La Bastille, another gem for good French food in Jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta must be dotted with small to medium-sized restaurants, tucked away from the well-known areas, but offering tasty, well-cooked food to discerning customers. You may remember that about two months ago, we reviewed the French eatery La Fontaine in Jl. Cipete Utara, and were suitably impressed.
Well, La Bastille (or L'Arlequin, as it seems to have two names), is only a baguette's throw away, and just as good.
La Bastille (L'Arlequin): Jl. Pangeran Antasari (formerly Jl. Arteri) No. 34, Cipete, South Jakarta, tel. 7696374, 75818351.
Location: On the eastern side of the road, not far from Jl. Puri Sakti and the AEA medical center. There is a sign at the edge of the sidewalk with La Bastille written on it.
Hours: Open every day from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Major credit cards are accepted.
Looks: The building has a slightly quaint, rustic appearance when seen from the road, as the front is clad in wood, and the small wood-framed windows beckon the visitor inside. The dining area is basically a square-shaped room with about 10 tables that can hold a total of around 60 people (although it would feel somewhat claustrophobic if every seat were occupied, as the tables are placed rather close together).
The overall feel is of sitting in someone's dining room (or parlor, to use a term we rarely come across these days), as there are framed pictures on the walls and even an upright piano at the back. It was a little bright inside, but then the lighting level in your own dining room would probably be something like this anyway.
The room is deliciously cool after the dust and noise outside, as there are six air conditioners (all working!) to keep out the heat. The homey feel is completed by a small bookcase, from which guests are encouraged to take away with them copies of second- hand books or magazines, or read them while awaiting the food.
The well-groomed waitresses, looking smart in their blue-and- white striped uniforms, were helpful and polite, and obviously took pride in working there, unlike the bored, uninterested staff you can sometimes come across in eating places.
What's it got: A reasonable range of French food is on the menu (I counted about 15 main meat courses and five fish dishes). Desserts and the usual range of drinks (soft and alcoholic) are also available. There is also red and white wine (mainly French) by the bottle or glass.
Taste factor: The food on offer is tasty, well-prepared, straightforward French provencale cooking, served in good-sized portions. My companion and I started with Escargots de Bourgogne (snails) and French onion soup. The snails were served in garlic butter. There were plenty of them (a dozen) and they tasted, well, like snails should, except they left a slightly bitter aftertaste. The soup didn't look as attractive as it might have done, but it tasted OK and was well seasoned.
Three main dishes then followed, so that we could get a good impression of what was available. Boeuf Bourguignon (stewed beef) was actually one of the three daily specialties available for two days each week. The large chunks of meat were really tender, and certainly didn't need a knife to cut them. They were accompanied by mashed potatoes, some ratatouille and green beans with garlic.
The Parisien grilled steak (medium rare) was juicy, tender, and had been cooked to perfection. The waitress assured us that the meat was imported from Australia, and judging by the flavor we had no reason to doubt it. There was a ratatouille and French fries accompaniment, the latter nice and crispy. The shrimps dipped in Calvados were slightly disappointing, as the shrimps lacked that really fresh taste (and had obviously just been defrosted), but the white sauce was good, although I found it hard to detect the Calvados. Herbed boiled potatoes and ratatouille were also in the serving.
There wasn't enough room for a dessert each, but we shared orange sorbet with Grand Marnier as a light way of rounding off the meal. Although the sorbet had a somewhat artificial color, it was refreshing, and the liquer that was poured over it added a slightly decadent feel to the proceedings.
Price points: That meal, plus two glasses of sparkling Equil mineral water served with lashings of ice, a glass of adequate red wine and a coca cola came to Rp 306,000, including 10 percent tax. Not bad value!
Minus points: A restaurant laid out as this must have just the right number of guests to achieve a good ambience: too few and it feels as though you're in a goldfish bowl, too many and it could begin to feel like McDonald's on a bad day.
Verdict: Very good value for money, and the friendly, domestic feel of the place can create the ideal ambience for a relaxing, yet enjoyable meal out. A romantic dinner for two is not out of the question either! (Les Coffier)