soft opening

we have been open the past three days just for the sake of getting some practice down. The kitchen now preps in about an hour...which is pretty good specially considering we run very different menus for lunch and dinner. I have invited a couple of people in the building for dinnner and have had good reviews overall. The pastor of one of the churches upstairs in our building seems excited about brunch. SO hopefully he will point some of his congregation our way. Overall this week has been pretty empty, but we havent opened pastry yet, so some people dont gett the idea that abunch of tables lined up in a row is anything other than a manicure place...get it epicure/manicure...yeah I didnt get it either, I kind of expected things like this when I moved to Indonesia....all in all not bad...the inportant thing is that kitchen performance is good...customers come a little farther down the road for now I have brunch to worry about

Brunch Menu:

French Toast - 60
Custardy French toast made with house challah bread, caramelized pineapple compote

Eggs and Toast - 40
Your choice of eggs with toasted brioche

French Rolled Omellete - 60
Delicate French omellete filled with your choice of cheese (cheddar, feta, or majon rojo) and vegetables (forest mushroom, bell pepper, caramelized onion)

Grilled Cheese - 50
Sharp cheddar cheese on house challah with a side of tomato bisque soup

Eggs Benedicto - 60
Poached eggs on brioche and paprika chicken topped with hollandaise
Crab Cake Benedicto - 80
Poached eggs on brioche and house crab cakes with hollandaise

Steak and Eggs - 110
Ribeye steak served medium, with 2 eggs your choice

Epicure Burger - 70
Moist beef patties, house Belgian style frites, sharp cheddar cheese and fresh greens

Caesar Salad - 50
Large Caesar, with house dressing, romaine lettuce, warm croutons and a poached egg



All brunch entrees come with a side of house hash browns

Dry Run

Yesterday we invited some friends over for dinner at the restaurant so that we could try out the food on people and also see how the kitchen looks in unrehearsed action...All in all I am happy, the kitchen turned out great food and all the people there loved it except for one glitch with salting shrimp in our fra diavolo things went great. Service is good and getting better.Ria and I are doing OK too...got a little stressed out yesterday just because we were worrying about the small details. The menu was more or less seafood which seems to be very popular so it was a good thing, I got to see a serius lack of bowls and spoons in the kitchen which made things slower than they need to be and I also saw a lack of ventilation which we have to fix somehow...maybe a fan... overall the guys did well and they will of course do better. I see alot of potential...this is certainly someplace I would feel comfortable eating. We put a little sign on the door yesterday. Opening October 17 , 2007.

Boxes were just printed

Boxes are in the way you see the logo when they're stacked was something I thought we would try out...a little unconventional design but............

The storefront signs are up

Right about now it feels a little odd to see things happening so quickly...one after another. Tomorrow I go through my first batch of on the line working interviews. I just finishes sous-vide'ing some terderloin filets and will be making the par grilled rosti's early afternoon as well as my hibiscus glaze. Ria is putting down all the orders for food on the computer...a task that is superhuman in nature if you ask me. Things are all going well, very happy...a little stressed and all sorts of confused but stuff is starting to roll.

The tables are in, a week and a half to go!!!

Here are some new pics :)

A post...been a while but nothing really happend for a while and then alot of things happened at the same time

Here you go people. Been a while since I updated but Ive been busy.

An update on my ulcer

So, progress has come very recently. We now have a storefront. We are going for a very classic look for the outside and a slightly more modern and simple look inside. Our food as a whole is fairly low key...just a bit creative. We now have a wine distributor and have yet to truly cement relationships with other supplier but as long as we have the money they will love us. I am pretty satisfied with how the place looks so far. We also got an extension on our grace period since the mall management took a month of our priginal period to sit around and not get our utilities installed. As for what the future holds...still not quite sure, but menu wise Im hoping on a tasting menu I can change weekly and ideally daily when I get some help in the kitchen. We went to singapore to take a look at Ria's new school and I have to say it was a very positive experience...I can very much see myself living there for a while. Haven't been updating for a while because there has really been no action up until now....I can sleep a little more now that I see things going well....how long this will last.............nobody knows.