In the Indonesian capital, two international celebrity chefs have launched restaurants within weeks of each other. Here’s what to expect at Erre & Urrechu Jakarta and The Crown by Kirk Westaway.

Chef Kirk Westaway prepares butter at his Jakarta outpost; halibut in pea soup at The Crown by Kirk Westaway. (Courtesy of Fairmont Jakarta)

Ten years ago, when chef Kirk Westaway of Singapore’s Jaan arrived in Jakarta for a dining collaboration at the rooftop restaurant of the Fairmont hotel, a striking natural phenomenon left a lasting impression. “There was a pink sky over the city—it was rosé—and that soft pink light flooded this room.”

A lot has happened for Westaway since then. He was handed the reins of Jaan upon the departure of executive chef Julien Royer, under whose tenure the Franco-European venue gained its first Michelin star. Westaway then took the bold step of pivoting to modern British cuisine, quietly overturning dated perceptions of the food being heavy and sloppy and unrefined. Jaan by Kirk Westaway earned its second Michelin star in 2021 and has maintained it ever since.

But Westaway never forgot about the pink Jakarta sky that evening. “Since that collaboration 10 years ago, it’s been my dream to open in Jakarta. I was inspired to come back and create something here.” Following a months-long refurbishment, the 22nd-floor aerie formerly known as The View has become The Crown by Kirk Westaway. For a place serving mod-British fare, such a name may be naturally associated with the royals, but I’m told this is pure coincidence. “The crown in a nutshell basically means the view,” Westaway explains. “We are the crown on top of the body of the Fairmont hotel, and the crown looking over the scene in Jakarta.”

And what a dining scene it is. Not only are gifted Indonesian chefs with overseas experience making a splash and drawing the attention of regional gourmands; Jakarta has also attracted culinary talents based abroad. The Crown is one of two restaurant openings this summer from accomplished celebrity chefs with the backing of five-star hotels. The other, Erre & Urrechu Jakarta, inhabits an inviting glass-roofed space at the Gran Meliá. It represents the first foray into Asia for Spanish Basque chef Íñigo Pérez, better known in the culinary world as Íñigo Urrechu. Referring to his rural hometown in the Basque Country, the nickname was coined nearly 40 years ago by the legendary Martín Berasategui, under whose guidance Pérez started out as a 16-year-old kitchen apprentice.

A view of the dining room at Erre & Urrechu Jakarta. (Photo: Martin Westlake)

*Left to right:* A private dining room at the same restaurant; chef Íñigo Urrechu plating a salad. (Photos: Martin Westlake)

*Left to right:* Croquettes are a must-try at Erre & Urrechu; an Ibiza Margarita cocktail. (Photos: Martin Westlake)

A beetroot-based starter at Erre & Urrechu Jakarta; Basque celebrity chef Íñigo Urrechu. — *Left to right:* A beetroot-based starter at Erre & Urrechu; Basque celebrity chef Íñigo Urrechu. (Photos: Martin Westlake)

The first thing one notices about Urrechu is his broad, disarming smile; the second is his seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm. “The heat of the heart is in the kitchen!” he declares with the charisma of a showman. His latest venture is all about grill-focused Basque cooking (“Erre” means “to burn” in the Basque language), with a subtle Indonesian touch through the choice of fuel: jackfruit wood lends its aroma to barbecued fish and meat, while the oven is powered by tamarind bark.

As for why he chose to open in Indonesia’s capital, he partly attributes that to longtime resident and fellow Basque chef Oskar Urzelai, the owner of Txoko. “I’ve heard a lot about Jakarta,” he says. “Oskar and I have been close friends for 35 years, so I knew the city had a globalized population, people from many different countries, and a very high level of gastronomy.” Urrechu also cites his long relationship with the Meliá group—the Erre & Urrechu restaurants in Marbella and Barcelona are both located at Meliá hotels—and was intrigued when he learned Jakarta already had a Gran Meliá. The final piece of the puzzle? The availability of high-quality ingredients. “I saw that there was very good produce in Jakarta: vegetables, meats, the influence of Asia, the influence of Australia. So, I thought about how to adapt my techniques to local tastes with regional produce.”

The delicious results are apparent in dishes kissed by fire and smoke. Together with Andalusian head chef Alejandro García Martín, who recently relocated from Dubai, Urrechu plates up tender grilled octopus and crispy-skinned croquettes with creamy fillings: one of meaty tiger prawn and the other three-hour-braised rib-eye. A salad featuring grilled avocado and confit cherry tomatoes comes topped with shavings of smoked Manchego cheese. Sandwiched between slices of buttery brioche, shredded txangurro king crab is coated in piquant mayonnaise featuring a touch of fresh lemon, melding the rich flavor of the ocean with acidity and spice.

Then there’s a phenomenal Australian wagyu rib-eye steak paired with slow-roasted Spanish piquillo peppers. Deeply flavorful in their own right, the soft and vibrant red peppers are sprinkled with sugar during the cooking process for caramelization. It isn’t really necessary, but Urrechu has developed his own spicy, smoky sambal with barbecued onion salt to suit local palates. He playfully calls it “sambala sauce.”

Broadly speaking, Erre & Urrechu is a reflection of the chef’s welcoming nature and his wish to make diners feel at home and at ease. That explains the casual dress code, the family-style sharing plates, and the restaurant’s Mediterranean-leaning aesthetic. The dining room is filled with natural light, channeling the warmth of Spain through its cheery colors and a full-scale artificial olive tree at its center. For dessert, Urrechu and García bring out “Urrechurros” with chocolate sauce and smoked chocolate ice cream. The sugar-coated churros beg to be eaten with the hands, however messy that might be.

Erre & Urrechu’s head chef Alejandro García Martín working the grill. (Photo: Martin Westlake)

Semicircular seating booths at Erre & Urrechu Jakarta. (Photo: Martin Westlake)

White sangria at Erre & Urrechu Jakarta; the same venue’s Australian wagyu striploin steak with roasted piquillo peppers and cauliflower. — *Left to right:* White sangria at Erre & Urrechu; the same venue’s Australian wagyu striploin steak with roasted *piquillo* peppers and cauliflower. (Photos: Martin Westlake)

Erre & Urrechu’s bar area. (Photo: Martin Westlake)

Back at the Fairmont, Westaway is confident The Crown will bring a more approachable style to the fine-dining experience. “I don’t want to replicate Jaan—it’s not the intention at all. It’s a different direction of food, it’s a bit more of a relaxed setting. I want it to be very comfortable dining, without any stress, without any strict rules, without any robotic service.”

The nearly triple-height dining room reflects that philosophy in the decor: there are stylized street maps of London and a large proportion of the 34 seats are sofas or in plush booths. Raised on a pedestal above the U-shaped bar, its new mascot Winston the sheep nods to the county of Devon in England’s southwest, where Westaway grew up in the coastal town of Exmouth.

The kitchen has been entrusted to chef de cuisine Asa Sibcy, a fellow Brit with more than a dozen years’ experience working with Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck Group. Sibcy has already proven himself adept at executing Westaway’s vision for sophisticated British cooking that emphasizes freshness and seasonality. Here in Jakarta, the seven-course tasting menu harnesses “the best ingredients we can find, as locally as possible.”

The opening salvo is a zesty, show-stopping beetroot meringue. Surrounding a dollop of horseradish-infused cheese, the delicate donut-shaped morsel is both airy and ephemeral, evaporating the moment you pop it into your mouth.

Amuse-bouches at The Crown by Kirk Westaway include a sublime beetroot meringue. (Courtesy of Fairmont Jakarta)

*Left to right:* A long table in The Crown’s dining room; putting the final touches on a leek and potato soup. (Courtesy of Fairmont Jakarta)

Several courses later, Indonesian-grown tomatoes star in a gorgeous salad dressed in a homemade “ketchup” paste, atop a creamy burrata flecked with olive rings and tapenade-like crumbs. A bright yet sweet basil sorbet crowns the ensemble. It is so good the entire table eats in absolute silence. “English food is all about comfort, and what we’re trying to do here is give you comfortable food but elevated,” Westaway says.

This unexpectedly hits home during the Leek and Potato starter. The aroma conjures up the cozy sensation of being indoors on a rainy afternoon, and takes me back to my student days in England. Topped with chives and featuring diced mushroom and roasted macadamia nuts in a base of dense, cappuccino-like potato foam, it isn’t complete until the servers come round to pour burned leek broth into the center of the bowl. Westaway says the dish recalls the classic leek and potato soup made by grandmothers all over Britain. “This is a very evolved, light style. It took a year or two to perfect, and now it’s been consistently on the menu in Jaan.”

For the first main dish, local garden vegetables and spears of asparagus appear in a foamy pea soup around succulent Hokkaido scallops. Westaway’s take on roast beef involves lightly cooked Australian wagyu striploin roasted in brown butter and dressed in spoonfuls of Reform sauce (a mixture of gravy with pickles and egg whites). The red meat is offset by fine noodle-like strands of celeriac, bathed in an olive oil emulsion and arranged like a small heap of pasta.

A main course of wagyu striploin, celeriac, and mashed potato at The Crown by Kirk Westaway. (Courtesy of Fairmont Jakarta)

*Left to right:* A palate cleanser that uses Indonesian citrus fruits; chefs Asa Sibcy and Kirk Westaway. (Courtesy of Fairmont Jakarta)

After a palate-cleansing jeruk madu (local mandarin) sorbet with grapefruit and frozen orange granules, I’m presented with the most refined Eton Mess I’ve ever seen. Freed from its usual confines in a glass, the summery dessert is served on a wide translucent plate akin to a supersize oyster shell. Fresh strawberries, yogurt ice-cream, and teardrop-shaped nuggets of meringue have been artfully arranged on a bed of fluffy sponge, before being finished at the table with “strawberry soup” and herbaceous basil oil. I wash it down with a glass of Cockburn’s Tawny Port wine, perfumed with notes of roasted nuts, dried fruit, and caramel.

While living in England, I learned firsthand that British culture prides itself on subtlety. Westaway gestures to the pink stems of The Crown’s champagne glasses and the pinkish glass tumblers—small reminders of the moment in 2015 that birthed the idea of this venue when the city’s dining landscape looked vastly different.

“The food scene in Jakarta has boomed in the last three years, and the restaurants I’ve been to are fantastic,” Westaway enthuses. “I’m a huge fan of August and Esa and Kindling, and Tom’s as well. With them, and now with us joining, the food scene is only going to go up and up.” Pink or not, the sky’s the limit.

ADDRESS BOOK

Erre & Urrechu Jakarta
+62 21 526 8080; G/F, Gran Meliá Jakarta, Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav. X-0, Kuningan, Jakarta, Indonesia

The Crown by Kirk Westaway
+62 815 1927 9198; 22/F, Fairmont Jakarta, Jl. Asia Afrika No. 8, Gelora, Jakarta, Indonesia

Westaway’s sophisticated spin on the classic strawberry Eton Mess. (Courtesy of Fairmont Jakarta)

Jakarta’s Best New Eats: Basque Grilling and Fine British Cuisine

Stay inspired with our DestinAsian newsletters