[EVENT] Lunch with Michelin Starred Chef Jarad Galagher Sana Sini by Pullman Thamrin Jakarta

June 18th, 2014. Pullman Jakarta Indonesia was having an event with Michelin Starred Chef, Jarad Galagher, at Sana Sini Restaurant. I was so lucky that I got the chance to try some of Chef Jarad's creations, because he's only in Pullman since 17th until 22nd June 2014.

Jarad Gallagher is the first in a series of Michelin star chefs who will be invited to cook at the Sana Sini Restaurant. Pullman Jakarta Indonesia has gone through an extensive renovation of its rooms and public facilities over the last eighteen months and General Manager Philippe Le Bourhis says “we now want to show the new face of the hotel”. By welcoming Chef Jarad he adds “we can highlight our western kitchen with new Earth and Ocean signature dishes from California.”

The term ‘Michelin Star’ is a hallmark of fine dining quality. They are often described as the Oscars of the food world. The French-originating star system comes from the Michelin 'Red Guide' which has been published for more than one hundred years. It remains the key yardstick by which all Western restaurants and their chefs are judged.

Now the young and dynamic head chef of the famous Chez TJ restaurant in the US, Jarad Gallagher, is coming to visit Jakarta to cook in the unique open kitchens of Sana Sini Restaurant at Pullman Jakarta Indonesia. Jarad Gallagher, a Seattle native, began cooking at the age of five alongside his chef father. As a Sous-Chef at nineteen and Executive Chef at twenty-one, Gallagher refined his natural skills at cooking at a young age. He has a strong passion for French cooking and took intensive training classes at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and London. This led to Jarad obtaining work at the acclaimed Bras Restaurant in Laguiole, France. He then went on to work at Michelin starred restaurants Michael Mina, One Market and Plumed Horse before moving to his current home Chez Tj in San Francisco, California.

Complimentary Bread

This was the same bread that I ate last time when I went to Sana Sini. Whoaaaa, love the butter. Errr.. I mean, I love the bread, but prefer dip it in the butter hihihihi.. The texture was delicate. The sweetness from the raisin and the crunchiness from the nuts. The combination was unexceptional.

As usual, I ordered drink first :)

Ice Lychee Tea

Always love lychee tea. Always. Always. Always. So refreshing and sweet. What I love most of this lychee tea was the glass is so tall hahahaha..

Ice Chocolate

After ice lychee tea, I ordered ice chocolate as Mas Reza's recommendation. And I loved it!!! Not too sweet, so it didn't ruin my appetite.  Sometimes an ice chocolate was too sweet and I hated the after taste of the drinks.

And for the three courses..

Chilled Asparagus Velouté

textured beef tendon, quail egg yolk, romesco sauce

Let start with the starter. First sight: hmmm.. so small.. Hihihi.. First bite: OMG! nom nom nom.. Yup, it was delicious!!! The annoying thing was that the portion was too small. We had to ask Mas Reza to bring us another 4 portions in 1 plate hahahaha.. And he's like.. "Sorry Miss, cannot." Hahahaha.. OK, I mentioned him twice. You must be curious who the hell is Mas Reza. Mas Reza is one of the best servers in town, I guess. He's so polite and wonderful. Too bad I didn't have chance to capture him. Next time, ok? LOL. Ok, back to the dish. I love the appearance. So beautiful. Heavenly luscious!! The cheese cracker was crunchy. The tobiko was popping deliciously. So fun!

A velouté sauce (French pronunciation: ​[vəluˈte]), along with tomato, Hollandaise, Béchamel and espagnole, is one of the sauces of French cuisine that were designated the five "mother sauces" by Auguste Escoffier in the 19th century, which was a simplification of the "Sauce Carême" list of Marie-Antoine Carême. The term velouté is from the French adjectival form of velour, meaning velvet.

Coffee Flavoured Rack of Lamb

garden roots, caraway, spinach

Main course!! Rack of Lamb!! Yup yup.. I was very excited. I thought lamb always smell no good. But this one was different. I think it's because the coffee. The lamb became a nice smell lamb. Hihihi.. It was juicy. Moist and tender. Mimi kama!!! Err.. do you know what mimi kama means? Googling it. LOL.. By the way, they cooked the lamb in medium level. So, it's not too hard, and not very soggy. Served with mashed potato, caraway and spinach. Gorgeous, right?

Caraway (Carum carvi), also known as meridian fennel, or Persian cumin, is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae,[7] native to westernAsia, Europe and Northern Africa. The plant is similar in appearance to other members of the carrot family, with finely divided, feathery leaves with thread-like divisions, growing on 20–30 cm stems. The main flower stem is 40–60 cm tall, with small white or pink flowers in umbels. Caraway fruits (erroneously called seeds) are crescent-shapedachenes, around 2 mm long, with five pale ridges.

Grapefruit Consome

mint, avocado, orange

Before they served dessert, they gave us some kind of before-dessert-thing hihihi.. I thought it will be sweet. I totally forgot about the "grapefruit." So, I ate this grapefruit consome with passion. And.. eeew.. bitter!! Hahaha.. gotcha.. But, I love this, because it's unique. And the fragrant from the mint, made it more bizarre.. Amahzeeeengg!!

Gold Bar

coconut sorbet, caramel, milk chocolate

Save the best for last!!! Oh my, oh my, this was very exquisite. I was addicted with the caramel biscuit. I saw Ellyna's gold bar, and hoped that she won't eat the biscuit. Too bad, she loved it too hahaha.. The milk chocolate was perfect. The coconut sorbet was delicious with a vanilla flavour crunch crunch. Love it!! I won't share, of course. Don't forget to try this one ya. Must-try!!!

Wanna have a delicious experience like I did? Come to Sana Sini Restaurant at Pullman Jakarta Indonesia. Lunch starts at 288k++ per person. Dinner starts at 888k++ (for 6 courses) per person. Don't forget, only 17th to 22nd June 2014. Be there!!

Thanks Sana Sini and Pullman. See you in the next event.

Sana Sini by Pullman
Pullman Jakarta Indonesia Hotel
Jl. M.H. Thamrin 59
Jakarta Pusat 1035
Phone: 021-31921111
FB Fan Page: Sana Sini Pullman
twitter: @SanaSiniPullman