Welcome to Salt Bread Diaries part 02! This week’s salt bread is from Bear & Butter in BSD City. I came here with no anticipation, led by a TikTok carousel that gives this place a nice review (I tend to be skeptical towards food reviews on TikTok).
The place is unexpectedly spacious and quite packed during my visit. They also serve an impressive array of food and drinks: all-day brunch, sweets, pasta, rice bowl, espresso-based, matcha based, even yogurt and grain bowl. Christmas decoration adorned the whole cafe (I was there on the first week of January), with teddy bears here and there.
Bear & Butter has ten salt bread variations so far. Emphasize on “so far”, because I assume their menu is always gradually expanding. The big menu shows seven salt bread variations, yet they have another newest menu displaying nine. Then I checked their Instagram while writing this post, and apparently they already added one new flavor, making a total of ten. Ten salt bread variations – that’s a lot!
The pairing I chose was original and truffle egg mayo. I see that truffle egg mayo was the best-selling one because there was only one left on the counter. So, do they live up to the rave reviews on both Google and TikTok? To my preference…. not at all.
The bread was REALLY hard to slice. Hard exterior and very flakey. It was not reheated, hence no melting butter sensation in my mouth. I tasted a slight of sweetness, so maybe there was a pinch of sugar added. The truffle egg mayo tasted slightly better because of the truffle, but adding truffle flavour to make things better is a lazy cheat code. The bread’s taste and texture was the same as the original, average and a bit hard to chew .
I also ordered sea salt matcha, which was also nothing to write home about. I wonder if I came at the wrong time? Did the staff forget to reheat the salt bread?
Trying to move on from the dissastisfaction, I looked around to pay attention on the decor. It’s interesting that they displayed Dorling Kindersley’s The Business Book and a copy of Design Anthology along with the cheesiest home decor staple: a stack of faux designer books. Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Loewe. Since they were tucked on a high shelf, they might be overlooked by the visitors.
Not far below the shelf, I spotted a record player with a stack of records next to it. I was doubtful (already got trust issues from the fake books) and yes, the “records” turned out to be no more than printed backboards. Now I’m not sure if the turntable even works. For a place that I’m sure is directed to female audience who digs Korean cute aesthetics, I’m pretty perplexed with this fake vinyl selection. I mean, they don’t even make a cute decor.
Despite the downhill experience, somehow I can see myself going back here. Afterall, the place is pretty cozy and quite accomodating. If I need to work from cafe in BSD and need a no-brainer option, I might be visiting again. But I will make sure to ask the staff to reheat the bread.
Final thoughts:
Food: 6/10 | Service: 7/10 | Ambience: 8/10
Nice and spacious place, but the salt bread itself is very questionable. Make sure to ask for reheat to debunk my opinion.
Bear & Butter
Mall Ararasa BSD, Lantai Unit GC. BSD City, Tangerang
Opening hours: 8 AM – 10 PM
