I never doubted Chef Antoine Audran’s finesse in cooking, not even once. His extensive experience spanning for decades from his travels around the world culminated several years ago with his highly successful restaurant, Java Bleu. The restaurant still opens now on the colonial part of Jalan Cikini in Jakarta but the chef now moves to Bali and quite recently started a food factory specializes in ready-to-eat high quality soups and sauces.
Once the chef told me that all his products are of his very own recipe and required many months to fine-tune it. After I realized, each of the package consists of complex ingredients and I can see why Chef Audran put a lot of effort into it to make the flavor tastes authentic. Serving suggestion is provided on each pack and clear cooking direction. It’s all easy and sounds good!
So, here goes the list!
- Bolognese with Chicken or Carbonara with Smoked Chicken (for kids)
I decided not to get creative or even follow the serving suggestions. Call me lazy but in my defense, plain and simple spaghetti would do the trick to taste the whole sauce. Both the bolognese and carbonara sauces use chicken as the protein source and possess lighter taste thus became more suitable for children.
- Alfredo with Mushroom
This one’s here is definitely my favorite. Not only that it has depth with flavors and packed with champignon mushrooms, it also suits well with my ever-growling stomach who prefers creamy sauce over regular tomato sauce. I won’t advise you to add grated cheese because this sauce already contains cheddar, but if you want to, you might want to build something more appetizing such as macaroni au gratin for example by using this sauce. Delish!
- Pumpkin Soup, French Onion Soup, and Mushroom Cream Soup
I fell in love instantly with these soups. Not only that Chef Audran knows how to treat us for a hearty breakfast but the formula he created for these was just immaculate. The mushroom soup, for example, possess the grainy texture that you’d encounter in restaurants. Personally, I’d prefer rougher grainy texture but you won’t complain with this formula.
The pumpkin soup has the sweet, distinctive taste which was energizing and indulging at the same time while the French onion soup has a rich texture inside it, thanks to the big onion chunks and the smoked chicken. For the soup, I dare not choose my favorite because I simply like them all!
All these just made me miss the chef’s own cooking back at his restaurant long ago. Do let me know if you’re in town, chef!
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Cooking direction:
- Boil the water in a saucepan
- Place the soup/sauce pouch inside the boiled water for 5 minutes
- Carefully take it out
- Pour it over the bowl or the pasta or any of your own fantastic design suitable with these lovely soups and sauces!
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Price: Around IDR 35,000 per pouch.
Where: Supermarkets such as KemChicks, Hero, Grand Lucky, Casa Gourmet, Papaya, and Carrefour (kindly update me if you find it somewhere else).
Website: http://pkrbali.wix.com/pkrbali
RIAN FARISA 