Food presentation, as we all know, is the art of modifying, processing, arranging, or decorating food to enhance its aesthetic appeal. This is usually done by using edible ingredients or foodstuffs that boost the appearance or taste of the cuisine. This trick is best suited for children, especially those with picky eating habits.
Visual delights
You might not think that breakfast and art go together.
Using art and crafts as breakfast table decoration may not have the same effect as food decoration, but it does serve another purpose, which is to introduce artworks to diners, especially foreign tourists.
This is what I saw when having breakfast at a four-star hotel, the Grand Orchardz Kemayoran Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia during my recent trip.
You could argue that if you are hungry early in the morning, your attention will be drawn to the food and you will not look beyond the plates of food.
However, I realised that during the second or third round of servings at the buffet breakfast, I was drawn to the artworks, even though I am not a serious admirer of fine art.
At the Pastry and Pudding corner, I saw a tall standing icing cake, but upon closer look, I noticed a card with the words “Display Only”.
On second glance, I realised it was a replica of Jakarta City’s iconic landmark, the National Monument or MONAS (Monumen Nasional), a 132m tall structure with a “golden crown” on top. A selection of cakes and pastries were on display beneath the replica.
The restaurant offered an array of delicious Western, Indonesian, and Asian cuisine, as well as traditional cakes for the buffet breakfast for in-house guests.
I also saw replicas of ondel-ondel puppets, shadow puppets, batik cloth, flowers (fresh and artificial), and mini umbrellas being used as decorations to enhance the appearance of the table layout. At first glance, the ondel-ondel puppets’ faces appear frightening.
Later, once I had finished my breakfast, I Googled for more information about the puppet on my phone. I discovered that ondel-ondel is a type of Betawi tribe folk performance that is often performed at public parties.
A full-size ondel-ondel puppet is a hollow figure around 2.5m tall, dressed in brightly coloured garments that include a shoulder belt and a colourful headdress made of shredded coconut leaf stalks wrapped in colourful sheets of paper. They are always shown in pairs — a male and a female.
The traditional Javanese sailing boat or jong is always associated with water, such as a river or lake.
Here, the replica of the jong was used to decorate the table where pots of soups and broth had been set down.
Fruits and vegetables such as corn, cucumbers, capsicums and carrots were also used as decorations.
The restaurant features a spacious dining room that connects to a hall with a high ceiling. The ceilings and walls were artistically adorned to enhance their beauty.
Diners could enjoy the wonderful scenery from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, which showed several commercial buildings among the surrounding greenery.
The cool air from the air conditioners and the quiet ambiance make it ideal for guests to enjoy their breakfast.
