Charcoal by TDR- Raffles Hotel Jakarta

An intimate dining with a wonderful open kitchen setting in Jakarta. Sounds rare, isn’t it? The sound of beef sizzlin’ on a charcoal grill, the perfection of dippin’ sauce and sides - oh sounds like a perfect harmony, don’t you think?

That was my experience in no other than Charcoal by TDR at Raffles Hotel Jakarta. This special pop-up kind of dining experience created by Chef Matias Sebastian, quite literally blew my mind. Located on the 12th floor of the Raffles Hotel, the entrance gave a sense of a romantic vibe with candles along the pathway.

The Charcoal by TDR pop up is available from February - early April 2021 and honestly? I feel that you should really give it a try. It’s great for date nights or simply dinner with some of your friends.

Alright, let’s go into more details about my experience here.

Food Rundown:

Sourdough with Charcoal Butter [Welcome Bread]: I was surprised with how this Sourdough turn out! Its crisp it’s just so so good. But the butter though - it’s a bit too melted for me, but the sourdough is definitely good.

Stracciatella burrata filling, homemade duck ham, fennel, confit orange, red onions & fresh herbs: mm-hmm, this Stracciatella burrata works well with the rest of the ingredients! But I gotta say, you gotta eat this first before trying out the other appetizers cause they’re on the lighter side of appetizer. Once you try out others, you can’t really taste the burrata as much. It’s soft and it’s greeeaat.

Coriander Hummus, tomato & garlic confit, spring onions, fresh herbs, grill bread: ya know, I’m a big fan of hummus and this actually made the cut! It’s tasty and creamy enough - however, it’s a tad salty for me but still works, still works. The bread that I got is a type of prata bread and it’s quite ok.

Tuna, ponzu dressing, carbon-grilled avocado: oof, so so freshly made. The tuna and ponzu dressing mm-mm, best way to close the appetizer before digging into the main course. This refreshes your taste bud and ugh, so good!

Smoked ricotta tortellini, caramelized onion, chicken broth: shut-the-front-door. WOW. this is the highlight of the dishes in TDR! One bite and oof, the tortellini melts inside your mouth. The broth itself is what kept me going cause wow, one sip and it tastes so freaking delish!

Charcoal Meat Tasting (300 gr of Chef’s selection premium cuts): Alright, this time we got 3 different meat and they are Kogi-age Australian ribeye black angus GF MB3-5+, Dry age Darling-downs Australian wagyu 4/5 picanha, and Stockyard angus beef Australian Tomahawk. My all time fav is their Kogi-Age Australian Ribeye cause the beef is just perfectly cooked and tasty. My second fav is their Tomahawk, it’s tender and juicy. Finally, their Picanha, it’s good but compared to the rest - it’s beatable.

Garnishes: Mushrooms ‘a la plancha’ , confit garlic & chives, Heritage carrot ‘a la plancha,’ herbs butter & Crashed potatoes ‘a la plancha,’ shio kombu & chives, Broccolis ‘a la plancha,’ spicy ‘ai oli’: Most favorite? CRASHED POTATOES! dang this is indeed something new and suuuuper tasty. The rest are also fantastic!

Sauces: Brown butter hollandaise, Original Chimichurri, Beef Truffle Jus, Butter Sampler set Brown butter miso, black garlic & chipotle: Wow. the Beef Truffle Just is out-of-this-world. It kinda gives me a sense of enjoying my meat in a different way. The Original Chimichurri is fresh and satisfying in a way, quite surprise how this works with steak! Brown butter miso is just greaaat but not salty enough to top it all out. And finally - the hollandaise is quite good too but still can’t beat the Beef Truffle Jus

Berry: Pistachio genoise, strawberry & rhubarb, raspberry jelly, crostini tuille, blueberry Chantilly: funny, this literally resets all of my taste bud - why? the sorbet though, it’s suuuuper sour in a good way of course.

Pear: Caramel mousse, cognac pears, hazelnut crumble, lime ginger sorbet, pear chip: wooooow! This sweet babies are greaaaat! the sorbet is good, the caramel mousse is perfect and the pear - oh dear, the pear. it’s one of a kind for sure.

Overall, this place is definitely worth to try. The price point is surprisingly not on the higher end and the food are definitely, definitely good. I’d give this a 7.5/10 cause some dishes are just quite okay. They also offer a Sunday brunch where you can enjoy coffee and desserts in a cart - so maybe… I might be thinking of trying it out too!