Your guide to the best Jakarta culinary experience

Walking down Jakarta's streets and tired of dining on hot dogs, burgers and noodles, the craving was for something different, something special. That’s how the eye spied on Nasi Pedang in Garuda Restaurant. Nasi in Indonesia means rice. Hence, it was not too difficult to expect something totally unfamiliar.

The first item to make an entry was rice, clear white rice. But the feel of it was quite unfamiliar and not too appealing. It was sticky, as sticky as Fevicol. Looked like the hand was caught on a pot of adhesive. What followed was an array of dishes… chicken, mutton, beef, fish, vegetables and several others, almost 20 in all. The cheerful part of the deal is that you don’t have to pay for what you don't fancy. Pay only for what you eat.

The highlight of the splendid serve is the curry called Rendang, especially the beef Rendang. Beef is treated to a ground mix of pepper, red chilly, ginger, shallots and garlic. The beef is then dipped and kept in coconut milk. It is later taken out and cooked till all of the coconut milk gets absorbed and it turns dry. Take a bite and you are reminded of the shaap pepper beef back home. Though chicken Rendang is also served, it's the beef that takes the cake.

Apart from the Rendang, there's fish fry, fish curry, chicken fry and mutton korma. There was also a plate of dry fish fry and a touch of groovy kanthari chammanthi to add spice to the flavours. And hats off to the okra and brinjal curries.

There are Indian restaurants aplenty in Jakarta named after Ganesha. Though chappathi, roti, dal, naan and butter chicken are served here, they are pretty pricey. What's affordable is the street food. That's where Nasi Goreng is served. It’s an avatar of fried rice. Lensman Sameer Manuel places an order. And there it comes…Nasi Goreng Gokil, which means fried rice with a topping of egg omelettes. It’s hot and spicy and looks a killer. But just one bite will get you red all over. It’s so spicy. But one can cut the spice and ask for Nasi Goreng Gokil, “not so spicy”!