An evening at Bluegrass

Looking for something fancy, my friends and I decided to try Bluegrass restaurant which was located at Epicentrum Walk complex in Kuningan area. The restaurant was on the ground floor of the Gotham-like building, Bakrie Tower with both indoor and outdoor seatings. My friends arrived first and they opted for the air-conditioned indoor seating and got a table near the bar.

It was a slow night when we visited, or maybe we came in too early at 5:30pm, with a number of empty tables on that spacious restaurant. The atmosphere was modern with long bars and cool dim lighting. I really like the big mirror entrance doors too actually.

The problem was the service *rant rant*. My friends already got their orders when I arrived so I quickly studied dthe menu. They are a steak and grill restaurant so the menu is like a carnivore-bible with beef ribs, different cuts of steaks, baby-back ribs, chicken, fish, lamb, etc. I was ready to order and asked a passing-by waitress to take my orders, she told me to wait because she was carrying some dirty dishes. So I waited and waited.. and she never came back for God's know what reason. It took me a good 15 minutes of looking around before a waitstaff came over to take my orders. Well, I actually called one of the bartenders to ask for a waiter and then the waiter came. I asked him some questions regarding the menu, which he hastily answered. I was already lost half of my patience so I ordered a Beef brisket with sweet potato fries and grilled vegetables (165K IDR+tax) and an ice tea (30K IDR+tax) for my drink.

My meal came in a wood plank (what's with restaurants and wood planks-as-plates nowadays?). The portion was big for Indonesian standard. It may be comparable to Western portion. Anyway the brisket was pretty good though there wasnt enough fats to make it melt-in-your-mouth type. The sweet potatoes fries were fresh, I think it was homemade. The grilled vegetables were a tad too salty though they were fresh too. The meat came glazed by sweet barbecue sauce so those with spicy tongue might want to ask for chili sauce.

As I was eating my meal, I started to feel itchy tingles on my feet. There were mosquitoes in the house. Uh, oh.. that does it for me. It felt like I was really in a field of (blue)grass with mosquitoes all around me.

Overall, I was rather disappointed that night. The taste was alright, but the service and the mosquitoes deterred us from having a wonderful time. I really hope their waitstaff picks up on their service level and please do something about the mosquitoes.

First Bite: Publico's Mars Kronut

So after months of salivatinga over pictures of Dominic Ansel's cronuts all the way in NYC, yesterday I had my first bite of the intriguing pastry/donut. Before I started talking bout the eating experience, let me briefly tell you my struggle to get it.

I was actually planning to get it on Saturday with a couple of work friends. I read somewhere that we supposed to order it 3 hours beforehand, so we gave them a call on Friday after lunch. The conversation goes like this:

W: Good afternoon. Publico.
Z: Hi, Mbak. Katanya kronut di situ enak yaa (Hi, Miss. I heard the kronut there is delicious).
W: *giggles*. Iya, Bu. Enak, tapi disini kita harus dipesan 2 hari sebelumnya (Yes, Mam. It's delicious, but you need to place an order 2 days before the pick-up).
At this point I quickly calculating my decision. Well, people in NYC queue for Ansel's cronuts in rain or shine days. Reservations to Jiro's sushi restaurant need to be made months beforehand. Etc, etc.... anyway, I decided sometimes we need that extra patient to get good food. So I said: "Yes, I'll get 4 boxes (8 pieces) to be picked up on Sunday".

Between Friday afternoon to Sunday noon, they called me like 4 times. First, to confirm my order. Second, to ask what flavors I want (Note: There are three flavors: Mars, Butter cheese, and Creme brulee. Of course I asked them to mix the flavors). Three, they told me they can only be ready at 2pm instead of 12 like I first asked. Fourth, they called to say they're ready for pick up.

I got there about 20mins after they called. And they took 30 mins to set my payment. *rant, rant, rant*. They left me and my brother standing in front of the greeter's table while one of the greeters took out the kronut boxes, realized she got some of the boxes wrong, fetched the right boxes, and went up to get the check. 20 mins in and I was getting pissed so I told the security guy sternly "why is it so hard to pay you guys?". He then fetched another girl who told us their cashier was busy. So, I asked her how much is the total for everything (which the other girl went to have it printed on a bill), pay the amount, and went out the door. Phew, so inconvinient for take-away service.

Anyway, so we went to a very quiet cafe next door so my brother could do some work. There was where my life without kronuts ended. I took the first bite of the Mars bar kronut. Filled with Valrhona creme and topped with salted caramel glaze and some crunch flakes, the kronut was rather messy to eat. I thought they would inject the creme into the cronut, but this one they actually sliced the kronut in half, smothered in the filling, and put the kronut together again. Hence, when I bit it, the filling kinda spilled through the cutting.

'Nuff about the downsides. I actually like this kronut. It wasnt too sweet, for one. With all the gooey goodness it bears, it's actually smooth tasting. And crunchy. Oh yea, the kronut itself was crunchy and airy just like its papa (or mama) croissants. Though airy, it was still a bit doughy like its mama (or papa) donut. My brother nodded in approval on his first bite as well. He actually loved the crunch flakes, which were coated in chocolate but not overly sweet.

Hence, the verdict is: I love the taste but I didnt enjoy picking it up at the restaurant. Maybe if they were more attentive and applying better SOP, we didnt have to wait too long just to pay for the pastries. Though I consider reserving a seat and eating my kronut there next time (actually we planned to do that but they only got bar seats so we scratched the idea).

Get it at:
PUBLICO. Jl. Senopati no. 65, Jakarta.
021-52964960
IDR 24K/kronut. (Min. Order 2).