Radisson Hotel changes menu after 'May riots'

JAKARTA (JP): While some hoteliers decided to close their restaurants due to the sluggish market and unfavorable rate of the local currency, the four-star Radisson Hotel adopted a rare idea by shifting the menu from Thai to local cuisine.

According to General Manager Maurice Cook, the inspiration came to the hotel staff after the restaurant in the hotel's lobby faced a serious problem following the May mayhem in the capital.

No, neither the hotel nor the restaurant on Jl. Pecenongan in Central Jakarta were touched, looted or torched. They're totally safe.

The problem was that the chef of the Thai restaurant flew back to his country after the disarray, said the waiters.

The restaurant site was left without purpose then until Monday when the 115-seat dining room, including three VIP rooms, was reopened with its new cuisine: Indonesian food.

"We hope that our local and international guests, including expatriates here, will really enjoy the Indonesian food at our new inhouse eatery," Cook told a group of journalists who were invited to inaugurate the opening of the semi-formal Ningrat restaurant.

According to Cook, the occupancy rate at the 390-room hotel, open since August 1995, is now at 25 percent.

He said changing the menu from Thai to local dishes would help the hotel survive the current sluggish growth in the hotel business.

"Besides, more and more of our international guests prefer to have Indonesian dishes during their visit here rather than other food," he said.

In addition to its "newest" restaurant, the hotel also runs a cafe and a Chinese food restaurant.

The Ningrat (Indonesian for aristocratic) restaurant boasts its vast selection of Javanese delicacies served ala carte style.

Its specialties currently include Lontong Cap Gomeh (rice cake with chicken, egg and vegetables served in coconut milk broth), Nasi Kuning Ningrat (saffron rice with sliced beef, tempeh, omelet and crackers) and Nasi Timbel Cibodas (steamed rice wrapped in banana leaf with fried chicken, salted fish and so on...).

Their prices range between Rp 22,000 and Rp 26,000 per dish, excluding 21 percent government and service tax.

According to the hotel's spokesperson Gina Luntungan, Ningrat is only open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday and serves dinner on Saturday.

"It'll be closed on Sundays and public holidays," she said. (bsr)