I don’t know Jakarta very well, but Pullman Jakarta must be one of the best dining options in the city. When I had a meeting with Herna Lesmana, PR & Communications Accor Hotels, she suggested we go to the Pullman’s Award Winning Sana Sini Restaurant. I am not a great fan of Indonesian food, but Sana Sini went a long way to changing my mind.

“Sana Sini means ‘here and there’, Herna told me as we took a seat near the station that was serving roasted lamb and beef and chicken – and it was as delicious as it looked. I took a few slices that I nibbled on as we talked. The waiter brought a crater sized glass of Chilean merlot that tap danced across my tongue like Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain.

Chef Topan (pictured above) arrived at my table with dandanmian which consists of hand pulled noodles carrot julienne, cucumber julienne and Chinese cabbage julienne. Julienne is a cut in which the food is sliced into long thin strips. Chicken with sesame seeds sprinkled on top with chicken soup with spring onions. “The sauce is homemade,” Chef Topan added. “Whose home?” I asked. “Mine,” he responded with a generous smile.Herna said that the way she liked to eat this dish was to mix in all the sauces together, but was concerned that it might be too spicy for me. Food too high on the Richter Scale can stop me dead in my tracks, but this blending of the beautiful sauces had me nibbling in delight. I knew there was more to come, but I kept on eating.

The food at the Chinese and Japanese stations was all top notch, but it was the desert station that was Herna’s big temptation – but she easily resisted which was dispiriting to my desires to over indulge. So much to taste with various ice cream flavours available with a number of toppings, cakes, parfaits, macaroons and jelly beans in all their glorious neon colours. To introduce me to more Indonesian cuisine she ordered sweet coconut cake – the green rolls pictured. The thinking woman’s dessert – sweet and satisfying but not over cloying.

Food kept arriving at my table as did the jovial Hotel Manager Jayakumaran Velusamy. We may have crossed paths in Singapore as amongst his extensive experience he worked with my good friend Peter Knipp. Mr Velusamy brought with him more food for me to try and the waiter brought more crater sized glasses of merlot.Herna and Mr Velusamy lead me on a tour of the hotel. As I waddled along behind them I soon realized what a beautiful classy hotel this is. Recently renovated after being rebranded as an Accor hotel in 2014 it gleams and glitters with highly polished marble, thick wooden tables, dazzling carpets, and imaginative designs.There are 24 meeting rooms of different sizes and it seems as if everyone was given to a leading architect who was told to design his most favourite meeting space. Convention was thrown out the window, but utility was not sacrificed.

We retreated to the Back Room, a bar that Mr Velusamy was not unfamiliar with. He ordered me a single malt so large it would’ve satisfied a Scotsman who had been dry for a year. It came with a single ice cube so large it could have sunk the Titanic.   

If you live in Jakarta – this is a great place for a meeting of almost any description, for weddings and for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you are going to visit Jakarta for business or leisure this striking hotel puts you right in the centre – there are huge malls just across the street – and this is where business is done.

  Pullman Jakarta Indonesia

Jl. M.H. Thamrin 59 Jakarta 10350 Indonesia

T: +62 (21) 31 92 1111

F: +62 (21) 31 92 3333

H8491@accor.com

www.pullmanjakartaindonesia.com