Back to the basics: Salira brings Indonesian comfort food to Jakarta’s top table
After focusing on Western-inspired hospitality spots, Indonesia’s The Union Group is pivoting to more local dishes. Monocle takes a seat to sample Salira’s well-researched menu.
Indonesian restaurateur Winfred Hutabarat and his partners at The Union Group have shaped Jakarta’s drinking-and-dining scene since 2011 by focusing on European and US-style bars and bistros. But their latest opening, Salira, marks the group’s first take on Indonesian cuisine, offering hearty comfort food from across the archipelago.
Salira’s location in upscale neighbourhood Senopati positions it alongside another Union Group venue, Bar Luca, which is helmed by Union Group partner Fernando Sindu. The Spanish-trained Indonesian chef has set aside tapas and chorizo to take the culinary lead at Salira.
He spent the past three years travelling around Indonesia’s islands – including Sulawesi, Sumatra and his native Java – to learn regional recipes and fulfil a request from his late mother to return to his roots. “You don’t really know anything as a chef until you’re able to cook dishes from your own country,” says Sindu. “We wanted to restore our knowledge of, and explore, Indonesian cuisine.”
Some classics are kept traditional, while others are given a playful twist: a pour of kunyit asam – an earthy and piercingly tart drink made with turmeric and tamarind – is a refreshing prelude to salmon asap lodeh, a traditional Javanese white soup. But here, pan-seared salmon – briefly smoked atop charcoal – takes the place of salted mackerel and tempeh. There’s also lidah cabe ijo and pipi sapi tinorangsak – masterfully textured ox tongue and beef cheek that flirt daringly with regional slow-burning chillis. Alongside table service, there’s also a buffet-style counter – an elevated nod to the ubiquitous warteg (roadside food stalls seen across the country).
The rumah makan (or “eating house”) occupies a four-storey townhouse that was designed by Bali-based architect Cheong Yew Kuan, who is a hotel specialist and the protégé of tropical modernist Kerry Hill. The interiors double as a showcase for local craftsmanship, with brilliantly coloured tikar (handwoven mats) and batik fabrics from textile designer Bin House decorating the walls and ceiling.
The building’s top two floors will open later as Tepa. The fine-dining establishment is intended to showcase Sindu’s refined approach to regional cuisine, in which he will explore not only the ingredients but also traditional techniques, alongside his contemporary creations. “What I want to emphasise is the craft and to show how difficult it is to make Indonesian food,” says Sindu.“It’ll be really fun.”
uniongroupjakarta.com
Comment: Bringing authenticity to the top table sometimes requires going back to basics – and street food is as good a place to start as any.
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