Good tasting Italian food at Il Punto

Epicurus is revisiting old haunts. After all, menus change, service improves or slip slides and judgments undergo hasty revisions, sometimes in as little time as a month or two.

In the case of Il Punto, on the ground floor of the World Trade Center on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, there had been a visit at least four, maybe five, years ago for a review of the then newly opened Italian restaurant.

If memory does not fail, the impressions were almost universally good -- delicious pastas, heavenly tiramisu, attentive service, fine decor.

For one brief shining moment, it seemed the restaurant's name was on everybody's lips as the new "in" place. But as is the case with so many Jakarta attractions, it became less of a talking point as sleeker, although not necessarily better, restaurants opened and stole the attention.

It was another reunion of sorts as Epicurus was meeting up with a friend with whom contact had waned during the past several months.

A lover of good food but with a toned body attesting to admirable self-restraint, she had nixed all proposals for a buffet lunch as disgustingly wasteful.

In these times, when some of us may have very little on our platters, her grievance against gluttony rang soberingly true.

We arrived unfashionably early at Il Punto for lunch, and only the cozy front bar section was open. The bright, high-windowed main restaurant was still closed in preparation for the lunch crowd.

As chance would have it, the restaurant is introducing a new menu, which also includes more Asian dishes. But we were not to be swayed from our desire for Italian fare.

Starters were a rich, thick carrot cream soup and crabcakes. The latter was exceptionally good -- flaky crabmeat and fillings lightly pan-fried, served with tartare sauce and lettuce.

We went all out on the main courses, opting for the osso bucco veal and a request pizza.

The eating of veal may not be the most PC culinary endeavor, and yours truly knows the horror stories of how the animals are reared.

So it was with heavy heart and more than a few pangs of guilt that we indulged in the meal before us. Alas, there was to be no redemption -- the tender, moist meat dressed in a tangy tomato sauce was the inarguable highlight of the meal.

Dessert

The pizza, with vegetable toppings from a list also including Italian sausage and other meats, was an ample portion, probably enough for two diners. The thin crust was crisp and chewy, complemented by the tangy combination of sharp cheeses.

For dessert, we took our pick from the array of cakes on offer. Some were hold-overs from the night before, and we finally gave the nod to a rich chocolate rum cake.

The cake confirmed that Il Punto has not lost its culinary charms. But it was not the same story with the service, which was all over the place.

More than once orders were forgotten or had to be reiterated for the well-meaning but distracted waitress.

We tried to be even-handed -- it was still early in the day and the kitchen was probably just getting into the swing of things.

Then again, there were only a few other couples in the bar, and the service, including the aforesaid server's knowledge of the menu items, could have been better.

At nearly Rp 125,000 for the food plus coffee and cappuccino, the trip down memory lane to Il Punto was not cheap. But the sinful osso bucco, at Rp 30,000, made up almost a quarter of our bill. With qualifications taken into account for the erratic service, it had been a lunch filled with good taste, good conversation and great atmosphere.

-- Epicurus