1st floor, Vineth Bakery
Jl. Panglima Polim Raya 63-65
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta Selatan
Tel. 724 4911
All the beautiful things that once took place behind the door of this rustic, intimate French inn above Vineth Bakery — the startling juxtapositions of flavours and textures, the delights of new discoveries, the largesse of a true gourmand introducing Jakartans to Iberian ham and Matsuzaka beef, veal cheek and sumac — seem to have been part of a long Indian summer.
The Symphony of Flavours is one of its very few legacies kept intact — a seven-year old concept of menu degustation harking back to the heyday of William Wongso’s empire, a part of the Enlightenment that took place in France but whose Revolution unfurled elsewhere. In fact, it is now the only defining experience at what was once a laboratory of taste — a current of life — and for which, as usual, you have to book a few days in advance.
The truffle quiches and spinakopita are lovely canapés, principally because they’re pint-sized enough not to fill or intimidate. The Foie Gras Fantasy is a trio of starters that also feel like amuse gueule, not the least of which because of their slightly awkward size and presentation (pan-fried foie gras cramped in a minuscule soy sauce bowl, anyone?). Eggcellent, a popular William standby of foie gras chawan mushi, is the most accomplished of the three “inventions”, in part because of its familiarity with other culinary traditions. The Foie Gras Brik Cone with leek, apple and plum sauce is a modern stab at Peking duck that doesn’t quite work — the brik cone is the sort of hardy, almost Swedish-style cracker only fit for toppings, not fillings, added to the fact that there is hardly any foie gras or apple or leek or plum sauce to speak of. Meanwhile, the little slabette of pan-fried foie gras, aside from being shrivelled out by insensitive plating, lacks the refinement of many of its competitions.
The grilled king prawn with soba, fermented black bean and rice wine vinegar dressing would have made waves in any modern Japanese outfit; here, it doesn’t quite tune in with the foie gras, even as contrast, but it is nonetheless a lovely, quiet progression of austere flavours, with the perfect species of king prawn sitting slightly at a distance like a proud trophy. So much so that the following course, baked pear wrapped in smoked duck breast in blue cheese sauce, seems a hangover of another era, when chefs hadn’t learned to dial down heavy sauces and creams in favour of healthy arteries. There’s also too little of the smoked duck to “wrap” anything with, which is a pity, for this allows the sauce to drown everything out — whatever happened to sous vide? — including the rather nicely done, otherwise hard to bungle, baked pear.
The grilled minced quail and shitake wrapped in wild beetle leaf on sauerkraut, another William signature dish, does little to lift things up and I suspect at this point of the meal it is not so much about the lacklustre cooking than the sheer outmodedness of the dish: it can never work, for an instance, as a big plate, and nobody does sauerkraut anymore these days, not even in Paris (and when they do, they mangle it big-time, as my own experience at the famed La Coupole some years ago attests).
Not all is lost though: the veloute of green peas, served rather ingeniously as a cappuccino, is lovely as lovely comes, and by this it has succeeded in becoming that rarity — a dish that’s full-bodied but blessedly light — which is its own paradox.* And there is no faulting the cod, which comes tapenade-licked and only slightly grilled, sitting nobly on a bed of Horenzo spinach with a generous shower of raisins, pine nuts and a bare hint of parmesan cheese. Or the ultimate William signature of grilled tournedos, whose mushroom ragout is out-and-out gorgeous.
At which point the “Symphony of Desserts” closing salvo is unnecessary, as desserts often are — for all his sublime breads, cakes are not among William’s fortes, and there is something tired about bite-sized tiramisu and raspberry coulised-anything sitting on a slim, rectangular platter.
So this may not be the perfect microcosm it once was, and fine dining on the whole is a rapidly dying art, but much of what it once was — a place to be romantic, educated or royally entertained or with luck, all three at the same time — lives in the memory.
Price range: Symphony of Flavours for 4 Rp 2,242,000 (including tax)
Operating hours: night time only, by appointment
Dress code: smart casual
Atmosphere: rustic, intimate French inn
All major credit cards accepted
Reviewed: January 2008
* veloute is a white sauce made with thickened butter, flour roux and cream.
Didukung Golkar Maju Pilgub Jatim 2024, Khofifah: Ini Mandat yang Sangat Berharga
Eks Gubernur Jawa Timur, Khofifah Indar Parawansa bersyukur dan menyampaikan terima kasih karena didukung Partai Golkar untuk maju dalam kontestasi Pilgub Jatim 2024.
