[EVENT] 13 Ghosts Spooky Halloween Buffet and Halloween Parade at The Park Lane Hotel Jakarta

Hi Eaters.

Halloween is upon us. Yes, the scariest festive of the entire year is coming, and the hype of serving Halloween-themed dishes is echoing in the culinary world.
I, myself, well honestly isn't the bravest from the crowd when it comes to encounter ghosts. But food being shaped as ghosts, well, never scared me, LOL. I actually admired those crafty hands behind the unique and terrifying dishes.
So, this week I got invited for a sneak peek of the Halloween-themed dishes at The Park Lane Hotel Jakarta. Named 13 Ghosts Spooky Halloween Buffet and Halloween Parade, two of the splendid restaurants from the hotel, Cafe One Asian Fusion and Riva Grill, Bar & Terrace, served up a line of spooky food. More details below.

The event took place at Cafe One Asian Fusion. It's the hotel's buffet restaurant. It may not be big, but it is comfy enough. And for that night, not only was it comfy, but also it's transformed into a spooky dining place.

Accomodating the Halloween theme, I saw a lot of ornaments and decorations giving the festive the spookiness it deserves. There were a quite numbers of scary dolls resembling Pocong (Indonesian wrapped ghost) being put in the seat at every corner of the restaurant, a hanging ghost mask, and even the waitresses all dressed up like Kuntilanak (female vampiric ghost).
Not scary enough for you? Well, some of my female friends who attended the event looked pretty terrified, LOL.

So what's the Halloween-themed dishes from both restaurants? Hold on to your seats, cause the spook has just begun.

CAFE ONE ASIAN FUSION

In Cafe One Asian Fusion at the 28th and 29th October 2016 starting from 18.00-22.30 you can enjoy the 13 Ghosts Spooky Halloween Buffet. For only IDR 275K nett/pax you can enjoy the buffet, the Halloween-themed dishes, and a free flow of Hulk's Eye Mocktail (details below), Ice Tea, or Lemon Tea.

Below are the Halloween-themed dishes served at Cafe One Asian Fusion.

THE COFFIN

This has got to be the scariest food presentation ever. What a creative work by Chef Deden Gumilar, the mastermind behind all of these crafty, and sacry dishes.
This one is named The Coffin.

THE BLACK HAIR

Angel hair pasta with squid ink and parmesan cheese

BURNING FACE

Baked beef kofta coated mozzarella cheese

BROKEN RIBS

Slow cooked BBQ Australian Ribs

THE COLONS

Roasted beef and lamb sausages coated chili sauce

EXPLODE

8 hours low heat cooking Australian Beef Brisket

THE WORM

Spaghetti with Napolitano sauce

Shaped to resembles a burning dead man, it was totally scary. So wickedly cool too. I didn't try this one though. But I will surely try it when I come there again at the 28th October.

EDIBLE GRAVEYARD

Head Skull (white Chocolate)

Bones (Bread Clay)

Eyes (white Chocolate with Praline served with Jelly)

Soil (Crumbs English Cake)

Gravestone (English Cake with Chocolate Slab)

Worms (Jelly)

First of all, that skull looked so real. I mean, the shape of it was just perfectly made, just like a real skull. It sure did give some goosebumps for some female attendee. Great job with some hand crafting there, Chef!

HULK'S EYE MOCKTAIL

Green tea, apple syrup, peppermint syrup and raspberry jam

This mocktail is quite refreshing. The peppermint was strong too. Spicy, like the Hulk I guess.

RIVA GRILL, BAR & TERRACE

In Riva Grill, Bar & Terrace on the other hand, the food won't be as scary as the one presented in Cafe One Asian Fusion. The Halloween-twist is still there, but packed with a more aesthetic look, since Riva is a fine dining restaurant.

You can enjoy Riva's Halloween Parade set dinner menus for IDR 500K ++ on the 28th of October 2016.

Here are the set menus:

SMOKIN’ FROGGY LEG

Stuffed Chinese bread with char siu chopped meat

WITCH’S CHICKEN

Dead man’s eye – made from chicken liver pate with chicken feet

Gelatin worm – made from spinach salad and raspberry comfit

THE DEAD QUAIL

Whole Quail cream soup

Drying ginger hair – thinly shred “nori”

SCREAMING MONSTER

Crushed baked potato topped sour cream

Roasted bunch vegetables - whole tomato

Green pea and pure, sautéed mushroom

Slow roasted whole beef leg

Blended Red wine and beet root sauce

FAILURE SURGERY

Brain shape pannacotta , chocolate bone marrow,

Finger cookies and raspberry compote

All of these dinner set menus won't just scare you, but also satisfy your taste buds. Afterall, Halloween only comes once a year, so it's okay to indulge yourself in an unusual dish with scary presentation. What's the point of Halloween if it doesn't give you goosebumps?

Overall conclusion, it was a night to remember. Not only because of those terrifying food presentation, but also the great hospitality. All the Kuntilanak-dressed up waitresses were giving an impeccable service throughout the event. It's always nice to feel welcome.

All the food were terrifyingly good! And I mean it in a good way. Seriously.

So if you don't have any dinner plans for the upcoming Halloween, bring yourself here to be spookified by the creative dishes from Chef Deden Gumilar.

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

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The Park Lane Hotel Jakarta
Jalan Casablanca Kav. 18, 

Phone: (021) 8282000

Menteng Dalam, Tebet, 

Jakarta Selatan 12870

Website: parklanejakarta.com

[EVENT] TeSaTe Restaurant and Sababay Wine Pairing

Hi Eaters.

A glimpse of what made a dining experience to be so luxurious is that if it involves wine to the whole occasion. Simply said, wine is common served along in any European or Western fine dining establishment. But what happens if the fine refreshment meet with local palate?
As I quench this thirst of excitement through my experience through wine pairing, the local fine dining restaurant, TeSaTe Restaurant had teamed up with the local winery, Sababay, to answer my curiosity.

So what is Sababay?

As I have mentioned earlier, Sababay is one our national pride. A local winery with tons of awards hanging under its belt.

"The name ‘Sababay’ read as [sa-ba-bey] winery originates from our winery’s location along the beautiful ‘SABA’bay (Teluk Saba) in Gianyar, Bali. 

Sababay is recognized as 100% Indonesian wine in collaboration with the Asteroid R&D Vineyard and local Balinese grape farmers. 

The integrated farming concept result a sustainable good harvest – that has opened up parts of the world previously thought unsuitable to wine production."

"From the Island of God, Sababay Winery has proudly introduced six premium wines of Indonesia – 

PINK BLOSSOM (rose), 

BLACK VELVET (Red Wine), 

RESERVE RED (Dry Red Wine), 

WHITE VELVET (White Wine), 

LUDISIA (Sweet Red Wine) 

and MOSCATO d’Bali (Sweet Sparkling White Wine)."

Conviniently at this wine pairing and tasting event, I had the chance to try out four of their premium wines. Details below will be the wine and the choices of dishes suggested to be paired with.

Ludisia

image courtesy of: http://sababaywinery.com/

The first one is Ludisia. Being one with a light and soft cherry candy taste, it is most suitably paired with:

Sate Ayam Ponorogo

Juicy chicken in sweet marinade, served with buttery peanut sauce

Rendang

Tender chunks of beef, slow cooked in a mixture of ground spices and coconut milk

The heavy buttery sauce and the thick coconut seasoning can be matched perfectly with something light and sweet like the Ludisia wine. 

White Velvet

image courtesy of: http://sababaywinery.com/

White Velvet with a refreshing fruity aftertaste, goes perfectly well with:

Cumi Telur Bakar

Tender and meaty grilled calamari, stuffed with egg, combines perfectly with the sweetness of BBQ marinating sauce.

Do you agree that after any seafood dining you always want to get something fruity? Well, the grilled squid can leave an oily aftertaste, and it's really great how the White Velvet can be a quencher.

Moscato D’ Bali

 image courtesy of: http://sababaywinery.com/

This one was my favorite wine of the day. The Moscato D' Bali is suitable paired with:

Kerapu Bakar Jimbaran

The delicate flavour of live Kerapu fish is enchanced by grilling in robust Jimbaran marinade.

Tahu Udang Berontak

Savoury mouthful of succulent prawn and mushroom, encased in a crips warm tofu envelope.

Yes, the Moscato D' Bali will definitely be my favorite. I really loved the light citrusy flavor. It's refreshing. Paired with fish or fries is just soooo perfect.

And by the way, have I ever mentioned how I love the fries? This Tahu Berontak is just awesomely good. Super loving the fillings inside the tofu. I always get addicted with the prawns they put inside it.

Reserve Red

 image courtesy of: http://sababaywinery.com/

The last one is the Reserve Red. And it goes perfectly paired with:

Sate Kambing

Tender lamb, marinated in sweet soya with sambal kecap.

Sate Sapi Makasar

Exotic combination of aromatic beef tenderloin with mouthwatering, tangy sour starfruit sauce.

First of all let me say kudos to chef for bringing such a delicate, juicy meat on the skewers. Their beef skewers were amazing! Delicious! The mutton was no exception. What else could be a better match than a smoky wine. The touch of vanilla just exhilirated every bite of the skewers.

There are also some dishes that can be paired with a couple of choices of wine. This way you can get double sensation if you try a dish and maybe try to pair it with a couple of choices from the winery selections.

Serabi Solo

Traditional pancake, delicate and flavourful, a popular snack icon of Central Java.

This Indonesian style dessert can be paired with either a Moscato D’ Bali or Ludisia. Anyway you prefer, it just matched up perfectly. This dessert anyway, if I may talk a bit about it, was really quite good. The sweetness was just fine. You should try the coconut one. I am falling in love with that one.

Sate Padang

Tender beef cheek and tongue served with aromatic turmeric sauce.

 image courtesy of: https://www.instagram.com/tesaterestaurant/

Sorry, I didn't have the chance to take decent photos of this dish. But let me tell you, this dish is DA BOMB! Seriously this is one of the menu I would recommend for you to order. That is if you like beef cheek and beef tongue though. It's super delicious, super juicy, super tender, and super memorable. The sauce was also very delicious!

This dish can be paired with Moscato D' Bali or White Velvet.

So in a nutshell, this is one experience truly worthy to be shared. Indonesian food could go so well with Indonesian world-class winery like Sababay. If you're pretty curious about it and you're a fan of exquisite wine then I indulge you to also try this experience.

The great news is currently TeSaTe Restaurant is having a Buy 2 Get 1 Free promo for every purchase of wine by glass or by bottle, everyday in all TeSaTe Restaurant outlets. Also starting from 21st of October 2016 there will be a wine tasting program, where every TeSaTe customers can try Sababay's wine first and get recommendation of which menu best paired with the wine from the TeSaTe Restaurant staffs. This wine tasting program is held every Friday and Saturday from 18.00 - 22.00 in all TeSaTe Restaurant outlets.

So let's raise up our glass and make a toast for the collaboration between TeSaTe Restaurant and Sababay winery for introducing the wine pairing culture to our Indonesian palate. My best wishes and Godspeed.

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | ASK.FM

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TeSaTe Restaurant (Menteng)
Jl. Sam Ratulangi, No. 39, Menteng, Jakarta
Phone: (021) 31931250

TeSaTe Restaurant (Senayan)
Plaza Senayan, Lantai 4, Cinema Complex
Jl. Asia Afrika, Senayan, Jakarta
Phone: 021 5725521

TeSaTe Restaurant (SCBD)
Pacific Place Mall, Lantai 5,
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, SCBD, Jakarta
Phone: 021 57973653