A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to join an event by Qraved at Grand Hyatt‘s infamous restaurant, C’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant. Well-known for its magic work with steak and seafood, C’s S&S decided to take us on a sweet ride with its “Farm To Table” concept.
The elegance but minimalist decor of C’s Steak & Seafood Restaurant can actually shine and remind guests that Christmas is pretty much in a glance, and it’s a reason to celebrate it at C’s.
Qraved hosted the event here with a motivation to introduce food enthusiasts with the unique “Farm To Table” concept. 🙂
What is exactly “Farm To Table”?
Some of you might have heard about this, and some of you can imagine what it actually is. To be clear, “Farm To Table” means that the food on the table came directly from a specific local farm, without going through a store, market, or distributor along the way. To simplify, it actually is a way of utilising locally sourced ingredients from local farmers to ensure the ingredients’ sustainability and freshness.
But still, why “Farm To Table”?
Local produce means that all products that are sold, are raised or grown on farms or ranches that is within a one day delivery. By this term, working hand in hand with local farmers and suppliers makes Grand Hyatt to be able to focus in providing its precious guests/patrons the best food with the freshest ingredients. It’s all to ensure the quality of the ingredients in order to satisfy guests/patrons’ tastebuds. In parallel, sourcing locally will also be able to minimalist impact on the environment.
Besides that, the benefit of local products are pretty obvious. The main benefit is of course the freshness which means best taste and rich in nutrition. Local products don’t have to travel far to reach the end users. Once the produce is at its ripest condition, it will be able to be delivered directly to the end users.
By this point of explanations, I’m pretty sure that some of you might still frown and somehow think that the local produce might not be able to surpass the quality of imported products. If you happen to think like that, that is when you are wrong. This stereotype needs to go down soon, people. Not everything grown or raised or imported is better. Local produce can actually be much better and of course it depends on how the local farms or ranches do their job. If they do it right, the result will be at its best. After all, as we have known it, Indonesia is a country known for its richness. We are living in a country surrounded by rich soils and has tropical climate to support many plants. So, we can blow the stereotype off to the roof.
I believe in our local produce and even more convinced when tasting the food at C’s S&S, Grand Hyatt.
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During the evening, the Qraved event started off with a speech by Qraved’s CEO, Mr. Steven Kim. Then, Ms. Regia, the Director of Sales and Marketing, Grand Hyatt, followed with a short speech. Then, the amazing Chef Rolf Knecht started his own introduction too about the “Farm To Table” and demonstrated the unique used of local edible flower, Bunga Telang. Apparently, this flower is very useful and safe to be consumed. In fact, it has the secret power to sweeten up your tea (with gorgeous color as well). <3
Oh, to mention an important part, Grand Hyatt is cooperating with Javara to supply the local products. This ‘Bunga Telang‘ was one of the supplied goods. The respresentative of Javara also made a brief speech to introduce their work with the local farmers. It was pretty amazing to listen about their effort all this time.
The real ‘shows‘ began pretty soon and here they are!
# Indonesian Seafood Platter
Our feast started with the sustainable Indonesian seafood platter and this was to showcase how lovely our local seafood can be. There were prawns, clams, crabs, etc and they were all at its best. I tried the lobsters and fell for it quite instantly.
Well, here’s a life lesson for ya. “When life gives you lemon, you squeeze it all onto the seafood platter and dig in!” 😉
# Local Momotaro Tomato Salad
This was one of a hella tomato. Fresh and sweet-ish with perfect chilly and chewy texture! I’m a proud Indonesian!
# Shaved Vegetable Salad
Another complete raw goodness. The salad was really fresh and simply good. It did not have any dressing, but still, I was content.
# Catch Of The Day
The catch of the day involved this fresh fish which was perfectly cooked, resulted in a soft tender (slightly chewy) texture. With its spicy sauce, it turned my night upside down.
# A Taste of Beef with its Condiments (or simply Meat Platter)
This one was a gorgeous meat platter. There were ribs, sirloins, chicken and sausage. These all were marvellous and cooked with intense passion. I especially loved the ribs with its rich sweet and spicy sauce on top. The texture of the ribs was flawless with the meat so easy to be pulled off from the bone.
The chicken was super tender and gorgeous. I had no idea how Chef Rolf managed to cook this in a perfect way, highlighting its humble tenderness. The chicken shone like a diamond that night!
Oh, the sirloin? It’s a local sirloin! But quality-wise, I’m 80% sure that most people would not be able to tell the difference compared to the imported sirloins. For me, it was just a tiny bit dry somehow at that time, giving away the identity. But still, I was pretty much amused with its succulent texture. Go local, Go!
The sausage was really good as well. Really, I just couldn’t ring many complaints for this platter. I was a happy man.
# Cream Spinach
To leave nothing behind, there were mushroom and cream spinach presented for us as well to accompany the meaty feast. The spinach cream was a no-brainer show stealer, with its super smooth texture. Everybody on my side of the table simply loved this green dish!
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Before heading to our sweet closure, Chef Rolf showed us the making of chocolate mousse that we were going to have that evening. He showed us the process of making it effortlessly. By that point, I was pretty sure his hands were equipped with some magic.
# Indonesian Chocolate Trio
At last, the closing dish came to our table. The highly anticipated dessert was pretty and somehow, humble in appearance. The Chocolate Trio included chocolate brownie, chocolate mousse, and coco peanut ice cream. Let me tell you this, the dessert was a wonder! The chocolate used was a mix of chocolate from Bali and Aceh! Without being too sweet, the intense chocolate flavour was really there lingering in my mouth. Another point to note is the liquid nitrogen chocolate crumbles, creating this crispy texture which was really necessary to spark some lightning in the rain of chocolate.
All that is left to say is that I was very happy to experience the great evening at C’s S&S, Grand Hyatt. Thanks to Qraved for making it happened, after all.
With the ‘evidence‘ I had throughout the evening, I am calling all of you to support local produce, with the local farms and ranches all around Indonesia. Let’s show some love to them!
C’s STEAK AND SEAFOOD – GRAND HYATT | JAKARTA
Jalan M. H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30
Grand Hyatt Hotel On the 4th Level, Central Jakarta 10350
Phone: +6221-29921383
Website: http://jakarta.grand.hyatt.com
Operational Hours:
Lunch: 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Dinner: 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Sunday Brunch: 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM
QRAVED:
www.qraved.com
