Jakarta is a melting pot of different cultures, and what better way to exemplify this than through its diverse culinary delights? As the Indonesian capital and home to many different ethnicities, Jakarta's menus offer a rich platter of varied foods from Chinese to Arab, Dutch and everything in between.

Food enthusiasts will be able to sample some of the city's most unique dishes at a series of food festivals being held at hotels across the city to commemorate the capital's 482nd anniversary, which falls on June 22nd.

Hotel Shangri-La, for example, will be hosting the Betawi Food Festival from June 21 to June 27 at Satoo, one of its renowned restaurants. During this period, guests will be lucky enough to observe the chef preparing gado-gado (mixed steamed vegetables with spicy peanut sauced), kerak telor (sticky rice and egg cooked in a wok and grilled on charcoal), kue putu (sweet cakes with pandan flavor) and soto Betawi (soup made of beef, potato and tomato cooked in coconut and beef broth) at stations resembling sidewalk food stalls.

At the gado-gado and soto Betawi stations, guests will even be able to request specific orders, such as the number of chilies in their dish or the amount of peanut powder to match their taste buds.

Beside the four Betawi food stations, Satoo will also feature traditional dishes at the Salad and Indonesian Kitchen stations. Guests can savor the sweet and sour appetizers such as sayur asem (sour soup), asinan (local salad), selada ikan laut Pulau Seribu (fish steak) and Rujak serut condet (grated fruits with sweet and spicy sauce).

Dishes like Pesmol Ikan Kambing, lula kambing, semur ayam pedas and tumis pare ikan asin will also be available at the Indonesian food station.

There are also an array of Betawi-style desserts on offer, from kue gemblong (cakes made from glutinous rice flour, shredded coconut and palm sugar), to kue lopis (steamed glutinous rice served with grated raw coconut and brown sugar), to kue cucur (made from rice flour, wheat flour and sugar and deep fried until brownish) and kue pepek.

To top off the meal and the cakes, es doger (a drink made from fresh coconut, black glutinous rice, fermented cassava, coconut milk and syrup) is available to quench thirsts.

Meanwhile the Hotel JW Marriott Jakarta will be showcasing the city's signature dishes in the Jakarta Tempo Doeloe festival from June 15 to June 22 at Sailendra Restaurant.

While Sailendra will incorporate Betawi style d*cor during the celebration, the menu will in fact go well beyond just that culture.

The well-known rijstaffel style will see dishes like nasi uduk (rice steamed with coconut milk), bistik daging (beefsteak), rolade (roulade), semur tahu (stewed tofu) and perkedel (minced meat ball) grace the menu.

Traditional Jakartan cuisine will also make an appearance along the way with traditional sweets such as wajik (diamond shaped cake made from glutinous rice, coconut milk and sugar), dodol (confection made from pounded glutinous rice with coconut milk and palm sugar), tape uli (a mixture of fermented cassava and sticky rice cooked with coconut) and Rengginang (sticky rice crackers).

Roti buaya, the infamous crocodile shaped bread usually presented during the traditional wedding ceremonies of Betawi families, can also be hunted down.

During the festival period, guests at the Sailendra Restaurant will be asked to leave their business cards for a lucky draw, for which the grand prize is a stay at the JW Marriott Surabaya in East Java.

So if you plan of sampling the vast platters of Jakarta's traditional foods this June, be sure to leave room for seconds.

Satoo

Hotel Shangri-La

Kota BNI

Jl. Jendral Sudirman Kav.1

Jakarta 10220

Phone: (021) 570 7440

Sailendra

Hotel JW Marriott Jakarta

Jl. Lingkar Mega Kuningan Kav. E, I.2

Jakarta

Phone: 021 5798 8992

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