F&BThe reopened Mandarin Oriental, Jakarta and its plush new refit has been online for a few months now. With Lyon however, the hotel’s classy new French brasserie, the management has perhaps left the best until last. Opening Lyon was probably a smart move by the Mandarin Oriental as French cuisine is perhaps somewhat under represented around the city’s upmarket hotels.

So how does Lyon measure up on the French scale of culinary fastidiousness? Well the restaurant seats over a hundred people and also sports two private rooms, one of which overlooks a superb view of Jl. Thamrin. There are two glass, floor-to-ceiling wine cellars and the main restaurant area isn’t overly elaborate but rather elegantly simple and features soft lighting throughout for an intimate atmosphere. In fact, if you’re considering a romantic Valentine’s dinner (see our special feature elsewhere in this month’s magazine) then you could do a lot worse than head down to Lyon for a special deal costing Rp.1,000,000 per couple this February 14th. Call the above number for further details.

So what of the food then? Lyon serves traditional, regional brasserie cuisine from Lyon, Provence, Brittany, Marseille, Normandy and other areas of France. The restaurant even sports a classic brasserie blackboard with the various dishes of the day chalked up for diners to peruse. Lyon sources fresh local ingredients wherever possible and even bakes its own delicious bread. Dishes can also be complemented by a suggested wine in order to achieve that perfect synergy between grape and food.

Chef Theirry Le Queau clearly knows his onions (sorry) and has got the secret of good French cooking down pat, i.e. he can take basic, cheap ingredients and rustle them up into something magical. The Lyon menu sports all of those classic French dishes of course, along with a few other European dishes on the side for good measure. On our visit we started off with a good old French Onion Soup (Rp.55,000) which was tasty, rich and thick with cheese, just as it should be. We then dove into a Coq Au Vin (Rp.120,000) which made for a superb entree. The chicken was tender for sure however it was the delicious red wine sauce that really grabbed our attention. After the meat had all gone we found ourselves enthusiastically mopping up the remainder of the piquant sauce with pieces of baguette in true French peasant style.

We finished off with a rich plate of Chocolate Profiteroles (Rp.55,000) which probably didn’t do much for our waistlines but which were a sinful delight nonetheless. If you’re getting tired of Jakarta’s overabundance of Italian and Chinese eateries then head down to Lyon for a taste of France. Bon appetite.