Hotels prepare to accommodate guests in Ramadhan
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Ramadhan is again upon us, and Muslims in Jakarta have many choices as to where to break their fast, as most hotels offer special menus.
Several five-star hotels are offering Ramadhan packages, whereby guests can rent their function rooms for tarawih (evening prayer, after the breaking of the fast). Ramadhan buffets are also available for the breaking of the fast meal and sahur (predawn meal).
The Shangri-La Hotel, for example, has provided several function rooms -- with a capacity of between 600 and 4,000 people -- for tarawih. The room rate is calculated based on the number of people it can accommodate, with prices ranging between Rp 100,000++ (US$10.95) and Rp 125,000++ per person. The breaking of the fast meal is included in the cost.
"There has been great interest in the package, particularly from large families looking forward to holding a mass tarawih on weekends," said the Shangri-La's communications coordinator, Sugeng Purnomo, on Thursday.
Guests can also break their fast at the hotel's Coffee Garden Restaurant, enjoying an array of dishes from bubur kacang hijau (mung bean porridge) to kolak pisang (bananas cooked with coconut milk and palm sugar), puddings and sorbets. The buffet is available for Rp 120,000++ per person from Sunday to Thursday, and for Rp 130,000++ on Fridays and Saturdays.
In keeping with its tradition, the hotel will also display a replica of a mosque. This year, the mosque is Baghdad's Khulafa Mosque, and made of 300 kilograms of chocolate. The replica, created by the hotel's team of culinary artists -- led by I Nyoman Sukardji and Herry Pujiantoro -- took a month to complete.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta Hilton International Hotel is offering a family pesantren (Islamic teachings) package for Rp 1 million to Rp 1.35 million every weekend. Besides sermons from noted preachers, the program will include Muslim fashion shows and poetry readings.
The hotel will also be offering a breaking of the fast buffet at its Peacock restaurant for Rp 125,000++, which includes a selection of kolak. Its sahur package is priced at Rp 105,000++, and the hotel's famous bubur ayam (chicken porridge) is certain to be on the menu.
Although the Borobudur Hotel will not offer any of its function rooms as part of a Ramadhan package, guests can attend a tarawih together, at the hotel's mosque every night.
Guests can also enjoy a buffet for breaking the fast at the hotel's Bogor Cafe for Rp 130,000++ per person, and a set menu for sahur for Rp 98,000++ per person, while listening to a marawis (Islamic music) performance.
The hotel will also offer the warmth of a pasar malam (night market) at its Singosari Poolside Restaurant. The restaurant will serve various traditional dishes, such as nasi uduk (rice cooked in coconut milk served with side dishes) and soto kuali Solo (Surakarta-style chicken broth).