I don’t think I can ever be bored with Burger Cartel. I mean, I lost count already on how many times I’ve been here, yet I still keep wanting more and more. This time, I returned with my Dad for dinner after spending two days diving on the north east side of Bali. We were famished and we planned on getting ourselves filled with some nice mouthful burgers.
As always, I go for the Mozzarella Sticks for appetizer. Unlike how it used to be served, this time I got four piece instead of the usual three and they were not served on a bed of greens. The sweet and savory bolognese sauce is always my go-to dipping sauce to pair with the Mozzarella Sticks. It adds flavor and tanginess here and there to the pure savory deep-fried cheese.
Apparently, it was my lucky day. After a few failed attempts of not being able to swap my buns with anything that doesn’t have carbs in it, I finally got the chance to substitute the delicious brioche buns with mushroom, yay! I took the liberty to ask Richie beforehand whether or not I can still swap my buns with anything that doesn’t have carbs in it. “Yes, the full menu is adjustable. You can add and replace whatever you want,” he said. So, I had my burger with mushrooms. I know, this may be a let down to some of you burger lovers, but, hey, as long as I don’t have to bail on my diet, I’m all in.
I nudged my Dad to have the Piggy Blinders and he complied the moment he acknowledge that the burger consists of pulled pork. He was in the mood of having pulled pork anyway, so it’s a win-win solution. As for me, I had me the Killers, which consisted of fried chicken and beef patty in one stack. Talk about cardiac arrest, am I right? But, I guess, that’s why it earns the name the Killers.
I wrote about the Piggy Blinders before, but not about the Killers. Now, this burger, like I stated before, consisted of fried chicken and beef patty. Then, came along the other ingredients, such as cheddar cheese, red onion, pickled cucumber, pickled red cabbage, and some sauce to complete the flavor wheel. Since I had mushrooms to go with my burger, the truffle mayonnaise got extra strong. I’m not a big fan of truffle, the flavor is just too strange for my taste bud, but I got to enjoy it this time, maybe because the flavor blended so well with the mushroom. The fried chicken was not dry, despite it being well-fried, but not excessively juicy as well. It was to my liking. There was a hint of spiciness here and there when I bite into the chicken, enough to add some flavor, but not too strong for those who can’t handle spices. As for the beef patty, I asked mine to be cooked medium well. Thank God, the chef complied with my request. The meat was juicy as hell, the tenderness was on point, and I enjoyed every delicious bites.
The Killers, with mushrooms as buns substitute, is definitely a great option for those of you who are currently on a diet. It’s definitely fulfilling and you don’t get this guilt after devouring the whole thing clean. Care to try?
Oh, wow, I have been really unproductive in terms of writing this month! Do pardon my absence, I was busy procrastinating. Since I joined the gym, I’ve been having difficulties in terms of juggling work, hobby, social life, and life itself. I have to say, it is quite challenging. But, worry not! I do have something interesting to write about in this post, and it has something to do with luck and meat.
Welcome to Tucano's Churrascaria!
Your girl here won an Rp800.000,00 worth of vouchers from Zomato to dine at Tucano’s Churrascaria in Sudirman, oo-wee! I was so excited when I got the announcement from Zomato through their Instagram account. I actually worked my ass off to win this giveaway - I had to ask numerous friends and family members to like this comment of mine on one of Zomato’s post in Instagram, the more likes I get, the bigger my chance to win - and I won! Kuddos to you, friends and family members.
I was lucky enough to be able to bring a plus one to dine at Tucano’s Churrascaria, so I brought Davie along with me. Yes, the carnivore was so excited that he get to eat meat as much as he wants. We took the opportunity to book a table for us, which was a clever idea of mine since it was a Saturday when we head to the Brazilian barbecue and buffet place and I already assumed that it was going to be packed. I was correct.
A brief intro about the restaurant, Tucano’s Churrascaria is a restaurant that serves free-flow Brazilian barbecue meat and buffet. It is still considered new in Jakarta, mainly because it has only been running its’ business for three years, yet the restaurant is well known for its’ meat quality and “all you can eat” concept. I gotta say, the local people of Jakarta is very into, pretty much, anything on the house. The restaurant is open from Monday to Sunday and its’ opening hours are split into two, which are lunch (11.30 - 15.00) and dinner (17.30 - 22.00).
In here, you can find all sorts of food that you can have as much as you desire. There is this side dish bar where you can have deep-fried munchies, salad, and condiment. Adjacent to it is the dessert bar, where there are cakes, fruits, puddings, and an intriguing chocolate fountain, along with some marshmallows, bananas, and a jar of buttery and sweet Brazilian cookies. The beverage options is also a plenty and you can have some drinks refilled free of charge as your heart content. Last, but not least, is the meat bar, with its’ endless ray of beef, chicken, and lamb being grilled in this big hunk of container. Jackpot!
The meat selection that you can get at Tucano's Churrascaria
The dessert bar
The meat section
Meat boy and I sat ourselves at this table for two near the window because I need that natural lighting for my money shots. Since it was our first time dining at Tucano’s Churrascaria, we asked one of the waiters to explained the standard operating procedure (ooo pilot-esque) to dine in. Let me just explain to you what the waiter briefed us.
There are two type of menus, which are lunch and dinner. In each menu, there are two packages of buffet, which are the weekday menu and the weekend menu. Since it was a weekend, we had to go with the weekend menu, which is split into three types, the Regular, the Black Angus, and the Premium Wagyu. Now, each type has another two options to choose, which is A and B, where in B you can have lamb meat inserted to your choice of meat. Of course, being the greedy carnivores that we are, we opted for the option B Premium Wagyu. It costs around Rp600.000,00 for each person. A bit on the expensive side, but it is so much worth it if you’re planning to stuff yourself with lots and lots of food. Later on, the meat will be brought to our table by the waiters and they will slice the meat and served it on our plate. We only have to sweat ourselves to get the other side dishes and dessert, and, for the rest, the waiters at Tucano’s will treat us like kings and queens.
There are three chips with different colors - green, yellow, and red - available on our table and a big T-shaped iron to place them chips. Green chip means that we are ready to have any meat served to our table, yellow chip means that we want those sweet grilled pineapple glazed with cinnamon powder, not putting any chips means we are resting our appetite for another round of meat, and the red chip means that we are finished feasting.
The side dishes station
Ready for your meat?
A moment after we placed our orders, the waiters came with their set of meat and sliced them away to paradise.
We took the opportunity of our empty stomach to head to the side dishes station to get whatever that caught our attention. There was no room for salad on that day as I declared it to be my cheat day, so I got myself a lot of Garlic Bread and Brazilian Cheese Bread. I also got me some Garlic Pasta, some deep-fried goodies filled with spicy chicken and beef, and some fried potatoes. Davie, on the one hand, grabbed anything that looked appetizing - in this case, everything. There were Sweet and Sour Chicken Leg, Fried Polenta, Cheese-stuffed Meatballs, and many more. We sure went all in in this joint.
Ya boi was definitely into it
More meat, please!
We tried every meat on the menu that afternoon and they were all deliciously fulfilling. Despite the fact that they don’t serve pork here at Tucano’s, the wide selection of beef, lamb, and chicken was more than enough to satisfy the hunger for meat. Everything was delicious, yet my favorite was the Coracao (Chicken Heart). Not everyone likes chicken heart, though. But, for me, it’s my jam! I also love the combination of the Alcatra (Top Sirloin) and grilled pineapple. Though, I have to say, I love the grilled pineapple at Bali’s Brazilian Australian BBQ more than the one here at Tucano’s. Compared to the one in Bali, where the pineapple was glazed with a sweet concoction before it is grilled, the flavor of pineapple at Tucano’s didn’t blend quite well with the cinnamon powder. On the other hand, the Alcatra (Top Sirloin) and the Picanha (Premium Top Sirloin) are the MVPs of Tucano’s Churrascaria. People love them and Tucano’s truly love it when the people love the meat.
As delicious as they were, Davie and I agreed that the meat selections didn’t have that startle effect (ooo another pilot-esque) on us. They were delicious while they last, but that’s it. Some of the meat were grilled well done to the point where they were just a tad bit too dry. As a fan of meat, Davie was not that impressed, though he enjoyed every slices because meat are still meat. I assume that the kitchen staff had to speed up the grilling process because it was a full house that day, hence the dry meat as the ending result.
I have to brag about the Brazilian Cheese Bread, though! The bread had this texture unlike anything I have ever ate before. It was chewy and very cheesy. It was as if I was eating this mochi doughnut, but more chewy. While the surface of the bread was a bit dusty, I assume from the flour, the inside was moist, chewy, and I could definitely tasted the strong cheese within the bread. Though this bread is included in your selection of dishes, you have to ask the waiter to bring you some as they are not on display. The bread is a favorite, they run out as soon as they got out of the oven. A definite must try!
When the restaurant is packed, diners are timed to finish feasting in 90 minutes. According to the crowd we saw on that day, we assume it to be a full house, yet nobody came to our table to give us a heads up that our time is almost up, so we ended up staying for three hours. We took our breaks in between dinning so that there will be room for more meat and dessert. Davie even had his cigarette break and came back as hungry as ever. We sure didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity of having free-flow meat for our first meal of the day.
My share of Beef Hump, Grilled Pineapple, and Top Sirloin
My share of side dishes. Carbs a plenty!
During my break, I headed to the meat bar and chatted with the sous chef of Tucano’s Churrascaria named Pak Rahmat. Pak Rahmat here shared some insight about the restaurant, as well as the amount of meat that they have been using. “We use about two tons of meat each month,” he said, “but, on a peak season like these days, we can use up to four tons of meat within the month of December itself.” Boy, that’s a lot of meat! The fact that this restaurant use an “all you can eat” concept sure got me thinking, “Is the income bigger than the outcome?” Then, Pak Rahmat told me that he got his high quality meat from this meat vendor that sells a large number of meat for a cheaper price, “So, the restaurant do gain profit, despite it being a buffet restaurant.” I stood there chatting with Pak Rahmat as he dive into the raw meat and prepare another stack of Picanha to grill for the guests.
The famous Brazilian Cheese Bread
Pak Rahmat then introduced me to the head chef of Tucano’s Churrascaria, Aldecy da Silva Bastos, a native Brazilian. Chef Aldecy was not as chatty as Pak Rahmat, but he sure smiled when I complimented his Brazilian Cheese Bread. I noticed that he was in the middle of preparing some food when Pak Rahmat called out to him to greet me, so I offered him to go back to his station because I don’t want to be an obstacle. Then, I bid my goodbye to Pak Rahmat and went back to my table for a second round. There, I was welcomed with Davie who was busy stuffing his face with the side dishes he got earlier.
When we felt like we had enough, we asked for the bill and checked out. Thanks to Zomato and its’ vouchers, we only had to pay a third of what we ate that day, woohoo! I can say that our first experience dining at Tucano’s Churrascaria was not a let down. It may be expensive, but the diversity and the quality of the food was totally worth it. Be sure to check out Tucano’s Churrascaria page on Zomato to get the full menu and prep yourself about what you want when you dine at the restaurant. Oh, and be sure to come with an empty stomach!
P. S. I booked my table through Zomato. It was very simple, no fuss whatsoever! I do recommend you to do the same. It gets quite crowded at the restaurant, even on weekdays
