Experience And Savor Indonesian Food At Plataran Dharmawangsa Jakarta

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when hearing Plataran? The Hotel, Resort, or Dining? All related to traditional Indonesian culture. There are few restaurants in Jakarta under Plataran, the newest one is Plataran Menteng. But, I'm going to explore more about Plataran Dharmawangsa. I've been there to attend an event, but at this occasion, I had whole experience from Plataran Dharmawangsa, especially the food.

Plataran Dharmawangsa located in a prestige area of South Jakarta, presenting authentic Indonesian cuisine. With the 150 years old heritage Joglo house, wooden Javanese pavilions, 50 years old prayer house, beautiful garden, spacious enough to accommodate private events. The garden is my personal favorite area, and what makes it special? There are two Guineafowl or in Indonesian known as "ayam mutiara". They're wandering around the garden, no cage, no nothing. When it gets dark, they will climb up onto the tree. Not an everyday view, but somehow feels like home.

If you get a basket of welcome bread in an Italian restaurant, then what about here? Assorted chips with sambal. Purple sweet potato chips and banana chips, dipped into sambal honje, made from hot chili pepper and torch ginger. 

sweet potato and banana chips

Shall we start with something savory? Bola-Bola Cokro (IDR 69.000) - chicken squid ball with peanut sauce. It was a tasty appetizer or side dish, as here Indonesia we get used to eat with rice so I consider it as a side dish. Brinjal Chips (IDR 69.000) - aubergine chips with chili, garlic, and chicken floss. If you ever been to Pandan Wangi, a restaurant in Bandung that famous for it's fried eggplant, then this must be the other sibling of the dish. Well, to me, this one is better, it was crispy and soft inside, the seasoning was just right without overwhelming the whole dish. It's the kind of dish that makes you want it for more and more, like one is never enough.

Ayam Dharmawangsa (IDR 129.000) batter coated fried chicken with onion mango slaw, pomelo, sweet and sour sauce. It was soooo good, definitely my kind of food. Reminds me of Thai salad, but way sweeter in a good way. Refreshing mango and pomelo, great combination. Tahu Jamur (IDR 75.000) homemade bean curd served with sauteed mushroom, similar to the one in Chinese restaurant. It was good on its own but not to combine with the other dishes.

Bola-Bola Cokro

Brinjal Chips

Ayam Dharmawangsa

Tahu Jamur

It is one of the most famous Indonesian food, Nasi Goreng. Whenever I am with my relatives that came from foreign country, we always ordered Nasi Goreng, they said it's good, it's like everyone's favorite. Nasi Goreng Kemangi (IDR 79.000) - green basil fried rice with prawn and squid. Not to forget, it's served with fried egg and crackers. Udang Gandum (IDR 189.000) - butter spicy oatmeal prawn. Prawn was tasty, of course, you can't go wrong with prawn.

Bebek Manggis Curry (IDR 125.000) - roasted duck served with mangosteen and curry sauce. The presentation was the most beautiful among others that we had that day. Bright orange curry, with golden brown roasted duck. The curry was not too strong to my palate and the duck was tender, juicy, but not stand out to be compared with the previous dishes that I had.

Oyong Telur Puyuh (IDR 89.000) - silky gourd soup, quail egg, fishball, chicken, and shimeji mushroom. Light and clear soup, perfect to balance the rest of the dishes. It was closely like soup that Indonesian mother cooked at home, simple but comforting.

Udang Gandum

Bebek Manggis Curry

Oyong Telur Puyuh

The Desserts

What I love about the drinks here is the right amount of sweetness to my palate, not too sweet so that you can sip until the last drop without being overly feeling full. Dharmawangsa Delight (IDR 42.000) blended tamarillo, guava, and lime. Reminds me of Martabe a typical drink from North Sumatera. Super refreshing, lightly sweet with a hint of sour. Es Tiga Warna (IDR 52.000) - carica, kolang kaling, selasih, and simple syrup. The most interesting part is the carica, also known as mountain papaya. In Indonesia, most of carica comes from Wonosobo, the cooked fruits soaked in simple syrup, closely like peach but with certain distinctive flavor. 

Onde-Onde (IDR 45.000) - stuffed glutinous rice ball coated with sesame seeds, filled with red bean paste. One of my favorite Indonesian dessert. It was soft and chewy at the same time, the red bean filling was too sweet to my palate but still really good. Pisang Kelapa (IDR 43.000) - sauteed banana with caramelized desiccated coconut. The banana was sweet and tender, I love it how they really take it seriously for every ingredients. It's the thing that sometimes happened in restaurant that they forced to use unripe banana for banana fritters, to me it's a total mistake. Well here, I delighted to enjoy every bite of my dessert.

Dharmawangsa Delight

Onde-Onde and Pisang Kelapa

The whole experience was splendid. More than just authentic Indonesian food, the place itself is special. It's where to bring your family, friends, your special one, and particularly if you have relatives or friends from out of the country, it's a great place to impress them, introducing Indonesia through food and culture. Lastly, this is the hardest part, to choose my favorite dish, well everything was so good. I think the Brinjal Chips is the must order one, I believe it will be everyone's favorite. Though if you like fresh salad-like dish, then Ayam Dharmawangsa is good to go.

prices are subjected to 10 % service charge and 11% government tax

The Plataran Dharmawangsa

Jl. Dharmawangsa Raya No.6

Jakarta Selatan -12160

Phone: (021) 29044167

 

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