Two weeks ago I got a special invitation from Goorme.com to attend a 7-course gala dinner as a part of Jakarta Culinary Festival 2010 closing. As we all know JCF 2010 was held for only one month (whole November) in Grand Indonesia, so the closing took place in Pop-Up resto – which you must know, that it was built only for the event!

The night started with talkshow with Ivan Sielegar, CIO of Goorme, sharing the background & his vision of Goorme, which I found really interesting. Then Mr. Erza, ST joined in the talkshow and sharing his experiences writing for restaurant reviews etc, and last but not least, the owner of Foodtography.com joined us and shared a wee bit tips & trick about food photography. I (hoped) I learned a lot from him, hehe.. it’s just without real world practice, I couldn’t really get the picture of balancing ISO, shutter speed, lighting, shadow, and blahblahblah. And the talkshow run almost 2hrs and yes I admitted I was getting soooo frikin’ hungry and I just wished, “Let’s cut to the chase!” :) So finally, here are the list of chef & the almighty seven sins we’ve had the entire night:

Cold Appetizer – by Chef Fahmi Widarte, Corporate Chef of Rotaryana Prima
Balinese Chicken Salad with Coconut Vegetables and Sambal Matah

Okay, the very first course was really the beginning, not so many surprises here. Yes it was no different than “Urap” with a little modification – not really a favorite of mine, but it’s a good start, a fresh start and to prepare us ready for heading to the next course!

Hot Appetizer – by Chef Hugo Adrian, Executive Chef of Blowfish Kitchen & Bar
Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek in Sweet Miso

This was my favorite! How do I describe, hmm.. Wagyu beef cheek is so delicate, small portion perfect for appetizer, and when you slice it you also get the nice sensation by the combination of wagyu + horse radish underneath, then you took another sip of spoon of Sweet Miso – it blended perfectly especially after having spicy sambal matah earlier. THIS WAS SIMPLY THE BEST. I think I loved Chef Hugo for this, haha.

Soup – by Chef Agus Ishermawan, Head Chef of Ismaya Catering
Authentic Sultan's Tomato Cream Soup

While it seemed like everyone was having a bit of a hard time to empty the bowl, me on the other side, I like the dish! I love tomatoes, and cream, so it’s not really that sour for my taste, but yes it was a pretty full soup.

Pasta – by Chef Gianfranco Beltrame, Italian Chef de Cuisine at Casa d’Oro, Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta
Red Shell Pasta with Duck Ragout, Pine Nut, and Rocket Salad

Well this one had the longest name in menu, I even had to tweet it on 2 separate tweet! Haha. The original name was in Italian, “Conchigliette Rosse All ‘Uovo Mantecate Al Ragu’ d’Anatra, Pinoli Tostati e Rucola”. Tasted okay, but seeing two reddish dishes in a row kinda made me feel “another red? This better be good :)” And it definitely was. The pine nut stands out!

Fish – by Chef Sofyan Joshua, Technical Culinary Chef of Sukanda Djaya
Chilean Sea Bass Seasoned with Lee Kum Kee Ginger Oyster Sauce

This was my 2nd favorite best! Well first you need to know that I am a fish type person. Fish comes first before any red meats, beef/mutton/chicken/duck (ducks always on bottom of my preferences list), but fish is still below king prawns & lobsters & scallop, haha.. Anyway.. this sea bass rocked the night, and I’m already thinking to buy Lee Kum Kee ginger oyster sauce because of this.

Meat – by Chef Ignacio Virgen Jimenez, Chef de Cuisine of Potato Head
Short Rib, Truffle Demi Glaze, Charcoal Oil, Glazed Carrots, Potato Hot Foam and Nuts Fake Couscous

All my life I’ve been wondering how does Demi Glaze sauce tasted (this is pretty much affected by a JDorama (japanese drama) titled ‘Lunch Queen’ – anyone watched it before? The whole mouthwatering Japanese Omurice topped with Demi Glaze sauce that needed to be prepared at least 6 hours to cook. I don’t know if this was the same as in film, but at least it met my expectation!! I love the blending taste of short rib with its sauce, although I wasn’t pretty sure that night, what did ‘Charcoal Oil’ do to the dish? Really, I didn’t feel anything – no different than virgin olive oil.

Dessert – by Chef Rinrin Marinka, Artistic Chef
Green Tea Cake Ala Tropicale

And finally the dessert came.. It was already 10.30pm and yet we were still eating for God’s sake! No, don’t think of any diet program because it was already ruined since course number one, hehe. This dish is quite satisfying, there’s passion fruit, mangoes, and grilled coconut + ice cream, more than enough to close the entire seven package meal nicely.

In one word, the whole experience was… superb! Probably the best well-mannered dinner I’ve ever had so far. I thanked Goorme so much for inviting me over :) And see ya at the next Jakarta Culinary Festival 2011! Btw I’ve also uploaded the entire album in case you’d like to see that I’ve made more friends than I thought I would :D We even got photographed in polaroid, hehe.. Cheers..