St. Germain

During the last couple of months we have seen a handful of new restaurants/cafes at Grand Indonesia shopping centre opening their doors to the masses and tired shoppers (oh and more importantly people who are tired of accompanying their spouses doing some serious shopping). Almost all of these new places are located at the East Mall of Grand Indonesia, which not coincidentally is also the location of the newly-opened Central department store, the latest retail chain to enter the Indonesian market.

Visitors to the East Mall are spoilt when it comes down to F&B choices these days; amongst the newer joints you got Nomz, Union Deli, the soon-to-be-open Benedicta, and St. Germain. A couple of months back we had the chance to drop by St. Germain, which is Cacaoté’s sister restaurant.

Cacaoté, as most of you guys already know, is an establishment in Senopati which can be easily spotted from the busy roads thanks to their salmon-pink-coloured building. Needless to say, the colour of the building combined with the preconceived idea that it is a hangout place for ladies sorta deter men (some food-blogging men inclusive) from paying the place a visit. Interestingly enough, even though St. Germain offers food in the same veins like Cacaoté, the décor and the ambience are not as (dare I say) feminine as their counterpart.

In terms of their menu, they have a wide selection of desserts and sweets just like at Cacaoté as well as some heavier meal choices.

Looking at all the sweets would be enough to give you diabetes! But since we wanted to be very sure we increased our blood sugar levels, we ended up ordering the cacaoté (which is a choc cake basically) and their mango choux.

In my opinion the cacaoté is tad too rich and might be a bit too much for some; however, I reckon you can’t go wrong with the mango choux (unless you are allergic to mangoes, or desserts…). The choux is nicely-balanced. The choux is not too sweet and you could still find hints of mangoes in the dessert.

Once we were done with desserts, we were feeling rebellious (and hungry as usual) and ordered mains. We opted for their charcuterie (pictured below) and the reuben sandwich.

The charcuterie is served with sourdough bread and consists of preserved tuna, cured salmon, pancetta, smoked ham, cheese of the day (it was cheddar I think when we were there), gherkins (or commonly-known as pickles), and tomato chutney. Although they have managed to do all elements of the charcuterie reasonably well (gherkins are fresh, the cured salmon and meats are tasty), the stand outs are their preserved tuna and the tomato chutney. The tuna doesn’t smell fishy at all and the oil which they have used to preserve the tuna really brings out the flavor; on the other hand, the tomato chutney is prepared perfectly: the ingredients and the spices used in the chutney really complement one another without any one ingredient being too overpowering. The chutney is everything that you can hope for: it is sweet, fresh, savory, and tangy at the same time. Hands down St. Germain definitely got one of the best chutneys in town for you chutney fanatics out there!

Moving on to the other dish that we ordered, their reuben sandwich also looked delish:

Even though a reuben is very popular in western countries, I’ve had difficulties getting my hands on one here in Indo. Was feeling sheer delight when I spotted the reuben on the menu. The reuben at St. Germain is served with beef pastrami, sauerkraut, emmental cheese, and horseradish mayo. Overall the reuben is one heck of a sandwich: the pastrami got pretty solid flavours, the sauerkraut hits the right level of sourness, the cheese has this sweetness to it, and the horseradish mayo is to die for! To be perfectly fair, it might not be at par with other famous reuben sandwiches (like Katz’s Delicatessen’s,  which is OVERSEAS mind you) but I’d be more than happy to get my regular fill of reuben at St. Germain on any given day.

In summary, St. Germain got a mix of all kinds of food which they do well; however, I would like to point out one thing apart from their food that is definitely worth mentioning: their service. This place got near-impeccable service; all of the staff when we’re there are exceptional: they are down-to-earth, polite, knowledgeable about the food, friendly, and very attentive. Sure hope they could really maintain the same level of service for years to come!

The place reminds me that a good restaurant never takes anything for granted. The simplest of dishes like a sandwich once done right can be truly delish, putting in the effort to create unique condiments like a tomato chutney can make your meal memorable, and excellent service would make the overall dining experience second to none.

Food: |**** |          Ambience: |**** |         Price: |$$$  |

Opening hours: Everyday 10 am-10 pm

Location: Grand Indonesia Mall, Lantai Upper Ground, East Mall, Jl. MHThamrin, Thamrin, Jakarta

Telephone: +62 21 2358 0018

Posted by NotPrinceCharming