TRUE FLAVOURS

Chef Sambas Herman of SAMSARA, the latest eatery to open on Jl. Gunawarman, creates elevated versions of Indonesian dishes without losing their authenticity, writes

Samsara

SAMSARA INDONESIAN CUISINE is the latest venture of Terra Gastronomy, which previously opened Gyoza Bar in Central Park and Senayan City. It bills itself as a restaurant that “takes enormous pride in the flavours of Indonesia, with the mission to showcase the cultural heritage, local wisdom and culinary genius of the archipelago with a modern touch.”

The main feature of the restaurant’s interior is a 5-metre- long painting, The Dancing Goddess, by Ida Bagus Indra, some of whose artworks can be found in such grand buildings as the White House and Buckingham Palace. In general, the atmosphere of Samsara is extravagant, as candelabra adorn each table and there are red velvet drapes all over the room.

When we talk about Indonesian cuisine, we refer to foods from the hundreds of ethnicities that inhabit the country. In general, these dishes are known for the intense flavours. “We make our meals as authentic as possible,” declares Corporate Chef Sambas Herman. ““But at Samsara, we make them more interesting by using high-quality ingredients and serving them on elegant plating.”

Although the idea of “authenticity” is difficult to define sometimes, this 150-seater eatery does seem to be living up to diners’ expectations. None of the dishes is at all pretentious. This just might be because of Chef Sambas’s philosophy for cooking: “Use fresh ingredients and do it with the right technique so it’s just like the authentic taste that you find in street food and your mother’s cooking.” He has been in the industry for 17 years and co-founded Nonya, an Indonesian restaurant in Montreal, Canada.

For starters, a waiter comes to the table with two dishes, sop buntut jadoel (Rp 110,000) and sate jamur tiram (Rp 85,000). The first comes with pickled vegetables and sambal ijo. The interesting part is that it’s also served with a large bone marrow, complete with a teaspoon on top of it. Don’t forget to add sambal ijo to spice things up. The latter dish was inspired by one of Chef Sambas’s journeys to Yogyakarta. It is basically satay oyster mushroom served with peanut sauce and rice cakes.

Moving on to the main course, Samsara serves spicy delicacies from Manado in North Sulawesi. Sandung lamur bakar rica-rica (Rp 135,000) is somewhat similar to lontong sayur, but is spicier. It is a barbecued beef brisket (or sandung lamur in Indonesia) served on vegetable ragout and coconut curry soup with rice cakes. For the second main course, Chef Sambas combines Japanese salmon steak

with Manadonese saos dabudabu ( Rp 150,000). Salmon is served with getuk gnocchi made of cassava. From August 17, Samsara will add a colonial touch, rijsttafel, to its menu.

For dessert, Durian Lover (Rp 75,000) consists of rolled crepe, ice cream, lollipop and cannoli – all made from durian. An alternative is klappertaart ( Rp 65,000), a Manadonese sweet delicacy made of young coconut flesh, raisin with rum custard in pie shell and topped with meringue.

Samsara Indonesian Cuisine

Jl. Gunawarman No. 16 Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan 021 7278-7110 Sunday – Thursday: 11am – 1am Friday – Saturday: 11am – 2am