Chinese culinary enjoys popularity<\/p>\n
T. Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Many people eat not just to survive. Eating for them is much
\nmore than putting some food into their mouths and swallowing it.
\nThey taste every bit of the meal, savoring the flavor and feeling
\nthe delight of chewing it.<\/p>\n
Eating out has become a pleasure of relaxation. People enjoy
\nnot only the food, but also the way they are served while taking
\ninto consideration the ambiance of the eating place. And probably
\nthere is no better place to go than a Chinese restaurant, where
\nguests can enjoy a great variety of dishes in a friendly and
\nrelaxed atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Jakarta indeed is a haven for Chinese cuisine. The food is so
\npopular here that you can have it at every corner of the city,
\nfrom sidewalks and shopping malls to high-rise buildings and
\nstar-rated hotels.<\/p>\n
Some great Chinese restaurants in town have existed for
\ndecades, like Cahaya Kota on Jl. KH Wahid Hasyim in Central
\nJakarta and Eka Ria on Jl. Zainul Arifin in West Jakarta. The
\nyounger ones include Ming restaurant on Jl. Rasuna Said in South
\nJakarta, which also opened a branch in Kelapa Gading, East
\nJakarta, a few months ago, and Summer Palace Restaurant, which
\nlast year moved from Jl. Menteng Raya in Central Jakarta, to the
\nCentral Business District. Now occupying the Summer Palace's old
\nvenue is another Chinese restaurant, the Golden Palace.<\/p>\n
The Crystal Jade Palace, a classy Chinese restaurant from
\nSingapore, opened an outlet here in Wisma 46 on Jl. Sudirman,
\nCentral Jakarta, in 1997. It apparently enjoys a robust business
\nas 2000 saw the opening of its second restaurant in Plaza
\nIndonesia, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Many star-rated hotels also offer Chinese dishes, for both the
\nhotel guests and also residents or anyone who wants to satisfy
\ntheir need for a dining adventure.<\/p>\n
Gran Melia Hotel, for example, has a Chinese restaurant called
\nTien Chao, which literally means Sky Paradise. Specializing in
\nauthentic Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine, it offers a wide
\nvariety of dim sum dishes for lunch as well as an extensive a la
\ncarte menu for lunch and dinner.<\/p>\n
Shang Palace, located in the Shangri-La Hotel, features
\nclassic provincial Chinese cuisine with chefs from Hong Kong who
\nprepare a wide selection of Cantonese and other traditional
\ndelicacies under the guidance of Shang Palace Ltd. in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
In order to provide better service and more choices for
\nguests, Hotel Borobudur Indonesia also offers Chinese food at its
\nTeratai restaurant.<\/p>\n
\"Our special dish is pan fried goose liver. It is French goose
\nliver cooked in special Chinese style,\" said Sari Priskila, a
\npublic relations officer of the hotel, adding that the dish, as
\nwell as other items like shark fin, abalone, seafood and dim sum
\nare all specially prepared by its Hong Kong chefs.<\/p>\n
Even though it specializes in Cantonese cuisine, the chefs are
\nalso able accommodate the guests' special requests.<\/p>\n
Pearl is the Chinese restaurant in the JW Marriott Hotel,
\nwhich has two other restaurants serving Japanese food and
\ninternational food.<\/p>\n
Mellani Solagratia, the hotel's public relations manager, said
\nChinese cuisine had long been popular in Indonesia so people were
\nfamiliar with the taste.<\/p>\n
When it was launched in 2001, at the same time the hotel
\nopened, the restaurant had a chef from Hong Kong to maintain the
\nauthenticity of the cooking and to supervise the quality of the
\nfood. He has been replaced by a chef from Malaysia who earlier
\nworked in Singapore.<\/p>\n
In order to attract customers, since last year the restaurant
\nhas offered a special \"all you can eat\" promotion. For Rp 78,000,
\nyou can have a la carte meals from a 58-item menu, including
\ndesserts and appetizers. In total, the restaurant has more than
\n150 items on its menu, including some items with a Thai flavor
\nlike snapper with Thai sauce.<\/p>\n
A Thai flavor is also added to some of the dishes at Cahaya
\nKota, one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in town.<\/p>\n
Despite its age, the restaurant stays modern by keeping up
\nwith all the new food trends.<\/p>\n
\"We offer more than 200 dishes, including 'new' ones like
\n'baby kaylan', jamur kuping (wood ear mushrooms) and kacang mede
\n(cashew nuts),\" restaurant director Mukian Muliana said.<\/p>\n
The dishes are offered at a reasonable price. The asparagus
\nand crab meat soup costs Rp 25,000 per person while a portion of
\nayam Kong Nam (chicken cakes in crab egg sauce) is Rp 35,000.<\/p>\n
Unlike most Chinese restaurants, Cahaya Kota, which was
\nestablished in the late 1940s, excludes pork from its menu. It
\noffers Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine, modified to meet local
\ntastes. Its customers, according to Mukian, include high-ranking
\nofficials and foreign diplomats.<\/p>\n
Mukian, however, complained that fewer people were coming for
\ndinner since the extension of the three-in-one traffic policy
\nearlier this year.<\/p>\n
Under the new regulation, vehicles with fewer than three
\npassengers are not allowed on certain main roads from 4 p.m. to 7
\np.m., Monday to Friday.<\/p>",
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