Restaurant guide a delicious treat

Restaurant guide a delicious treat

Jakarta Good Food Guide 2001;
By Laksmi Pamuntjak;
Penerbit Djambatan, Jakarta, 2000;
Rp 95,000

JAKARTA (JP): After only a few days in my possession, this
book already bears the thumb-print smudges and dog-eared pages
which denote it as much, much more than the average read.

It's fair to say that Jakarta foodies, those who are on a
continual quest for the next good meal in these much-maligned
gastronomic parts, have seen nothing like it before.

We can give thanks that Laksmi Pamuntjak has come up with the
definitive guide to where to head to get what you want on the
culinary front -- and those places to give a wide berth.

Gorgeously illustrated with photos by Yori Anwar of the best
of Jakarta's restaurants, the guide is written in a pithy,
confident style which tells it like it is. Want to know where to
get Indian? French? A steaming bowl of soto, Indonesia's own take
on chicken soup but with a whole lot more added for good measure?
Breakfast bites? They and then more are all here, rated by a
battalion of reviewers and whipped into editorial shape by Laksmi
herself.

It must have been a labor of love for all concerned,
particularly Laksmi, who bears more physical resemblance to the
slender Julia Roberts' character of the food reviewer in My Best
Friend's Wedding than the stereotype of the gross gourmand never
able to get enough of a tasty morsel. She acknowledges in her
introduction her love of food ("it's the first thing I think of
when I'm not sleeping"), and her ground work several years ago
when she contributed reviews as the anonymous Epicurus to this
publication.

Anything to spoil this tasty literary broth? Well, there are a
few typos, one or two Opening Hours left blank and the lack of an
index (plus a couple of non-restaurant ads), but those are minor
quibbles in considering the overall excellence of Jakarta Good
Food Guide 2001. The reader may not agree with all of the
reviews, but that, as Laksmi notes herself, is the subjective
nature of the game. This is a delicious read, a must-have for
long-time residents of the city and anyone planning to spend more
than a couple of days in these parts. (brc)