It's Spicy & Brand New: Picante Mexican Grill

Would you believe that this pretty fast-casual Mexican Grill eatery is located in an office building?

I didn't believe it at first, until I saw the photos on its instagram page and went there to see for myself. Normally eateries in office buildings are not so photogenic and even tend to be boring, but Picante Mexican Grill at Graha CIMB Niaga defies the norm with its colourful & playful decor and very well lit spot. How to resist taking pictures of your food when the lighting is as good as this:

Or when the place is as cool as this:

I've had a fair share in working in offices in Jakarta's CBD and from what I experienced, the food places would either be on the extremes. On the cheap side, there would be street-side 'warung' style eateries, food courts or even food carts, while on the other extreme, there are these ultra high-end restaurants that only top echelon executives of bosses can afford on a daily basis. *sigh. There's hardly something in between, unless you're lucky enough to have a shopping mall next to your office building. So folks, you can envy those who work at this office building, because they get to have Picante at their disposal...

Picante Mexican Grill in Jakarta, is not to be mistaken with the ones in the UK or Massachusets in the USA, because they are unrelated, although they share the same names. The one recently opened in Jakarta, is a casual Mexican restaurant, that serves easy & comfort mexican food, such as tacos, soft tacos, burrito wraps or rice bowl, tortilla chips, nachos, quesadillas, dori chips, etc.

So, how to order a dish at Picante? You start from the 'IN' sign, where you first choose whether you wish to have a taco (soft/crispy) or burrito (wrap/bowl) or others, as you could see from the menu. Next, you choose the fillings: meat (Grilled Chicken, Grilled Steak, Fish or Barbacoa), rice (Lime Basmati or Brown Rice), pinto beans (Red or Black), the sauces (Salsa Verde, Salsa Roja, Vinaigrette, Ranch, Tartar Sauce, etc), and other condiments (guacamole, corn, salsa, lettuce, etc).

Oh, some tortilla chips on the side with the Cheese Dips are most recommended!

Tortilla Chips with choice of Cheese / Chili Cheese / Guac / Salsa dips IDR 25,000/bowl

I had my burrito wrap with the Barbacoa (because steak or chicken or fish is too mainstream for a hipster like me LOL) with brown lime rice. The Barbacoa looks like shredded meat, slow cooked with lemon and other spices, so the dominant flavour of this meat is sour. I think I shouldn't have opted for 2 sour combos (the barbacoa and the lime rice are both sour). Perhaps Grilled Steak with Lime Rice or Barbacoa with Brown Rice would've been a perfect combo. Nonetheless, the Barbacoa was really tender and juicy, I doused the burrito in the super hot Salsa Roja and the sweet Picante Vinaigrette Sauce to level down the sourness and to add a spicy kick to it. Be warned though, if your tummy can't handle the heat, you might visit the toilet more frequently afterwards (like I did!) haha...

Burrito Wrap with Barbacoa filling IDR 75,000

Picante has also recently launched its new menu, Nachos with cheese and salsa topping. It's a huge bowl that they use to serve.

Nachos

After all the good carb, Dessert is up to you, the choice is quite limited here, depending on the cakes available on that day, or you can choose the Churros, which, to be honest, I found to be a bit too sweet to my liking. But I solved the problem by flicking the churros to remove the excess sugar crystals on it.

Left: Cakes of the day
Right: Churros with Chocolate Dips IDR 20,000

If you wonder whether Picante might open on Weekends, since it's in an office building, the answer is Yes! Although the hours are modified, especially on Sundays, when it opens mostly to cater to the crowd from the Church service.

For a fast casual Mexican eatery, Picante performs better than my expectations expectations. I'd definitely come back for more soon. And next time, i'll have the dory chips filling and Picante Vinaigrette sauce with crispy tacos! ;)

Ongoing promotions:

- During Ramadhan only, discount 20% on Food

- #TacoTuesday: Taco purchase will entitle you to a free lemonade. Valid on Tuesdays only.

- Happy Hour: Buy 1 Get 1 Beer, after 4 PM.

Open Hours:

Weekdays: 10 am - 9 pm

Saturdays: 10 am - 5 pm (but closes during Ramadhan month)

Sundays: 9 am - 3pm

*) Prices are subject to Government Tax & Service Charge

Picante Mexican Grill Jakarta
Graha CIMB Niaga (next to Plaza Bapindo)
Jl. Jend. Sudirman
Ph: +6221 2505559
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