Room for improvement at Shah Jahan

Room for improvement at Shah Jahan

JAKARTA (JP): "It's funny but Indian people themselves rarely
eat here," said the waiter handing out menus at the Shah Jahan
restaurant in the Hotel Sahid Jaya. The ever-droll Winnardi
thought this was "probably because they get enough Indian food at
home". For Epicurus, however, it was a worrying sign.

Earlier we had been greeted at the entrance to the restaurant
by a waitress wearing a sari, and seated promptly and politely in
a seat by the window. As the restaurant is located on the 18th
floor of the hotel, this was deemed a good thing by all present.

Papadams, plate-sized crackers, with coriander and mango
chutneys and an unidentifiable pickle were quickly brought to the
table. We nibbled on these while looking through a menu packed
with North Indian dishes, and quickly asked for more, for once
you start eating them it really is difficult to stop. Looking
down on Jakarta, things were beginning to look up.

For starters we ordered aloo chat, vegetable samosas and a
chicken soup. The samosas, fried triangles of pastry stuffed with
vegetables, were hot and when left to soak in the accompanying
sauce, quite delicious.

The aloo chat, a potato dish served cold with coriander and
cucumbers, was initially reminiscent of the same snack once
served to me in a New Delhi bazaar, but it didn't last. It was
pleasant, though the chef who can be seen at work in his kitchen
through a large window, was a bit heavy-handed on the salt. The
chicken soup, arriving a good 15 minutes later than the other
starters, was clear and strong.

Compared to the south of India where rice rules, the staple
food in the north of the country is bread, either unleavened and
cooked on a hot plate: the chapati, or baked in an oven: the
naan. Both are delicious when dipped in hot dhal, a lentil broth,
or wrapped around a kebab. For our main courses we ordered these,
plus a mixed vegetable curry, a fish dish and a couple of plates
of rice.

The dhal was the right color, yellow, and the right
consistency, though there was something not quite right about the
taste. Too much salt was again the diagnosis. The mixed vegetable
dish was a disappointment. It was thoughtlessly thrown together
and reminiscent of the kind of food served up in English curry
houses throughout the country. Coriander was the only positive
taste in the mix.

The breads were great, and were soon being ripped into
enthusiastically by everyone. It was a shame, therefore, that the
food served alongside them did not complement them as it could
have done, and indeed did on a visit to the restaurant some years
ago.

The fish, a fried mackerel, unfortunately remained almost
untouched. It came covered in a coriander sauce, the taste of
which by this time was beginning to become a little over
familiar. The menu promised a tomato sauce but there was no sign
of it. Winnadi chose a goat kebab, and he judged it to be
delicious.

Indian sweets are sweet, so sweet, in fact, that some of them
appear to be made from sugar alone. After much deliberation we
ordered rasmalai, a milk-based dish, and it turned out to be
cool, fresh and tasty.

The bill, for three people drinking juice and tea, without a
tip, came to a-what-passes-as reasonable Rp 268,000. Free
drinking water and papadams were appreciated. The lunchtime
vegetarian thali set meal looks good value at Rp 27,500 ++.

No complaints about the service, and the restaurant's location
and interior are stunning. At the weekend you would be wise to
book for one of the window seats, some of which feature low-level
tables, cushions and curtains.

However, the food on this occasion, with a few exceptions, was
not as spectacular as the view. The Indian chef was sent home a
year ago and it seems as if the local chefs are missing him. Now
is the time for the management to invite him back to hold a
refresher course.

-- Epicurus