Vinod and Akanksha Saxena from Park Hyatt welcomed us for the sunday brunch session and we were greeted with Plum Tonic which looked so vibrant and simple. First sip and you know it was too strong and sour. It initially was too hard for me to savor it but as I sipped few sips more, I liked it as it was a perfect palatte cleanser which lead us to be ready for tasting chef's master dishes :)

     

       Soto Ayam (Clear Chicken Soup) - The cooking session started with Chef Gatot and Chef Mayanand making the chicken Clear Soup. The dish is an amalmagamation of herbs, spices, shallots, thin rice noodles or vermicelli. This soup is one of the most popular traditional soup  in Indonesian cuisine. Besides chicken and vermicelli, it can also be served with hard-boiled eggs, slices of fried potatoes, Chinese celery leaves, and fried shallots. Final touch is to serve the soup with hard boiled egg, fried shallots and herbs. The soup as such can also be served as hearty main dish or a smaller serving as a soup starter. This dish made by chef was very quick but fragrant. But when we got to taste them during our dining session, it was more flavorful and aroma was better. For hyderbadi taste buds, its very dull and so adding either of the condiments (sambel - red chilli n garlic paste / oinion - carrot - olive oil salad / lemon slices) will make it more adaptable as well. As such the soup was a fresh starter for our lunch.

 

     Satae Ayam aka Chicken Satay  - Satay or tradionally termed as Sate is chicken  skewered , seasoned and grilled and served with peanut sauce. Sate as such can be made with goat, mutton, beef, pork, fish, other meats, or tofu as well. Being a popular delicacy in Indonesia, there are other variants like Sate Ambal, Sate Ampet, Sata Ayam, Sata Babat, Sate Babi as well. Chef made us the tradional and most common dish Chicken Satay. Sliced chicken meat slices into skewered sticks , seasoned and cooked on hot over surfae for around 20% and then coated with other sprices and turmeric and peanut sauce and grilled for reminder of the cook, the cooking itself looked so tempting and when it was served along with the yummy peanut sace, it was absolutely phenomenal. The peanut sauce was also equally authentic and tasting it we would know how a real one is made than the ones that use too much of peanut butter combination(s).

 

    Nasi Goreng aka Chicken Fried Rice - No Indonesian cuisine is complete or meaningful without this NATONAL FOOD OF INDONESIA. Literally meaning Fried Rice in Malay , it refers to fried pre-cook jasmine rice, spiced with  kecap manis (Sweet Soy Sauce) and also salt, garlic, shallot, chilli pepper, spring onions, turmeric, oil, onions, palm sugar, ginger garlic paste, and slices of cucumber and tomato for garnishing. It also includes often includes krupuk and bawang goreng (fried shallots) or (fried onions) to give a crispier texture. Eggs might be mixed into fried rice or fried separately, either as telur ceplok/telur mata sapi (sunny side up eggs), or telur dadar (omelette), and also telur rebus (boiled eggs). The addition of fried egg is often named as nasi goreng spesial (pakai telur) (special fried rice topped with fried egg). Chef made us the sunny side up eggs version and served along with chicken satay and the supplementary condiments as final garnish. The chef's version was amazing but when wew were served on table, it was even more amazing - well balanced, well cooked and definitely well crafted dish for a light hearty meal.

 

     Fried Banana with Coconut Ice Cream and Powedered Sugar Drizzle - The finale dish of our planned meal and was served with chill ice cream. The freid bana as such was sweet and rightly fried but I didnt kind of like the coconut  ice cream as it didnt give my any coconut flavor and so did most of the foodies . So this dessert as such didnt WOW me much but then the other chef's creations made the day complete for a passionate foodie like me.