“Chap Go Meh” Feast: 5 Recommended Venues in Jakarta

If you think that you can start a new healthy-eating regime after all the Lunar New Year festivities and feasting, well better think again. The 15th day of the New Year is called Chap Go Meh, and guess what? You are in for another feast.

Each year the Indonesian-born Chinese wholeheartedly remembers a former President that re-institute the Chinese New Year celebration and made it a public holiday since the late 1990s. Since then, come Lunar New Year, lion dancers grace the mall; hotels and restaurants offer Chinese specialties and it’s a holiday for everyone. While Chap Go Meh is not observed as much as New Year’s Day in Indonesia, the biggest festival will be held in Singkawang, West Kalimantan. For the rest of the country, this is the time to reminisce those plates of Lontong (rice cake) Chap Go Meh.

Living in Jakarta and not planning to fly to Pontianak and drive two more hours to Singkawang for the festival? Worry not. I wrap up some of the recommended venues that offer Chap Go Meh luncheons and dinners, including a personal favourite restaurant.

Sana Sini Restaurant at Pullman Jakarta Indonesia

Inspired by the literal meaning of the Indonesian words (sana sini means here and there), the restaurant aspires to bring the patrons to culinary centres of the world, in the likes of Chinese, Japanese, Western and of course local Indonesian cuisines. On 22 February, the restaurant offers special Chap Go Meh Lunch and Dinner, featuring all-you-can-eat delicacies, including Resident Chinese Chef Lai Chong Seng’s signature Lanzhou La Mian Deluxe. Hand-tossed on site, the la mian is complemented with minced wagyu beef and foie gras terrine. If you still have space left in your tummy, go for the Szechuan Beef and Hong Kong-style Steamed Fish.

Reservation and info: +6221 3192 1111 or click here.

Sana Sini’s Lanzhou Lamian Deluxe

Shang Palace at Shangri-La Jakarta

Shang Palace’s Four Treasure Soup. Photo credit: Shangri-La Jakarta

As Shangri-La’s signature restaurant, Shang Palace boasts an authentic interior resembling elegant and tranquil setting everywhere it’s located in the world. While the restaurant does not offer Chap Go Meh specialty this year, it is still one of the best dining venues for the occasion. Chef Christopher Chai is the man behind the authentic Cantonese dishes and I for one truly adore his Four Treasure Soup. If seafood is your thing, you simply will love this hearty combo of braised sea cucumber, dried fish maw, crab and dried scallops. Portion-wise, I would recommend to share this with another patron as you dive in to Chef’s other dishes.

Reservation and info: +6221 2939 9562 or click here.

Table8 at Hotel Mulia Senayan

Dining at Hotel Mulia Senayan feels like entering an institution of everything-good-food. While The Cafe, the hotel’s all-day dining main restaurant, is a safe haven for foodies, this Chap Go Meh, why not give Table8 a try? The restaurant offers authentic Cantonese and Szechuan cuisines. It proudly serves home-cooked favourites with imported varieties of premium leaves from China. This includes the tea service by the Tea Master, perhaps the only one in the city. Be sure to get your phones ready for selfies with the master. The restaurant offers multiple dim sum and a stunning a la carte menu. The interior design is ‘Chinoiserie with a very homey ambience’. Perfect for those who opt for a more luxurious Chap Go Meh feast.

Reservation and info: +6221 574 7777 or click here.

The chinoisserie-inspired Table8. Photo credit: Hotel Mulia Senayan

Sate Khas Senayan (multiple outlets)

If dining at a hotel for Chap Go Meh does not sound like a plan for you and your mates, check these two venues. First up is Sate Khas Senayan. Promoting Indonesian dishes since 1974, the eatery started as a very humble setting in Pakubuwono, south of Jakarta. Only in 2010, 36 years after, they opened their doors outside Jakarta. My fondness for this restaurant grew since my childhood. I always remember it as a place for my father to take me to when my mother had to leave town. The food somehow could tame the endless crying.

Lontong Chap Go Meh is part of the permanent menu, but this Chinese New Year, the restaurant chain smartly offers Lontong Chap Go Meh Spesial Imlek (Imlek is Indonesian word for Chinese New Year). The amped-up dish now includes beef or chicken satay, on top of already a very nice dish. Think prawn broth, rice cake, tahu bacem (beancurd cooked in spices and palm sugar), prawns, bamboo sprout, serundeng (relish of grated coconut and spices) and hard-boiled eggs. At Sate Khas Senayan, satay is obviously the winning dish, among their extensive Indonesian menu. I have never met anyone who does not enjoy their tender chicken satay topped with extremely delicate peanut sauce. Served on a small charcoal-warmed pot to keep the satay warm, you eat this dish best with warm rice. Best combo during Chap Go Meh if you go with a partner: order the Lontong and one portion of Chicken Satay (10 skewers). Thank us later.

For more info on the nearest location, click here.

Lontong Cap Go Meh at Sate Khas Senayan

Gado-Gado Cikini

It is the most humble setting compared to above venues, but this small eatery at Jalan Cikini 4 has stolen my heart. Don’t be fooled by the first look and the name of the place when you step in. Gado-gado is Indonesian-style salad, with peanut sauce topping the lukewarm veggies, beancurd and crackers. Numerous places sell Gado-gado in Jakarta and I have tasted better ones elsewhere. However, every single time I crave for Lontong Chap Go Meh, no other place can take credit for being the authentic one. The damage is only IDR 40,000 but the dish consists of so much more. Braised chicken in coconut milk (I got the whole drumstick), tempe orek (stir-fried tempeh with sweet soy sauce), boiled egg, cuts of chili padi, sauteed chayote, pickles and, the king of it all, beef rendang!

To reach the place, click here.

Lontong Cap Go Meh at Gado-Gado Cikini