Focus Issue - May 2, 2004 - Chinese Cuisine

Chinese culinary enjoys popularity T. Sima Gunawan Contributor Jakarta

Many people eat not just to survive. Eating for them is much more than putting some food into their mouths and swallowing it. They taste every bit of the meal, savoring the flavor and feeling the delight of chewing it.

Eating out has become a pleasure of relaxation. People enjoy not only the food, but also the way they are served while taking into consideration the ambiance of the eating place. And probably there is no better place to go than a Chinese restaurant, where guests can enjoy a great variety of dishes in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Jakarta indeed is a haven for Chinese cuisine. The food is so popular here that you can have it at every corner of the city, from sidewalks and shopping malls to high-rise buildings and star-rated hotels.

Some great Chinese restaurants in town have existed for decades, like Cahaya Kota on Jl. KH Wahid Hasyim in Central Jakarta and Eka Ria on Jl. Zainul Arifin in West Jakarta. The younger ones include Ming restaurant on Jl. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta, which also opened a branch in Kelapa Gading, East Jakarta, a few months ago, and Summer Palace Restaurant, which last year moved from Jl. Menteng Raya in Central Jakarta, to the Central Business District. Now occupying the Summer Palace's old venue is another Chinese restaurant, the Golden Palace.

The Crystal Jade Palace, a classy Chinese restaurant from Singapore, opened an outlet here in Wisma 46 on Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, in 1997. It apparently enjoys a robust business as 2000 saw the opening of its second restaurant in Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta.

Many star-rated hotels also offer Chinese dishes, for both the hotel guests and also residents or anyone who wants to satisfy their need for a dining adventure.

Gran Melia Hotel, for example, has a Chinese restaurant called Tien Chao, which literally means Sky Paradise. Specializing in authentic Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine, it offers a wide variety of dim sum dishes for lunch as well as an extensive a la carte menu for lunch and dinner.

Shang Palace, located in the Shangri-La Hotel, features classic provincial Chinese cuisine with chefs from Hong Kong who prepare a wide selection of Cantonese and other traditional delicacies under the guidance of Shang Palace Ltd. in Hong Kong.

In order to provide better service and more choices for guests, Hotel Borobudur Indonesia also offers Chinese food at its Teratai restaurant.

"Our special dish is pan fried goose liver. It is French goose liver cooked in special Chinese style," said Sari Priskila, a public relations officer of the hotel, adding that the dish, as well as other items like shark fin, abalone, seafood and dim sum are all specially prepared by its Hong Kong chefs.

Even though it specializes in Cantonese cuisine, the chefs are also able accommodate the guests' special requests.

Pearl is the Chinese restaurant in the JW Marriott Hotel, which has two other restaurants serving Japanese food and international food.

Mellani Solagratia, the hotel's public relations manager, said Chinese cuisine had long been popular in Indonesia so people were familiar with the taste.

When it was launched in 2001, at the same time the hotel opened, the restaurant had a chef from Hong Kong to maintain the authenticity of the cooking and to supervise the quality of the food. He has been replaced by a chef from Malaysia who earlier worked in Singapore.

In order to attract customers, since last year the restaurant has offered a special "all you can eat" promotion. For Rp 78,000, you can have a la carte meals from a 58-item menu, including desserts and appetizers. In total, the restaurant has more than 150 items on its menu, including some items with a Thai flavor like snapper with Thai sauce.

A Thai flavor is also added to some of the dishes at Cahaya Kota, one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in town.

Despite its age, the restaurant stays modern by keeping up with all the new food trends.

"We offer more than 200 dishes, including 'new' ones like 'baby kaylan', jamur kuping (wood ear mushrooms) and kacang mede (cashew nuts)," restaurant director Mukian Muliana said.

The dishes are offered at a reasonable price. The asparagus and crab meat soup costs Rp 25,000 per person while a portion of ayam Kong Nam (chicken cakes in crab egg sauce) is Rp 35,000.

Unlike most Chinese restaurants, Cahaya Kota, which was established in the late 1940s, excludes pork from its menu. It offers Cantonese and Szechuan cuisine, modified to meet local tastes. Its customers, according to Mukian, include high-ranking officials and foreign diplomats.

Mukian, however, complained that fewer people were coming for dinner since the extension of the three-in-one traffic policy earlier this year.

Under the new regulation, vehicles with fewer than three passengers are not allowed on certain main roads from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday.