Coconuts Hotspot: Celebrity chef Will Meyrick goes “modern” with his new menu at E&O (but his classics remain the reason to come)

Massaman lamb curry

For those of you that know who chef Will Meyrick is, E&O should need no introduction. An Australian who has become a celebrity chef in Indonesia thanks to his hugely popular Bali-based restaurants, Sarong and Mama San (as well as numerous appearances on TV shows such as Top Chef: Indonesia and Back to the Streets: Jakarta) Meyrick opened E&O in 2013 to rave reviews from critics

But it looks like Meyrick might have over-estimated the amount of appreciation Jakartans have for the food of their Southeast Asian neighbors. In an interview with The Honeycombers, he said the restaurant recently came up with a new menu to make the venue “more fun and a bit more casual, and not just a visit-once-a-month restaurant.”

E&O still looks as classy as ever

E&O previously had a menu that was dense and perhaps a bit intimidating to first-timers. The old menu was also based around large shareable dishes – if you came in a large group you could a real feast, but intimate two-person dinners or casual get-togethers were harder to order for. 

The new menu has been streamlined and, while many of the old favorites remain, many of the new dishes feature fusion-y twists and come in single serving portions – quite a departure from Meyricks’ wheelhouse, which is high-fidelity renditions of authentic, time-tested recipes (a repetorie he traveled all over Asia to master). We loved the old menu (which could be challenging but also very rewarding), so we wanted to see if E&O’s new menu maintained the allure.

Carmalized duck

Fortunately it seems like the new menu items generally maintain the high standards that Meyrick is known for the same time making things more accessible to local sensibilities. For example, the menu has a new “modern” take on Vietnamese caramelized duck. The old version emphasized strong black pepper and lime flavors, while the new version pulls back on the spicing while pairing the lusciously crisp and sticky duck pieces with fragrant coconut rice and a spicy and sour som tum salad. The well-balanced som tum provides a refreshing counterpoint to the rich duck while the rice makes it possible to eat the dish as a meal unto itself.

The new menu’s fusion items are generally good as well. The Thai-style Caesar salad (Rp 95k) with chicken marinated in Thai-spices accompanied by bits of crunchy pork belly and a poached egg to make one of the richest and most interesting salads in the city. The Penang beef burger (Rp 125k) itself was great – the thick, juicy patty comes slathered in a nice combination of chili jam and alioli, assertive slices of aged cheese and even a nice bit of beetroot to add an Australian touch. 

But it is served with, what the menu euphemistically calls, “hill tribe” fries, which turned out to be a few slices of singkong goreng (fried cassava). Barely seasoned and in quite a small portion (considering how cheap singkong is here) it almost felt like we were passively aggressively being punished for daring to order the burger here of all places. If somebody chooses to order a burger, just give them some real french fries (and top them with some coriander and chili flakes if you’re worried about them not being “Asian enough.”)

These new dishes may satisfy a certain clientele, but if you go to E&O we highly suggest that, to get the most out of it, you stick to what Meyrick does best – the menu’s assortment of classic, shareable dishes. 

Prawn and soft-boiled egg salad

So much of what makes Thai and Vietnamese cuisine great is the unique balancing act of flavours in each dish and you can’t get the full experience with just one. Come with a group of at least four friends and order one of the brilliantly complex salads such as the som tum green mango salad (Rp 50k) and at least one of the curries, such as the exemplary massaman lamb curry (Rp 180k) or the meltingly tender Penang beef curry (Rp 170k) . Sop up the sauce with the house’s buttery, perfectly crisp roti chanai and we can pretty much guarantee you’ll have a fantastic meal.

E&O
Menara Rajawali, Mega Kuningan
+6221 576 1645 
Website

Photos: E&O



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