Prestige Singapore – July 2019

LADIES WHO LUNCH

68 PRESTIGE J U LY 2019

TEXT: LIONNEL LIM | PHOTOGRAPHY (MAIN PHOTO): MAX GOH; HAIR & MAKE-UP: KEITH BRYANT LEE, USING KEVIN.MURPHY & ARMANI BEAUTY | PHOTOS: MAREA FACEBOOK; JAKUB KAPUSNAK/RAWPIXEL (PAELLA)

Restaurant JAG

Hailing from the royal family of

Mangkunegaran in Solo, Central Java,

Tata has studied and lived in Singapore,

Australia and Hong Kong. Now based

here, the mother of two — son Darma is

21 while daughter Aya is 19 — can easily

pass off as her children’s sister with her

svelte figure and youthful face, which she

attributes to constant exercise and pilates.

“I was intrigued that it was the only exercise

that could relieve my nagging back pains,”

she says, adding that she stumbled upon

pilates by accident. “I was looking around

for something to do and went to a franchise

fair. As fate would have it, I shared a lunch

table with the owner of KX Pilates and

we just clicked.” That chance encounter

eventually led to a professional partnership

between the two, with Tata becoming the

first overseas franchisee of the business,

which opened its doors in Jakarta last year.

Our lunch date is at French fine

diner Restaurant JAG, founded by

Managing Director Anant Tyagi and

chef Jeremy Gillon, who used to work at

the now-defunct one-Michelin-starred

restaurant L’Épicurien in Val Thorens. An

intimate 18-seater, Restaurant JAG offers

alpine‑influenced cuisine that is inspired by

the traditions, flavours and ingredients of

the chef’s hometown in the Savoie region of

the French Alps. Jeremy creates his menus

Tata Cahyani

Regional Developer at KX Pilates

Celebrity Haunt

“I could eat at Marea in New York every day.

Its speciality is the fusilli with braised octopus in red

wine and bone marrow, but everything on the menu is

really good! Keep your eyes peeled for celebs —

the upscale two-Michelin-starred restaurant seems to

be a hotspot for stars on low‑key dates.”

Paella, Please!

“I love Spanish food,

especially paella! I recently

started to cook Spanish

cuisine during my extensive

visits around Spain, which

I travel to two or three times

a year, spending between

two weeks and one month

there each time.”

starting with vegetables, followed by herbs,

which are also used in all his seasonings,

sauces and garnishes to bring out the

flavours. Meats provide the final protein

crunch in each elegant dish.

We try the five‑course A Breed Apart

menu, which is specially curated for Jaguar

owners (Tata drives a Jaguar XF) and is

refreshed quarterly. Non-Jaguar owners

can select from the menu’s 3, 5, 7 and 10

Expressions sets, served omakase-style.

“I like the open kitchen, which creates an

inviting private dining experience where you

can view the chef and his team in action. I

also like the chef’s playlist,” says Tata.

The delicately plated dishes, she

adds, are “light, but bursting with flavours.

The smoky toasted sesame seeds

added crunch to the Grenoble trout and

asparagus dish, and the melt-in-your-

mouth milk-fed lamb from New Zealand

wasn’t gamey and didn’t need any puree or

sauce to go with it.

“And the bell pepper sauce and

cucumber ice cream for dessert! I died and

went to heaven,” she says, laughing.

Mushroom

meringue being

shaved over

mushrooms and

foie gras

“Comfort food to me is food that makes me happy. In a sense, a cheat

meal – one that’s usually high in sugar and carbs when I’m on a diet –

counts as comfort food. It brings me joy... at least until the guilt kicks in!”