Pricey Indian treats at elegant Hazara restaurant

When Hazara opened four or five years ago in a shower of publicity which included a visit from a know-the-face-cannot- remember-the-name international beauty queen, it quickly won over its market of pretty young things with bulging pocketbooks.

Surprisingly considering its size and significant Indian- descent population, Jakarta had few restaurants of note from the subcontinent. There were the twin restaurants located a stone's throw from the Borobudur Hotel, another close by in Pasar Baru (it later was damaged by fire), and Eastern Promise over in Kemang, but you could easily find more Italian eateries in the city's center.

Spawned from an eatery in Singapore, Hazara quickly established itself as a touch of class a few meters from the tourist belt of Jl. Jaksa and Jl. Sabang. No dingy, poorly lit surroundings with formica tables and plastic cutlery, but a meticulously planned restaurant where chilled water came served in brass goblets.

Then, with the opening of its bar upstairs, filled with throw cushions, wooden furniture and cubby holes to while away the hours in, Hazara became the favored watering hole of the legion of yuppies, guppies, buppies and what have you who were making Jakarta their second home on the rung to corporate gains. Swarming with humanity, it was a refined trash wallow, a place to kick back over a drink but in the most elegant, upmarket, deliberately understated way possible.

As we all well know, the crisis put paid to many of those dreams and packed off planeloads of expatriates back to their distant homelands. And we all know, too, that the expat exodus has bitten into the business of many an upmarket restaurant already reeling from spiraling costs of imports.

Hazara, or at least its bar, has certainly experienced a demographic shift. Epicurus was more than a little shocked a couple of Fridays back to find the Hazara bar comfortably deserted. No more frenzied dash for the lone available seat or a losing battle to get the attention of the run-off-their-feet waiters.

Times have changed, but the question was if Hazara's kitchens had been forced to skimp on quality and taste in these straitened times.

Epicurus' dining companion assured me that the restaurant still did brisk business; on this occasion, five tables of diners appeared a good Monday lunchtime crowd. Tellingly, however, considering the shock awaiting us on the price list, all of the diners were expatriates.

It had been so long since the last exploration of these parts that Epicurus could remember when Hazara's signature dish, lamb marinated in rum and cooked until it broke away in tender slivers ("it's a form of child abuse," someone once quipped) cost Rp 16,000. And even at a time when the rupiah could still hold its own against the dollar, it was a bit pricey, particularly for those of us whose income, horror of horrors, came in ever-growing bundles of paper showing the benevolent despot.

Let's just say price adjustments have occurred at Hazara to keep apace with inflation. The lamb is now a hefty Rp 78,000, "only" US$10, some would say, but a big chunk of our earnings for many of us.

Well, we grudgingly passed on the lamb, but could not give a miss to the restaurant's deservedly praised dhal, a rich, creamy concoction of lentils and spices, delicious scooped up with naan bread. Our other picks were the murgh malai -- tender chunks of chicken simmered in spices -- and aloo firdosi, two filling halves of potatoes stuffed with vegetables. Although we also gave a miss to dessert, Epicurus' dining companion indulged in a sweet lassi yogurt drink.

There is not much you can fault about Hazara. The staff are friendly and not overbearingly attentive; despite the restaurant's cavernous vertical arrangement, diners can enjoy intimate conversations undisturbed by the goings-on of others.

However, it continues to be a pricey venture and portions, although adequate for the two of us, would be considered small by some diners with heartier appetites. Three entrees, a portion of naan, two beverages and two coffees came to just over Rp 200,000, which means Hazara will remain an occasional treat to be savored for this diner.

-- Epicurus