BREAD – awesome variety

Nowadays one takes everything in Jakarta for granted. The enormous variety of food and restaurants, the products and services available, the white goods and kitchen utensils, cutlery, glasses, plates, chef's knives, bed linen, fitness centres and exercise equipment, LED and LCD TV sets, cars—yes, Lamborghini and Ferrari have their dealerships in Jakarta—and of course traffic and gridlock. It's all there, it's all part of normal life, and very much in demand.

It is of course nice that Bentley has a showroom in one of the upscale malls, and seeing a Ferrari on the road is worth a second look, and a smile when caught in the same gridlock in the middle of Kijangs.

But very quietly, almost unnoticed, has been the transformation of the bakeries, the providers of that so very common food item: bread. Where some three decades ago breads and pastries were available in a limited range only, the present choice includes the full range from French baguettes and batard, to kraftkorn, nine-grain, German rye and sourdough bread. Then one had to visit Hotel Indonesia hoping that the Deli still had a rye bread, or try one's luck at Sari Pan Pacific. Now the outlets selling this great variety of daily fresh breads are almost within walking distance… I mean one can't miss them even if one doesn't look for them.

Forget the five star hotels for the moment though their number also increased dramatically, it all started with Vineth. Mid-80s! The Jakarta Post published an article on one William Wongso who had travelled around the world collecting recipes for bread. If I'm not mistaken Tahiti was, for onstance, on his itinerary, too, and there he learned to make a real baguettes—those thoughtful French made sure they were never without their favourite bread! On his return Mr Wongso had to convince his family that investing in his dream of a new-era bakery would bring great fortune. That sounds like the I Ching, and maybe the uncles and aunties did consult the Book of Change, but the money was made available and bread-lovers like myself were immensely grateful. Vineth is available in quite a large number of outlets, eg, Hero, Kem Chicks, Ranch, and of course their own shop on Panglima Polim Raya No. 63-65.

And then there appeared a fair number of others. Lees and Chef's Kitchen and Daily Bread, and the in-house bakeries at Kem Chicks (Kemang) and Ranch (Pondok Indah). All baking beautiful tasty bread. But for me the best tasting bread is baked by MeTro Sky Garden, a bakery and restaurant/bar at the German Centre BSD, some 30 minutes west of Jakarta. I buy their bread and pastries in Hero Kemang—I have not found other outlets in my shopping area (Jakarta Selatan). Their sourdough bread is incredible and for a cookie try the Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies.