A celebration of steak at Stix at The Park Lane

JAKARTA (JP): Longtime readers of this column will be aware that Epicurus is not a great one for the red stuff.

Not talking about a fine beaujolais or the best bouquets of France, Australia or Chile, but hearty chunks of beef, the ultimate red meat.

Even when the spirit is willing, Epicurus' usual choice of flesh is chicken, baked, broiled, roasted or whatever. This is despite hailing from a family of confirmed red-meat lovers, including a South African father whose favorite weekend pastime was to sling a couple of steaks onto the brai even in the dead of an English winter.

A culinary critic with an aversion to the red stuff? Well, not so much a dislike as a preference for it in decided moderation and dressed so elaborately it bears scant resemblance to its former self. Devour things with a face? Sure, but the creature has to have undergone a major face-lift to remove the offending blood and guts.

Time was when Jakarta eateries were cooking up their very own love affair with meaty matters, with their efforts not limited to the tried-and-true fare of ribs and the usual cuts of barbecued meats. Assorted game, ostrich and even exotic emu made their appearance at restaurants around the city.

The economic crisis pretty much put paid to the meat industry's efforts to win over the taste buds of Jakartans, and some of the steak specialty restaurants have either shut their doors or streamlined for survival. One has even resorted to being the site for a TV fashion and music show with an incongruously anemic, fretful, oh-so skinny host who sure looks like she should chow down on some red blood cells.

Despite the unfavorable economic situation, a new steak restaurant and bar appeared on our modified horizons within the past year. Stix, located in the basement of The Park Lane Jakarta in the Casablanca area of Kuningan, has not been backward in coming forward in touting its wares.

Avid readers of this publication will no doubt have seen Stix's frequent advertisements, the quirky illustration of two doe-eyed cows sitting down to dine on, horror of horrors, one of their own. It's an anthropomorphic bastardization which would no doubt have confirmed vegetarians and the people at PETA brandishing their celery sticks in indignation.

But aside from the snappy advertising copy and its considerable presence in this newspaper, does Stix deliver with something a notch above the rest of its breed? Or is it merely a regulation run-of-the-mill steak joint, trundling out heaping portions of cow parts which are sure to satisfy avowed carnivores but leave more discerning diners with a bone to pick.

Our gang of three ventured into Stix on a cool Saturday night. The bar and restaurant are laid out in a spacious open plan; to the right is the bar, with the dance floor at center providing a natural demarcation from the dining area to the left.

Amid the gleaming silver decor and with the notorious cow illustration watching over us, we chose a banquette on the side. The menus are big and scribed in bold black and white so the writing jumps out at you like the letters on one of those eye test charts; my near-sighted friend avowed that he could comfortably read the menu sans glasses.

Appropriately at the center of the menu is Stix's pride and joy of its selection of cuts of beef from Australia and the U.S. Diners get to choose the size and country of origin of their piece of meat, with the portions starting at 150 grams and working their way up. One went for sirloin, the other for tenderloin, and the third took the alternative route of roast tarragon chicken.

The meat arrived, sporting little Australian flags which quickly became the subject of inevitable jokes over whether they should be sent up in smoke. Beautifully presented and served with a choice of accompanying sauces, a soup or salad, vegetables and potatoes, the real test of Stix's vaunted promises and advance billing came with our first bite.

Stix, we are happy to say, came through with flying colors. The steak was deliciously succulent, tender morsels which melted in the mouth. Both diners asked for well-done and it was indeed done to a turn, not like at some restaurants where it resembles a burned offering to the gods of a careless kitchen or is brought out still dribbling rivulets of red. The chicken was also judged a success, with the taste of the meat complemented, not overwhelmed, by the use of tarragon.

Stix's other attraction is its music, which on this night included a group whose hybrid of accents seemed to stretch from the land Down Under all the way to Jordieland. If music to dine by is your thing, the group provides easy listening.

The damage? Stix falls somewhere in the middle for prices of imported steak, with the tenderloin Rp 79,000 ++ and the sirloin Rp 51,000 ++. Yet it comes back to the old saying of you get what you pay for; this is prime, delicious steak, served by attentive but not overbearing wait people in a pleasant atmosphere. If you are watching the pennies, keep an eagle eye on drink orders. The prices of some of them (Long Island ice tea at Rp 50,000 ++) are equivalent to a meal in themselves.

-- Epicurus