Indonesian cuisine for all tastes at Gran Melia cafe

Call it the quandary of the appetite is willing but the spirit is weak.

Weak as in loathe to venture past the unofficial Marginot lines of traffic jams separating Central Jakarta from those distant lands of Kemang and West Jakarta.

Only last month, this writer was a tad chastened to find that a stunning new face has been put on Kota -- around the area of Cafe Batavia and Taman Fatahillah -- in the two or three years since the last grudging foray there.

And while Epicurus oh-so wanted to remain true to the pledge of belt-tightening, of searching for bargains amid the jungle of food courts and pricey restaurants, the choices were limited and it was not to be.

On this night, through circumstances too involved to discuss in this column's short space, Epicurus and companion found themselves stepping into the very grand lobby of the aptly named Gran Melia Jakarta in Kuningan.

Destination was the Cafe Gran Via and the assignment was Indonesian night, one of the cuisine nights offered by the hotel's coffee shop, which also include Taste of Thailand (Wednesday) and Seafood Night (Friday).

A small buffet spread of traditional breaking-of-the-fast sweets is set aside from the main buffet.

Although neither of us is a smoker, we chose to sit in the smoking section, deserted compared to the rest of the teeming restaurant.

We might be plunging into a recession, but one would never have known it on this particular night from the crowd of people willing to shell out Rp 71,000 a head for a buffet.

The spread made stopovers in many culinary corners of the country, from Bebek Betutu (spicy roast duck) from Bali, to Salmon Dabu-Dabu (salmon dressed with chili) hailing from up north in Manado.

Among the salads, which also included that buffet mainstay of sushi, was gado-gado (cooked vegetables in spicy peanut dressing) and, interestingly, cold rice noodles with tofu.

Lined up in the main courses were green beans with chili and dried shrimp, recommended wholeheartedly for lovers of terasi paste; another equally delicious variation on this, with shitake mushrooms added to the beans and shrimp; lamb curry; fish curry; chicken in the spicy-sweet rujak soy sauce sold on the street with fruit; chicken in opor thick coconut milk, a meal in itself eaten with a plate of rice and emping crackers; a tongue- waggingly spiced liver with potatoes; and fish steamed in banana leaves.

There were also spiced potatoes next to the roast meat selections, soups and a plate of kangkung -- known either as morning glory or the more prosaic swamp weed -- stir-fried before your very eyes with bean sprouts and chili.

Maybe the sweet tooth is losing its edge, or the assault of spices and tastes was too much, but we found the desserts only moderately pleasing.

There was the standard kue lapis, the layer cake which this time, thankfully, was not seeping with oil, and cut into attractive bite-size pieces, and other Indonesian jajaran pasar cakes and cookies.

Other local treats seemed curiously out of place, making an awkward transition to the swank hotel environment. The sumsum pudding was too sweet, what was billed as a "black-rice pudding" tasted like the rice had been fermented too long and the srikaya coconut pudding was stodgy and bland.

Before the chorus of "get-thee-to-a-warung" to try the real thing begins, it must be said the buffet was representative enough of local cuisine; the spiciness of dishes had not been overly toned down, and the tastes were still distinct.

And it is a tall order indeed (and perhaps an inevitably self- defeating one at that) to try to capture all the cuisines of this archipelago in one fell swoop of a buffet. Gran Via was up to the task in serving some of these tastes for more refined consumers (read well-heeled Indonesians and expatriates).

Service? Good, helpful, friendly and, unlike the most recent time Epicurus visited the Gran Melia, the waiter did not do acrobatics in trying to grab the tip (at one point the culprit came over, inspected what we had left as tip as we sat there finishing our coffee and then dropped it back perfunctorily).

But for a taste of the real Indonesia, Epicurus has decided to hit the streets, which will also save on rupiah. Hope is that, in these culinary adventures, it will not be a case of the appetite is willing, but the stomach is weak.