[EVENT] 13 Ghosts Spooky Halloween Buffet and Halloween Parade at The Park Lane Hotel Jakarta

Hi Eaters.

Halloween is upon us. Yes, the scariest festive of the entire year is coming, and the hype of serving Halloween-themed dishes is echoing in the culinary world.
I, myself, well honestly isn't the bravest from the crowd when it comes to encounter ghosts. But food being shaped as ghosts, well, never scared me, LOL. I actually admired those crafty hands behind the unique and terrifying dishes.
So, this week I got invited for a sneak peek of the Halloween-themed dishes at The Park Lane Hotel Jakarta. Named 13 Ghosts Spooky Halloween Buffet and Halloween Parade, two of the splendid restaurants from the hotel, Cafe One Asian Fusion and Riva Grill, Bar & Terrace, served up a line of spooky food. More details below.

The event took place at Cafe One Asian Fusion. It's the hotel's buffet restaurant. It may not be big, but it is comfy enough. And for that night, not only was it comfy, but also it's transformed into a spooky dining place.

Accomodating the Halloween theme, I saw a lot of ornaments and decorations giving the festive the spookiness it deserves. There were a quite numbers of scary dolls resembling Pocong (Indonesian wrapped ghost) being put in the seat at every corner of the restaurant, a hanging ghost mask, and even the waitresses all dressed up like Kuntilanak (female vampiric ghost).
Not scary enough for you? Well, some of my female friends who attended the event looked pretty terrified, LOL.

So what's the Halloween-themed dishes from both restaurants? Hold on to your seats, cause the spook has just begun.

CAFE ONE ASIAN FUSION

In Cafe One Asian Fusion at the 28th and 29th October 2016 starting from 18.00-22.30 you can enjoy the 13 Ghosts Spooky Halloween Buffet. For only IDR 275K nett/pax you can enjoy the buffet, the Halloween-themed dishes, and a free flow of Hulk's Eye Mocktail (details below), Ice Tea, or Lemon Tea.

Below are the Halloween-themed dishes served at Cafe One Asian Fusion.

THE COFFIN

This has got to be the scariest food presentation ever. What a creative work by Chef Deden Gumilar, the mastermind behind all of these crafty, and sacry dishes.
This one is named The Coffin.

THE BLACK HAIR

Angel hair pasta with squid ink and parmesan cheese

BURNING FACE

Baked beef kofta coated mozzarella cheese

BROKEN RIBS

Slow cooked BBQ Australian Ribs

THE COLONS

Roasted beef and lamb sausages coated chili sauce

EXPLODE

8 hours low heat cooking Australian Beef Brisket

THE WORM

Spaghetti with Napolitano sauce

Shaped to resembles a burning dead man, it was totally scary. So wickedly cool too. I didn't try this one though. But I will surely try it when I come there again at the 28th October.

EDIBLE GRAVEYARD

Head Skull (white Chocolate)

Bones (Bread Clay)

Eyes (white Chocolate with Praline served with Jelly)

Soil (Crumbs English Cake)

Gravestone (English Cake with Chocolate Slab)

Worms (Jelly)

First of all, that skull looked so real. I mean, the shape of it was just perfectly made, just like a real skull. It sure did give some goosebumps for some female attendee. Great job with some hand crafting there, Chef!

HULK'S EYE MOCKTAIL

Green tea, apple syrup, peppermint syrup and raspberry jam

This mocktail is quite refreshing. The peppermint was strong too. Spicy, like the Hulk I guess.

RIVA GRILL, BAR & TERRACE

In Riva Grill, Bar & Terrace on the other hand, the food won't be as scary as the one presented in Cafe One Asian Fusion. The Halloween-twist is still there, but packed with a more aesthetic look, since Riva is a fine dining restaurant.

You can enjoy Riva's Halloween Parade set dinner menus for IDR 500K ++ on the 28th of October 2016.

Here are the set menus:

SMOKIN’ FROGGY LEG

Stuffed Chinese bread with char siu chopped meat

WITCH’S CHICKEN

Dead man’s eye – made from chicken liver pate with chicken feet

Gelatin worm – made from spinach salad and raspberry comfit

THE DEAD QUAIL

Whole Quail cream soup

Drying ginger hair – thinly shred “nori”

SCREAMING MONSTER

Crushed baked potato topped sour cream

Roasted bunch vegetables - whole tomato

Green pea and pure, sautéed mushroom

Slow roasted whole beef leg

Blended Red wine and beet root sauce

FAILURE SURGERY

Brain shape pannacotta , chocolate bone marrow,

Finger cookies and raspberry compote

All of these dinner set menus won't just scare you, but also satisfy your taste buds. Afterall, Halloween only comes once a year, so it's okay to indulge yourself in an unusual dish with scary presentation. What's the point of Halloween if it doesn't give you goosebumps?

Overall conclusion, it was a night to remember. Not only because of those terrifying food presentation, but also the great hospitality. All the Kuntilanak-dressed up waitresses were giving an impeccable service throughout the event. It's always nice to feel welcome.

All the food were terrifyingly good! And I mean it in a good way. Seriously.

So if you don't have any dinner plans for the upcoming Halloween, bring yourself here to be spookified by the creative dishes from Chef Deden Gumilar.

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

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The Park Lane Hotel Jakarta
Jalan Casablanca Kav. 18, 

Phone: (021) 8282000

Menteng Dalam, Tebet, 

Jakarta Selatan 12870

Website: parklanejakarta.com