tasteless. You just have to scoop out the 3 elements of dishes to get the maximum taste of the dish.

Matcha – Green Tea | White Chocolate | Raspberry Marshmallow

The final dessert came as the most sweetest ending. Everything on the plate was just loveable. The matcha, served two ways, one is like a somewhat deconstructed sponge cake, and the other one was mousse. The raspberry marshmallow and the one which is like a sorbet, tasted nice, a bit sour but it really helps to balance the sweetness from the matcha and the white chocolate.

Never a disappointing experience at Oku. I will always recommend this restaurant if you're just looking for some authentic, yet sophisticated Japanese cuisine. The taste and the plating of every dish are just thought carefully by the mastermind of this restaurant, Chef Kaz. Again, my compliments to the Chef.

So thank you Oku for having me. It was a great time indeed. I wish you the very best for your anniversary and looking forward for more astonishing dishes in the future.

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

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OKU
Bali Room Lobby
Hotel Indonesia Kempinski
Phone: (021) 23583896
Jl. MH. Thamrin No. 1
Jakarta Pusat

Opening hours:
Mon - Sun: 12.00 - 15.00, 18.00 - 22.30

Sunday Brunch at Attarine Jakarta

Hi Eaters.

Lately I've been attending quite a lot of Sunday brunches. Not to say that I don't like it, well actually I've been waiting for it. Sunday brunches at restaurants mean that special menus are up for grasp. Now who wouldn't love that?
About a couple of weeks ago I had the chance to tried the Sunday Brunch at Attarine Jakarta. I've been hearing a lot about this particular restaurant, and when it finally came the time to have a visit, I couldn't be more patient!

Located in a spacious venue at Gunawarman, this restaurant surely was an attraction of itself since I noticed at that Sunday Brunch this restaurant was heavily packed with customers. The food must be great here, I imagined. Well, being a part of Potato Head Group, it's undoubtable that I will have a stunning brunch here.
Attarine is famous for its unique ambiance and decoration. Well, one thing that definitely will catch your attention is that vintage car placed in the center of the room. Besides that this restaurant seemed to be designed to resemble a park with a lot of green plants being put here and there, and those wooden tables and shocking-red-colored chairs perfected the ambiance. There was a live music at that day but I have to say the music was a little too loud. Sunday brunch for me personally means that it's a time where I would want to enjoy the moment with the food more intimately, and maybe have a quality conversation with the people I go to brunch with. I think a more soft and subtle music should work more.

I tried Attarine's Sunday Brunch package which worth IDR 350K ++. The package consists of six dishes that ranges from appetizer, mains and dessert, also a choice of mocktail/cocktail/fresh juice. Do note that the selection of menus might change and vary each week, so the menus I'm writing now were the ones I tried during that Sunday Brunch day.

Roasted Pineapple

It's a bit weird for me just to have roasted pineapple for an appetizer. I would expect pineapple only as a condiment or side to another main dish. But yet there I was, trying this unique appetizer on hand. It's a simple dish, just thin-sliced pineapple being roasted. The unique thing about this appetizer was that it had two kind of flavors, one being sweet with a hint of cinnamon, and another was sour. Unexpectedly, I came to like this dish. It might looked and served so simple but yet the flavors were nice.

Monkey Bread

First time noticing the name of this other appetizer I expected a bread with banana filling, or maybe banana as toppings. Well, it's quite obvious that the common thing associated with monkey is banana, right? Well, okay some may say banana is now sometimes being associated with Minions, LOL.
This dish was surprisingly had no banana at all. It was bread covered in caramel glaze, and I think there was also a hint of cinnamon, and topped with crushed nuts. I also liked this bread. It's so moist and the flavors were so good and not to sweet as well.

Selection of Snacks

The selection of snacks were certainly a treat. A large wooden tray consists of a bowl of cashew nuts, a bowl of olives, a bowl of red radish pickles, and a bowl of cheese-stuffed dates. The other were boiled eggs with cumin and salt.
One thing that captured my attention between those bowls on the tray was the cheese-stuffed dates. It's quite unique and never did I find dates to be stuffed like that anywhere else. It was my first time, and I completely loved it. Sweet and salty combined so well together, it became so addictive. 
The boiled eggs were indeed tasty, although I was hoping the yolk would be a little runny, but the seasoning was so good. A great idea to use cumin and salt onto those eggs,

Roasted Vegetables

Who would've thought just vegetables compiled in a single bowl could be so good! Well, I like vegetables but not that kind of person who would order just one plain dish that only consist of veggies. Rest assure that now I would have a change of mind, LOL.
In this bowl of veggies, there were zucchini, eggplant, green and red paprika. The taste was truly delicious, I must admit, and the veggies were all fresh to my delightment.

Fish and Batik Clams

Served in a monstrous bowl (I mean a huge bowl!) this seafood dish consists of fish, batik clams, and octopus. It was so beautiful, and indeed so visually appetizing. The highlight of the dish I must say were the clams and the octopus. They were cooked nicely and the texture was so so nice, especially the octopus which was so tender indeed.
The soup perfected the dish. It was so rich with seasoning, and with all those seafood inside it didn't have any fishy smell.

Chocolate Cardamom Ice Cream

Do forgive me because I forgot to take a pic of this one stunning dessert. You can see the pic at my friend's blog here and here. I'm still waiting if anyone of them would give me of their pic so I can update this post. As for the ice cream itself was pretty good. I tend not to like sweet food that much and apparently I did finish a whole portion of the ice cream. I must say the sweetness was in a perfect level for my palate.

As for the choice of drink, I had the Pineapple and Passion Fruit Mocktail. Of course I didn't drink the Sparkling Wine since I'm not that much of an alcohol drinker and the day was still too early for any wine, LOL.

The mocktail was indeed fresh, and the combination of pineapple and passion fruit was exquisite and complementing each other nicely.

I must say that this is one of the best Sunday Brunches I've had outside of any hotel restaurants. This Sunday Brunch package only available on March, so I guess I'm a little bit late on writing this post. But there is still one more Sunday to come in this March, so better book a place now to enjoy delicious dishes on Attarine's Sunday Brunch!

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | ASK.FM

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Attarine Jakarta

Jl. Gunawarman No. 11A, Jakarta
Phone: (+62) 812 8602 6142, (+62 21) 2277 1256

Jakarta Pusat

Operating Hours: 

Sun - Wed 11.00 - 16.00 & 18.00 - 23.00

Thu - Sat 11.00 - 16.00 & 18.00 - 01.00