Off the Grill
When you’re looking for a tasty, hearty meal, nothing beats a good old southern-style barbecue restaurant. At UP IN SMOKE in Mega Kuningan, the smoked vegetables are as good as the meats, writes
WHAT MAKES UP IN SMOKE special is the way the chefs at this new restaurant in Mega Kuningan treat their ingredients. We all know that broccoli is good for our health, but let’s be honest - few of us really enjoy eating it. It’s a different story at Up In Smoke, however.
As evidenced by its chargrilled broccoli, a signature dish boasting a tarragon dressing and served with a house-made Romesco Catalonian sauce, the eatery has a way of making its vegetables taste as good as its smoked chicken and beef brisket. Another example of this is Up In Smoke’s unexpectedly good combination of slow grilled beets with gold kiwi, ricotta, watercress, hazelnut and basil. The smokiness of the beets makes this dish unforgettable.
The 150-seat restaurant combines traditional southern-style smoking and grilling techniques. The most interesting feature of the restaurant is its grill pit, which consists of custom-made smokers and grills from Texas.
Billed as “an artisanal barbecue restaurant focusing on smoked and grilled food”, Up in Smoke is a new venture of the entrepreneurs behind the One Eyed Jack izakaya and sake bars in Jakarta and Bali: Justin Sumarta Mu, Zachary Nice and Rapha Menchaca. The last is Corporate Executive Chef of Culinary Collective. He was Chef de Cuisine at the beachfront Nobu Malibu between 2011 and 2014.
For a starter, Chef Menchaca recommends a classic southern dish of fried pickles (Rp 55,000). Moving on to the main course, the choices include smoked brisket sandwich (Rp 110,000) and smoked chicken tartine (Rp 85,000). “We smoke the meats for 16 hours,” explains the chef, who has spent most of his life in San Francisco and New York. “To balance the heavy meats, we have a lot of vegetables, such as slow grilled beets (Rp 90,000) and grilled broccoli (Rp 75,000). Perhaps surprisingly, the vegetables are our best sellers.”
To end the meal, the menu offers banana cream pie (Rp 75,000), strawberry shortcake (Rp 75,000) and other favourites. The cocktail choices include Noe Sour (Rp 125,000), made of Jim Beam bourbon whiskey with Cherry Heering, lime, egg white and aromatic bitters.
As we digest our food, Chef Menchaca joins us to discuss his culinary philosophy. “Cooking by hand is very important and it’s linked to the slow food movement, which I’m very interested in,” he says. “I don’t use any machinery aside from a meat grinder. I use a mortar and pestle to pound all of our herbs and garlic. For me, there’s a lot of energy transfer that comes from one person that’s put into the food. When you taste it, you’re going to feel the person behind it. It’s very meaningful to me. It’s called the soul of the chef.”