Oh yes, finally! The newest eatery in the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, JIA, a contemporary Chinese food restaurant is now open! After months of preparations, JIA turned out to occupy formerly the Shang Palace restaurant. But I know that JIA is an entirely different restaurant! I realized they announce the public opening on its Facebook page and you know what? It’s eight days left to their Grand Opening, yay!
My very first impression of JIA is the welcoming and cozy atmosphere, with lots of modern touches, and the room is dominated by black and gold color; great for couples, small groups of friends, etc. While the tables out front of the restaurant are quite special, more as the lounge of the restaurant. Honestly saying, I fell in love with this restaurant, and the intimate vibe at JIA feels just right. I mean, where else can you enjoy such a romantic ambiance with the great taste of Chinese food like this in Jakarta? With warm lights and the chilled-out tunes that were playing made me feel so relaxed in the restaurant.
So, how about the food? Expect a modern take on a classic Chinese food as well as a variety of Chinese tea which is the perfect combination of all the dishes. Of course, we tried the Signature Peking Duck (IDR 398K whole duck / IDR 218K half duck) because the pleasure of wrapping, dipping and sharing the duck always excites me. Here, in JIA, they serve the duck in Beijing style, so the Chef came out, skillfully sliced the duck in front of our table, and served on a plate. I noticed how crispy the skin when I heard the cracking sound as they cut it. For the first presentation, the sliced crispy duck skin and meat served with cucumber scallion and hoisin sauce; best eaten when we
wrap the duck slice in thin steamed pancakes. The duck meat was tender as expected, and for the second presentation, we opted-in for Wrapped in Lettuce. Thus, the rest of the duck meat is then minced, and stir-fried with vegetables, and we can wrap them with lettuce leaves. We loved it!
Another highlight of this visit was the cute White Swan from the dessert section. The Deep Fried Swan (IDR 32K) filled with almond custard, simple but you couldn’t miss this one! And if you can eat pork, don’t forget to try their Barbecued Pork with Honey (IDR 78K). I loved the combination of sweet charred taste and succulent pork meat, oh it was so delicious!
While waiting for the main course, we also tried the Crispy Fried Beef in Honey Sauce (IDR 58K) which is one of the signature dishes in JIA. We fell in love instantly with this Fried Beef since the first bite. It was amazingly crispy, garnished with sesame seeds, and served with honey sauce. It was so good and so addictive, the same thing as when we tried the Crispy Salmon Skin with Spicy Salt (IDR 48K). Better yet, the portion was quite big, can share for two persons. And in fact, there are lots of interesting selections of dim sum on the menu, but in this visit, we only tried the Deep Fried Minced Chicken and Seafood Puffs in Curry-Coconut Sauce (IDR 30K) which tasted nice as well. It wasn’t too oily, crisp puffs at the outer, with generous filling inside.
They also recommended me to try the special fried rice called Ipoh Special Two Salted Fish Fried Rice (IDR 88K). Surprisingly, the fried rice tasted really good although the combination was very simple. It consists of bean sprouts, two kinds of salted fish, and shredded egg. Again and again, the food came quickly, beautifully cooked and served in generous portions, ideal for sharing up to 3 persons. It’s certainly a must try when you visit Jia. Not only that, but the noodle soup also become my favorite, be it the Lan Zhou La Mian Noodle Soup with Beef Shank (IDR 68K), or La Mian Noodle Soup with Braised Pork Belly (IDR 68K – non-halal), both were so comforting, and filling! You should try it yourself.
Overall, we had a lovely lunch experience at JIA, Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta. The service is wonderful, and the staff couldn’t be more friendly. Now I’m craving for the mouth-watering Peking Duck again, ha-ha.. So, if you are looking
for a Chinese restaurant for family dinners, a CNY (Chinese New Year) celebrations or get-togethers, JIA is the right place! Pssst, due to the upcoming CNY celebration by the end of this month, we recommend that you make an advance booking because I heard that last month the restaurant was full book during the Xmas season. I would love to come back again, and can’t wait for the Grand Opening this Thursday, 12 January 2016. Congratulations JIA, and thank you Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta for having us!
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