European seafood makes bigger splash than Chinese
By John Aglionby
JAKARTA (JP): Is good food better than good sex?
Before this week I would not have hesitated to answer no, particularly when considering what is usually on offer in Jakarta (in the culinary department, I am talking about).
Until Nov. 16, however, there are two seafood promotions in the capital that make it just that little bit harder to immediately come up with a negative answer.
The first is at the Grand Hyatt's Chinese restaurant, Han. Here the emphasis is very much on quality rather than quantity as the only special item on the menu is hairy crabs, shipped in from Kwong So province in China.
Historically hairy crabs get fat in the Chinese lunar months of September and October and are best eaten now, in November.
They certainly are like nothing I have ever seen before. Along each of their 10 golden-orange legs protrude hundreds of centimeter-long yellow hairs. After hairy, bizarre is the first word that comes to mind.
When the dish arrived at the table I thought I was about to begin a high school dissection class, not a gourmet meal.
There were no frills attached at all, only hair. All that was on the plate was a curious pair of scissors, one arm of which was 10 centimeters longer than the other and tapered off into a fine point. This meal was clearly going to be hard work.
And it was. The meat and roe both tasted excellent. The chef had steamed the hirsute crustaceans, thereby bringing out the natural flavors, and not encumbering them with anything more fussy than some chopped ginger and Tsang Kwong vinegar.
A major drawback was the accessibility of the meat. Even armed with an implement that would not have looked out of place in the Jeremy Irons thriller Dead Ringers, it took more time and energy than I would have wanted to expend to extract the food.
While it did mean I was able to savor each mouthful that little bit longer, at times I thought they should be paying me Rp 250,000 (US$75) to eat it and not the other way round.
Meanwhile, at the other end of Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Le Meridien's La Brasserie restaurant has been turned into what can best be described as a seafood-lover's utopia.
All one's senses are assailed even before one reaches the restaurant. In the entrance Oyster Master Cecile Pichot works away with her special knife, prizing open oysters and clams specially flown in from her home, the north Brittany coast.
Winkles
To tempt you in she offers a sample. Once hooked, it is practically impossible to escape her, or the seafood's aphrodisiac attraction.
There are a variety of selections from which to choose but the best bet is Le plateau du Mareyeur.
This "fisherman's tray", includes a little bit of everything; oysters, clams, prawns, shrimps, black crab and winkles (a type of marine snail).
It also comes with mayonnaise, lemon, vinegar, simple brown bread and homemade butter. To appreciate it fully I would recommend a glass of white wine or three. For Rp 75,000 the fisherman's tray is excellent value, especially as one extra large oyster costs Rp 14,000, but is not enough for two people.
So my companion and I had another, and then a third helping of oysters. Yes it was gluttony, but occasional self-indulgence is always good for the soul.
The ambience is authenticized by a wizen-featured Frenchman churning away on a barrel organ. Take earplugs if you do not appreciate Gallic folk songs (interspersed with the odd bit of opera) but for me it added to rather than detracted from the desired atmosphere.
I would definitely go back to both, but perhaps I should book a room as well and then seek a solution to my query...