Le Cafe Gourmand Gunawarman Jakarta

I almost never post a review just one day after my visit, but this one is just worth the exception. One of the reason I was willing to drive almost 2 hours on a drizzling rainy and heavy jam yesterday was because my beyond curiosity of this recently opened patisserie. Le Cafe Gourmand might be the new kid on the block at Gunawarman street, but they are definitely not a newbie in the business. Established on 2012 in Surabaya, this French patisserie is utterly popular in their home town. 

I even once asked hubs for a trip to Surabaya, just to try Le cafe Gourmand and the crowded Kwetiau Apeng. He, of course ignored my crazy idea. LOL. So, when the kind people behind Le Gourmand finally branching out to Jakarta, I was beyond excited.

Since we were there just two days after the soft opening, bunch of congratulations flowers spotted cramming all over the front yard. The place turns out to be fancier than what I had in mind. It wasn't those kind of classic Victorian fancy type, it was humbler, more artistic, minimalist modern. I loved how they make the ambiance so minimalist, extremely neat, yet still a joy for the eyes with the classic wall paintings and pastry books placed in their shelves.

Focus on bringing the finest coffee and dessert, you will be amazed with their pastry selections. Tart, pudding, pies, cakes, eclairs, crepes, ice cream. It's heaven for sweet tooth. They didn't serve heavy main courses, but classic all day breakfast such as eggs benedict and french toast are available. And they open start 7am (selected days), I promise I'll update on the exact operational hours.

For our first visit, we chose what they claimed to be the favorites, a beautiful shape of soft cake with chocolate mousse and biscuit named Charlotte (40k) and their Milk chocolate tart (35k). With Charlotte, I loved how soft the cake was. The chocolate mousse inside the cake was smooth and not overly sweet.

The tart, Valrhona milk chocolate, was almost flawless. I simply liked the crust pie and the crunchy bites of rice krispies they put inside, if only they make it less sweet, it would've been perfect. 

I'm more of a tea person rather than coffee and I love their tea! If you like tea, I would recommend you to order a cup of their tea, no sugar needed as in my opinion, it would ruin the flavor. I had their Green tea mint (35k). The tea has a strong minty fragrant and it paired well with the cakes. My friend opted for one of their Indonesia specialty teas, the light roast white peony (40k). They brewed it around 15 mins before serving, strong fragrant but personally I wouldn't choose it as it was non refillable. The cheap part of me prefer those refillable one.

If I could only order one from their entire menu, this is it, this will be the one, their French crepes, Montebello (crepes served with nutella, caramel ice cream and crumbled biscuit) 43k. It was delicious! The folded thin crepes has layer of nutella inside but a bit salty on the outside, paired very well with the sweet caramel ice cream, very light ice cream by the way, and oh my those crumbled biscuits. Delicious, period. I love my first visit and can't wait for the second and so on visits. BTW, with them located not too far from Cacaote and Colette&Lola. I guess the two should be prepared for what it seems to be a promising contender for best patisserie in town. Congratulations Le Gourmand, wishing you the best of luck! Le Cafe Gourmand Jakarta Jl. Gunawarman No. 65 (across Le Quartier) Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta Ph. +6221 29305522 https://www.facebook.com/lecafegourmand