Prosecco Cascine 7 Extra Dry
Prosecco is an Italian sparkling white wine, and this type, Cascine 7 is extra dry, light, sweet and fruity. It was a great wine to accompany our brunch because it pairs well with Italian dishes such as pasta or seafood. Personally, I think the food tasted even better with the company of this wine as it enhances the flavors and seasonings of the dishes.
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| Italian cuisine is never complete without olive oil and vinegar! |
STARTERS
Italian Cold Cuts Selection
Italian deli is always one of the best in the world, and I can simply finish so many platters of them. I am not sure about the kinds that were served, though, but most probably there were bresaola and mortadella. The cold cuts were nicely served in very thin slices, most importantly are that they were really fresh and smelled so tempting!
Smoked Salmon Platter with Capers and Sliced Onions
Smoked salmon is one of my most favorite ingredients for fresh salad, and this was even better because it was the main star of the dish. The salmon was very fragrant and smokey, not too salty and everything was just right. Loved the onions too!
Shrimp Salad in Light Mayo Dressing
Everything here screams FRESH and this one was not an exception. The shrimps were already covered with light mayo dressing, which BTW, was indeed light and just perfect. The shrimps were well-done, very crunchy and refreshing.
Beef Carpaccio
Thinly-sliced 200 days grain-fed beef tenderloin with parmesan cheese. I don’t think this was included in the set menu, but gonna write this anyway. The beef was crazily yummy, served cold and very fresh. The parmesan cheese slices were a great addition because it enhanced the aroma of the meat, yet didn’t overpower the taste. Brilliant dish, indeed.
Traditional Bruschetta with Ripe Tomatoes
What I love about dining in authentic Italian restaurants are usually the fresh bruschetta that are undoubtedly delicious. When the bruschetta was served, I literally held my breath and exclaimed “Wow!” because they all just looked so beautiful. The original Italian bruschetta are always the best ones, a slice of bread topped with diced tomatoes, unlike some local-modified version with creamy sauce and other additional toppings. The bread was crispy and the tomatoes were really fresh and juicy. One word, DELIZIOSO!
EGGS
Sunny Side Up
Who doesn’t love a sunny side up for a brunch? I certainly do, and I am so glad egg dishes are included in this set menu. It was nice and tasty enough, so I didn’t need additional salt anymore. The fact that they sprinkled some black pepper on the side was considerably a kind gesture, at least for me.
Open Omelette with Mixed Mushrooms and A Scent of Truffle
Loved this thin omelette, thanks to the distinctive truffle scent in it. Not really a fan of the concept of “open omelette”, especially because it was too thin for my standard of an omelette, but taste-wise, it was great. And remember, since it’s a set menu, you can order as many as you want if one is not enough!
PASTA
Fettuccine with Black Truffle Sauce
Fettuccine has always been my favorite pasta, and I usually prefer white, creamy sauce over red one, so this one was like match made from heaven, LOL! The fettuccine was well-cooked and had certain hardness that I really like, and the sauce was just amazingly delicious. Although it looks very creamy and wet, but the sauce had nice thickness and it wasn’t too creamy when eaten. Moreover, I really loved all the truffle taste in the dishes because almost all the time in other restaurants, I can’t really taste it although the menu says so.
Spaghetti with Amatriciana Sauce
It might look like typical spaghetti with red sauce dish, but it wasn’t. Amatriciana sauce is a traditional Italian pasta sauce based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), Pecorino cheese and tomato. Although I couldn’t really taste huge difference from this sauce and other tomato-based red sauce (my bad!), I could feel slight difference in the aroma and that this sauce had certain saltiness.
Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Sauce
Always enjoy potato gnocchi but a big no for the gorgonzola, in fact, I could still enjoy this dish! Gorgonzola is a kind of Italian blue cheese made from unskimmed cow’s milk, and only God knows how much I dislike blue cheese, LOL! However, thanks to the cook of this dish, although this still tasted very cheesy, I didn’t really feel that annoying smell and taste of Gorgonzola so I actually quite enjoyed it.
MAIN COURSES
Slow-cooked Wagyu Intercostal with Daily Vegetables
First of all, the wagyu was excellent. The intercostal is the part of meat between the ribs and I read somewhere that the meat can be either soft and nice, or totally bad. And here, the meat were soft and tender, still with some fat layers. And because they were slow-cooked, so they became extra soft and quickly melted in the mouth when eaten. The seasonings were not much but well-absorbed in the body of meat so it was very tasty! Personally I loved this but Mr. K said a stronger seasoning will certainly make it better. I guess it depends on one’s preference 😉
Braised Lamb Shank with Caramelized Onions Sauce
Lamb is probably on my lower list of choice whenever I order meat dishes in restaurants, but didn’t know why, I picked this for my main course that day. It wasn’t a bad choice, after all, because the lamb was just perfect for me. One can easily mistook it as duck, because of its shape and texture. The meat was very, super duper soft that I had difficulties holding them on my fork because they broke easily and fell down right away. Never had lamb cooked as soft as this one and seriously, eating lamb suddenly didn’t seem so bad anymore, LOL! In the contrary, I was quite disappointed by the so-called “caramelized onions sauce”, as I expected something stronger and bold, which in fact, was very mild (if not, light). If only the sauce had been stronger, there would have been no typical aroma of lamb meat detected!
Beef Sirloin
This sirloin was nicely done too so it was soft, tender and juicy. Served with mushroom sauce, it was truly a heavenly treat for steak/meat lovers (including me!) and the fact that you can have as many pieces as you like was a major guilty pleasure, LOL!
Sautee Prawns with Spicy Sauce
This is probably not the most unique nor astonishing dish to begin with, but this was very good that I promised myself I will definitely order 5 plates of this immediately when I come back to GAIA next time. The sauteed prawns were very fragrant and moist, crunchy and tasty in the same time. The spicy sauce wasn’t really spicy for my Indonesian tongue, but it gave enough kick to compliment the dish.
Beef Ribs
This is in fact, the new menu from GAIA that hadn’t been released for public consumption during our visit (now probably is), and it seems like the responses from fellow food bloggers were good. The beef rib was quite big, and the meat was thick, yet surprisingly tender. The sauce used was a kind of barbecue one, with dominantly sweet taste and had sticky, thicker texture. Personally, I love this dish and I think it would be a great addition to the whole menu.
SIDES
Tried 3 kinds of sides, my favorite was the Potato Gratin because of the soft potatoes and creamy gravy. As for the mash one, wasn’t really a fan because I prefer the much sinful ones like creamy, full-of-fat American mashed potatoes, LOL! Mixed vegetables consist of grilled eggplants, carrots and zucchini, very refreshing and helped you digesting all the milky, creamy stuffs!
Potato Gratin
Mash Potato
Mixed Grilled Vegetables
FROM THE TABLE
Salmon
Salmon, salmon, salmon party! Although most all the time, I prefer raw ones because cooked salmon tends to be more annoying to eat (hard and dry meat, blablabla), but this one was so good! The salmon meat was very fresh, moist and easy to eat. Then this was what I can say “well-cooked” because certainly it was just perfect! Put extra mayo if you like it that way 🙂
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| Mr. Krystian Michalowski, the GM & Sommelier of GAIA, preparing the salmon. |
Assorted Cheese Platter
The cheese platter is usually enjoyed the most with a company of nice wine, and we had our Cascine. The cheese included were (L-R): Gorgonzola (blue cheese), Pecorino (made from sheep milk), Taleggio cheese (from cow’s milk) and Parmesan cheese. Served with raisins, bread slices and honey, the platter was really a nice addition to our brunch.
DESSERTS
Chocolate Mousse
Lovely texture and perfect sweetness made this mousse a dessert to die for!
Ricotta Cheesecake with Mixed Berries
I really love the cheesecake because of its mild cheesy taste and the fact that the cake was still a cake despite of its name. I am not a fan of totally-cheese cheesecake, which I find it overwhelming like I eat a loaf of cheese. The berries sauce was a deadly combination because it was just too good!
Pannacotta
Loved the texture, slightly more fragile than pudding yet still had its consistency. Taste-wise, very mild and not too milky, which was great, additional fruit toppings were excellent.
Tiramisu
And TA-DAH! The most anticipated dessert finally came and we were just wow-ed by its extravagant appearance. The tiramisu is claimed to be the BEST one ever found in Jakarta’s restaurants, and made according to its original 1956 recipe. I guess in things like this, I had to admit that it s indeed true and I was totally mesmerized by the greatness of original tiramisu taste! Maybe no word can ever be able to describe how good it is, but let me tell you, when you have a chance, grab it and try this.
*phew*
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