It's been 10ish years that we knows Carrefour, however Bali marks the first time ever that we went to this hypermarket and looking forward to its... cakes! Yes, Bali's Carrefour Bakery is an anomaly! Having only moderately satisfied with Carrefour's bakery elsewhere, Bali's Carrefour at Sunset Road hides a wonderful surprise. Their cakes are good, bread and pastries are great, cheese sticks yummy, and their meat pies are also nice. And not only tasted good they are also relatively cheap! You can get here at Carrefour's cheap price, what other boutique bakeries sells higher. And they're tasted as good, or sometimes even better. What is their secret?

It might come as a surprise but their secret is... Mr. Bean!

Well not that Mr. Bean, don't worry. Because Denis Langlois, the Carrefour Bali's pastry chef can really cook, and his creations are awesome. He wont let your Thanksgiving dinner turns into a nightmare, nor he will messed up a simple sandwich preparation, or shopping for frying pan carrying around a dead fish. He just happen to share a somewhat similar look with the famous British comical character.

I was at first a bit hesitant to highlight this likeness, but I guess I'm not the first one recognizing it because back in a Taste Magazine article in 2009 Denis mentioned:

“I am now working on funny cakes for children. People tell me I look like Mr. Bean, so I want to put Mr. Bean’s head on a Spiderman body – a Spiderbean cake!"(01)

Unlike Mr. Bean though, Denis really can make delicious bread, pastries & cakes. Like the simplistic but wonderful Mille Feuille with its crunchy solid crackers and creamy thick creams; or its delicious cheesecakes and lovely apple pies.

I found them all superb, even compared with many boutique bakeries Bali and Jakarta has. And Denis is able to sell them at the fraction of its usual cost elsewhere.

"He claims there is no reason for customers to pay a high price, as his costings are realistic and he is making a profit selling individual tarts and pastries like his famous Mille Feuille for under Rp. 8,000." (01)*

*the last time I check it's now 12,500, not as cheap as it's used to, but it's still very affordable

Denis loves watching people choose the bread, smell it and especially watching Indonesian customers taking a chance on something new. With almost 30 years of baking experience, Denis's creations are everything but boring. While he loves to experiment with new creations, his deepest passion however is to recreate traditional French cakes from his childhood.

"But the things I like most to make are the traditional ones, the ones I liked when I was a child, like éclair au chocolat chouquette mille feuille. I want to show people that simple can be beautiful, and when I manage to reproduce what I liked as a child, the customers go for it."(02)

Well after tasting many of his creations, I'm just glad that Denis is willing to share his childhood memory with us through his wonderful creations.




More about Denis Langlois can be read on these two links below. (byms)

(01) http://www.scribd.com/doc/15643938/Taste-08#page=8

(02) http://www.thebalitimes.com/2008/10/10/3693/

"Would you eat poo?" Coming from your English-speaking friend this question would looks like an invitation to something that would get high rating on YouTube. However, if the question refers to a brand of an Indonesian delicacy, you might not feel the request so strange and might even excited by it.

Poo pictured above is a brand of getuk pisang, an Indonesian delicacy originated from the eastern Java region of Indonesia. It is a sweet and fragrant cake made from mashed banana in form of compacted cylinder. It looks purplish or brownish depending to the type of banana it used.

Getuk Pisang image from "Oleh-Oleh Kediri" in Tokopedia

Getuk Pisang image from Zudi Susanto

Though tasted delicious, "Poo" might not gain market success abroad, especially in English speaking countries for the connotation it has -- with India as exception, as Poo is also the name of a small town in Himachal Pradesh district. (byms)