Rocking the Casbah with the capital's latest food trend

Rocking the Casbah with the capital's latest food trend

By Maria Kegel

JAKARTA (JP): A Jakarta resident does not have to travel to
Lebanon or Turkey to savor its delicious cuisine. Look no further
than Central and South Jakarta, where several restaurants
featuring food from the areas are taking the capital by storm.

In the past year alone, Jakarta has seen the appearance of
four new restaurants that serve the two cuisines.

Their owners and chefs had mixed views as to the reason for
their rise in popularity, but most agreed that the public were
ready for a new taste, and the restaurants were satisfying that
new niche market.

One of the newcomers, the Lebanon Restaurant, on the first
floor of the Djakarta Theater building in Central Jakarta, has
been riding the crest of that wave of interest since it opened in
September.

Manager Robert Saleh said it came down to curiosity.

"People like to try new things. Mexican and Indonesian
cuisines are far apart in taste, but people here are trying
Mexican, and now it's our turn."

Habits are formed after people satisfy their curiosity, Saleh
said, adding that the restaurant had many regular diners as well
as new ones walking in.

"Everyone was surprised at how we could open a Lebanese
restaurant in a country where people prefer hot and spicy food,
as our cuisine consists of about 80 percent vegetables," he
added.

Saleh said restaurants serving this cuisine were found all
over the world.

"So when we opened this restaurant in Jakarta we didn't look
only at having patrons from Arabic countries, although they come
automatically, but we wanted to appeal also to European, American
and Australian patrons."

And Indonesians, too. To date, customers from the Middle East
make up 40 percent of the clientele, with 35 percent Indonesian
and 25 percent from other countries, he said.

Chahid Youness, who has been the executive sous chef at the
Al-Nafoura restaurant in the Meridien Hotel since it opened three
and a half years ago, said their mix of customers was the other
way around, with only about 20 percent Arabic, compared to the 30
percent who were Indian and Indonesian, while the majority were
from Australia, America, France and Britain.

Al-Nafoura, which was the first restaurant on the scene to
serve up Lebanese food (the veritable Sinbad on Jl. K.S. Tubun
has been making mix of Yemeni and other Arab food for years), has
been popular from the beginning, Youness, who is also from
Lebanon, said, adding that its increasing monthly revenue was
showing no signs of slowing.

Public relations executive at the Meridien Umayanti Utami S.R.
added that Indonesian customers were open to trying new tastes,
and that the increase of diners at the restaurant was part of a
gastronomic trend toward the cuisine's unique flavors sweeping
the city.

Business opportunity

Deepak Samtani, the owner of Anatolia restaurant in Kemang,
the Turkish Cafe in Plaza Senayan and Mediterranean fast food
outlet Tasty Bites and noodle eatery Chopsticks in the Jakarta
Stock Exchange building, sized up the business opportunities in
opening up his eateries.

"You see less of them (Middle Eastern restaurants here) that's
why people want to go for something new. There's a lot of
business opportunities right here."

In his case, Deepak said the market was right, but the main
reason for the restaurants he opened (Turkish Cafe and Tasty
Bites opened in the last few months) was that he wanted to expand
into the restaurant business.

Laksmi Pamuntjak, a culinary expert and author of the Jakarta
Good Food Guide 2001, said that there was a global trend of
people dining out more and the realization that people's tastes
were becoming more varied.

"There's a demand for different types of food as well as there
is a sizable Middle Eastern and Mediterranean community in
Jakarta and they see it as a very logical thing to come up with
to cater to that market," she said.