Some healthy choices for food lovers

Rhiannon Horrell, ,  The Jakarta Post, ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 02/22/2009 11:47 AM  |  On the Town

The gluten-free oven-dried tomato-crusted snapper is one of the new “Healthy Choices” on the menu at the Seasons Café (JP/Rhiannon Horrel)

With Indonesia's health-conscious population on the rise, Jakarta's restaurants are starting to alter their menus to provide more gluten-free, wheat-free and vegetarian choices.

Seasons Cafe at the Four Seasons Hotel is one of these, with the recent introduction of their new "healthy choices" to the a la carte menu. Running since January, it seeks to use local organic produce where possible. On the menu for Rp 65, 000 (US$5), one can order Sukabumi, steamed organic vegetables in a basket, sourced from West Java.

The first thing you notice when entering is the smell of food. Seasons Cafe has a comfortable atmosphere with unobtrusive music and warm wooden decor. Executive chef Vindex Tengker is taking the "go green" campaign seriously, the menu even has a green cover, and he says items are clearly marked for health-conscious customers.

"Green has become the new style. It takes time but people want something healthy that tastes good. It must be healthy - that is our priority.

Chef Vindex Tengker prpeares a plate of healthy food (JP/Rhiannon Horrel)

"We have taken a New York spa theme of fire, water and sea [represented by fish] and approach food more in terms of health, using less oil and less salt," he said

With an extensive range, Seasons Cafe serves Asian specialties (Rp 105,000 - Rp 135,000), Indonesian home cooking (Rp 60,000 - Rp 130,000), Western-style main courses (Rp 100,000 - Rp 340,000) and has a Japanese corner (Rp 60,000 - Rp 240,000). Pizza, sandwiches and a buffet are also available. Pepperoni pizza is a best-seller, but Vindex personally prefers the four cheeses pizza, which comes with four types of chili.

No skimping on the wine selection either, one should expect to pay about Rp 140,000 for a glass of 2006 Torbreck Woodcutter's Semillion or 2005 Pighin Cabernet Sauvignon. Chef Vindex says traditional thinking, where a red wine has to be drunk with red meat or a white wine with white meat, is now outdated.

"That is not the case now, people are drinking a strong white with a nice red meat and it is fine. Wine is always changing and tastes are changing - a lot of Asian people now drink wine so their palette has changed and their taste buds have changed."

In 2007, chef Vindex was voted one of the 10 best chefs in Indonesia by Harper's Bazaar Magazine. Despite being Jakarta-born, he always felt that Bali was his home. He became accustomed to cooking for high-end customers while working at resorts in Bali.

"Bali is much nicer, I think. For work it is nice; there is no traffic and you know you will get there within a few minutes. Not like in Jakarta, where it is unpredictable. A thirty-minute drive can sometimes take two hours, it is so frustrating."

Having been back in Jakarta for 5 years, he thinks it is a good market but one which has not quite caught up to Singapore in terms of numbers or quality.

"But we are getting there. We have had a lot of good coverage of our food and beverage operations."

This year, he says, the restaurant is leaning toward Asian culinary flavors, which he thinks Indonesians are starting to enjoy. Seasons Caf* has now been open 14 years and has a mix of local and Western customers.

The poached spring chicken breast in an appetizer, served with wakame salad and sesame mango sauce (JP/Rhiannon Horrel)

As an appetizer, the poached chicken breast had a Mediterranean touch with some Asian influences - served with wakame salad and a sesame mango sauce. Oven-dried tomato-crusted snapper was served next, which usually takes about 15 minutes to prepare. No sauce was needed as it was tender and juicy, the tomato and pesto being appropriately subtle flavors to complement the fish.

"It is a local dish but comes with red rice risotto - the red rice is local, organic and comes with pesto," says chef Vindex.

"We don't really mention calories because some people find this is too much. They just like to eat food which in their mind is healthy and not too oily."

A gluten-free chocolate cake was a tempting dessert, served with a berry sauce and garnished with raspberries, peach slices and curls of white chocolate. It was rich and moist, surprisingly flavorful for a sugar-free dish.

Chef Vindex has dreams of returning to Bali to retire, but for now has a medium-term goal of continuing to work in hotels across Asia.

"Maybe I'll open a restaurant - just a small restaurant selling home-style food. This is a hotel, it is too classy."

Seasons Cafe

Four Seasons Hotel
Lobby level
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said
Jakarta

Open every day 6 a.m. - 11:30p.m.
Sunday brunch 11:30a.m. - 3 p.m.
Dress - smart casual

(021) 252 3456 ext. 7199

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