Jakarta Java Kini - Jakarta's City Magazine

Although finding good pub grub in Jakarta is now easy, few of them actually have the confidence to call themselves gastro pubs. Bureau is one of these brave establishments. A collaboration between Khusyi, one of the key players behind the successes of Birdcage and Bibliotheque, and Satrio Wibowo, this innovative pub boasts a big menu to assure patrons that it is indeed serious about its gastronomy.

Food aside, a good pub should always be judged by the quality of its libation. Bureau’s drinks list is studded with a large and varied selection of modern cocktails and imported beers. They also play with traditional Indonesian desserts and have reshaped some of them into a range of tempting signature cocktails.

The highly alcoholic Wedang Ronde is a delicious example of this experimental approach. We, however, got stuck into a Kiwi Mojito, a modernised classic which shows how well the kiwi fruit can actually work with mint and rum. The only minor setback drinks wise was that Bureau’s draft beer wasn’t as cold as it should be. Back to the gastro part, Bureau serves international dishes with a French twang (which manifests itself more in the dishes names than their originality in most cases).

The menu is built around the kind of unpretentious fare that should be familiar to most diners these days. Our soft-shelled crab starter is lightly coated in batter and then deep-fried and finally seasoned with garlic, chilli and salt. The result reminded us of one of our favourites, namely the tasty salt and pepper squid dish made famous by the Duck King group here in Jakarta.

Hats off to Khusyi for their meticulous attention to picking star ingredients. The soka crab has the tenderest of shells and, most importantly, is mature enough to already be packed with a good amount of crabmeat.

The second dish was Cote de Boeuf in Honey. Despite sounding French, the dish actually has a very Asian feel to it, mainly due to the decision to use a Korean-style flanken short rib as the main ingredient.

The accompanying sweet honey juice also made the dish remind us more of a Korean kalbi than a Western cote de boeuf, which is why we thought that the decision to serve the dish with mashed potato created an awkward clash. Despite that, the meat very tender and the honey juice imbued the whole dish with a perfect balance of sweet and savoury flavour.

Serving those sweet ribs with rice, or even fries, would probably have been more appropriate though.Offering a varied and different menu, with appropriate touches of hipness, this establishment has potential. Our only wish would be for the menu to be written in a simpler and more descriptive manner.

_{Bureau
Pondok Indah Plaza 2, Unit BA-27,
Jl. Metro Pondok Indah
T: 021 751 0412}