This particular "Le Cafe Gourmand" is actually a branch from its origin under the same name in Surabaya and the fact is, Le Cafe Gourmand is one of the hippest cafes in Surabaya and they're very famous for their coffee. The branch in Jakarta is located in Gunawarman street #65 just exactly across Le Quartier and Loobie Lobster.
The crowd was uber packed that night and I couldn't take any good photo of the environment and interior, but what I could tell you is that the cafe was very nice designed and decorated with hand-painted illustrations on the wall. The cafe was not exactly huge and spacious but also not petite. I think the vibe of the cafe led to this youthful urban concept and in a way unisex (got the prettiness and the cool), it had this square in the middle of the cafe for the cakes display, coffee and tea station. Good thing is that they have this no-smoking policy which I truly root for and beside it could ruin the coffee beans quality so back off smokers!
I'll come back for sure to this cafe and make a more appropriate review but the purpose of this post is to give you the picture of what Le Cafe Gourmand Jakarta looks like.
They hire experts to work of their coffees and teas, like Rodney Glick from Seniman Kopi for coffee and Ratna Soemantri who is a pretty well-known tea expert. I paid attention to what she's doing at the event, it's like she's very detailed when it comes to tea and beyond.
ICE CREAM HEAVEN!
Whenever you pay a visit here, go have their gelato and sorbets! Very nice. Free flow for everyone on the day!
I tried each two scoops of their gelato and sorbets, the left one was the salted caramel and rum raisin gelato and the right one was the raspberry and mango sorbet. Generally both their gelato and sorbet had pretty decent texture: smooth and nicely melt in your mouth, but I was wondering if they're using nitrogen freezing process because the sorbet was really soft and smooth, I mean sorbet usually still has this rocky-ice texture. The salted caramel flavor was really good, it had this generous amount of caramel sauce and proper balance of salt used in the gelato, it's just proper in every way. I found the rum raisin to be just a little tad too sweet but proper amount of alcohol used, while for both sorbet: amazing! Awesome sweetness balance, fruity flavor and both flavor has their own quality: the raspberry was a little more sour and the mango was very fragrant.
Triple Chocolate Tart
Texture and appearance wise, this tart was pretty decent, the pastry skin was crunchy but not over-hard, and the chocolate ganache's texture was also nice, but one thing I was not very fond of this was that it lost the expensiveness and classy touch from the chocolate, eventually tasted just okay when I was expecting the chocolate to be like this dark premium chocolate flavor, I know it's kinda hard to explain but you should try it yourself to (probably) understand what I meant.
Rose and Noisette Eclairs
Another great thing to point out about Le Cafe Gourmand is definitely their eclairs! I had two of them and my favorite one was the one on the right (Noisette) with Macadamia nuts on top, it's eatandtreats must-try certified! The hazelnut pastry cream was clearly the freaking bomb! It had this nutty, caramel and chocolate flavor that kept me drooling for more (only if I don't give a damn about fats I will). The pastry was also moist and light in texture. The rose eclair had this fragrant filling and decent sweetness balance and rose extract but overall I felt like the previous one caught my attention the most!
MUST TRY!
Beef Rib Pie
When it comes to food, I need both sweet and savory ones! After messing with some delicious sweet devils, I tried their signature beef rib pie and I was pleased enough with the flavor of the beef meat, it's like the filling of Lasagna, sort of Bolognaise like only with less tomato sauce, but I was expecting more kick from the base seasoning like salt or that touch of spiciness to it to make the score 90. Texture wise, nice.
Coffee Pannacotta
Having this reminded me of frozen stuff like gelato, I think it stayed quite a while in the freezer and texture was not silky or smooth like how pannacotta should be and when I scoop it and had this on the tounge, it was very cold, but guess what, I think I sort of liked it. The overall flavor was pretty good, it had that proper amount of coffee and vanilla cream that balanced nicely.
Their teas were also made nicely, I tried their green tea and pretty impressed by the notes I experienced, it was mild but in a way strong, and it was definitely fragrant and again... premium flavor (damn I talk like a freaking tea expert here I just felt it OKAY).
But nothing wow-ed me more than their hot chocolate, it was one of the best hot chocolate beverage I've had in my life. It was made out of dark chocolate, it was not exactly sweet but the chocolate flavor was just rich and I guess it will also stay nice if they made the iced version of it. Noted, I'll come back for more hot chocolates!
Heavenly hot chocolate!
In a nutshell, there's this new dessert place opening in Jakarta (Gunawarman to be exact) that you should pay a visit, I guess they just need to keep up the quality of the products to survive on the business!
Good luck Le Cafe Gourmand! PS: I still drool over your hot chocolate damnit. Ciao!
Le Cafe Gourmand
Jalan Gunawarman No. 65
Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan
Jakarta Selatan 12110
email: eatandtreatsindo@gmail.com
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