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