Dying spirit spreads its wings

After a long period of relative dormancy, sake — a traditional beverage of Japanese origin that is made from fermented rice — is gaining popularity among Jakarta’s upscale communities.

V IN+ has now established Saké+, the only Japanese restaurant in town with an extensive saké collection, and organized a saké-pairing omasaké (“I trust you [chef]”) dinner, arguably the first of its kind ever held in town.

“There were demands for saké from our clients, who wanted not only a supply of wine but also saké from us. So, rather than just being a saké importer and supplier, our shareholders decided to establish Saké+,” explained Yolanda Simorangkir, general manager of VIN+, which, without much fanfare, has been selling sake for several years.

The city, of course, is no stranger to saké. The drink has been available in the city’s high-end Japanese restaurants for decades, ever since business relations with Japan flourished after Indonesia’s independence.

An aunt of this writer is married to a Japanese businessman and divides her time between Jakarta and Tokyo. She recalled saké dinners at three Japanese restaurants in the city back in 1965.

At that time, demand for saké was limited to the city’s Japanese business communities and their Indonesian business partners, she added.

But now, more and more people are embracing the thrill of the drinkable rice.

“Although lately we are getting more Japanese patrons, the majority of our customers are still locals. They say they prefer saké to hard liquor because unlike vodka or whisky, which often gives them a hangover the morning after, saké induces sleepiness and makes them feel refreshed upon waking up,” said Saké+ Operational Manager Sherly Wiraatmaja

Bordeaux in Margaret River 

The smell that is typically associated with the striking of a match flared upon the pouring of Vasse Felix’s Heytesbury Chardonnay 2011.

It was followed by grapefruit flavors, a dash of nutmeg spiciness, a quirky smell of mustiness, earthiness and a potpourri of spices, herbs and aromatic wood, with structural strength and intensity.

“[It is] like walking down London Brick Lane,” said Vasse Felix’s sales and marketing manager, Llyod Constantine, during a dinner at Vin+ Arcadia organized by PT Jaddi International in Senayan that exclusively featured wines from Vasse Felix Winery of Margaret River, West Australia. 

Constantine was quoting Australia’s Best Young Sommelier in 2011, Daniel Wegener of Perth’s Print Hall. 

“I assume he was referring to the wine’s ‘funkiness’ and depth of character,” he explained. 

Given that the lane teems with England’s ethnic minorities, most notably of South Asian origin, it’s not difficult to figure out why Wagener came to such a portrayal to describe the wine’s aromatic profile. 

This signature white needs food to be enjoyed to its fullest. It was correctly paired with the very rich, creamy, savory hot lobster bisque because a richer lobster dish normally calls for a richer Chardonnay. 

But for me, it was a better match for the lighter, fresher cold appetizer served earlier (Morel mushroom salad with chopped chicken, truffle foam and paper-thin, triangular, extremely dry and crispy chicken skin cracker). 

Unlike the bisque, whose rich, gripping flavors competed, if not clashed, with the wine’s uniquely distinct personality, the appetizer underlined its complexity and richness. Moreover, the delicious burnt flavors of the chicken skin baked at 150 degree Celsius evoked the wine’s initial notes of lit matchstick. 

Three grades down the line, the other Chardonnay (Filius 2013) was markedly less complex but more versatile. Calmer, fresher, lighter, purer, cleaner and fruitier with lemony, citrusy notes, 

Filius was not only delightfully enjoyable without food but also paired well with the first three courses. 

Its acidity and lemony taste counterbalanced the fairly fatty and heavy (smoked salmon ballotine with caviar) and made the appetizer more savory. Its limey acidity cut through the fat of the chicken skin and eased the savoriness and richness of the creamy, heavy hot bisque.

The red that came next was Shiraz 2011. Paired with rather tough chunks of duck breast with raspberry vinegar sauce, it was surprisingly good. It was restrained with fine grained tannins and refreshing acidity, not extra-jammy with lip-smackingly sweet fruit, like its well known counterparts from the country’s warmest regions such as Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. 

Its intense aromas of sweet, ripe dark fruit did not come through heavily and powerfully on the palate, perhaps because this wine is made primarily from the oldest Shiraz vines in the Margaret River, which, however, is the stronghold of Cabernet Sauvignon, not Shiraz. 

But Shiraz was among the grape varieties the winery’s founder (Tom Cullity) initially planted when establishing the vineyards in 1967. 

So, Vasse Felix continues to produce Shiraz, albeit in a small quantity (4,000 cases a year) because it was not the winery’s signature wine, solely for this historical reason, explained Llyod, adding that it was not exported elsewhere in the world but to Indonesia.

‘Meugang’: Aceh’s way of welcoming Ramadhan

‘Meugang’: Aceh’s way of welcoming Ramadhan

For Acehnese people, beef is the most sought-after meat a day before the holy month of Ramadhan kicks off.

On Wednesday morning, more than 12 butchers were busy serving shoppers at their booths in the coffee shop- and food stall-lined area along Jl. T. Nyak Arief in Kuta Alam district, Banda Aceh.

The food stalls and coffee shops, which mostly operate 24 hours, were closed that day.

Big hunks of fresh beef lying on wooden tables and hung on metal hooks under tarps attracted passersby to visit. They continued to flock to the shops for meat throughout the day.

“Today [June 17], we are celebrating meugang,” said butcher Usman Amin.

Meugang is a tradition that remains in Aceh, which is home to more than 4.8 million people.

In this tradition, people stay at home, cooking beef and enjoying it with family members to welcome the holy month in the 58,376-square-kilometer province, located at the north-western tip of Sumatra. 

Beef can be replaced with buffalo or goat meat. “Chicken is not allowed,” Usman said about meugang, which is also held a day before Idul Fitri and Idul Adha. 

According to the Koran and Sunnah, Ramadhan is good news for Muslims because God will multiply rewards for those who worship Him. Therefore, it is a special month for people in Aceh, the only sharia-based province in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

For the occasion, Usman slaughtered five cows in a slaughterhouse at Peunayong traditional market, which is around 7 kilometers from Jl. T. Nyak Arief. He did not remember how many cows were slaughtered at the house, but he said that there could be hundreds. 

Meugang is the event Usman has been waiting for because rising demand of beef makes the price higher than usual.

For the occasion, one kilogram of beef was sold at Rp 150,000 (US$11), up 50 percent from Rp 100,000 on previous days.

Usman said that such prices were also applied at other spots in the city, such as Peuniti market in Baiturrahman district and Lamnyong market in Syiah Kuala district.

Breaking The Fast

Breaking The Fast
delicious iftar wear what to eat chicken meatballs but what good is it to break their initial sweet - sweet because in sunahkan by the apostle with a sweet - sweet new first heavy meals, when we look for food we buy at the store diwarung where - where we are looking for we need to break the fast after a full day withstand hunger and thirst please give suggestions in www.twitter.com/@ridwanfirdaus0

Rediscovering the vernacular 

Freedom is paramount to creativity, but discretion, carefulness and judicious decision-making must prevail if decent East-meets-West fusion food is to be crafted and paired with wine satisfactorily.

This appeared to be the goal being pursued by Robert Mondavi Winery chef Jeff Mosher during the recent Robert Mondavi wine dinner at the Sriwijaya restaurant at the Dharmawangsa hotel in Jakarta.

The freedom to follow the general rule of pairing fish and white wine, for instance, was exercised in the first course (sauteed trevally and Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Fume Blanc 2012).

The freedom to defy it was on display in the main course, however, with spice-crusted yellow fin tuna paired with Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2001.

But what looked like two sides of pairing freedom was actually a well-known sauce-based logic. For the trevally (white in color, mild in taste), Mosher used a frenchified, light-tasting and sabayon-like coconut curry blend called Vadouvan, while for the tuna (red in color, bolder in taste), he used red wine vinaigrette.

Another freedom expressed in the dinner was evident in the absence of beef or lamb, despite the presence of two delicious red wines.

“I don’t think it has to be that way; I love beef; I do beef,” Mosher said, “but for this dinner I wanted to do something different”.

Doing “something different” could be seen in his use of local fish for the first course, which he adorned with an interplay of colors. Instead of presenting salmon or other imported fish, he opted for fish Indonesians were familiar with: kuwe, a thick, nicely seared fillet set atop a colorful melange of foamy yellow Vadouvan and purple cauliflower puree made light-red by drops of lemon juice. 

Although he can be as creative and free as he wants to be, his culinary creations were designed to catapult the wines.

The dishes he composed offered a fascinating expose of local food. The first course was Western-tasting kuwe, whose curry flavors had been judiciously scaled down.

The second course — a bowl of rice noodles hidden under slow-cooked chicken thighs, paprika, eggplant and ginger scalion sauce — tasted very much like its Chinese street food counterpart.

Although eggplant is not normally combined with Chinese noodle, the Chinese soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and coriander leaves mixed to make the dish taste unmistakenly Chinese. Presenting it on a fine dining table with a glass of Pinot Noir red wine was a bold statement of culinary freedom.

The main course (nutty medium-grain black rice from China mixed with slices of spice-crusted yellow fin tuna, baby shiitake, baby bok choy and watermelon radish) was a delightful, exciting assemblage of flavors somewhat reminiscent of local nasi campur (rice with an assorted mix of vegetables and meat/ egg).

Inside the rice I found, to my delight, a familiar and tasty puff-rice garnish known as rengginan in Javanese. Crusted with Jeff’s version of togarashi blend (Japanese seven-spice mix), which included a little bit of chili, the tuna was cooked well-done on the outside and medium-raw on the inside, as if it were beef steak.

All these transformations, which Jeff intended to “elevate local food”, de-familiarized the familiar and familiarized the unfamiliar without, however, eclipsing the Napa Valley wines, which were all so delicious and flavorful that drinking them without food was a sheer pleasure.

The Fume Blanc (10 percent of which was Semillon) was brimming with gooseberry, fig and guava, refreshing with zesty acidity and subtly spicy, with hints of nutmeg.

The 2009 Pinot Noir was one of the best, most delicious New World Pinots I’ve ever tasted. Medium to full body with well-integrated oak, this Pinot bursted with a rich spectrum of savory ripe red fruit (strawberry and cherry) and subtle aromas of leather and smoke, but tightened up when left in the glass for a few hours.

The two Cabernet Savignon Reserves – the 2012 (composed of 88 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 6 percent Cabernet Franc, 4 percent Merlot, 1 percent Petit Verdot & 1 percent Malbec) and the 2001(composed of 88 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 percent Cabernet Franc, 1 percent Malbec, 1 percent Petit Verdot) — were enthralling New World reds.

The younger wine was concentrated yet fresh, fruity with well-integrated tannins, ripe black and red fruit interspersing with hints of dark chocolate, with good acidity with each sip.

The older wine was clean, smooth, deeper and earthier, with some minerality, sweet black fruit and dark chocolate notes synergizing, but when left sitting in a glass for a period of hours, began closing and showing signs of aging.

They were all made available in a perfect drinking-window for the dinner. This made it easier for Mosher to employ his self-restricted freedom to say more through a mixed Asian culinary language, one that led me to a serendipitious rediscovery of vernacular culinary treasures not commonly found in a formal fine-dining setting.

Foodie talks with ‘My Kitchen Rules’ contestants

Foodie talks with ‘My Kitchen Rules’ contestants

In the sixth installment of Australia’s ‘My Kitchen Rules’ (MKR), Asian foods take center stage in the cooking competition as Debra Ch’ng and Eva Lean present their creations.

With a strong Asian background, the self-proclaimed “Spice Girls” said that promoting Asian food and its culture further was one of their missions in joining the show, apart from channeling their passion.

“We both love Asian food and we both have quite strong heritage and culture from India, Singapore and Malaysia,” Lean, 32, said during a phone interview recently.

“And we want to represent the cultures through the foods,” Ch’ng added over the phone.

Lean and Ch’ng are marketing colleagues at an energy company who bonded over food, deliberating about where they would like to go for lunch every day. They always chose Asian.

Ch’ng said that Asian cuisine was a favorite in Australia due to its distinctive tastes.

“The flavor is kind of different from Western food. Everyone in Australia mostly loves to eat Singaporean or Malaysian Chinese food, and some of them look for Thai and Vietnamese.

”People here just love to try Southeast Asian food,” she said.

In the culinary battle, the Perth-based duo presented nasi lemak (rice cooked with coconut milk), cauliflower curry and pandan crème brûlée.

“But we also cook other food besides Asian, because we cook everything that we think we both like,” Ch’ng said.

“And we could say that cooking Asian food is the hardest, because it has a lot of flavor and ingredients, especially curry,” she added.

A total of 18 teams take part in the sixth season of ‘My Kitchen Rules’, which airs on Diva every Monday to Wednesday at 8:25 p.m., with six judges: Manu Feildel, Pete Evans, Colin Fassnidge, Guy Grossi, Karen Martini and Liz Egan.

“I think Jane and Emma [contestants from Victoria], and Carol and Adam [from New South Wales], are our greatest contenders as they are always doing great in the show,” the 26-year-old Ch’ng said.

Although Lean and Ch’ng were sitting side by side together every day in the office, they admitted that they never cooked together in the kitchen before the contest.

But their chemistry as workmates helped them get through the hurdles they faced while cooking together.

“We never cooked together, but what we do as a team is communicate with each other to understand what we do, to find the harmony and complement each other in the kitchen,” Ch’ng said.

“I think we feed off each other’s vibe very easily. There’s never a dull moment. There’s always laughs, always joking around,” she added

Dying spirit spreads its wings

Dying spirit spreads its wings

After a long period of relative dormancy, sake — a traditional beverage of Japanese origin that is made from fermented rice — is gaining popularity among Jakarta’s upscale communities.

V IN+ has now established Saké+, the only Japanese restaurant in town with an extensive saké collection, and organized a saké-pairing omasaké (“I trust you [chef]”) dinner, arguably the first of its kind ever held in town.

“There were demands for saké from our clients, who wanted not only a supply of wine but also saké from us. So, rather than just being a saké importer and supplier, our shareholders decided to establish Saké+,” explained Yolanda Simorangkir, general manager of VIN+, which, without much fanfare, has been selling sake for several years.

The city, of course, is no stranger to saké. The drink has been available in the city’s high-end Japanese restaurants for decades, ever since business relations with Japan flourished after Indonesia’s independence.

An aunt of this writer is married to a Japanese businessman and divides her time between Jakarta and Tokyo. She recalled saké dinners at three Japanese restaurants in the city back in 1965.

At that time, demand for saké was limited to the city’s Japanese business communities and their Indonesian business partners, she added.

But now, more and more people are embracing the thrill of the drinkable rice.

“Although lately we are getting more Japanese patrons, the majority of our customers are still locals. They say they prefer saké to hard liquor because unlike vodka or whisky, which often gives them a hangover the morning after, saké induces sleepiness and makes them feel refreshed upon waking up,” said Saké+ Operational Manager Sherly Wiraatmaja

The campaign to make saké the new in-drink for Jakarta’s cognoscenti may be part of struggling Japanese saké makers’ strategy to promote consumption overseas. 

The International New York Times quoted a London-based food and beverage consultant in its August article last year as saying the saké industry wouldn’t survive if it stayed locked in the local market. 

The article cited that saké consumption in Japan had fallen sharply since the 1970s because of a decreasing birthrate and a switch by many drinkers to wine, beer, whisky and shochu (a Japanese spirit). 

This resonates with my aunt, who switched to wine after too many disappointing bottles of heavily discounted saké past its prime sold in Jakarta’s duty-free shops. 

“Shochu, not saké, dominates the liquor shelves of the supermarkets in Japan,” she said, “It is more versatile, healthier, cheaper and easier to drink. You can have it on the rocks and mix it with other beverages to your own liking. Saké, the good stuff, is not to be mixed with anything. It’s always expensive, even in Japan.” 

But times have changed. Reasonably priced duty-paid outlets VIN+ and Saké+ have been offering excellent, fresh batches of saké, with more choice than ever. And saké doesn’t have to be drunk neat, as advocated by traditionalists. It can also be mixed into cocktails. 

Indonesians new to saké may easily find it a charming novelty drink. Part of its allure lies in it being usually served in attractive small cups with artistically prepared Japanese food.

Similarly alluring is its smoothness, freshness, crispness, inherent sweetness, at times fruitiness, and subtle floral aroma with each sip. 

There is something in it subliminally reminiscent of the Japanese staple, rice, and other starch-based food Indonesians may be familiar with such as fermented cassava, glutinous rice and palm wine. 

Moreover, saké is not as flashy and hyped as wine, thus providing a discreet alternative for those whose aesthetic leans to the low-key side of luxury. 

“Drinking saké is about sipping appreciatively and enjoying the simple pleasure and subtlety of the highly polished grain of rice brewed in good quality water,” said my aunt, who sees saké as an end in itself. 

However, droves of young patrons who frequent Saké+ drink seem to see things differently. 

“They regard saké, whose alcohol content is as moderate as wine, as a mere warm-up beverage before finally heading to a night club to further indulge in hard liquor. Their goal is simply to get drunk,” Sherly said. 

If stupor is seen as a means to reset oneself, a form of escapism to reach a blissful state of ignorance, the use of saké to achieve it has at least give the rice spirit a new lease of life outside its birthplace. 

After all, saké can’t keep both its feet firmly planted in its past. In order to survive, it has to let itself be subjected to whatever it takes to enable its other foot to stride into the future.