September 2nd, 2016. It’s been 6 months since its opening last March 2016. I’ve been aiming to visit this place since I heard about it. But, too busy with my life, it never happened, until now. I finally came there. Finally!!! LOL. I present to you. The Dutch.
A modern gastropub – by UNION group – serving elevated comfort food with a creative edge by Chef Chris Moes and a wide selection of beers on tap.
Located on the ground floor of office building around SCBD, it’s really a convenient venue for lunch meeting for workers around the area. I knew the place because it used to be my hubby’s office building *not anymore now* 🙂 Ok, let’s talk about the place. When I stepped inside, I found the place was quite calm. A dim-litted gastropub with moody ambiance. It’s not spacious in size, but it’s not crowded also. It’s just a perfect space for having comfortable lunch. Smoking area is at bar and front area. So, if you’re not smoking, pick the table on the back area. And, like any other UNION group’s restaurant, they have baskets to put your bags. Neat.
THE DUTCH SET LUNCH 125k
Monday to Friday from 11am to 4pm
Appetizer + Main Course – OR – Main Course + Dessert
Complimentary Tea or Coffee
APPETIZERS
Caesar Salad with Chicken/Pork
Grilled Smoked Chicken, Crispy 7 Minute Egg, Focaccia Croutons, Anchovies, Shaved Parmesan
Caesar Salad is one of the “safe” salad that you can order anywhere. You can be pretty sure, it’s delicious. It’s a kind of salad that everybody likes. Hahaha. It won’t make you full, and you surely can eat another dish with less guilt. Yes, because you’ve already ate salad. Healthy salad. LOL.
Greek Salad with Feta Cheese
I don’t like red onion in salad. So, sorry, I didn’t try this one. Just tasted the feta cheese. Yeah, I like cheese. What I love about this dish, it’s so pretty. Colourful, cheerful and wonderful presentation. And it is very healthy hahaha.. Soooo not my freaking kind of food. LOL.
‘Erwtensoep’
Split Pea Soup, ‘Rookworst’, Brioche, Smoked Butter
When I sip a spoonful of this soup, I said, “This is so good!” Love the texture of it. Thick and rich. Savoury and tasty. And lucky me, I could finish it all hahahaha.. The rookworst enhanced the flavour with its taste. But. Yup but. But, the smoked butter was the superstar I guess. It’s just so very very good, I wanted to ask a refill to the bowl. LOL.
Rookworst is a type of Dutch sausage in which ground meat is mixed with spices and salt and stuffed into a casing. Rookworst is a traditional ingredient in stamppot.
MAINS
Spaghetti with Spiced Pork Belly
Spicy. That’s the first thing that I find about this dish. The texture of the spaghetti was al dente, of course, which is not my palate. I prefer a little bit overcooked hahaha.. Silly me, right? The spiced pork belly didn’t dominate the flavour of the pasta. I could still taste the spiciness *sigh*
Red Pesto Rigatoni with Grilled Vegetables
They didn’t serve this dish so I couldn’t take picture of it. So, if you want to know the presentation or the taste, you order it lah by yourself. Do not wait for the photo in my review. Don’t! Please don’t. Well, actually I am not familiar with rigatoni. I just googled it. It said in Wikipedia: Rigatoni are a form of tube-shaped pasta of varying lengths and diameters. They are larger than penne and ziti, and sometimes slightly curved, though nowhere near as curved as elbow macaroni. So, yeah, order it, take the picture of it, and tag me, okay. LOL.
Kebab Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce
It’s huge. Hahaha. Yeah, the biggest satay I’ve ever tried, I guess. The presentation? Mouthwatering. I was drooling when I saw it in front of me. 🙂 But. I hope they make the rice cake softer. It’s a little bit too hard for me. Yeah, an old lady like me, need softer food hahahaha.. The Peanut Sauce was perfect. Perfect texture, perfect taste, perfect for me. I love peanut sauce like I love peanut butter like I love you guys *aaaaaaaaw..*
Grilled Ox Tongue with Garlic Long Beans and Jasmine Rice
Hmm.. I think grilled ox tongue is similar with gyutan. Am I right? Well, I’m not a food expert. I just loved food. In my foodictionary *hahaha new word!!* there’s only 2 kind of food. Delicious and Very delicious! Hihihi. And I dare to call myself foodie!!! Ok, let’s stop talking about the fun fact hahaha.. This one was very delish. It’s tender and juicy and soft and flavourful and rich and succulent and I can tell you many words that describe the taste of it. But, I will stop. I think you guys already knew what I meant. Now we talk about the jasmine rice. I won’t talk about the garlic long beans. It’s long beans. Period. The jasmine rice was aromatic and well cooked. So yeah, it’s recommended.
DESSERTS
Bread & Butter Pudding with Raspberry Sorbet
The raspberry sorbet is sexy. The bread and butter pudding is not that special for me. It’s good.. It’s good.. *niddle-noddle* it’s just not that special. 🙂 Taste good, but prefer mushier.
Brownie with Caramel Sauce and Coconut Ice Cream
Flavor wise, this was one of the best brownie I’ve ever tried. It’s dense but soft and very rich in texture and flavour. They can make it less sweet, though. It’s a little bit too sweet for me, but I guess, a little sweet now and then doesn’t hurt.
NEW SPECIALS
Tuna Tataki 125k
Wasabi Mayo, Charred Cauliflower
It’s tender, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth. It’s the winner!! Superb. Actually, the name is very ear-catching. Tataki. It’s actually a method of preparing fish or meat in Japanese cuisine. Tataki means pounded. The meat or fish is seared very briefly over a hot flame or in a pan, and can be briefly marinated in vinegar, sliced thinly and seasoned with ginger (which is ground or pounded into a paste, hence the name). That’s how the fish got the tenderness. Most recommended!!
Peach & Oreo Cheesecake 65k
Chocolate Ice Cream
Mix peach and oreo and cheesecake. It explodes in your mouth. The cheesecake was soft, like the texture of dense mousse. The sweetness of the peach balanced out the flavour of the cheesecake. Don’t forget the chocolate ice cream. It was one fresh cake to candy-coat your day.
Poffertjes Nutella and Banana 45k
My favourite!!! The banana is very sweet with caramel on top, served with nutella all over the poffertjes. It was addicting, ladies and gentlemen! How many poffertjes I ate that time? I lost count! Hahahahaha.. *devil laugh* Yeah, they had to make it one more portion hahahahahahaha *happy face* So, when someone asks me, “What’s fluffy and sweet and addicting?” I will answer in a jiffy, “ME!” Pffffttt.. wrong answer!! It’s Poffertjes Nutella and Banana from The Dutch!! Yaaay!!
Poffertjes are a traditional Dutch batter treat. Resembling small, fluffy pancakes, they are made with yeast and buckwheat flour. Unlike American pancakes, they have a light, spongy texture.
I had so much fun!! Thanks The Dutch for making my lunch so fun and pleasant time. For me and my tummy. Definitely a keeper! See you again soon ya. 🙂
The Dutch
18 Parc Place Tower E
Ground Floor, SCBD
Jl. Jendral Sudirman Kav. 52-53
Jakarta
Phone: 021-5152828
IG: @thedutchjakarta
