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Ramadhan Buffet A Taste of Everything

Courtesy of Hotel Aryaduta SemanggiWith Ramadhan now upon us, hotel restaurants are buzzing with anticipation on the stroke of Maghrib, as guests gather to enjoy a sumptuous buffet spread with families, friends and colleagues

Najiha Hana Zaimuddin (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sun, August 14, 2011

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Ramadhan Buffet A Taste of Everything

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span class="inline inline-left">Courtesy of Hotel Aryaduta SemanggiWith Ramadhan now upon us, hotel restaurants are buzzing with anticipation on the stroke of Maghrib, as guests gather to enjoy a sumptuous buffet spread with families, friends and colleagues.

It is that time of the year again when hotels across Jakarta are laying out a feast for the senses, presenting a variety of delicacies at special Ramadhan rates.

Living up to its buffet concept of Remarkable Ramadhan, The Café at Hotel Mulia Senayan offers food-lovers the luxury of savoring a piece of every continent, ready to satisfy any craving.

Featuring six ambitious palatable cuisines – from the authentic Padang and Java specialties, aromatic Middle Eastern shawarma and kebab, creamy Italian pasta and succulent Western barbecued beef ribs to the exotic Indian curries and Japanese sushi rolls – the Café adopts a “live kitchen” atmosphere, with chefs on standby at the different aromatic cooking stations, guaranteeing that only the freshest ingredients make it on to your plate.

To soothe sweet temptations, The Café offers a fine array of refreshing desserts, including the traditional kolak (fruit in palm sugar and coconut milk), rich mousse in martini glasses and parfait dishes, fresh fruits with chocolate fondue, as well as its very own frozen yogurt, available in plain and fruity flavors — perfect for those who have not gotten over the frozen yogurt “craze” that has grown popular in recent years.

Located in the hotel lobby, The Café, with its grand ambiance and amiable service, will definitely pamper guests with its wide array of choices. Prices starts from Rp 249,000 (US$29.1) per person for food only on Sunday through Thursday, and Rp 259,000 per person for Friday through Saturday.All of these are inclusive of tadjil (snacks for breaking the fast).

Meanwhile, at Porta Venezia, located on the second floor of Hotel Aryaduta Semanggi, guests can enjoy a tadjil buffet for a fee of Rp 65,000 per person and breakfasting buffet for a fee of Rp 125,000 per person.

The breakfasting buffet, complete with the sweet touches of visually tempting desserts, will take you in for a local culinary experience, featuring specialties from all over Indonesia.

Some of the richly flavored delicacies include soto padang, gulai nangka (jackfruit in curry), ayam opor (chicken in coconut milk) and ayam bakar betutu (grilled chicken in Balinese spices).

“The [Ramadhan] menu was designed to offer mostly Indonesian dishes to what would represent our gastronomical style for the month with local guests more in mind of course,” Restaurant and Banquet Manager Radi Marta Basri said.

Porta Venezia also offers signature dishes featuring a delectable combination of wood-oven baked pizzas along with other authentic Italian, Lebanese and Indonesian specialties, leaving guests the only challenge of picking a single cuisine.

I have had the pleasure of savoring two of these favorite signature dishes – the Cappuccino Di Funghi and Spaghetti Al Gamberoni E Rucola.

Cappuccino Di Fungi is a creamy mushroom soup served with sautéed potatoes, topped with a poached quail egg and baby herbs with white truffle scented oil.

When asked if the term “Cappuccino” has anything to do with the ingredients of the soup, Basri explained the “Cappuccino” effect is adopted only in the presentation, with steamed-milk foam decorated on the surface of the mushroom soup likened to that of the Italian coffee drink.

As I had my first twirl of the Spaghetti Al Gamberoni E Rucola – al dente spaghetti pasta with sautéed prawn, garlic, tomato and arugula in a spicy olive oil sauce – I immediately felt the punch of the spicy aromatic arugula, popular in Italian cuisine, which gives the dish a nice “peppery-mustardy” flavor suited to the local taste.

For Ramadhan, Asia Restaurant at The Ritz Carlton Jakarta, Mega Kuningan has put together an extensive Middle Eastern buffet, prepared by culinary team led by executive chef Rudolph Blattler, to tantalize the taste buds after a long day’s fasting.

Guests can break their fast with an abundant selection of tadjil sweets and snacks followed by a lavish selection of Middle Eastern cuisines lined up at the vibrant-island buffet.

The Ramadhan buffet is available everyday from 6 to 10 p.m. for the price of Rp 258,000 per adult and Rp 129,000 per child. Both are inclusive of hot tea, ice tea and tadjil.

The available culinary delight features a complete selection of hot and cold mezzeh and Arabic salads, such as tabbouleh, hummus, grilled halloumi cheese and okra salad; a wide range of main courses such as Lebanese moussaka (eggplant), Syrian kebab bil laban (with yogurt), Morrocan seven vegetable tagine with couscous and baked pasta Egyptian style with Arabic herbs.

Guests can end their culinary journey by heading to the sweet corner to enjoy famous Middle Eastern treats such as baklava (sweet filo pastry), mohalabia (rice pudding) and ma’amoul dates (shortbread pastries).These dishes will vary each day to ensure guests can enjoy a wholesome Middle Eastern affair.

Keeping up with the hotel’s tradition since its opening, Asia Restaurant is once again bringing to its grounds an authentic Tanoura (skirt) dance performance, a cultural performance flown in directly from Egypt.

It is a dance performed by an Egyptian man, usually a Sufi man who wears a wide, long colorful skirt that creates a beautiful image when swirling around to reach purity and God’s satisfaction. Each color on the skirt represents one Sufi order.

At Pacific Restaurant & Lounge, located on the 6th floor of The Ritz-Carlton Jakarta, Pacific Place, guests can enjoy an array of lavish cuisines from Turkey, the Middle East and Indonesia, prepared specially by Turkish chef Ismail Donmez from The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul.

The Turkish flavors are available until Aug. 29 for Rp 258,000 per person, inclusive of free flow juices, while children from 5-12 years old can enjoy all of the delicacies for Rp 158,000 per person.

The vast selection will include mantarli borek (stuffed fillo pastry), kasarli kofte (minced lamb or chicken breast with mixed spices), chicken yayla kebab, dolmasi (stuffed vegetables) with popular sugary treats such as the baklava and sultan lokmasi or Turkish dry figs soaked.

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