Let me start this post by saying that I had a super fun evening at C’s Steak & Seafood in Grand Hyatt Jakarta the day before yesterday. It was an awesome private preview dinner which we got to savor quite a range of food and drinks by the Celebrity Chef, Jay McCarthy.

With a chance to talk to him directly, I found quite a lot of interesting things in him. Chef Jay McCarthy has this friendly and laidback attitude with much admired professionalism ( plus a good sense of humor). Oh, not to mention strong dedication. He wore cowboy hat and had us enjoyed the marvellous dessert with a ‘cowboy hat’ on top!

Brief Explanation about Chef Jay McCarthy

Chef Jay McCarthy was born in New York and spent the first 10 years of his life in Jamaica. He came to Texas to attend Texas A&M University where he received a degree in aerospace engineering. He worked as an engineer in a short time, but eventually, he found that he was inspired more in blending flavors than he was in mixing jet fuels.

Chef Jay McCarthy’s unique style utilizes the native flavors of Texas. He is an expert in preparation of underutilized cuts of beef and is also renowned for his culinary use of cactus. We got a good taste of his signature drink, cactusrita and it tasted exotic!

Well, I can explain to you about him in details, but long story short, he’s an amazing chef with many accomplishments, who has travelled a lot to showcase his art work. Additionally, he also spends much of the year consulting, teaching, and lecturing overseas as well as domestically.
Back to the evening, we had some really good dishes.

We thoroughly enjoyed the three drinks, from Cactusrita, Limeade, and Passion Fruit Iced Tea.
I especially love the Cactusrita and Passion Fruit Iced Tea. Both were really refreshing!

Canapé
From the canapé, there were Cured Beef Carpaccio, Fried Oyster Sliders, and Deviled Quail Eggs.

The Cured Beef Carpaccio might look like not much of an interest, but really it was surprisingly good. The taste was rather unique. It’s intense, with a gorgeous pineapple aftertaste.

The Fried Oyster Sliders were good, and actually is a set of mini burgers with fried oyster instead of the usual beef patty.

Deviled Quail Eggs were my favourite. It is a dish with perfectly boiled quail eggs with uniquely-processed yolks. Despite its tiny size, the flavor was intense. The yolk inside was delicious, and it was served in three kinds of flavours. They’re blue cheese, barbecue and truffle. My favourites are truffle and barbecue!

Seared Chuck Flap Salad

Going easy for the main course later, we were greeted with this scrumptious work of art, Seared Chuck Flap Salad. It is actually a smoked romaine lettuce with warm beef jerky vinaigrette. The red-ish meat you can see in the picture, was pure goodness! It was lightly seasoned, and sous vide(d) to perfection. The result was this super tender texture. Enjoying it along with the smoky romaine lettuce is the best thing one can ask for an appetizer.

Rosemary Rubbed Tri-Tip Beef Medallions with Red Chimichurri
Sugar Cured Prime Beef Tenderloin with Apple Brie Cream

These pieces of meat on the plate cannot get any better! The Beef Medallions deserved a gold medal! I’d never ever tasted such a meat, so thick, so tender, and just so so so good! I didn’t even need to put an effort in cutting this meat. The red chimichurri was a perfect match for the medallions. OH MY.
The Sugar Cured Prime Beef Tenderloin with apple brie cream did not fail to impress me too. To counter the savoury and spicy beef medallions, this meat leaned towards a sweeter note. Thanks to the apple brie cream, it sparked an appealing fragrant after taste. Two slices weren’t enough for me, that’s why I stole another slice from a spare portion of the dish. Well, it wasn’t my fault, the beef called me! Duh.
Did I mention the delicious side dishes? Sssst.. I couldn’t have enough of the mushroom compote.

Classic Pecan Pie with Cowboy Bourbon

The dessert is one of a kind. How’s not? It has the cute little ‘cowboy hat’ on top of the glass (intended for the goodness of bourbon).
The pecan pie was really good, really spot on. Eating it along with a scoop of homemade bali vanilla bean ice cream was such a joyful task. Oh, don’t forget to sip a tiny bit of the bourbon after eating a spoonful pecan pie to experience the most intense sensation! Well, for me it’s super intense, because well, I rarely drink this kind of stuff. 😀

Anyway, all the food is supposed to be enjoyed with good drinks. Let’s mention 2014 Chardonnay, Modavi ‘Woodbridge, USA and 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, Mondavi ‘Woodbridge’, USA. Or maybe a simple beer will do. ☺

Guess what? My recommendation of the year? Come to C’s Steak and Seafood, Grand Hyatt Jakarta, and have a gorgeous dinner made by the one and only Chef Jay McCarthy, especially if you’re a meat lover like me, I guarantee that you’ll have a major foodgasm, one that you won’t easily forget!
Chef Jay McCarthy will only be at C’s Steak and Seafood from 6-10 September. That means you don’t have much time for this goodness anymore. So, what are you waiting for?

C’S STEAK & SEAFOOD | JAKARTA
GRAND HYATT HOTEL 4th Level
JL. M. H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30
DKI Jakarta 10350, Indonesia
Phone: +6221-29921383
Website: https://jakarta.grand.hyatt.com/
Instagram: @grandhyattjakarta