In another move to break the “monotony” of elegant black-tie formal dinners, the Jakarta Bailliage Council decided at the end of last year to experiment with “mini-dinners”. Of course the emphasis on excellent food, wine and service must still continue, but we decided we can eat like an ottoman emperor with chaine de rottiseurs be more relaxed and informal and have smaller and more intimate dinners.
The elegant surroundings of Turkuaz in Jalan Gunawarman provided the perfect venue for the first mini-chaine dinner under the supervision of Chef Sezai Zorlu, himself a Chaine Council member.
The upstairs area of the restaurant was reserved for the 20 diners who assembled and were exceptionally impressed by the single table layout and especially the table decoration, which was themed as a journey into Turkey’s fabled history in bright and beautifully designed cloths and serviettes, adorned with fresh pomegranates!
Chef Sezai’s repast was no less impressive as he had styled it “Eat like an Ottoman Emperor” – and we did. From the specially prepared
mezze through the rice stuffed kalamari to the beef tenderloin kebab, the fare was excellent, only to be topped by the Lamb Shank
which had been cooked for 12 hours to give a tenderness and flavour that is hard to describe.
To be fair, the wines started a bit weak with the opening cocktail rather too sweet, but this was soon forgotten as we swooped through the sparklings into an acceptable Clarendelle and finished on a big, bold Crozes Hermitage Rouge 2012.
After that, the desserts slipped down well and a thoroughly enjoyable dinner was brought to a conclusion with the presentation of Certificates to the culinary and service teams who had both done a great job. Congratulations to Bailli Roy, Chef Sezai and owner Ibu Yanti for a first attempt at a mini-chaine. It worked well.