[RELOCATED] Avec Moi Restaurant and Bar Thamrin City Jakarta

December 13th, 2014. I went to Avec Moi (French language for "with me") with fellow foodies. I was surprised when I knew that the owner and the chef there was someone I know. Yes, Chef Romano and his wife are the owner. Avec Moi was located at Thamrin City Office Park. Not a big place, but comfortable enough for lunch or dinner.

I've read about Avec Moi all over social media. The cute things are the rabbits. When I asked the Chef, he said that they really like rabbits. So, they decided to use rabbit as the mascot. Another cute thing, they changed the ears into knife and fork LOL

They have 3 levels in the building. I will introduce you one by one per level.

Level 1

The first level is the place for dining. It's so comfortable. Less intimidating for an exquisite place like that. The chef's note on every table is a nice touch too. Btw, I love the lights. So gorgeous. Simple yet elegant. I love the shelf too. Looks sophisticated. The black interiors are so cool. Black will always be my favourite colour, after purple of course. Why? Because black makes me look slimmer. LOL.

Level 2

Level 2 is designed for some private meetings or gathering. You could have a gathering for around 12 persons in one table. Level 2 also for open kitchen, so we can see the chef do the magic. Notice the chair? Yup, it's rabbit-chair. It's all made by order. I felt like in some rabbit land hahahaha.. Remember Alice in Wonderland? Yup, felt like that. :)

There's a cute picture on the wall, a girl in rabbit mask is fishing something..

what's the catch?? what's the catch?? Err.. CARROTS!!!

Level 3

Level 3 is for the bar. When I was there, it was still closed. But I could see that everybody will love the place. It's not spacious but so comfy I didn't wanna go back to level 2 LOL. Still, the rabbit with knife and fork ears was there. As cute as possible. :D

The menu is very unique with rabbit form laser cut board.

First, they served us red wine.

COASTAL RIDGE MERLOT (USA) 495k

Ruby color. Aromas of berry chutney, spiced nuts, and herbs with a soft, dry-yet-fruity body and a smooth, breezy, crisp apple and edible flower finish with medium tannins and light oak. A solid wine for carefree sipping or the table.

Exotic taste. Exotic colour. Exotic fragrant. Wow, I love this red wine. One thing about wine that I didn't like was the after taste. Sometimes the after taste was so strong, I had to hold myself for not made fun of my face. But this one is quite light. Sweet!!

HORS - D'OEUVRE

FOIE GRAS 155k

Roasted duck liver, with spiced fruits, orange glaze.

After one bite.. hmm.. Let me think.. hmm.. Ok, I'll admit.. I really.. really.. love it. Soft, mild, melt in your mouth. Rich in texture and taste umami. It's also very smooth and cooked perfectly. One of recommended dish here.

SALMON TARTARE, 63°C EGG 83k

Duo of salmon tartar, sous vide egg, grilled baguette.

Too bad when the dish arrived at my table, the egg has already broken so the egg yolk were all over the salmon tartar. That's why I didn't get the prettier photo for this one. But, fortunately, it tasted very delicious. Love the salmon tartar. Juicy and creamy. Next time I go there, definitely order this one. Recommended!

Sous-vide (/suːˈviːd/; French for "under vacuum") is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath or in a temperature-controlled steam environment for longer than normal cooking times—96 hours or more, in some cases—at an accurately regulated temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 55 °C (131 °F) to 60 °C (140 °F) for meats and higher for vegetables. The intention is to cook the item evenly, ensuring that the inside is properly cooked without overcooking the outside, and retain moisture.

FOIE de POULET 50k

Chicken liver rillettes, caramelise onions, pickled vegetables, grilled baguette.

I really like the open kitchen concept, so I could see Chef Romano do the magic. It's always fun to see a chef in action. Foie de Poulet is a new dish for me. Served with grilled baguette. It was amazing. How to eat this? How ever you like. You can dip the baguette into the chicken liver rillettes, or you can apply the chicken liver to the baguette, or you can eat separately. It's all up to you. The result is still the same. De-li-ci-ous! Btw, I won't notice it was liver, if the chef didn't tell me. Surprise, right?

Rillettes (/riː.ˈɛt/ or /riː.ˈɛts/; French [ʁiˈjɛt]) are a preparation of meat similar to pâté. Commonly made from pork, the meat is cubed or chopped, saltedheavily and cooked slowly in fat until it is tender enough to be easily shredded, and then cooled with enough of the fat to form a paste. They are normally used as spread on bread or toast and served at room temperature.

SALADE AVEC MOI 65k

Fresh mesclun, roasted tomatoes, grilled chicken, Avec Moi house dressing.

Best salad ever! Salad has never been my favourite dish. But trust me! Really really trust me! This is the best salad I've ever tried. And, everybody agreed. So, when you go there, this one is a must-order! The crunchiness, the taste, the dressing, OMG! Say no more, it's one of the dish that you have to try before everything else.

FRENCH ESCARGOTS 65k

French escargots de-shelled, fresh pesto, grilled baguette.

Errr.. one complaint from me. Need-more-escargots! LOL. The fresh pesto was homemade, so it's really fresh.

Escargot (IPA: [ɛs.kaʁ.ɡo], French for snail) is a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer in France and in French restaurants. The word escargot is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten in this way.

POTAGE

MUSHROOM CAPPUCCINO, TORTELLINI

Cappuccino mushroom soup with Tortellini.

Pumpkin 55k

I prefer the soup thicker. I didn't try the tortellini hihihi because the dish belonged to my friend. I was afraid she will kill me over the tortellini LOL. Anyway, for mushroom soup, it was very well-seasoned.

Foie gras 82k

On the contrary, this one was in a better texture for me. This was thicker than the previous soup. Actually the temptation was the foie gras hahaha. Yeah, but again, it's my friend's dish. I had to hold the urge to finish it. *rub my tummy*

PASTA

PRAWN PASTA 88k

Roasted tiger prawns in garlic, sous vide eggs, chili flakes, parsley.

Well, I love prawn, but tell you what, I'm also an easily-bored person. So, yes, I was bored with prawn. That's why I didn't try the prawn, I just tried the pasta. And it was amazing. Love the pasta. Perfect texture.

BACON CARBONARA 78k

Roasted pork bacon, sous vide eggs, grated parmigiano, garlic, fresh ground Sarawak black pepper.

I'm not exaggerating when I say, "This bacon carbonara is one of the best pastas I've ever tried." Can you imagine, bacon with sous vide eggs with parmigiano? Extraordinary! And, it's melt in your mouth. Trust me. I must order this one again, next time I go to Avec Moi. Definitely a must-order! How tasty this pasta? From 1 to 10, I choose 20!!! *big grin*

POISSON & CRUSTACES

SEABASS GRENOBLOISE 98k

Pan seared fillet seabass, grenobloise condiment, mash potato.

The seabass was very tender and smooth. The presentation was also pretty with colourful grenobloise condiments :) And the mash potato. Classic!! It was so delicious I wanna cry.

In the realm of classic French cuisine, any preparation bearing the designation grenobloise—literally, "of Grenoble", a city in southeastern France—is served with a sauce of browned butter, capers, parsley, and pieces of lemon.

CREVETTE GEANTE TIGGRE 120k

Grilled jumbo Tiger prawns, sauce Diablo, bell peppers, mash potato.

I always thought that tiger prawns are cool. Funny thing, it wasn't that jumbo. And of course, I am still hungry every time I ate tiger prawns. Hmm. Should I change it to giant lobster? LOL. The juice from the tiger prawns mixed perfectly with the sauce Diablo. Great presentation too.

Penaeus monodon, the giant tiger prawn or Asian tiger shrimp (and also known by other common names), is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food.

NORWEGIAN SALMON 150k

Pan seared salmon, blue shell mussels, cream sauce, mash potato.

Actually, I prefer raw salmon. But turned out, the pan-searing enhanced the flavour of the salmon, and created a nice crust on the texture. Love the blue shell mussels too. So unique, they used cream sauce for the salmon, instead of marinara sauce. Love it.

Searing (or pan searing) is a technique used in grilling, baking, braising, roasting, sautéing, etc., in which the surface of the food (usually meat, poultryor fish) is cooked at high temperature until a caramelized crust forms. Similar techniques, browning and blackening, are typically used to sear all sides of a particular piece of meat, fish, poultry, etc. before finishing it in the oven. To obtain the desired brown or black crust, the meat surface must exceed 150 °C (300 °F), so searing requires the meat surface be free of water, which boils at around 100 °C (212 °F).

VIANDES

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON 140k

Sous vide wagyu beef shank, red wine juice, grilled sous vide vegetables, mash potato.

What could go wrong with wagyu and red wine juice with mash potato? Zéro. It's a well-known dish in France. In fact, in the movie Julie and Julia, they discussed about the dish. I think it's one of the popular recipes from Julia Child. And we can try this Chef Romano's version. Cool, aight? The wagyu was tender. And the red wine juice enhanced the flavour. Perfect for spoiling your tummy.

DUCK LEG CONFIT 145k

Sous vide duck leg in duck fat, grapes and tomato concise, mash potato.

Smells so good, I wanna steal the duck leg. The duck skin was also very crispy. On the contrary, the meat was juicy, tender and soft. The presentation wasn't so special, but after you eat this, you definitely wouldn't care at all about the appearance. :)

Duck confit (French: confit de canard French pronunciation: ​[kɔ̃.fi d(ə) ka.naʁ]) is a French dish made with the leg of the duck. While it is made acrossFrance, it is seen as a specialty of Gascony. The confit is prepared in a centuries-old process of preservation that consists of salt curing a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then cooking it in its own fat.

6 HRS sous vide CHICKEN 130k

Roasted sous vide half chicken, pommery mustard cream sauce, grilled sous vide vegetables.

It's half chicken. I was drooling. The taste? Undoubtedly appetizing. The chicken meat was tender and juicy. Roasted perfectly. The plating was also pretty and tempting. Recommended one!

BURGER

Specially crafted minced beef, mixed slice lettuce, caramelise onions, fries.

Kakuni pork belly 138k

This was the winner of my heart!! Yup, it's my order. And I felt so sorry about this. Why? Because everybody wanna try this and they left me only a small bite. Huft. Next time, I won't share!!! Actually, love everything about this burger. The bun was soft and tasty. The pork belly was juicy and savoury and well-seasoned. It's very recommended! VERY!

SUCRERIE

ORANGE SOUFFLE 60k

Candied orange zest, segment orange, Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

Soufflé is a one of my favourite dessert. First, I was skeptical about the taste. I used to think orange only good in ice cream or beverages, but now I believe that orange was really delicious as a soufflé. Not too sweet, not too sour, not too bitter, with the right texture, just perfect!!!

VALRHONA CHOCOLATE FONDANT 65k

Valrhona manjari chocolate, Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

I always love valrhona. It's sweet but not overly sweet. Mix it with ice cream, and the result: S.E.X.Y. So, say no more, okay?

Thanks Avec Moi, Chef Romano and of course Mrs Romano, for the lovely and delicious food. Definitely will come again, in any time soon.

Avec Moi Restaurant & Bar
Thamrin City Office Park Block AA-01
Jl. Kebon Kacang Raya
Jakarta
Phone: 021-29625878
FB Fan Page: Avec Moi
CLOSED ON MONDAY
Opening hours: 11:30 to 14:30 -- 18:00 to 21:30