Journal de la Journée: Signatures Restaurant at Thamrin

It was a Friday afternoon where I, alongside with my parents decided to have lunch at Signatures Restaurant at Hotel Indonesia Kempinski. We made a reservation that were taken care nicely by the staffs. It was my first time ever visiting the hotel and I just figured out that it is the venue where my parents hold their wedding reception! I only knew they held a very simple ceremony at one of their house and I surprised myself for figuring the reception venue only until that day hehe.

Back to the actual post about Signatures, upon entering the place we were greeted nicely and got seated nearby the food stalls, facing away the garden view of the hotel. The decoration of the place is very simple but allows easy mobility -- which is necessary when you're going back and forth for the food from the buffet that consist of Indonesian, Western, and other Asian food that are also available in the live kitchen too. The dining area and the buffet area are separated in two distinct area, so it would be best to get seated nearby the foods. The lunch rate during our visit is IDR 298.000++ excluding beverage.

The appetizer stall were located near the entrance and I allow myself for some sushi, sashimi, mussels and dim sum. The seafoods were indeed very fresh, but the sashimi were sliced very thinly that I'm missing out on its texture. The dim sum, on the other hand, were divine. I really liked it, even with comparison with siumay that Signature also offer.

The vegetables were fresh and colorful.

The salad bar looks like a feast, although not my kind of feast.

Clockwise: chicken nugget, roasted lamb, roasted chicken with mushroom sauce, mozzarella chicken and pizza. My favorite were the truly generous chicken nugget and their saucy pizza.

One of my remarks to the chefs is that during this particular service, the butchery on the roasted lamb and chicken took a long time that the chef seemed undertrained. For the reason of such difficulty I witnessed, I only got thin slices of the protein that seemed to be one of the main offering during the time :(

Freshly cooked noodle in tom yum goong sauce. Before having the soup poured into the bowl, we chose several toppings such as mushroom, meat balls, fish cake and fresh veggies.

These are my favorite and of course I'm having second!

In the middle of the course one of the team from Signatures (their supervisior, I believe) came to our table to check up on our lunch. He recommends the pasta from Signature and he gladly ordered it for us. The fettucine bolognese were truly a delight, and coming from such warm regards from the team was a very sweet thing. We did not have anything to complain during such smooth service.

He also recommend the Sunday brunch menu and offered several promotions using BCA card. It is a very lavish deal, 20% off on weekdays (excluding beverage) and 50% off on weekends (including beverages) using BCA credit card. Talk about a deal!

I also tried Signatures' signature chicken porridge! It was unique in its way as I follow the original serving of the midnight snack menu (in the late 1970s) by sprinkling chicken floss, crueller and some recommended topping that were explained elaborately in a poster up top of the porridge stall.

The buffet option were filled with other Indonesian delicacy and also uniquely serves brown rice (which were a delight for my dad whom is trying to continually eating brown rice). According to my parents, the mutton curry is the highlight of the entire meal. And I agree as it is very powerful and bold in flavor.

Last but not least is their dessert! The desserts were mainly provided by Hotel Indonesia Kempinski bakery by the Sweet Boutique and their desserts is the best thing about my whole meal. Sadly I have the desserts only minutes before the end of the lunch service that ends in 3.00 p.m.

I had their rich black forrest cake, caramel custard, raspberry panacotta, lavender and pistachio macaron, pistachio truffle chocolate. The caramel has been a bit left too long that it hardens, but for the same reason I love it more. The raspberry panacotta is a smooth, sweet and sour delight. Their macarons.... oh my God their macarons were just the best. Fragrant and rich, I could have taken another dozen if I'm not full enough already. Take into account that the pastry chef were French. Now THAT explains why these tiny bits of sweets are just the perfect end to the series of courses.

Also we had ice cream (above picture with the cakes; vanilla and strawberry) and sorbet. On the picture above is the guava and raspberry sorbet. I love it even more than I love the ice cream, the sorbet is sweet and tangy and true to its flavor. Great way to cool down in the midst of the afternoon.

It was such a satisfying experience trying out signature. What I love the most, besides from the food, is the preservation of the history that taken place in the particular hotel. Photographs of President Soekarno with worldly figures decorates one corner of the restaurant, and upon entrance a placard were placed in commemoration on the establishment of the hotel. Such things makes the hotel unique and I appreciate the effort of subtly delivering history in such way.

Come to try out Signatures Restaurant and savour their dishes, then when you are done, walk through the hall besides the Signatures Restaurant to find the Lobby Nirwana Lounge to then sit down by the bar or the sofas to unwind your day in the midst of hectic Jakarta or find and explore arrays of sweet pastries and dessert at the Sweet Boutique. I drooled right away as I passed the hall and realized that there might be another room for desserts after desserts.