AVEC MOI JAKARTA

With the number of new restaurants opening in Jakarta, frankly speaking, only several that really gets me in the good way. I think I have pointed this out so many times it almsot bores me, had lunch earlier today at this (at the moment as I am writing this) two month old casual French restaurant named "Avec Moi" (read: Ah-Vekh-Mwa) and unexpectedly, it changed my perception of the mainstream new eateries. Avec Moi means "with me" in English and I want you to stick with me right now and keep on reading.

This restaurant's located in Thamrin City Office Park and in line with Tanamera Coffee, location wise, sort of anti-mainstream considering most new restaurants are opening either in Senopati, Panglima Polim or Pantai Indah Kapuk. Venue wise, not the largest most extravagant restaurant, but I was fond of how comforting the interior was, the interior design was simple with the touch of casual & quirkiness, something that's not everyday French (normally they're quite "serious" and very neat).

 Avec Moi's first floor. The restaurant has three floors, the first and second floor are functioned as the dining area while the third floor is actually their bar.

 I love this frame!

 They're using "bunny" as the logo of their restaurant and I super love how they're functioning the bunny ears on the chairs. I found that supah dupah cute! FYI if you're dying to sit on those bunny chairs, they're located on the second floor. The second floor is also where the live kitchen area is, so you can also see when the chef (who btw is also the owner) prepping and cooking your meals!

 The third floor/bar area. The design's also very simple.

 Amazing view of Jakarta landscape from here, the view almost reminded me of the one I saw in H Senopati.

 Since Avec Moi is a French restaurant, the menu is undoubtedly dominated with French cuisine, but their concept is a little more modern. The menu range was pretty good and there were some good selections of proteins to choose from! Good enough to take me on a certain momentum of dilemma, but since some of my blogger friends have actually been here before and they told me their burger was amazing, I decided to order that...and some more! HAHAHA!

Foie de Poulet
IDR 50k
Kicking off the lunch with this garlic butter baguette crispy bread and they were very lovely! The texture was crispy but moist on the center with amazing seasoning, I love how the butter was very fragrant and rich but not overpowering my palate. The baguette was meant to be paired with the chicken liver rilettes & caramelized onions and picked veges. The chicken liver rilettes was another bomb, normally I would say no because when chicken liver's not executed nicely, it could be freaking stinky and disgusting, but it's nowhere near that. Juz yum!

Salade Avec Moi
IDR 65k
I am going to cut the bullshit and say this: it's ONE OF THE BEST SALAD I'VE HAD IN LIFE! It's actually very simple: fresh lettuce with cherry tomatoes, chickens and fried shallots, but it's the seasoning that did most of the talking! The sesame ponzu dressing was so beautiful I literally couldn't stop taking more! MUST TRY!

Foie Gras with Spiced Fruits and Orange Glaze
IDR 155k
I have been craving for Foie Gras for quite some time and I was glad that I finally fulfil the craving with such good Foie Gras, in terms of quality. The Foie Gras was cooked perfectly leaving the texture to be very smooth and to pair it with the spiced fruits like apples and raisins with pancakes was just a brilliant idea. I love that zesty citrusy flavor from the orange glaze, but I just found that the flavor was a tad sweet instead of tangy (because there spiced fruits were already sweet). If they could give a little more salt to the Foie Gras then it would be perfect for me.

Salmon Tartare with 63 Degree Celcius Sous Vide Egg
IDR 83k
Their salmon tartare was another memorable dish as well as my personal favorites. The cook was cooked in sous vide style and by the way if you don't know sous vide, it's actually the slow cooking style in this sous vide machine where you can cook for a certain number of time in a controlled temperature. I really don't know how to explain the main difference between the common soft boiled runny eggs and the sous vide eggs but the texture was smoother and the white and egg yolk had this stable creamy texture and flavor. I liked what they did with the salmon tartare, the chef actually put in two kinds of salmon: the raw and medium-cooked one to give the texture. I recommend you guys to have everything together with the baguette because the burst of flavor was beautiful!

Bacon Carbonara Pasta
IDR 78k
I also liked this one, the texture of pasta was beautifully al-dente with generous pork bacon cuts, sous vide egg, grated parmesan and Sarawak blackpepper. This dish was less creamier than what I expected because they're using the soft cream and the help of the sous vide egg to enrich it, and basically you mix everything before you have them.

Kakuni Pork Belly Burger
IDR 138k
I don't know why but in this post I almost want to cut everything short and label everything with "the best" so can I do it here? It's one of the best burger I've had in Jakarta so far!!!

The patty was beautifully cooked (medium) with caramelized onion and the pork belly was tender, juicy, perfectly cooked and marinated (I MEAN LOOK AT DEM JUICE). Something about the fries that's very simple but well seasoned making it one of the highlights of the serving!

230 gr Striploin Steak
IDR 198k
Again, the desire to label "the best", this steak was also one of the best steaks you can possibly try and find in Jakarta, the thing that I love about it is the fact that it's just very simple, but it's the marinating and seasoning that really spoke out loud, not to mention the good old garlic butter giving a little more flavor and hint of delicious-drooling aroma. When you order the steak, you HAVE TO order either medium or medium rare and you better listen to me.

Orange Souffle with Rum Raisin Ice Cream
IDR 60k
The souffle came with candied orange zest, segment orange and optional ice cream (I chose Rum Raisin because it had more character). Souffle easily shrink in seconds and as you can see on the photo, it shrinked as we were taking photo. Yet again, the case when you're making one of the trickiest desserts on earth. The texture (egg white) and the flavor of this souffle was beautiful and there was this rich orange flavor and aroma lingering the dish. I would recommend you guys trying this.

It felt so good knowing that there's ANOTHER GREAT restaurant in town and it's just the beginning of the year and I already have the candidate for my upcoming Best Restaurant list, whoa an early notice right? So far, I can proudly crown this as one of the best restaurants in Jakarta at the moment and I mean it. If you think this is a freaking advertorial (as some people kept on saying) you're stupid. Pricing wise, they're very affordable especially knowing you're getting this kind of quality, I would love to pay more to be honest!

Don't forget that they have two opening hours in a day: lunch time starts at 11 AM - 2 PM (last order), to be continued with dinner starting at 6 PM - 9.30 PM (10.30 on weekends).

By the way, the 2014 list coming soon, still working to collect the missing photos </3.

Avec Moi
Thamrin City Office Park Block AA-01
Thamrin, Jakarta Pusat 10230
021 - 2962 5878
Opening Hours:
Lunch Time: 11 AM - 2 PM (last order)
Dinner: 6 PM - 9.30 PM (last order), 10.30 PM on weekends
Pricing: $$
Dresscode: Casual
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Map for Thamrin City Office Park

AMBER CHOCOLATE AND BAR SENOPATI - JAKARTA

This week, so many new places (I mean dining and hangout places) are opening in town and being the kiasu byotch I’ve always been, I managed to visit most of them! HAHA NO! Totally kidding, I am not kiasu nor a byotch (or probably half true), I just love the excitement of visiting new places and the joy to publish them first to let people know certain places exist here and there! This was one hell of a fetish and in this case, just like this one... earlier today, I visited this new establishment in Senopati called Amber Chocolate and Bar. Located just across Cacaote and actually looks pretty much like it, Amber specializes in chocolate crafting selling their own-produced artisan chocolates.

Amber will start operating on the December 28th, but eatandtreats got the early cover for you! Hope you enjoy the reading *smooch*.

Amber is another venture from the giant, Mount Scopus Group which by the way also managed their earlier establishments such as Harvest Chocolate, NEGEV Restaurant, Balboni Ristorante and many more. Amber’s exterior was pretty fancy and eye-catching with the artificial plant set on the building making it (almost) impossible not to notice! Unfortunately, I didn't manage to snap any pic of the exterior because Jakarta was raining very hard :(. When you first step your feet in, you’re basically going to be greeted by the classiness of Amber, the center POV was this table with chocolates, flowers and "handbags" and chandeliers hanging above it. It only took less than 5 seconds for me to go “dang this place is real fancy”. The whole Amber building was divided to these three-floors and each floor got its own function. The first floor was the chocolate and pastry boutique, the second floor was the library themed diner and the third one was the rooftop bar, in a sudden Amber felt like a very functional house for me.

Okay, enough yakking, let's do the Tour de Amber!

1st floor: Chocolate & Pastry Boutique

The first floor was the chocolate and pastry boutique. In a glance, this particular venue rang fancy and classy with Victorian details, I love the fact that they're actually made the effort to mix vintage with minimalist! The walls and the floor were concrete and cements and FYI I've always loved the smell of new houses or buildings HAHA!

Amber and Harvest are the chocolate specialist, but you can say Amber as this more upscale version of Harvest, the ingredients, the setting, the design and the service felt a little more exclusive but in a joyous and polite way. There was this huge glass display where they put the chocolates and pastries at and they were very catchy for the eyes I got hungry!

These are the handbags that I talked about, the amazing thing about it is that when you actually purchase their chocolate set or hampers, the bag is actually the outer packaging and you can bring this gorgeous leather bag back with you! If I'm not mistaken, I think the hamper was worth around IDR 700k, which is very worth it.

I first thought it was someone's Hermes bag.

The first floor featured the live oven, so you can see when they're actually baking their pastries!

Heaven is closer than you think it is.

They have 13 flavored macarons and each was IDR 15k, they also had (from what I counted) 9 chocolate pralines creations and each was IDR 20k/each, I must say it’s pretty hefty for a piece, but since it’s artisan and premium... there you go!

Proclaiming themselves as the chocolate specialist, one of Amber's most fascinating creation was this Hot Chocolate made from very-very premium ingredient! I paid attention to the creative process and the result was the best hot chocolate I've ever had in Jakarta! The hot chocolate was creamy and very rich but didn't leave that "spiky" aftertaste on the throat. It was just the perfect companion on the rainy day like that.

2nd floor: Library Themed Diner

It’s not literallylibrary, it’s just the concept of the floor, it’s still a part of the dining area, mostly covered in wood materials with racks of old-vintage books and wines. For some reasons, especially when you already see the luxurious first floor, this particular floor seemed very humble and lacking of that fanciness that I expected, it's probably because the area wasn't that spacious so it's lacking of that drama. However, not bad at all.

3rd floor: Rooftop Bar
Since the rooftop bar will start operating on the 28th (which is tomorrow), by the time I was there, it did not operate, even though it might not be the most spacious rooftop bar there is in Jakarta, but I honestly quite like the ambiance of it. Rooftop bar is trending like mad right now, well I like the idea of rootfop bar it’s just that I don’t go there a lot since they mostly sell alcohol and a lot of smokers (I just don't drink nor smoke), but this rooftop bar consist of this area covered in glass, allowing the direct showcase of the 360 degree view of SCBD area. They also have the indoor and outdoor area. Didn't show you a lot of photos because it was raining very hard I couldn't go out and snap pics!

I had dinner on the second floor (the library), I came on their pre-opening days so the menu was still very limited, but they're expanding the menu by the time this is opening for public and you're going to have many more to choose! The food menu here was dominated by French Bistro menu so you can find salads, entrees (appetizers), soup & veloutes, pasta & rice, mains and desserts. I managed to try several menu here so since I guess you’re probably scrolling down to the food pics, here you go!

Emperador Salad
IDR 90k
The Emperador salad consist of fresh Iceberg lettuce, anchovy, parmesan, tomato, poached egg and wagyu beef. I found this salad to be quite tasty! I love the proper amount of homemade sauce (tasted sort of like mayo and thousand island) given to this single portion, the seasoning was light but I believe since the ingredients were fresh, they kinda spoke for themselves! The poached egg wasn't this runny kind of soft-boiled but it wasn't a problem at all, the beef was quite tender and seasoned beautifully and somehow a contrary to the anchovy biscuits, but I kinda wish they would give more beef cuts tho. A lil' more wouldn't hurt.

Black Risotto
IDR 90k
It's written on the menu that the risotto should consist of wild mushrooms and I just realized it after I actually re-checked the menu as I am typing this, I couldn't find the wild mushrooms, wasn't sure it's blended in the risotto but I didn't feel any mushroom flavor or texture. Their risotto wasn't this creamy-runny risotto and the texture was a little sticky and all together just like sticky rice. However, flavor wise, it was actually quite tasty and FYI I love the presentation, look so atas!

13 Hours Pork Belly
IDR 125k
When I ordered this, I was expecting a very tender pork belly with juicy fats and salty flavor but I wasn't getting that (unless the salty savory flavor), their version of pork belly was this sort of "tenderloin" cuts with almost no fat, full meat and it wasn't tender enough for my standard even though it's been going through the 13 hour process. Taste wise, again the food here was generally tasty. I love the seasoning to the pork belly and the natural sweetness of the carrot puree blended well with the pork belly. If they could make the more tender version of it, this would be a freaking rockin dish!

Mashed Potato
Short to say, this was one of the best mashed potato I've had in life. Hands down! The texture was lovely, the flavor was appropriate with light base seasoning, it was simply creamy and smooth without any lumps without being over milky! YUM!

Pan-seared Tazmanian Salmon Trout
IDR 160k
This was the winner of the night and everything was very good on this plate: the salmon was perfectly cooked, silky, fresh and flavorful with semi-crispy skin, but I must give it to the amazing sauce made from parsley, edamame and wasabi, it was beautiful and brilliant! This simply is the MUST ORDER DISH in Amber. LOVE!!!

A little overview. Feast for the beasts!

Desserts: assorted macarons! (IDR 15k/each)

We basically order all of the macarons to try them, generally, the macarons' texture wasn't my favorite. I was very curious with their curry flavored macarons so I gave it a try, and oh, I think I forgot to mention this, but I was having lunch with Ivy and Cindy and I was glad that I was surrounded by the bottomless pits! I had a great lunch <3. The curry macaron turned out okay and sort of popcorn-ish, I was expecting the bolder spicier flavor but it was kind of covered by the sweetness of the macaron, they also have the "chili-pepper" one and it was a little more flavorful.

I have good expectations and good feelings about Amber. I had this belief that it's soon becoming one of the hippest places in Jakarta and everyone will be looking for it just like how it was with Cacaote even until now, but no, they're in a way, very different with Cacaote. Venue wise, I like Amber more than Cacaote, it's just classy and classy just how I like it (I am not arrogant but I freaking adore expensiveness *glasses on*) but for the food, both serves amazing food and price wise, it's very tolerable, just because I think most places has this kind of price range! BTW I am sure coming back for more of what Amber has in store!!!

Till the next post! Thank you very much for reading and in case I haven't greeted you all:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

Thank you for sharing the joy and all the good with eatandtreats. I hope you good people are blessed along the way! AMEN!

Amber Chocolate & Bar
Jalan Senopati Raya No. 61
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan 12190
021 - 2904 4412
Opening Hours:
Chocolate and pastry boutique: 7 AM - 10 PM
Library: 10 AM - 11 PM
Sky Lounge: 5 PM - 1 AM (weekdays) and closed at 3 AM on weekends
Dresscode: sporty casual
Pricing: $$
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Map for Appetite (across and near Amber)