I regularly buy stuff from Igor's because they're good and I'm willing to pay more for that quality. Nothing stands out, though. I never crave Igor's--it's just there. If I pass by an Igor's, I might stop by and get something, but I never go out of my way just to go to Igor's.
I really like Igor's flaky puff pastry. They don't use the cheap ingredients that leave your mouth oily and grainy (maybe shortening?). Tuna puffs. Mm. Since they make puff pastry so well, naturally their croissants are also delicious. I highly recommend the end-to-end chocolate croissant.
Their breads are all good except for the French bread (but I haven't found great crusty French bread in Surabaya). Each bakery has its own style when making bread. Igor's breads are soft and chewy, just how Asians like it.
I was surprised at how good the truffles are! They look nice and colorful to boot. Just don't expect too much liquor in the truffles, as alcohol is ridiculously expensive in Indonesia. The truffles should make a delicious and pretty gift.
I'm not crazy about the cakes, though. Most of them fall short of my expectations maybe because of Igor's aggressive advertising. I see an ad and think to myself, "that looks delicious. I'll have to try it soon." But it's never as good as I was led to believe. Objectively, I'm sure the cakes are good and well-made.
The cheesecakes are mediocre when you've had the real thing in America. I don't blame Igor. Cheesecake just doesn't taste the same if not made with Philadelphia cream cheese, which I've never seen in Surabaya. Igor might be using French cream cheese. You might think France makes better cheese, but cream cheese is actually an American invention! The French cream cheese is relatively bland compared to America's intensely tangy cream cheese.
Igor recently launched mille crepes. I was excited because I love mille crepes but Igor's just doesn't taste right. Yes, those crepes would be excellent served individually on a plate, but for mille crepes you need to make the crepes even softer. The mille crepes' layers fall apart easily and the crepes themselves are just ever so slightly hard.
I've tried some of the other stuff, like the millefeuille and some other fruit layered cake. They're okay, but not something I'd buy at that price.
What I do recommend, though, is the birthday cake from Igor's. They don't taste that good (I hate birthday and wedding cakes, so it's just my preference) but the fondant decorations are amazing! If you have a kid in kindergarten or elementary school, they will surely love Igor's playful and imaginative decorations.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The Harvest -- Terrible
I know, I know. They're so fancy. And the place is always crowded. And they have lots of branches! And amazingly high revenue!
My guess? The customers are taken in by the fancy atmosphere and presentation. The Harvest is excellent at branding, not at pastry. I have passed by this place so many times, and it's always so crowded, so I occasionally go in and try something, thinking I just bought a bad item the last time. There must be delicious cake around here. Right? Right?!
Nope. I don't know how many times I went there, maybe six times or so, but every single time I'm disappointed.
It all started with a gift. When Harvest just opened, we received a gift of Harvest cookies, maybe 6 tins in total. I can still remember the taste of the, ugh, "shortbread". It only took one bite to convince me to throw it out. I love butter. I love shortbread. But these are not shortbread. These are sand pressed into a mold and sold as "shortbread". Shortbread is just flour, sugar, and butter rolled together--how can you possibly mess this up?
Granted, they have improved a lot since then. The "shortbread" cookies were removed from the shelves, a bunch of new items were introduced, but still...
The chocolate mousse is tasteless... TASTELESS! Did they not add chocolate at all to the mousse? To add insult to injury, they used gelatinized chocolate instead of proper ganache. Look, I know they're shiny and the new thing, but they taste like crap. I eat mousse cakes because they melt in my mouth. I don't want leathery jelly that I have to chew every time I take a bite.
The pistachio dacquoise is passable. I just don't like that there is only one thin layer of what could pass as a dacquoise, while the rest is filler composed of mint mousse and sponge cake. They should just rename it "mint mousse cake".
Let's talk about madeleines. They are light, rich, buttery shell-shaped cakes. I can eat a whole tray of them in one sitting--they're that good. Harvest's madeleines? THEY'RE AS HARD AS A ROCK. Holy shit. These are failed products that should never hit any store's shelves.
The macarons are dry and brittle. No. Just no. Macarons are supposed to be soft and chewy, not dry and brittle. Have they been sitting around in the fridge for a month? Fucking throw them out after one or two weeks, please. You're already charging us a lot of money.
The ice cream tastes like very cheap budget ice cream, rough and icy like licking the Ice King's wrinkled butt. Just haul your ass to Zangrandi to get a much better product for the same price.
If you must go here, I only have two things I can recommend: the chocolate devil cake and the double-baked brownies. They're okay, though the devil cake isn't very chocolatey. The breads should be okay. But avoid the other cakes and ice cream. Seriously. Just stay away.
My guess? The customers are taken in by the fancy atmosphere and presentation. The Harvest is excellent at branding, not at pastry. I have passed by this place so many times, and it's always so crowded, so I occasionally go in and try something, thinking I just bought a bad item the last time. There must be delicious cake around here. Right? Right?!
Nope. I don't know how many times I went there, maybe six times or so, but every single time I'm disappointed.
It all started with a gift. When Harvest just opened, we received a gift of Harvest cookies, maybe 6 tins in total. I can still remember the taste of the, ugh, "shortbread". It only took one bite to convince me to throw it out. I love butter. I love shortbread. But these are not shortbread. These are sand pressed into a mold and sold as "shortbread". Shortbread is just flour, sugar, and butter rolled together--how can you possibly mess this up?
Granted, they have improved a lot since then. The "shortbread" cookies were removed from the shelves, a bunch of new items were introduced, but still...
The chocolate mousse is tasteless... TASTELESS! Did they not add chocolate at all to the mousse? To add insult to injury, they used gelatinized chocolate instead of proper ganache. Look, I know they're shiny and the new thing, but they taste like crap. I eat mousse cakes because they melt in my mouth. I don't want leathery jelly that I have to chew every time I take a bite.
The pistachio dacquoise is passable. I just don't like that there is only one thin layer of what could pass as a dacquoise, while the rest is filler composed of mint mousse and sponge cake. They should just rename it "mint mousse cake".
Let's talk about madeleines. They are light, rich, buttery shell-shaped cakes. I can eat a whole tray of them in one sitting--they're that good. Harvest's madeleines? THEY'RE AS HARD AS A ROCK. Holy shit. These are failed products that should never hit any store's shelves.
The macarons are dry and brittle. No. Just no. Macarons are supposed to be soft and chewy, not dry and brittle. Have they been sitting around in the fridge for a month? Fucking throw them out after one or two weeks, please. You're already charging us a lot of money.
The ice cream tastes like very cheap budget ice cream, rough and icy like licking the Ice King's wrinkled butt. Just haul your ass to Zangrandi to get a much better product for the same price.
If you must go here, I only have two things I can recommend: the chocolate devil cake and the double-baked brownies. They're okay, though the devil cake isn't very chocolatey. The breads should be okay. But avoid the other cakes and ice cream. Seriously. Just stay away.
Bakerzin -- Excellent
Hello everyone! I haven't updated in a long time. No pictures this time, since I rarely take my camera with me. I might as well update with some cake posts.
Bakerzin is an odd establishment. When they first opened, I tried their cakes and they were awful. Terrible. Out of six or seven cakes only one was edible. And even that one I know they skimped on the ingredients; in Singapore they use hazelnuts, while in Indonesia they use peanuts.
But they have come a long way since then! Now their cakes are very well-made. Their entremets are divine! The one I had was chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, passionfruit gelee, and ganache. The cake itself is fluffy and moist and the chocolate comes through (no gelatinized chocolate bullshit that's getting popular lately). They use good quality chocolate, so enjoy every last bit!
I also tried the Death by Nuts and Bloody Mary specials. Death by Nuts wasn't sweet at all, and the aroma of black sesame is faint. Overall a very bland dessert. The Bloody Mary is more appealing (red instead of grey) and tasty from the tomatoes. Texture-wise, it was interesting, as they used crunchy choco caviars that contrast with the fluffy and delicate cake. I'd stick to the other cakes.
The macarons are better than in most other cake shops. Maybe I had them while they're still relatively fresh; I don't know. Almost all other macarons I've tried are stale, either from drying out in the fridge or absorbing moisture from the air. Bakerzin's macarons have a good consistency, albeit very sweet. Update: I can now safely say that Bakerzin's macarons are easily in the top 3 in Surabaya. I bought close to a dozen macarons recently and only one had the off-smelling fridge odor, but the rest were made splendidly.
The food is quite good. I love their salad dressing. I know it's just mayo, but they put in a lot of lemon. It's like pouring slightly runny lemon curds on your greens, and I love every bite. I like the salmon pasta mixed with tapenade. The pasta is cooked al dente, which is not the standard in Surabaya. An aside: I asked the folks at Pisa Cafe and they said many customers complain the food isn't cooked through when they serve pasta al dente (lol), so they just serve overcooked pasta every time. Al dente is normally upon request.
The tea is a hit or miss. I bought some tea at Bakerzin when a new branch opened in Jakarta and the tea was memorably delicious. However, I went back there several months later and the tea was tasteless and odorless. Maybe Bakerzin doesn't throw away tea even after it's stale and past its prime.
Overall, I'd say Bakerzin is a good place to hang out at. The main drawback is the price (Rp. 35,000 for a slice of cake!) but it's okay to splurge once in a while. I upgraded Bakerzin to Excellent with one caveat: order the cakes. The food I'd say is good, but the cakes are excellent. Go there for the macarons.
Bakerzin is an odd establishment. When they first opened, I tried their cakes and they were awful. Terrible. Out of six or seven cakes only one was edible. And even that one I know they skimped on the ingredients; in Singapore they use hazelnuts, while in Indonesia they use peanuts.
But they have come a long way since then! Now their cakes are very well-made. Their entremets are divine! The one I had was chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, passionfruit gelee, and ganache. The cake itself is fluffy and moist and the chocolate comes through (no gelatinized chocolate bullshit that's getting popular lately). They use good quality chocolate, so enjoy every last bit!
I also tried the Death by Nuts and Bloody Mary specials. Death by Nuts wasn't sweet at all, and the aroma of black sesame is faint. Overall a very bland dessert. The Bloody Mary is more appealing (red instead of grey) and tasty from the tomatoes. Texture-wise, it was interesting, as they used crunchy choco caviars that contrast with the fluffy and delicate cake. I'd stick to the other cakes.
The macarons are better than in most other cake shops. Maybe I had them while they're still relatively fresh; I don't know. Almost all other macarons I've tried are stale, either from drying out in the fridge or absorbing moisture from the air. Bakerzin's macarons have a good consistency, albeit very sweet. Update: I can now safely say that Bakerzin's macarons are easily in the top 3 in Surabaya. I bought close to a dozen macarons recently and only one had the off-smelling fridge odor, but the rest were made splendidly.
The food is quite good. I love their salad dressing. I know it's just mayo, but they put in a lot of lemon. It's like pouring slightly runny lemon curds on your greens, and I love every bite. I like the salmon pasta mixed with tapenade. The pasta is cooked al dente, which is not the standard in Surabaya. An aside: I asked the folks at Pisa Cafe and they said many customers complain the food isn't cooked through when they serve pasta al dente (lol), so they just serve overcooked pasta every time. Al dente is normally upon request.
The tea is a hit or miss. I bought some tea at Bakerzin when a new branch opened in Jakarta and the tea was memorably delicious. However, I went back there several months later and the tea was tasteless and odorless. Maybe Bakerzin doesn't throw away tea even after it's stale and past its prime.
Overall, I'd say Bakerzin is a good place to hang out at. The main drawback is the price (Rp. 35,000 for a slice of cake!) but it's okay to splurge once in a while. I upgraded Bakerzin to Excellent with one caveat: order the cakes. The food I'd say is good, but the cakes are excellent. Go there for the macarons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)