Jia, Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta

Hi Eaters.

Give a warm welcome to Jia, the newest addition for the fascinating eateries at Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta. After months of preparations, Jia finally opened its door for customers at the 28th of December 2016. Substituting for the now-closed Shang Palace and serving contemporary Chinese cuisines, Jia certainly packed some big guns to compete with other big names in this category.

I instantly fell in love upon entering the premises. The interior didn't go all the way to depict a traditional Chinese restaurant but instead it opted to take a more modern touch. A range of cobalt color combined with black, gold, and wood was like a mix between traditional and modern altogether, leaving a sheek yet contemporary impression for the guests to feel.
The seating area on the front of the restaurant serves as a lounge with comfortable couches and sofas.
The vibe was excellent so it felt so warm and homey inside the venue, making it the perfect place for any occasions.

Jia, in Chinese, means 'first'. What is the intake and the purpose of giving it the name it bears now? Well, honestly I don't know. But I have to assume it shows ambition that Jia has to be the first of its kind in serving Chinese contemporary cuisines.

Couldn't resist the temptation to take more and more photos of this beautiful eatery. I have to salute Shangri-La for a wonderful effort to make Jia to such an eye candy!
But the feast for the eyes won't matter if it's not a feast for the tummy too. So let's start talking about the food!

Signature Peking Duck - IDR 398K (Whole), IDR 218K (Half)

Of course the signature dish is a must try. The Signature Peking Duck is served Beijing-style. The chef will come to your table, and then skillfully sliced and cut the duck and served it, right in front of you. I could hear the sound of the knife slicing through the crispy duck skin, making me more eager just to give it a bite.

To eat the duck, just take some of those crispy skin, some cucumber, and if you like then add some scallion, wrapped them all in a steamed pancake provided then dipped it the sauce. Eat them all together. Super yumm! Opt to wrapped the crispy skin only without the meat, and feel the sensation of that crackling sound in your mouth.

As for the duck, there is another way to eat it. Of course the way the duck was cooked also was different. This one was minced duck and the way to eat it is to wrap it with lettuce. I think this one was also good in terms of flavor, but yet the prior one was still the best way to eat any Peking duck in my opinion.

Crispy Fried Beef in Honey Sauce - IDR 58K

Thin slices of beef, crispy-fried served with honey sauce. As we kick off the meal, this one was the first thing I tried. Pretty simple in presentation but yet I always tell you, don't let appearance fooled you. A major bomb as every crispy bite of the beef was just wonderful and the honey sauce really elevated the entire dish. Delicious!

Crispy Salmon Skin with Spicy Salt - IDR 48K

Salmon skin! Yeay! I was overjoyed seeing this served on the table. All time favorite. I never missed to order this dish if I happen to eat in a well-known sushi restaurant. But yet, in that sushi restaurant you can't literally called the dish 'salmon skin' since it still has some meat attached, LOL. Ok, stop comparing since this is on another kind of level. Again, with the crispy texture like the beef, this dish was soooo addicting. Seriously, it's just simple salmon skin with some salt and fried garlic, but yet I can't seemed to stop taking piece after piece..I just want more and more.

That day, as I went to Jia with my foodie group, we did try a lot of Jia's Dim Sum menus. There were some categories that we tried, such as the steamed ones, the fried ones, and the premium ones. So in order not to be confusing, I will break down by categories, starting with the steamed ones.

STEAMED DIM SUM

Steamed Pork Siew Mai topped with Tobiko - IDR 38K

This one was so good. Apparently as my friend said that day: all the dim sums that contained shrimp at Jia was just awesome. This Siew Mai in particular, was no different. The shrimp was so so juicy. Even after it was left cold because of the amount of time we took during photoshoot, it's still delicious!

Steamed Barbecued Pork Buns - IDR 36K

Usually, this is my least favorite dimsum. Never like to eat buns in a dim sum feast but this one was surely too bad too be missed. The taste was so good. The buns were sweet and the pork fillings were delicious and as the way I like it in any Chinese dishes had a garlicky flavor.

Boiled Pork and Vegetable Dumplings in Sichuan Style - IDR 32K

The dumplings were nice, with nice soft dumpling skin and the thickness of the skin was so right, not too thick yet not too thin, keeping those flavorful pork inside very nicely. The sauce was good, balanced and not too spicy.

Steamed Soup Pork Dumpling - IDR 32K

The Xiao Long Bao had a nice flavorful soup, though I think I didn't have the maximum flavor coming out of the Xiao Long Bao being it is already cold. But the pork was good and the seasoning was just spot on.

Steamed Chicken Feet with Soy Chili Sauce - IDR 28K

My most favorite dim sum. I really loved this kind of dim sum, and this one was no disappointment. It was cold already, yes, but still it tasted so good. Not many places can really make this kind of dim sum tasted good, and Jia certainly has done a great job indeed.

Steamed Pork Ribs with Crispy Garlic - IDR 35K

I loved how this was served boneless. The texture was so good, juicy, tender, and moist. Surely loved the garlicky flavor. This kind of pork couldn't go wrong.

Steamed Barbecue Pork Rice Roll - IDR 34K

I didn't get to taste this one. But my blogger friend said it was good. Perhaps I should try it on my next visit.

Steamed Custard Buns with Salted Egg Yolk - IDR 32K

Uber cute buns with salted egg yolk filling. Me and my friends agreed on one thing that day: this was soooo delicious. Salted egg buns recently became such a trend and luckily we found a very good one here at Jia. It's so scrumptious, and the egg yolk filling was so delicious! Better enjoy it while it still hot to get maximum indulgence.

PAN-FRIED / DEEP-FRIED / BAKED DIM SUM

Deep-fried Wontons with Crab Paste and Mayonnaise - IDR 38K

Going next to the fried ones, well we didn't have much ordered that day. But some of the choices we've made were so good I didn't regret. This one particular was nice, with abundant crab fillings. 

Deep-fried Minced Chicken and Seafood Puffs in Curry-Coconut Sauce - IDR 30K

This one had us laughing since the hotel PR mentioned its shape as to look like Chicken Little, you know that animated movie.. Indeed it looked similar, LOL. Anyway, it's a combination between land and sea, chicken and seafood being put altogether with curry. As expected, curry brought such a rich flavor to both of these proteins without being so dominant. So you still get that trace of chicken and seafood being so elevated by the richness of the curry.

PREMIUM DIM SUM

Steamed Pork Siew Mai Topped with Abalone - IDR 298K

 

As an eatery in a 5-star establishment, Jia took the next step in serving Premium Dim Sum, bringing premium ingredients to be served on your basket or plate of dim sum.

This one here is the pork siew mai with one of the premium ingredient, the abalone. No doubt beside its great presentation, flavorwise it's a feast in my mouth. It's a bit pricey, but nevertheless nothing premium comes cheap, right?

Crispy Roasted Pork - IDR 98K

This dish is that one that you shouldn't miss in a Chinese restaurant. Crispy pork is lyfe!

I certainly loved how Jia prep this one. Although simple in presentation, but this dish was DA BOMB. Super loving that crispy crackling skin, and that OMG so juicy meat. Literally it just melted in my mouth. The great thing was that it's also served less fat, thus not oily at all. 

Baked Scallops stuffed with Shrimp Paste 

& Home Made Bean Curd in Barbecue Sauce - IDR 168K

Surely loved how beautiful this dish was. I mean, look at how it is vibrant and colorful. The bean curd was cooked nicely, though I hope it could be more salty (just my preference) but the scallop was amazing. Its texture was nice, spongy and chewy, and the shrimp paste was AH-MAH-ZING.

Lan Zhou La Mian Noodle Soup with Beef Shank - IDR 68K

La Mian Noodle Soup with Xiao Long Bao - IDR 65K

There were 2 kinds of La Mian served that day, but unfortunately I didn't get the chance to try them all. But as you can see through the photos, they have an appetizing look, right? If you get the chance to try them at Jia, please let me know how they tasted.

Deep Fried Swan with Almond Sauce - IDR 32K

Crispy Chinese Red Bean Pancake - IDR 32K

For desserts, we ordered these two. The first one, the Deep Fried Swan, was certainly beautiful. I have seen this dish before on another foodie's blog and was pretty curious of how it tasted. While the Red Bean Pancake was ordered by my friend who is certainly a big fan of this dessert since the era of Shang Palace. My honest opinion, although the Deep Fried Swan might look beautiful, but flavorwise I would go for the Red Bean Pancake. The custard inside the swan was okay, but clearly the red bean paste inside the pancake came out more as a winner.

Besides all the delicious dishes I had above, I was happy that Jia brought Chinese tea to a whole new level. Their selections of cold brew bottled Chinese teas are a must order, especially the signature Oolong.

Overall I had a very very nice brunch at Jia. The wonderful interior design, the awesome dishes, and the impeccable service are just things that would want to make me come back to Jia again, and again, and again.

Now that it's nearly Chinese new year, I couldn't think of any other place suitable enough to celebrate it with the finest Chinese dishes in town. Jia is the perfect spot!

So, take me back to Jia again, please..

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

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Jia

Shangri-La Hotel Level 1

Kota BNI
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 1

Jakarta
Phone: (021) 2922 9999
Operating Hours:
Mon - Fri 11.30am - 2.30pm (lunch) / 6pm - 10.30pm (dinner),
Sat - Sun 10.30am - 2.30pm (lunch) / 6pm - 10.30pm (dinner)

TableShare, Lippo Mall Puri @ St.Moritz

Hi Eaters.

The area around Puri, West Jakarta isn't exactly the kind of area I frequently go to. To be honest, it's a bit far and the roads could be confusing sometimes. But over the last couple of weeks I seemed to be visiting this area quite a lot. Either it is for a birthday invitation or just a quick meetup with some old friends. It's actually confusing why they have to choose this area, but some said just to avoid traffic.
And just about last week I went back here again, to Lippo Mall Puri @ St.Moritz, to attend an event held by HandsInFrame at TableShare.

We meet. We share.
That's the tagline of this restaurant. I was presuming this restaurant is the kind of those that serve big portion dish to be shared. Well, some of the dishes I tried that day certainly came in a massive portion, but most were just single portion for one. We'll get to that later, but for now let's see what this place looks like.

I have to say the place is quite comfortable although the yellow-ish lighting is (never) my favorite kind to take decent food pics. Most of the interior are made of wood so it gave a warm kind of ambiance, but I think the music should have a more slow tune to match the soothing ambiance.
But enough of that, let's talk about the food.

Chicken Cajun with Butter Rice - IDR 100K

Boneless chicken legs marinated spiced with cajun rub and served with butter. This one is massive dish, and it could be share for 3-4 persons. For me, it's quite tasty. I like the flavor of the cajun seasoning on the chicken, and I also loved how the chicken was so tender and moist. The butter rice was quite good, though I hope they could make it more buttery.

Ayam Bumbu Rujak - IDR 55K

Grilled chicken with red chilli seasoning served with steam rice. So apparently this restaurant also serves Indonesian dishes. Bravo for that. This is the kind of this that's so familiar and surely will win my heart. The great thing is that the chicken is boneless, so eating is not gonna be troublesome. The seasoning was pretty good. I like this kind of bumbu rujak which is not too oily and in the right level of spiciness.

Sop Buntut Bumbu Bali - IDR 105K

Oxtail Soup served with pickles and emping crackers. Actually there is a soup that is a package with this fried oxtail but I missed to take pics of it. But nevertheless I did try a sip or two and it tasted delicious. The soup was so savory, it really was so good. But the real champion was the oxtail with its Bali seasoning. You know how Bali seasoning could be pretty spicy, but I think this one was delicious. The oxtail was so succulent, I can easily peeled the meat off the bone. Delicious!

Iga Bakar Mangga Pedas - IDR 100K

Grilled short ribs with special mango sauce, complete with rice. I only tried a bit of the ribs, but seriously I think it's kinda lacking in flavor. The ribs need more seasoning although it was juicy.

Fish Burger with Orange Caramelized - IDR 79K

Breaded dory fish burger prepared with orange sunkist, sliced cheese, lettuce, kyuri, mayonnaise sauce, complete with potato chips. My comment about this dish.. well .. hmm.. TOO SWEET! Actually I'm saying this not in a positive way cause this dish was not my cup of tea that day. The orange sauce was too dominantly sweet, it just sunked all the other component just as easy as that. The fish should be the champion, but it got lacklustered by the overly sweet orange, and the cheese was just like useless being inside a burger. It's like eating a candy stucked between two black buns. The good thing is the potato chips were not that bad though.

Miso Katsu - IDR 65K

Deep-fried chicken with special miso sauce, complete with poached egg. This one is pretty good. The miso sauce was nice, thick, creamy, and savory. The chicken was also nice, quite a decent portion on top of rice, and the batter was not too thick, so the crunchiness was just perfect. A simple dish, but it tasted pretty nice.

Meat Lover Pizza - IDR 75K

A medium sized thin-crusted pizza with toppings like sausages, chicken, and I think some pepperonis.

This one was quite delicious. The meat toppings were so abundant and so was the cheese. I always loved thin crusted pizza like this, so I won't get easily full just by a bite or two. The sauce by the way had a bit sweet taste, but I think it's really nice to balance the cheesy toppings and the savory meat.

Green Tea Pancake with Strawberry Topping

I fail to see where the green tea is located or even infused. Seriously, come on now, where's the green tea? Can anyone tell me? It's kinda weird to see a pancake named green tea pancake when I can't even tasted any trace of green tea in it. Maybe they should change the vanilla ice cream to green tea ice cream to betterly suit the name. But nevertheless, it's a good pancake, the texture was soft, light, and spongy, also not too overly sweet so the ice cream had an important role in elevating the flavors. The strawberry sauce was nice, sweet and a bit sour. Anyway, TableShare collaborate with Pancake Parlour for their pancake menus. So I think I have to ask Pancake Parlour this question: where is the green tea?

Well, that's all the menus I've tried that day. Of course there were some other menus, like Tom Yum Pasta and some other pancakes which I missed on trying. But I have to say for some menus, TableShare did a fine job in execution, although some may need more improvement.

Thank you HandsInFrame for inviting me. Hope to see more events in the future!

Keep on chewing!

Jazzy Dee

TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | ASK.FM

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TableShare
Lippo Mall Puri @ St.Moritz - 2nd Floor
Jl.Puri Raya Blok U 1, Puri Indah
Kembangan, West Jakarta
Phone : (021) 22582756
Instagram : @tableshare.id