Ever since Francis established its feet for the very first time in Indonesia, particularly Jakarta, I’ve been one of its big fans as it got me fallen for both the savory and sweet selections. I still remembered my initial visit on the outlet, where I was so surprised looking on its giant-sized bread. I believed you definitely knew what I meant as compared to similar ones, Francis’ were indeed relatively huge. Nonetheless, I also couldn’t forget how happy I was knowing they offered tons of samples for almost all variants. Yep, offering so much choices, it’s indeed an awesome idea to provide testers so the guests could assure what they bought home were indeed what they loved. Oh dear, you did understand us too well <3!
Joining their Bloggers Baker’s Day for the very first time, it’s such an excitement I’ve been waiting for. Well, for me who loved both desserts and baking, having the two offered right in front of me was surely a pleasure! Yeaaayyy, I couldn’t stand waiting to bake in the kitchen of my favorite bakery for sure.
It’s held at their Taman Anggrek outlet, and great news their brand ambassador, Ari Wibowo, would be there joining us in the same session as well. Wow, it’s an enticing moment to meet him and I’d never expected honestly I would get this chance LOL. I wasn’t a crazy fan, but still it’s awesome to meet a public figure.
Entering the ‘grand stage’ of Francis, the place where everything sold was handcrafted, I was impressed by how great their hygiene and quality maintenance were. All the kitchen area as well as the equipment were neatly organized and looking so clean. No wonder even before we entered the kitchen we were already briefed to start with washing and drying our hands. We’re also fully equipped by the cap, apron, gloves, and mask.
For the special session, we’re trained to make two of the signature as well as most favorite bread of Francis? Would you wanna make a guess before reading the answer? If you just mentioned Chocolate Banana bread and Chocolate Bun, you got the perfect score fella!
The process didn’t start from scratch as the dough had been prepared by the chef earlier. Little fun fact, it already featured chocolate chip even before given the filling. We were then taught to roll the dough, put the right dosage of the chocolate filling and sliced banana, then cover the base layer with another dough. The bread then went through proofing process using the machine, before we continued with stuffing the blocked cheddar cheese and put flour sprinkles on top to avoid it from getting too dry when it finally entered the gigantic oven for final baking.
While waiting for our bread to be ready, we had the next one, the crowd-pleaser chocolate bun! Hands up for those who’ve got hitched long time ago by this sweetie blacky. The dough’s appearance was pretty similar to first one, just that size wise it’s more petite. This time the filling was chocolate paste and surprise surprise, more choc chips!! Pretty little fact, wasn’t it? No wonder I always felt the chocolate filling was generously given. One thing for sure, stuffing the filling and ensuring the dough got perfectly closed wasn’t as easy as it looked guys!
Cutting the waiting time short, so there they were, our bread ready to be packed upon baked. Some looked not bad, showing some of these amateur bakers were apparently talented including my sis, but some were pretty terrible in appearance (including mine) LOL. Great lesson learnt, you needed to ensure you rolled the dough well, shaped it well, and no room for air inside the bread or otherwise it would later have wrinkles.
  | ||
| *Guess which is mine? ;)* |
One more fact revealed, for the ones with good quality but not so good appearance, Francis didn’t compromise and would use that as their samples; a great consumer care that got me impressed. I guessed here ‘what-you-paid-was-what-you-got’ did take role. Even for the ones we’re given to take home, they gave us the quality-and-presentation approved ones. But I was also happy as I could take home my handmade Chocolate Banana bread. Cover might not be perfect, but for sure I did want my self-appreciation moment ;)
All in all, it’s such an awesome experience able to get exposed to ‘what’s behind Francis’ scene’. Not only I learnt a lot, but I could simultaneously reassured all I bought here had been through robust quality control <3
Taste: 8/10
Place: 7.5/10
Service: 8.5/10
Price: 7.5/10
Thanks for reading! :)
FRANCIS ARTISAN BAKERY
Address: Grand Indonesia, Mall Taman Anggrek, Lippo Mal Puri, Mall Kelapa Gading, Baywalk, Central Park, Lippo Mall Kemang, Gandaria City, Summarecon Mall Serpong
Phone: (+62 21) 6650 5383
No comments:
Post a Comment