Tummy Prosperity: BEAU, The Croissant Queen, is Now Here in South!

Being so successful with its outlet at Central Department Store, Grand Indonesia, the talented pastry chef Talita Setyadi seems to be still not satisfied enough. Just this October, she finally came up with her third Beau outlet - Beau HQ, located at Cikajang area, which is just next to Senopati and Gunawarman, the heart of hype cafes and restaurants in Jakarta. If you happened to know Mister Sunday, one of the most wanted restaurants in town established few months ago, Beau is right across it.

Totally different with the design concept in the initial outlet, this one is brought out in homey ambience with indoor and outdoor spaces equally divide the venue. Covered with gorgeous flower pots and green plants all over the corners, the place delivers cozy atmosphere to spend your chilling hours. Honestly admitted, it might be not the most beautiful cafe with highly elegant design, yet I can get the comfortable feeling. Just one point BEAU might need to pay careful attention, which is the minus point behind this 'natural concept' in our tropical city, the insects attack. Other than that, the place for me successfully shows that simplicity can be the ultimate sophistication.

Being one of the early-birds, which can hardly be found, Beau HQ sparks my excitement to visit the outlet as soon as possible. I have been in love with Chef Talita's Bombos (Italian doughnuts) and cakes since long time ago, even before Beau opened any outlets and only participated in bazaars or pop-up stores. Thereby, this Sunday, the day when I was finally available to pay a visit there with my dearest friend @yennymakanmulu, has been the day I've been waiting for since the very first second of the week!

Before reaching the venue, I had doubted that every dish would be ready to be served at 7am, which was the opening time. I was actually kinda right as the barista told us that only those available at the showcase could be ordered at that time since they're still preparing for the rest. However, I was delighted by the short time they took for the preparation. Just around 15 minutes later, he came to us and said that now we could have any dish we desired in our order list. You've left great impression to me, sir! :)

Styling by @yennymakanmulu

Hot Cappuccino (IDR 35k)

A sip to start the breakfast round today came from the cup of hot cappuccino, which was made using Common Grounds beans. I firstly wanted it to be a skimmed one as it's also mentioned on the menu that it's adjustable to skimmed upon request. Unfortunately, it's still not available so I went for the normal one. If you preferred your cappuccino to come in lighter and milkier version, this was definitely made for you. However, my taste bud would prefer something slightly more bitter and more acid with stronger coffee scent.

Croque Madame (IDR 89k)

Having my morning caffeine craving satisfied, I then began to look for something to fill the empty tummy. Coincidentally, this time Ci Yenny and I pointed at the same savory dish to be tried, Croque Madame. I was expecting the beautiful ham and cheese sandwich topped with glossy bechamel sauce and sunny side up, however it turned out making me quite upset as the appearance was not as good as my imagination. The egg didn't come with that appetizing look I expected. Despite the *luckily* runny egg yolk, I didn't find anything special in the dish.

Beef Pastrami Smorrebrod (IDR 40k/piece, IDR 100k/3 pieces)

Successfully being influenced by the postings I've recently seen on my timeline, this Smorrebrod also landed on my table. For you who might wonder what it actually was, basically this Danish-originated dish was an open-faced sandwich serving various toppings on top of rye bread. Having 7 options provided on the menu, I was first confused with which one I should opted for. Asking each other to pick up the decision, Ci Yenny and I then ended up being mainstream and having this Beef Pastrami.

A little bit surprise to me, seemed like exactly the same dish might turn out differently when they're ordered at different timing, just like mine which for me was not as wonderful as the one had by the table next to me, let alone those versions I'd seen on my Instagram timeline :( . One most important thing, the egg wasn't even runny *deep sigh*. Actually, I personally thought this one tasted better than the first dish despite my disappointment on the looking. The combination of smoked beef, aioli, pickles, caramelized onion, poached egg, and crispy shallots went quite nice. Nonetheless, it still wasn't able to give maximum satisfaction to my palate.

Mont Violet (IDR 50k)

Moving on to the desserts part, I started with Beau's innovative Mont Violet. It had stolen my attention right away since the very first time I saw it due to two reasons. First, I am madly in love with Mont Blanc, chestnut cream cake which I believe is the source of inspiration of this Mont Violet; second, I mostly fancy every dish having purple sweet potato (Taro) as its basic ingredient. So this Mont Violet was basically a faultless combination of those two liking of mine. Blending milk chocolate ganache, purple sweet potato mousse, mascarpone chantilly and purple sweet potato cream on top of the Sable Breton (shortbread crust) base, this cake was light in both texture and taste; moist and not overly sweet. Nevertheless, in spite of this cake's creative concept, Mont Blanc's position in my favorite-cake chart is still unbeatable.

Chocolate Croissant (IDR 35k)

When all the previous ones haven't been able to spoil my palate well, Chef Talita's signature croissant finally stood out. Looking at the available choices, call it over-exaggerating but it's somehow true that picking just one flavor was one of the hardest decision I've made today. All of them simply looked so tempting, but this time it's the turn for the chocolate one. Reminding me of Doppio's two-color chocolate croissant, which I was crazily addicted to, this faultlessly-looking croissant has successfully won my heart and delivered exactly the same satisfaction. The succulent chocolate filling was so generously given that it would immediately burst out once you cut the luscious flaky pastry. Each of the element in this croissant was perfectly executed, making it surely deserved two thumbs up!

Located just 10-minute distance with car-ride from my place and opens early in the morning, I think Beau will be one of the cafes I will often visit going forward. As I always prefer sweets over savory dishes, I don't mind not having the savory ones and only take the sweet instead, since they're indeed the ones making me craving for more. I'm looking forward to the upcoming visit, at which I will surely give a try on the Eclair, Bali Brest, Cruffin, and other croissant flavors. Not to forget, I will certainly have my reunion with Chef Talita's awesome Bombos as well!