Spicerack is an Indian restaurant located in Lippo Mall Kemang. It specializes in curries and it belongs to the same group as Go! Curry. Spicerack Lippo Mall Kemang Ground Floor Jl. Pangeran Antasari No. 36 Kemang, Jakarta Opening Hours: From Monday to Sunday 9am to 10pm
Indian restaurants are relatively easy to find in Jakarta, and their overall quality is decent. The most authentic and cheapest options are usually located where the Indian community lives (mainly in Sunter and Pasar Baru), while in the the Center and in the South, where expatriates live, you have some more expensive and stylish restaurants. Here is my list of Jakarta's best Indian restaurants, by category: - Indian restaurants with both excellent food and atmosphere (Fine Dining): 1) Kinara (Kemang Raya No. 78-B, Phone number: +62 21-719 2677) 2) Hazara (click to read my review on this blog) 3) Ganesha Ek Sanskriti (BRI II Building, Jl Jend Sudirman Kav 44-46., Phone number: +62-21 5719415 / 5713567) 4) Ganesha Ek Sanskriti (Kemang Square Lt 2, Jl Kemang Raya No 5., Phone number: +62-21 7196837).
Bombay Tandoori is one of the few Indian restaurants I found in Jakarta. It is a modest joint, located on Jalan Satrio (opposite Sampoerna Strategic Square) and could easily be mistaken with a regular warung. Inside Bombay Tandoori, you have two floors with basic furniture and some kitschy decoration. You could be in India that it wouldn't feel more real. The owners are Indonesian-Indian and on the day we visited, all the customers looked Indian too.
Eastern Promise is a friendly, laid-back expat pub with several rooms, each with a particular atmosphere. You have a quiet bar in the entrance, then a dining room for eating British and Indian food , and in the back a beer garden with live music for partying. Also on the side, a billiard/darts room, and a sports-watching room. Eastern Promise is usually very crowded, especially on weekends, with a lot of expatriates mostly above 35.
The oldest Jakarta expats may remember that FrontPage stands where the popular Cinnabar, one of the first modern bar to open in the city, used to be. Frontpage is not making the same buzz, but it is a good address to know because the food is excellent (mainly Indian dishes) and because you have a great selection of wines. The owner is the same than Maroush and Anatolia , both Middle-eastern/Indian restaurants with an excellent reputation. FrontPage Plaza Gani Djemat Jl. Imam Bonjol Kav.76-78 Central Jakarta
Hazara is an Indian restaurant located in the same building as Face Bar and Lan Na Thai, 5 minutes by foot from Plaza Indonesia. They all belong to the Face group, which owns a few other venues in Asia (Bangkok, Shanghai, Beijing, Pudong), each with a distinctive "ethnic" atmosphere. Hazara was their first restaurant to open, in 1992, and it has remained very popular ever since among expats, travellers and locals. Its excellent reputation comes from both the quality of the food served and from its stylish design/decoration. There are actually two different rooms, quite different: The one inside is dark, with antiques and candles creating a mystical vibe. The one outside (in the veranda) is more ordinary, with large windows and a small garden. For dinner, I advise you to stay inside, and vice-versa for lunch. The menu in Hazara is a mix of North Indian and Middle-eastern dishes. I didn't keep the bill when I last ate there, but from the photo I took I think it was
Namaste Hindustan is an upscale Indian restaurant in Setiabudi. The setting is not as spectacular as other venues in Jakarta such as Hazara, but the food probably just as good. We visited on a Sunday night and there was only another client that evening, an Indian. The manager is Indian also, and he greeted us when we entered. The waiters were very warm and knew about the food they were serving. This proved very useful since I'm still new to Indian food and I asked many questions. We ordered the Paneer Makhani (also known as Paneer Butter Masala) and the Dum Biryani Hydrabadi Mutton. I didn't keep the bill unfortunately, but from what I remember, both dishes cost around Rp80,000. It is rather expensive for Jakarta, but affordable compared to Europe. Some pictures here:
Queen's Tandoor is an upscale Indian restaurant on Jalan Thamrin (DBS Tower, next to Hotel Nikko). Often praised for its authentic food, it has received numerous awards, including the "best Indian restaurant in Jakarta" award by NOW magazine. It is part of a chain with branches in Bali, Singapore, Manila and Saudi Arabia. We visited Queen's Tandoor on a Monday evening at 6pm. There weren't so many customers, except for a table of Indians and another one with an expat couple. The prices are quite high, double that of another Indian restaurant previously reviewed here: Bombay Tandoori . A full meal should cost you at least Rp120,000, excluding drinks. We had the Chicken Tikka (Rp64,900++), Mutton Vindaloo (Rp80,900++), Chane (Rp29,900++) and Basmati Rice (Rp51,900++). Here are some pictures: Mutton Vindaloo Chicken Tikka
