Thai restaurant a catch for scrumptious seafood
Les Coffier, Contributor, Jakarta
The traffic circle that lies at the southern end of Jl. Sudirman, South Jakarta, has a huge, inspirational statue in the middle of it that, like others dotted around the city, hails from the Sukarno era.
It is called the Patung Pemuda (Youth Statue), but is commonly known by Jakartans, particularly the expatriate community, as "hot-hands Harry" or the "pizza man", for it looks as though the young, scantily-clad male figure is carrying one on a tray.
Sometimes the flames above the tray are illuminated by red light, which adds to its effect. There are other, less complimentary nicknames for the statue too, so I've heard.
Despite the presence of this monument, unintentionally associated with that ubiquitous Italian delicacy, there seem to be remarkably few pizza restaurants in its immediate vicinity. There is, however, a Thai restaurant as close to the traffic circle as it is possible to be, and that is where I went recently, with a dining companion in tow.
Location: The Bank Panin Pusat building lies immediately to the left of the traffic circle if you face northwards along Jl. Sudirman. The restaurant is in the basement of the building and it has a prominent neon sign at the edge of the sidewalk, facing the traffic circle.
Looks: Entering the restaurant is rather a strange experience, by Jakarta standards at least, for you have to descend a canopied staircase that makes it seem like a small subway entrance of the type you might encounter in London, New York, or even Singapore. Nevertheless, the "welcome" sign (in English and Thai script) beckons you down, and helps to overcome any apprehensions you might have about entering as a first-time guest.
Once inside, I couldn't help feeling that I'd arrived at a hotel coffee shop, for although the management has tried hard to create a Thai atmosphere, the long ranks of tables covered in white tablecloths, and the functional simplicity of the room, made it difficult to dispel that impression. The walls were in a restful terracotta color, and Thai works of art adorned them, here and there. The restaurant can easily seat more than 150 people, and the waiting staff were helpful and polite.
There is ample parking space immediately outside, in a formally laid-out car park.
What's it got: The use of the term "Bangkok Seafood Restaurant" as part of its name gives a fairly clear indication of what you can expect here. The menu is dominated by fish and seafood dishes, but there are other items available too.
In addition to the wide range of seafood (including lobster, white, tiger and king prawn, crab, fish, squid and shellfish, covering 8 pages of the ample menu), there were rice and noodles (mainly with fish!), and one page each of chicken, beef and vegetable dishes.
The menu starts with drinks (juices, tea, coffee and beer but no spirits), appetizers and soups. Desserts are, rather curiously, listed at the beginning of the menu, and there were only four of them, all Thai specialties.
Taste factor: We started with tod man pla (described subjectively, like so much else on the menu, as "popular" fried fish patties) and kung hom pa (shrimp egg rolls with "tasty" sauce). These both proved to be excellent choices, for the fish patties were like a Thai version of western fishcakes, with a very subtle fishy flavor complemented by spring onions, and the egg rolls were really Thai spring rolls with a tangy, but not too spicy, chili sauce. The latter were nice and crispy and not too greasy either.
The main part of the meal consisted of kung maenam op wun sen (steamed freshwater lobster with vermicelli in claypot), pad broccoli hoi shell (fried broccoli with scallops) and kao pad poo kung (fried rice with crab meat and prawn). This was washed down with a tomato juice and a melon juice, both very refreshing and ice-cold.
I must admit I'm often wary about ordering crab or lobster at restaurants, as the energy you sometimes need to expend in getting at the edible parts can exceed the calorific value of what you are actually able to eat!
Thankfully, the lobster we'd ordered had been steamed to perfection and cut into pieces; the meat had a good, firm texture that could easily be prised away from the shell with a fork. The combination with vermicelli was interesting, to say the least, both in terms of taste and texture.
The scallops were rather few and far between, but the ones there were very tasty. The broccoli had been "undercooked" with some other vegetables so that they still looked very attractive, had retained their natural color and were crunchy.
The fried rice was very tasty, was not heavy or too greasy, and contained just the right amount of crabmeat and prawn.
Price points: As we were eating at lunchtime and were trying to avoid too heavy a meal, we did not order desserts, but the two-course meal for two described above cost Rp 170,000, including tax at 10 percent - very reasonable indeed.
Appetizers were in the range Rp 25,000 - Rp 80,000, soups Rp 33,000 - Rp 70,000, seafood dishes Rp 40,000 - Rp 100,000, rice or noodles Rp 17,000- Rp 30,000, chicken or beef Rp 17,000 - Rp 40,000.
Minus points: The "coffee-shop" atmosphere may mean that diners might prefer to come here at lunchtimes, although I'm sure that most of the restaurant's trade is done in the evenings. This is very much a place for people to come in groups, as had most of the other diners during the time I was there.
Verdict: Overall, I can recommend Suan Thai, particularly if you enjoy eating seafood. The sheer range of seafood on offer will probably require more than one visit too, if you are hoping to do it justice. The location couldn't be easier to find either!
Suan Thai Bangkok Seafood Restaurant
Bank Panin Pusat, Jl. Sudirman Kav.11, Jakarta Selatan, phone: 7394018, 7261570. Also, branches at Jl. Cideng Timur no.58, Central Jakarta (phone: 3860455, 3502281) and Wisma Danamon Aetna Life Lt LG 07, Jl. Jend Sudirman Kav. 45-46, South Jakarta (phone: 5770814, 5771525) Open every day from 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. Major credit cards are accepted.