Basara offers delightful Japanese cuisine

Les Coffier, Contributor, Jakarta

Nestling between Summitmas Towers I and II, close to the southern end of Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta, is Basara Jakarta Japanese restaurant, first opened in early March this year and now an already established fine-dining attraction in this part of the city.

It has already won a loyal clientele and a whole host of top- notch customers from the worlds both of politics and business, who have learned about this venue largely from word-of-mouth recommendation. The food here is not cheap, but quality comes at a price.

There is minimum amount of signage on the street frontage, but the entrance is clearly marked by a wide, windowless, red single door. Upon entry, one is immediately impressed by the clean, modern styling where no expense has been spared in providing attractive, high-quality finishes.

The stone floor and plain white walls are complemented by the earthy brown of the wooden tables, sturdy but simply designed. The main dining room can comfortably seat 150 people and there are eight more rooms where diners can entertain their guests in greater privacy. These rooms have proved to be popular at both the lunchtime and evening sessions.

The menus have been designed by Japan-based grand chef Hirohisa Koyama, who is a big (in every sense of the word) culinary name in Japan and a powerful driving force in the Basara group. Born in 1949 in Tokushima, Japan, he became, at the tender age of 27, head chef of Aoyagi restaurant, Tokushima, which had been in the family for three generations. There is now a chain of Basara restaurants, all marked by stunning design, top-quality ingredients and food preparation to the highest standards.

Koyama is something of a perfectionist. For example, in his book Aji no Kaze (Windborne Flavors) published in 1992, he says the following about the Japanese art of cutting food: "No matter if you are peeling a potato or a chestnut, if you do not cut well, the dish will not finish well. It doesn't matter how well you may cook it. A good example is the preparation of shred-cut long radish as an accompaniment to sashimi. How accurately you perform the perpendicular cut will show up when the radish is soaked in cold water -- if it turns a cloudy white (which it shouldn't) or shines brilliantly like gelatin (which it should)."

The lunch menu is aimed at people with limited time available and is dominated by Donburi-style set meals. These comprise a bowl of rice topped with a meat or fish (cooked or raw) main course served on a tray with soup, appetizer, pickles and dessert - a complete meal in fact, priced from Rp 50,000 to Rp 150,000.

There is also a "chef's recommendation" of main courses, changed on a weekly basis by Hiroki Takai, one of three Japanese chefs on full-time duty at Basara. One of these is unagi donburi, a bowl of rice topped with grilled eel served in a delicious savory sauce. At only Rp 90,000 per serving, this is reckoned to be one of the cheapest portions of Japanese eel in town.

I sampled food from both the more extensive Sawarabi and Akebono seven-course lunchtime meals, priced at Rp 250,000 and Rp 350,000 respectively. Each comprises zensai (starter), wanmono (soup), tsukuri (sashimi), takiawase (middle course), yakimono (grilled main course), shokuji (rice and soup course) and dessert. Ebi sujeri was king prawns in a seafood jelly with seaweed, served cold, and was a delicious way of whetting the appetite for the seafood to come. Japanese food enthusiasts will be familiar with chawan mushi (seafood custard, served hot), which followed. The smoothness of the custard is complemented by the subtle fishy flavor and is one of the most popular items on the restaurant's menu.

The sashimi course offered very fresh sliced raw fish, attractively presented in small circular bowls with soy sauce and wasabi (a Japanese version of horseradish sauce that is fiery on the palate, but only for a few seconds). Grilled gindara fish or chicken was on offer as the main course, both cooked to perfection in very tasty sauces.

Desserts included vanilla ice cream drizzled with green tea sauce and green tea-flavored sorbet. Both were very distinctive, the unmistakable, slightly bitter flavor of the tea remarkably refreshing on the palate, and a perfect way of rounding off a well-balanced meal.

The dinner menu has the items set out generically, so that all starters are grouped together, then soups, sushi, grilled items, and so on. Many of the individual items are about Rp 80,000, with the more expensive fish or beef at Rp 120,000 upward. The seven- course Hosi and Hana set meals are Rp 300,000 and Rp 500,000 respectively. For those who have booked a private room, there are set meals offering a wider range of food at Rp 700,000 and Rp 1,000,000.

Basara has a glass-walled wine cellar in the full view of guests. There are over 75 red and white varieties on the wine list from all the major wine-producing regions, averaging about Rp 500,000 to Rp 600,000 per bottle.

From the premium list, a 1998 Jim Barry Mc Raewood Australian Shiraz will set you back Rp 2,500,000. A more limited range of wines is available by the glass, at Rp 35,000 to Rp 100,000. There is, of course, also a good selection of sake (Japanese rice wine), spirits, champagne, liqueurs and soft drinks.

I always come away from a Japanese meal with a slightly virtuous feeling inside, knowing that, despite having eaten very well, the meal has also been both nutritious and low in fat content. The exquisite care that has been expended on food preparation at Basara is also matched by the quality of the entire dining experience, as the number of repeat visitors to the restaurant confirms.

Basara Jakarta; Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 61-62 ground floor; South Jakarta 12190; Tel. 520 1233, fax. 525 1288; Open 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (last orders); and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. (last orders) every day; Tax and service charge 15 percent (lunch), 21 percent (dinner)