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Indian
Restaurants in Jakarta
By Mehru Jaffer
Those who eat
alone choke alone is something I often heard my grandmother
repeat. But sometimes I like to defy that truth to queue up
all by myself for a sizzling leg of chicken browned in a clay
oven or tandoor and dipped in green coriander sauce at Akbar,
the Indian stall tucked away in a corner of Plaza Senayan's
sprawling food court. The next order is for one plain naan or
the fresh bread pulled out before my very eyes from a similar
oven, along with a cup of masala and milk tea .
The added request
to those kind souls behind the counter is to make it, a take
away please! And once armed with the goodies I am unable to
wait any longer to sneak into one of the adjoining cinemas for
an afternoon show of an Indian film. The bliss that is experienced
for the next two hours, or more, is quite impossible to describe
in words.
Like most Indians
I too perhaps live to eat but consider eating by itself incomplete
without a festive atmosphere and much song and dance. Therefore
I let Akbar provide the feast while the Indian film so full
of melodrama and festivities is just what is needed for a short
break from all the heat and dust, power and politics played
out routinely in the world outside.
Akbar actually
offers a lengthy menu to choose from but the favourite remains
the above combination. In fact sensibility has often been scandalised
to see the uninitiated pile up the plate with everything that
is available on the table even though the art of enjoying Indian
food remains in eating the right mix. Like rice and bread are
never consumed together and neither is mutton biryani topped
with mutton curry or lentils. The flavour of each curry comes
out best when eaten with either plain, boiled rice, or with
bread. For the same reason food from north India is not allowed
to share its sauces with delicacies from the south. Pieces of
mutton or chicken marinated and simmered in a tandoor or a clay
oven is part of north Indian cuisine but has become synonymous
today with Indian food in general. In a country as large and
diverse as India, tandoori food is initially from a tiny area
in the northwestern plains of the sub continent. Over a period
of just half a century the name and fame of tandoori food has
managed to capture the imagination of the whole world as it
is the humble folk from this region who flanked out into different
corners of the globe in search of a better income. Many of them
started to earn a living by opening Indian restaurants.
To Jakarta it
is the ethnic group called the Sindis from India's Bombay area
that first came here in large numbers mostly to participate
in the textile business. At first they concentrated on working
hard and making money. Over the years after a little money was
left over from having taken care of the essentials, the desire
to spend on luxuries like eating out also followed. Today more
than a dozen Indian restaurants are scattered all over the city,
some of them equipped with excellent kitchens.
However eating
outside the home is a very recent activity amongst Indians.
Even today getting together to eat primarily means keeping in
touch with the community and family. That is why many restaurants
here offer generous accommodation for private parties as well,
including Queen's Tandoor and the up market Jewel of India at
Hotel Ambhara.
Jewel of India
is also one where the food is spicy but not hot. "This
is a place I take my friends who are not used to the taste of
chilli powder," says Poonam Sagar of indoindians, a website
that lists many a recipe also in Bahasa Indonesia.
Haveli, at the
Graha Indorama is visited by all those looking for a sumptuous
meal as well as an elegant ambience. The mouth watering varieties
are served here in traditional copper pots that are scrubbed
till they glisten and polished inside in silver at the lunch
time buffet are worth one's money and sense of aesthetics. Hazara
is voted by regulars as unnecessarily expensive where the portions
are small even though the atmosphere is dreamy. But it is also
the only Indian restaurant perhaps to offer the most succulent
sea food delights like tandoori prawns and shrimp curry.
Despite its prime
location and breathtaking view Shah Jahan at Hotel Sahid Jaya
remained a drain on the pocket for a long time. The chef is
obviously changed as in recent times the reputation of the restaurant
is again on the rise. It is recommended that the thali or large
plate with an assortment of dishes chosen by the chef, be tried.
For similar tasting
dishes, at a much more reasonable price available in clean but
unpretentious surroundings visit the Pakistan Restaurant on
Jalan Fatmawati . Away from the chic business district there
are plenty of other Indian restaurants in the northern part
of the city providing an informal atmosphere but excellent food
at almost throw away prices.
It is not at
all essential that each Indian meal should include bread, rice
and meats. Often it is fun to tickle the palate and make an
entire meal out of street food alone like chaat, snacks called
samosas or the south Indian vadas and idlis that are invariably
accompanied by cheeky chutneys and provocative pickles. Quisine
Restaurant on Jalan Veteran has the usual fare but feast yourself
just on the kebabs for a change. Noble, in Sunter includes different
kinds of sea food and Chinese dishes too. And apart from Rasa
Sayang's Indian menu, it also has a good choice of local food
in Block K.
A stuffed paratha,
(bread filled with potatoes and lightly fried in oil) for example
is a meal in itself. And the best ones are found at the Taj
Mahal in Pasar Baru just like Sahara Restaurant also on Jalan
Veteran fries up the most mouth watering dosa or the fluffy
rice and lentil pancakes in town.
Dawat in north
Jakarta is the latest addition to the string of restaurants
already offering Indian food here and Kenny, the owner swears
that the tandoori chicken he puts on your plate is special,
all because of a single secret spice that he has dug out from
the family archives back home.
-----Mehru Jaffer
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