Hotels observe anniversary with Betawi food festivals

JAKARTA (JP): City dwellers appeared to lack the inclination to join in Tuesday's festivities to celebrate the city's 472 anniversary. Symbols of Betawi (native Jakarta) culture were mostly seen on major street corners and other public places.

Apparently, residents were still preoccupied with political and security concerns in the lead-up to the presidential election.

Star-rated hotels, still hit by low occupancy rates due to security concerns, have jumped at the chance to attract customers by holding Betawi food festivals, a marketing gimmick that proved reasonably successful in the past.

Signs of festivity were seen in star-rated hotels, including Hotel Mercure Rekso-Hayam Wuruk, Hotel Atrium, Santika Hotel and Sheraton Bandara Hotel, which has turned the Betawi food fiesta into an annual event.

Hotel Mercure Rekso-Hayam Wuruk in the Chinatown area of Glodok has turned its Cafe La-Tiga on the third floor into a miniature Betawi kampong with a couple of ondel-ondel (large puppets used in parades) at the entrance. Other Betawi cultural symbols, such as colorful paper coconut flowers and horse-dawn cart replicas, also decorate the cafe.

A wide variety of Betawi traditional cuisine is on offer until June 25. Gado-gado) (steamed beans and vegetables combined with spicy peanut sauce) and kerak telor (sticky rice, shredded fried coconut, shredded meat and finely sliced omelet), mie tek-tek noodle, nasi uduk (rice cooked in coconut sauce) and sop buntut (goat tail soup) are a few of the typical delicacies available.

The cuisine is served by waitresses wearing traditional Betawi attire. Betawi ethnic music plays in the background.

"The presentation of food within the older Betawi setting has always been highly attractive to foreign visitors," said hotel public relations manager Myrna A. Basalamah.

Aston Atrium Hotel at Kompleks Segitiga Atrium Senen, Central Jakarta, has also organized a similar festival from June 21 through June 26 in its coffee shop on the ground floor.

The week-long festival offers Betawi traditional cuisine for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and for dinner from 6 p.m. through 10 p.m.

The coffee shop opened its doors on Monday with Betawi ethnic dances in the presence of Central Jakarta mayoralty officials.

The premises are decorated with Betawi cultural symbols and the air is filled with Betawi music. The menu offers a wide range of choices, from kerak telor, asinan Jakarta (salted fruits), fish balls, Gado-gado Monas to a variety of cakes and vegetables.

This is the third time the hotel has hosted a Betawi food festival.

Other hotels, such as Santika Hotel and Sheraton Bandara Hotel threw Betawi food bazaars for only the anniversary day itself.

Hotel Santika in Slipi, Central Jakarta, celebrated the Jakarta anniversary with a modest Batavian Dinner Buffet on Tuesday night.

It served a variety of Betawi dishes and drinks at Rp 45,000 ++ at Cafe Teluk Jakarta, which was decorated with ondel-ondel and pictures of the bygone Betawi days.

"We held the festivity for a day because our guests stay for between one and two days, and it's just not practical to hold it longer," said Sheraton Bandara Hotel public relations officer Esther Pormes.

But not all star-rated hotels cash in on the anniversary to attract customers.

Gran Melia Jakarta, for instance, mobilized about 40 of its employees to clean streets around the hotel to show it cared about cleanliness in the neighborhood, said hotel spokesperson Hanum Yahya.(pan)