Riva (Park Lane Hotel)

 

 

Opened in 1998 in the Park Lane Hotel, Riva is one of the best French restaurants in Jakarta. It is a fine dining venue with mostly classic dishes: Steak au poivre, Foie gras, Salmon, Boeuf Bourguignon, etc.. Nothing experimental, you should not be too surprised by the food you will eat.

The restaurant looks old-fashioned, but it feels charming and unpretentious. I really enjoyed the open kitchen, which allows you to spy on the chef while he cooks. It is always impressive to see for yourself all the efforts that come with your meal.

The menu is not very long, and it changes regularly. I saw that they have it on their website here, but it isn't updated. You can still have a look to get a general idea about their food though.

I chose as an appetizer the Baby Organic Spinach Salad (with Parmesan, Lemon extra virgin oil dressing, and Truffle boursin crostini) and for my main course the Steak au Poivre (Seared wagyu beef rump rolled in crush white pepper, pomme dauphine, spinach, flambé with cognac).

Baby Spinach Salad

Wagyu beef steak with Pepper

Everything was delicious, way above any standard meal you could eat in a casual restaurant. The dishes were rich with distinctive flavors, melting just perfectly in your mouth. Consequently, such satisfaction has a cost and it isn't surprising that Riva is extremely expensive. An average appetizer is Rp300k, and an average main course Rp500k. A full meal with drinks will easily cost you more than a million rupiah... You can avoid that bloodbath by checking for promotions on Riva's twitter or facebook. I actually got myself an excellent deal: Rp208,000++ for a two-course set lunch menu (it will last all summer 2011).

Overall: Highly recommended, but I must say I would not have visited if I had to pay the full fare. If you can afford it, you should not hesitate. For the others, Lyon (click here for my blog review) is also an excellent venue, but with lower prices.

Opening Hours:
For lunch: Only from Monday to Friday - 11.30am to 2.30pm
For Dinner: From Monday to Saturday from 6pm to 11pm
Closed on public holidays

RIVA French Restaurant Jakarta
The Park Lane Hotel
Jalan Casablanca Kav.18

Jakarta 12870, Indonesia

Phone number: +62-21 828 2000


Fax: +62-21 828 2222

Email: riva@parklanejakarta.com

Website: www.rivafrenchrestaurant.com

Read about my favourite French restaurants in Jakarta on this blog: Jakarta Restaurants (French)

Abuba Steak Restaurants

Abuba Steak sounded to me like Abuja Steak, the capital of Nigeria, so I had a strong feeling against this restaurant before visiting it... Fortunately, it was a great surprise and a place I recommend to everyone, excluding vegetarians.

The outside doesn't look so great and would need some painting. The inside is similar to that of a warung, basic but clean, with some posters of meat ads. You have about 30 tables, and 1/4th of them were taken when I visited. Many people seemed to complain on internet about the smoke of cigarettes, but in the Abuba I visited, in Wahid Hasyim, no smoke at all since there is a private/closed room for smoking. There is also a small musholla for praying in the back... My only concern was that the AC was not functioning very well, so it was a bit hot for eating.

Click on the picture to see the menu

The menu is quite simple: You have four types of meat, depending on the quality: Local, NZ beef, Australian Beef, Wagyu beef. Then you choose which piece of meat you want: Sirloin, Tenderloin, Rib Eye, Lamb Chop, T-Bone, and how you would like it cooked. About 10 minutes later, your meat is ready with some vegetables and french fries (the french fries were not very well cooked).


I tooked the Tenderloin NZ, for Rp 68,000. With the barbeque sauce, it tasted just perfect, and far better than the meat I had for the same prices in some of Jakarta's malls. Do not go for local meat, you will see that it is still far from tasting good. I cannot say Abuba is cheap though, since I paid in Bandung Rp 20,000 less for the same steak (in the Suis Butcher). I believe other places in Jakarta offer similar value for money, starting with nearby Ali Baba Steakhouse.

Practical Information:
Abuba Steak in Tebet
Jalan Tebet Barat No50
In font of Cheese Cake

Abuba Gajah Mada
Jalan Gajah Mada Ruko GM
No 149 a,b,d, right next to Paragon Hotel

Abuba Cipete
Jalan Cipete Raya no 14A
Phone: +62-21 751 2337
Fax: +62-21 769 2785

Abuba Pluit
Jalan Pluit Indah Raya No 168
Phone: +62-21 666 983 81
Fax: +62-21 662 7996

Abuba "Sabang"
Jalan Wahid Hasyim no 120
Phone: +62-21 3193 5655
Fax: +62-21 3192 7016

Abuba Gading Batavia
Jalan Gading Batavia LC 20-21
Phone: +62-21 4585 3412

Abuba Serpong-Tangerang
Jalan Boulevard Raya Ruko 5th Avenue
Phone +62-21 5421 2136
Fax: +62-21 5421 2137

Abuba Bandung
Jalan Pradu Dimuntur No 12
Phone +62-22 423 3290
Fax: +62-22 426 5056

Jalan Tebet (Jalan Tebet Utara Dalam)

A friendly/busy street in Tebet. A lot of nice fast food restaurants. Good music. Young and relax atmosphere. Shisha on the pavement: Excellent and cheap. 

Mamink Daeng Tata (Makassar Cuisine)

 

Mamink Daeng Tata is a famous Indonesian restaurant, with mostly food from Makassar, Sulawesi. They have branches in Tebet, Permata Hijau and Pasar Minggu. I tried the one located on Jalan K.H. Abdullah Syafii'e, which is quite easy to find: Coming from Jalan Rasuna Said, you need to follow Jalan Casablanca, pass Park Lane Hotel and Harris Tebet, then a fly-over bridge, and if you look carefully on your left, you will see it.

Daeng Tata is a very simple place, not fancier than a warung, and it brings a mixed crowd of Indonesians from various social backgrounds. You may see a few expats, but it is rare. During the day, it can get hot since there is no AC (at least in the one I went to), so it's best to come at night, with some mosquito repellent.

While most customers come for its Barbeque Ribs, I advise you to try their Coto (Soup) or their Konro (Soup with Boiled Ribs) as well, two specialties from South Sulawesi. The service is very fast, I didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes to get the food on my table, and apart from the BBQ Ribs which were slightly burnt, the whole meal was a feast. They will put various sauces, seasonings and other ingredients for you to add to your dishes. You should try them all, they make all the difference between an average and a great experience.

Coto (Rp15,000

Konro (Rp29,000)

BBQ Ribs "Daeng Tata" (Rp29,000)

Overall: Very recommended, but you'll enjoy it only if you don't mind no-frills restaurants, with their occasional bumps and misses. It is cheap: A meal won't cost you more than Rp60,000 with drinks.

Opening Hours:
Everyday from 9am to 11pm (until 2am on Friday and Saturday)

Mamink Daeng Tata
Jalan Casbalanca - K.H. Abdullah Syafii'e No.33, Tebet
Phone number: +62-21 831 7777 / 8379 3333

Website: http://maminkdaengtata.blogspot.com/
Facebook: Daeng Tata Indonesia
For delivery: Call +62-21 831 5555/6666/7777

Other branches:
Jalan Soepono - Alteri Permata Hijau 25, Simpruk
Phone number: +62-21 7017 0000

Jalan Pejaten Raya
Phone number: +62-21 799 0008

Jalan Dr. Setiabudi No. 153, Bandung
Phone number: +62-22 201 7019

Shahrazad Resto and Cafe (Arab food)

Shahrazad is an arabic restaurant and café providing decent food, for reasonable prices, in an hospitable environment. This is not a place worth driving miles and miles, but if you happen to be in Tebet and you want to spend less than Rp80k to eat something else than nasi goreng, Shahrazad should not disappoint you.

I tried a few dishes, and they where all relatively good value when it comes to taste/price:

Syurbah Lakham (Rp35k++)

Biryani Lakham (Rp50,000++)

Sandwich Sish Kebab (Rp30,000++)

Overall: Recommended for quick, casual meals with friends if you leave near Tebet. They also have shisha, but no alcoholic drinks.

Opening hours:

Everyday, from lunch to midnight.

Shahrazad Resto and Café
Jl. KH Abdulah Syafili No. 76 (500 meters East of Park Lane Hotel, next to Daeng Tata)
Casablanca, South Jakarta

Phone number: +62-21 8379 2166
Email: shahrazadrestocafe@yahoo.com

Stix Bar and Live Music (Park Lane Hotel)

The Stix bar was one of the first Salsa bars in Jakarta. Good salsa/latino music live band. The crowd is above 30-something. Some working girls.

Stix is very famous for its steaks (especially Australian Wagyu and Black Angus beef), which a few years ago where still hard to find in Jakarta so it was there or in BATS that we had to go to escape from the noodle and rice routine...

It has special promos every night, but the most interesting ones are on Monday when you can get two dishes for the price of one, on Thursday for lady's night, on Saturday with 50% off all drinks and on Sunday also as they have live band with acoustic guitar and the steaks are half-price.

Everyday, the live band performs from 9.30pm Mondays to Thursdays and 10pm Fridays and Saturdays.

Happy hours from 5pm to 8pm.

Stix bar & live music
in The Park Lane Jakarta
Jalan Casablanca Kav. 18
Jakarta 12870, Indonesia
tel: (62-21) 828 2000
fax: (62-21) 828 2222
Email: stix@parklanejakarta.com

The bar has a dedicated part in the Park Lane Hotel website and it gives information on events and promos: Park Lane Hotel's Stix.

If you like Stix's kind of bar = small hotel bars with live music, you may like the following places: Pitstop, Velvet, Grand Manhattan.