SANA SINI Pullman Jakarta Presents: CUT THE CRAB

HAPPY EASTER 2017!!

Beside Christmas, Easter is another favorite event of the year when it comes to the festive and joyful celebrations! During this holy month, many places like shops, restaurants, department stores, even shopping malls celebrate the whole week/month with various interesting promotions. For us who love eating in particular, we always look out for special promotion in hotels restaurants because they usually have it for limited time only, and most all the time, the promotions are very intriguing to try!

This time, we had the opportunity to try the Easter promotion in Sana Sini Restaurant in Pullman Jakarta Thamrin. It reminds me to my conversation with a fellow media colleague few weeks ago when he asked my opinion about the best hotel’s restaurant buffet in Jakarta. I needed to think for my answer for a while and I answered a place in a hotel in Senayan. It actually slipped off my mind completely that I used to answer this question with Sana Sini Restaurant all the time, but since my last visit to this place was more than a year ago, the name didn’t come up like it should have been.

Drawing inspiration from the Indonesian phrase ‘Sana Sini’, which means ‘here and there’, Pullman Jakarta Indonesia offers you an unrivaled culinary excursion into the different corners of Europe and Asia through 4 individually designed spacious counters. Casually eat your way through different continents and hop across live cooking stations, as the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet as well as à la carte, surrounded by contemporary décor. Complement your dining experience with an extensive wine list from Vinoteca – a global Pullman concept and a seductive selection of sweets from the bakery. (from the official website)

So, for Easter this year, Sana Sini Restaurant offered Safari Easter, the exclusive Sunday Brunch on 16 April 2017 with activities for children such as Egg Hunt, Mini Zoo Tour and Face Painting. But the point of this post is the special promotion called CUT THE CRAB, which is also part of the Easter month celebration, available only from 17 – 30 April 2017.

Easter 2017 Special Promotion: Welcome all the mud crabs!

If you are like me, you probably are wondering, why does the promotion have to be mud crabs?  Well, we were told that this is related to the traditional Western way where Europeans usually eat seafood to celebrate Easter. Wow, I certainly had no idea about this before and it is a good knowledge to know. I actually did some researches already and although it is usually fish that Easter celebrants eat during Easter week, some parts of the world also do with any other kind of seafood (actually anything else rather than meat), so mud crabs are not bad options for sure!

Wait until I tell you the best part of this promotion! The 4 creations of mud crabs can be enjoyed as much as you like as part of their All You Can Eat buffet (dinner only) everyday for only IDR 448,000/person (weekdays) and IDR 468,000/person (weekends) from 17 April until 30 April 2017. Means if you visit there on dinner time during the time frame, you’re automatically “eligible” to order all these mud crabs menu without adding any number to your bills, yay! All the mud crabs menu can be ordered directly to the staffs and they will be made to order, so guaranteed you’ll get freshly-cooked ones.

Without further ado, let’s talk about the mud crabs menu variety!

Garlic Butter Mud Crab

We started with the Western style first, the Garlic Butter Mud Crab. From the looks of it, this is the only one which looked more “neutral” as it is not drenched in sauce whatsoever, so we assumed it’s better to start from the (possibly) light-tasted one.

Well, they say never judge book by its cover, and that’s true because although this crab is not drenched in any sauce, it was incredibly tasty inside. The crab has lots of meat, very fresh and sweet. The garlic crumbs on top gave aroma and flavor that is so unforgettable for me, and it goes very well with squeezed lemon juice. You can choose to dip the crab meat into the accompanying sauce, but I prefer to pour some of it onto the crab and let it for a while to be absorbed into the crab meat.

Mud Crab Miso Nabe

Having high expectation on this one only to be unimpressed at all. The mud crab is cooked a la Japanese style but sadly, didn’t quite deliver the umami flavor of a Japanese dish. If it was supposed to be a miso nabe, we didn’t taste the miso at all. The soup was the clear kind, brown in color, lacking of basic taste of Japanese dashi, so we were practically confused. The ingredients are massive, super fresh and very generous, but they didn’t help in enhancing the flavor. The crab was okay but we didn’t like the texture of the meat, probably because it was boiled for a long time (overcooked?), the meat was already broken into pieces when we cracked them.

Singapore Chili Mud Crab

Well, after contemplating a lot, I have come to a conclusion that between the Indonesian style (more on that later) and this, I will have to say that this is definitely the WINNER of all 4 creations! Woohoo!

What I love about this style is the crazy, fantastic flavors of the sauce, which made me licking my fingers vigorously while eating them, LOL! I am never a fan of Singaporean chili sauce but this had me at the first lick. The sauce was so frikkin’ delicious I won’t mind getting my hands dirty eating at five-star hotel restaurant, haha! XD The sauce has perfect saltiness and sweetness, a little spicy which is still tolerable even for people who can’t handle spices, and most importantly, makes the fresh crab taste even better! Served with mantou breads, you can always ask for more to wipe the plate clean! *obsessed*

Mud Crab with Padang Sauce

Save the best for last? DEFINITELY! Although in the end, I decided that I love Singaporean Chili Crab the most, this Indonesian-style Padang Sauce actually comes very close behind that and it seriously haunted my mind these days. XD As an Indonesian, any seafood with Padang sauce is always a great idea for me. And Sana Sini really goes all out with their version: bold and kicking sauce with hint of curry, hot and spicy with lots of aromatic flavors!

The Indonesian-style crab is presented on a gigantic stone mortar plate, with side of steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves. This certainly looks very pretty and contrast with the crab itself, obviously is very mouth-watering. I personally really like this very much but if the sauce were a bit thicker, I would have chosen this as my #1 favorite.

Aside from all the special mud crabs menu, you can also still enjoy the extensive buffet selections from many stations in Sana Sini Restaurant (included in dinner price). Our favorites include the fresh and beautiful Japanese station where we can enjoy variety of sushi and sashimi, or Indonesian station where you can find many types of Indonesian food from satays to traditional regional dish like what I had that day: Nasi Tempong from Banyuwangi, East Java.

Assorted Sushi from Japanese station.

Assorted Sushi from Japanese station.

Nasi Tempong, a regional dish from Banyuwangi, East Java.

Variety of Indonesian satay, grilled in front of you using charcoal grill.

Overall, we enjoyed the mud crabs very much and the fact that these are already included in the dinner rate makes it even better! If you like crabs, or seafood in general, don’t miss this and make sure to reserve your table before the promotion ends in 30 April. Happy eating!

Special Promotion CUT THE CRAB at Sana Sini Restaurant, Pullman Jakarta Thamrin is available on:
Date: 17 – 30 April 2017
When: Everyday (Dinner) 5.30PM – 10.30PM
Sun-Thu  IDR 448,000 net/Adult   |    IDR 219,000 net/Child
Fri-Sat     IDR 468,000 net/Adult   |    IDR 229,000 net/Child

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* All prices are subject to 11% service charge & 10% government tax

** This review is written based on our visit on 11 April 2017.

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SANA SINI
Pullman Jakarta Indonesia
Jl. M.H. Thamrin 59
Central Jakarta 10350
Ph. +62 (21) 31 92 1111
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM

Opening Hours:
Breakfast 
(Monday – Friday) 5:30am – 10am
(Saturday & Sunday) 5:30am – 10:30am
Lunch 11:30am – 3pm
Dinner 5:30pm – 10:30pm
Weekend Brunch 12pm – 3pm