Bluntly
speaking, most of the times I feel reluctant visiting any café or restaurant
resided in Northern part of Jakarta. Well, lengthy distance, inconvenient
transport, and for sure heavy traffic! However, call me blessed that last
weekend I got a lift to come to this ‘almost untouched’ places for me :) . Besides,
knowing that it’s far far away from my place, my friends and I had prepared
loonggg list of nearby places to visit just to make sure we got the most out of
the time we spent here. So there we were at Holiday Inn Kemayoran, the very
first place to satisfy our six hungry tummies.
Located
only 6-km away from your probably best childhood spot, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol,
this hotel actually provides 3 different dining places. However, each of them
is made for different purposes; Infinity Pool and Bar for light snacks and
drinks to be enjoyed by the pool, Habitat Lounge for cocktails and coffee, and
the biggest one which is also the one I’ve been to, Botany Restaurant, for
all-day dining space.
Serving
breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Botany Restaurant opens daily from 6am till 10pm.
The choices of dishes offered range from Western, Japanese, Chinese, and even
Indonesian ones. Sometimes, they do pick certain theme in particular day so all
dishes served starting from appetizers, main courses, and even desserts, will
be coming from one single region. At my last Sunday brunch, I got the chance to
try the international one, bringing arrays of foods from various countries.
Talking
about the venue, which is able to accommodate up to 146 people, it’s actually
not that spacious compared to most all-day-dining spots in other similar 4-star
hotels. However, it’s artsy and modern design make it cozy enough for spending
times with friends, family, or relatives while enjoying scrumptious dishes. It
does accept reservations for usual dining as well as events.
I was
delighted with the warm welcome greetings given by the waiters and even the chef!
Since my friends and I were served not only with the dishes from the buffet
stations but also with the ala carte ones specially prepared by the chef, the
chef kindly visited us and enthusiastically explained in details all the ala
carte menu he beautifully made.
Ok, now I’ll
stop all my lengthy explanation before all of you get bored or fed up with me. Let’s
go to the part you’ve been waiting the most since the beginning, yes I HEAR IT!
THE FOODS! Starting from the selections from the buffet stations, there were
salads, fruits, various steamed dimsum, ramen, numerous Asian-themed meat-based
dishes, and several pork-based dishes. I guess the pork ones were the key
highlights of the day, still bringing the hype of the Lunar New Year. They
served the all-time favorite suckling pig, the Chinese beloved pork leg, and
even the infamous Bak Kut Teh. Speaking about taste, I admit that they were
really successful with their ‘star dishes’. All those pork-based menu were
completely gone just in a blink every time the plates at the station were being
re-filled! Well, most of the guests were indeed Chinese so no wonder this spot
is the most wanted one. LOL.
Moving on
to the ala carte dishes, there were basically 3 main courses and 1 dessert served
for us; Calamari, Mushroom Soup, Veal Schnitzel, and Caramelized Banana. Briefly
summarized, all 4 of them well-suited my palate. The golden brown calamari came
with crispy skin yet chewy texture. The concept of serving it with lemon
mayonnaise and chili salt dipping was actually simple and really common, but
who cared as long as the taste was enjoyable. Next was the mushroom soup, which
was the winner of the day in terms of presentation, putting the gigantic mushrooms
by the big round plate. I did love the idea of serving this with the bite-sized
puff pastry, letting us to enjoy the soup taste by having it absorbed into the
deeply dipped pastry. The veal schnitzel was also a luscious one as it mixed
the light and refreshing taste from lemon sauce with the richly seasoned veal
and cheesy mashed potato. Another one to be enjoyed was the one coming from my
hometown, Makassar, the grilled Caramelized Banana which was mostly known as ‘Pisang Epe’ in my hometown. The chef did
mention that he made this dessert as he was inspired by Makassar’s Pisang Epe when he stayed in this city
for quite a while. Giving slightly modern touch to the dish, it was accompanied
by vanilla ice cream.
Deep Fried Calamari with Lemon Mayonnaise and Chili Salt
Creamy Wild Mushrooms Soup
with Diamond Bites
Veal Schnitzel with Steamed Haricot Vert
Caramelized Banana
If
the ala carte dishes looked pretty easy to be found in any other places, the
case didn’t happen for the drinks. There were 2 signature beverages served by
the chef; both of which were called as ‘Martabak’.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake
Avocado Tiramisu Shake
The reason behind why this name was chosen was the ingredients of the
beverages, which were similar to the combination of toppings usually brought by
the highly well-known ‘Martabak Manis’.
Basically, they were Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake and Avocado Tiramisu Shake.
Both these innovative drinks actually tasted good, but you might need to beware
of getting really full after having them as they’re quite heavy.
Having had
tons of dishes already, then are we done now? For those who have known me well,
you surely can guess what comes next. As a dessert maniac, having brunch buffet
without trying the collection of desserts from the station was surely
miserable. Well, to be honest the dessert spot had become my center of
attention even since I put my first step into the venue, and thus I did save some
space GIANT space in my tummy for them *wink wink*. I was so happy that
Botany provided generous assortments of cakes, mousses, chocolates, and even
various flavors of ice cream. However, I got even faaarrr happier when I
noticed that they served deep-fried basket cake a.k.a Kue Keranjang a.k.a Nian Gao.
Most Chinese doubtlessly know this but for you who have no idea about it, it’s
basically glutinous flour and sugar. It was my forever-favorite snack, which I
mostly could get at home only, specially made by my mom. Abundant thanks to
Botany restaurant for providing this and delivering it with awesome taste!
In a
nutshell, I was delighted by my Sunday Brunch at Botany Restaurant. The foods
served, especially the ala carte ones had pampered my tummy really well :)
Taste:
8/10
Place: 7.5/10
Service:
8.5/10
Price: 8/10
Thanks
for Reading! :)
BOTANY
RESTAURANT @ HOLIDAY INN KEMAYORAN
Jl. Griya Utama Blok B
No.1, Tanjung Priok, Jakarta 14350
Phone: +62 21 2956 8800
Opening hours: Mon – Sun 6am – 10pm
Find
me on:
Inputs
& comments: jessicagaby@ymail.com
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