Earlier in May 2014, the Swiss Belhotel Rainforest host a new dinner series, "A Night to Remember" featuring creation from one of Indonesian kitchen maestro, Chef Kelana. Epicurina was invited as one of the guests for the pilot run, and I surely wouldn't miss a chance to get a taste of Chef Kelana's masterful creation.

Swiss Belhotel Rainforest

Set in the midst of bustling Sunset Rd., The Oak Restaurant is located inside Swiss Belhotel Rainforest's premise, in their inner courtyard right behind the hotel's Lobby. The courtyard also serves as the main air shaft of the hotel, and it was designed like you're in the middle of a lush forest, a hidden surprise to guests visiting this premise, that looks just like ordinary hotel from the outside.

While the dinner was being prepared, our host for the dinner Teddy introduced us to the other guests, which mostly are familiar faces from Bali's leading mass media. The air was extremely humid and hot that night, which made the wait a bit taxing. After some refreshments and snacks, we were escorted to our seat thus "A Night to Remember" experience begun.

The Food

As the opening, there's Ginger flower marinated seared fresh Maluku Tuna, a light refreshing dish combining succulent raw tuna with the nutty bean sprout and alfalfa salad in light acidic dressing. The ginger flower provide a warm aftertaste in your throat.

Second came the oxtail broth with quail egg and dumpling. The broth was slow cooked overnight to extract all the flavours, resulting in a familiar classic oxtail soup taste. Just that it's served sans the meat, it becomes a subtle greeting to your tastebuds, instead of the usual high-octane slap. Chef Kelana was kindly reminded the guests to not ask for sambal, as the chilli will ruin the delicate taste exist in this soup.

As the main of "A Night to Remember" dinner was this combo of succulent duck, rice, and fern urab, accentuated with Sambal Balado. The fern urab was so fresh and crunchy, and the rice was among the nicest pulen white rice I've ever tasted. As with the duck, the dark meat fits well with the Sambal Balado.

The strawberry ice cream came as a sweet refreshment and palate cleanser before our main dish was served. Normally it's served in white wine but I asked for the one without.

What most of the guests found surprising however is the dessert: Young Coconut Creme Brulee, combining the chunky young coconut with fragrant coco pandan cream, which tasted like a perfect crossbreed of Creme Brulee with Klapetaart. It's accompanied by young coconut jelly, coffee ice cream, and a peanut ginger nougat that further adds more flavour layers.

As a surprise closing, Chef Kelana presented these wonderful chocolate which each has familiar Indonesian flavours.

The Maestro

Well known for his fondness of Indonesian cuisine, Chef Teuku Muhammad Kelana was also one of the founder of Indonesian Chef Association (ICA). In recent years he has hosted TV shows, cooked for ambassadors and recently published his own Indonesian cookbook.

At the published cost of IDR 350K including wine, this dinner is a steal. Click here for more information. Or if you happen to be near by and in mood of something sweet, don't miss their Young Coconut Creme Brulee which I believe is among the best desserts you could ever have in Bali. (byms)

Set in the side of busy Laksmana street of Seminyak, Bali, tucked in between more eye catching shops, Teatro Gastroteque is easily missed. In my case at least, having passed this place like four or five times that night, without even realizing it's right there. And no thanks to the faulty GPS either.

However, after such drama of trying to locate this place, once you come close, the open kitchen and its full window façade quickly gives glance of what kind of theatre exist inside: one that aims to amuse your palate.

Aiming to create a dining experience worth a Michellin star or two, the Papuan born chef Mandif looks tenacious in his medium build posture. Pocketing the title of Best Bali Chef in 2011, chef Mandif's European cooking experience and Indonesian upbringing has grant him a knack for Asian-European fusion cuisine, where Indonesian cooking is part of the offered experience.

As my chef friend suggested me to keep my writings short and simple, since he believes many people nowadays are not avid readers kind, so here's Teatro Gastroteque experience as concise as possible:

First the Rempeyek Teri for starter has caught me by surprise. For you who are not familiar with this dish, rempeyek is a traditional Indonesian crackers commonly found in food shops and homes across Indonesia, and it it never is considered as fancy food. Made with flour, seasoned then deep fried, the mastery of this dish lies in knowing when to stop frying as it's very prone to browning and overcooking.

Rempeyek usually has either peanuts or ikan teri (tiny anchovies) to gave it a distinct flavour. Teatro's version uses the later. While it tasted much like, well... a rempeyek, it wasn't out of place at all. Indeed it gives the impression of "why didn't I think of that," and serves well as an amuse bouche: a starter and a statement. Kudos!

Next came the quail egg done sunny side up on top of a biscuit, which I can only imagine the kind of effort involved in handling something that tiny in such way.  

On the next plate, the black charcoal-like lumps on the left are actually cassava, another very common Indonesian snack, but coated with black powder made from Japanese bamboo. While it might be quite riddling for those unfamiliar with fried cassava or "singkong goreng," I found the triangular shape easily gives away its real identity. The uniformly black pau that follows has soft plumpy skin with savoury duck meat fillings. It was paired with a delicious dipping sauce that works for the cassava too. 

Just as a side note: the discolouration on the cassava is not a lighting effect but instead smeared gold dust, which make it the first time I ever eat gold. Not too much to make me feel like a billionaire though. 

Our host for the dinner mas Fernandito Haka informed days before that Foie Gras is one of Chef Mandif's favourite ingredient to play with, therefore it's quite interesting to find it as our next dish, and witnessing what he's transformed it into. Instead of the usual savoury Foie Gras, Teatro Gastroteque's version was involving jams, and candies.

"It's best to put a little bit of everything in each bite to experience the perfect balance" chef Mandif informed, and so I did. The candied tomato and almond indeed, compliments well the silky smooth, creamy tad salty flavour the Terrine Foie Gras has.

The next dish was quite striking in its look, beautifully combines the fresh colours of its ingredients into an artwork. Chef Mandif explained that it's a mango wrapped around the Papuan crab meat, with drops of lime gel. "I also put some walnut chunks inside to adds a little bit of crunchiness to the dish, therefore balancing the softness of the two other ingredients." He mentioned before disappearing back into the kitchen.

Taste wise the combination of savoury umami slightly metallic taste Papuan crab, the sweet mango and the creamy avocado has made this dish felt like a cheerful dessert-ish starter.

Earlier before this next dish came, Chef Mandif brought to the table what looks like a very finely marbled wagyu, that turned out to be a tuna belly. "It's from the Sulawesi seas where the best specimens like this are usually sold directly to Japan. I was only able to get it after one day finding out that one of the exporters was dining here in Teatro" he smiled.

Barely cooking it to retain its original flavours, the toro was smeared with squid ink then lightly seared on the outside while keeping the inside raw, unleashing the very robust, creamy and umami mouth feel. Combined with the roasted sweet leeks, the tad bitter antanan and the slightly acidic cucumber, it was simply the best tuna I have tasted in a long while.

Our palate cleanser next came to the table in form of a nugget of ice, accompanied by lots of transparent foam. Put inside your mouth, interestingly the foam has a hint of ginger, which adds a little dash of heat into the sour mango Trou Normand.

One of Chef Mandif's crew then brought another chunk of meat into the table; it was rather dull coloured, and it's quite old indeed; three weeks old. That's how long the meat was dry aged to intensifies the flavour, and let the enzyme breaks down the meat tissue, resulting in a tender meat texture.

I chose mine at medium, to get that caramelized flavour on the outside, while leaving the centre moist and raw enough. The aged beef steak are then paired with creamy nutty celeriac mash, eringy mushroom, and the savory sweet a little tart port wine sauce for a rounder taste. The result? As much as I loved my tuna, this aged beef is the definite champion of that night's dinner.

Following that rustic beef, we're taken back to the Asian experience, a very Indonesian one to be exact, in form of Lobster curry with Padang's style Jackfruit curry, seared king scallop, and... perkedel jagung! After the rempeyek and the cassava, this is another cool creation from Chef Mandif that plays around traditional Indonesian food taste. The perkedel itself was of extraordinary sweetness and freshness, and interestingly was made without flour, relying more on special technique to attach the kernels together.

Our 6+ course dinner that night was ended with Chocolate Albinao Valrhona 85% Chocolate cake, speculatostuille, rum raisin ice cream, and that's gold dust smeared on the plate.

There were also some mignardises presented; assorted small desserts, and many kind of bread were put on the table that night in between courses. 

As with the whole experience itself, chef Mandif mentioned that it was orchestrated with moderation in mind. "The dishes presented were in their less than full size, so the guest could consume them through in a convenient pace, and ends up with an almost full stomach so that they don't feel bloated, nor having to visit a food stall afterwards." 

One of the important part missing from my dinner though, according to chef Mandif, that it was created with serious intention for wine-pairing, as the connecting dots between the dishes. That's why glasses of extensive kind of white wines were poured out in between the dishes that night, in its specific type of matching glasses too, much to the delight of my dining companies that night. I myself was quite satisfied with the dishes even though accompanied only by bottles of sparkling Equil. 

And on top of the delicious artworks consumed that night, the conversation between us the diners and chef Mandif itself was very amusing and entertaining. Stories about him amazed his French guests with Rawon and Lawar merah during a chef exchange, the surprising shoplifting behaviour many his classy guests have, unique guests with unique requirements, including less known kitchen stories and restaurant business issues were put on the table that night. The conversation was ended when we realized it was already past midnight, way after Teatro's business hour.

Last, to conclude my dining experience in few words, Teatro Gastroteque is one of the few places in Bali that's able to transform the market's finest ingredients into such a unique and flavourful experience, thanks to the skilful and passionate craftsmanship of Chef Mandif M. Warokka. 

Thank you chef Mandif for the good time, and for sharing your passion with us. (byms)

A colleague of mine shares his story during our lunch last week; he's into good food though is not very fond of visiting international restaurants in Bali which specializes in international cuisine, since they tend to serve foods which tastes bland for his taste buds, thus prefer to hunt for local geniuses instead.

One day, when his brother was visiting Bali and they were cruising around Kuta, his brother says that he heard of a "good gado-gado" in Seminyak area, and asked my colleague if he would try it. Seeing where this story will go, this is where I started to chuckles...

Now first thing first; in Indonesian culinary dictionary, gado-gado is a type of salad which consisted of various cooked vegetables, tahu (tofu), boiled eggs, then chopped, and combined with sweet finely grounded peanut sauce. It usually sold on cartwheels, warungs, and are national's favourite. It's usually are cheap, hard to go wrong, thus it's a safe yet delicious choice for all day meal.

So my colleague think it's a good idea and they went both to the Seminyak area, which is nothern Kuta, looking for this "good gado-gado".

When they finally find the place, imagine their surprise upon encountering not a gado-gado warung, but this establishment called "Gado-Gado Restaurant & Bar" which sat by the beach. Still in confusion, but thinking they're there anyway and the sign clearly says "Gado-Gado" so they entered the place.

Only after scouting through the menu they realizes this is not what they're expecting for, since instead of serving good gado-gado, this Gado-Gado restaurant in Seminyak is a fine dining restaurant; a famous one nonetheless hence his brother wasn't completely wrong when he heard that there's a "good gado-gado" in Seminyak.

Needless to say, after enjoying quote "a quite good meal, but with a just decent portion" there, as normally a fine dining restaurant would do, both my colleague and his brother still feels hungry, thus have to visits another eatery (this time a real warung), to satisfy their needs. (byms)

Image from http://www.theislandkey.com