Sambal Tapas - Outdoor lounge

Hello fellas, this time I would like to share my experience at Sambal Tapas - Outdoor Lounge and Pool Bar - Sheraton Bandara Hotel, Jakarta.

In the recent holiday season (Eid Mubarak Holiday), My wife and I and our son visited the Sheraton Airport Hotel. This was not our first time there. We have been eating several times in the restaurant there, but this time we were curious to enjoy the outdoor lounge at Sambal Tapas.

There were two bars at the pool but only one bar was serving

We were so interested because the location was good and seemed to be a nice place to relax while enjoying the breeze from the lake and watching the sunset. YES!! Can you imagine that?!?!?! Up to this point...thumbs up!

We chose a seat overlooking the lake with views off than facing the pool. And it was indeed very spectacular. It was like we were not at the airport area at all.

The view from my seat

No sooner had we sat down, we called up the staff to order drinks and snacks. Sambal Tapas staff immediately came over us carrying a list of menus on Ipad. Pretty high tech, huh! He provided us with an explanation of the amount of servings of food/snack at this place. Since this was a Tapas (means bar), so the food/snack provided had smaller portions than those at the restaurant, but the drinks would be in bigger vessel than the restaurant, but of course the price would be different.

My wife ordered Green Apple Tea (my wife's favorite beverage at the Sheraton Airport Restaurant) and I ordered Platano (mixed juice of orange, banana, and syrup). For the snacks we ordered Croquetas (fried mashed potato balls mixed with Parmesan cheese and covered with bread crumbs)

Not too long, our orders arrived. And we could not wait to taste it. But apparently the disappointment began! My wife noticed that the drink tasted somehow different from the usual. There are some ingredients missing and the taste was not as good as before. I was trying to calm her by saying maybe they were running out of that particular ingredients on that day.

Green Apple Tea IDR 60,000

But it went on! I was also very surprised when I tried my Platano. I ordered this drink because there was banana in it and it is our son’s favorite. So I thought he would like it, but after one sip, he refused to have some more. I wondered why? Then I tried it myself and I realized why our son rejected it. It was quite sour, and the banana flavor was very thin.

Platano IDR 60,000

Even worse!! Croquetas that we ordered was very horrible! Bland and no cheese flavor at all!! This time we could not take it anymore. We again called the staff and filed a complaint. He said he would convey our complaint to the chef and let the chef talked to us.

Croquetas IDR 35,000/portion (4pc of potato balls)

Just for a moment and a very young chef came directly toward us. And guess WHAT!!! The first sentence that came out from his mouth was : "Yes, what is it?" My wife and I immediately looked at each other shocked to hear that. That kind of question in our opinion was very disrespectful. If we were his friend maybe it was okay. But we were his customers and were complaining about his food, I think he should have asked in a more appropriate question such as “How can I help you sir/madam?”

Come on!! This is Sheraton!!!!

We told him that the Croquetas was very bland and we couldn't really taste the cheese. But the chef said the Croquetas indeed taste like that, no salt is needed because the saltiness would emerged from the cheese.  And he insisted it.  My wife asked him “So, you are saying that it is because we are so used to salty food out there that we find your Croquetas bland?” And he responded “Yes maybe”.
Seeing that kind of response, we did not want to argue any longer and we said okay, if you said so then we requested for a bottle of chili sauce, otherwise we really really unable to swallow that plain croquetas.

Horrible! The relaxing superb atmosphere soon turned out to be really sucks! Drinks were not good, moreover the snack, and the CHEF! OMG, very disappointing! We were wondering was the chef at Sambal Tapas a trainee or real chef? Or a replacement chef while the actual chef was on leave due to Mubarak Holiday??

what a wonderful place to relax...but too bad....

I think Sheraton Bandara Hotel need to do much improvement on the Tapas. Too bad. Such a lovely place, and nice staff around the hotel, but the Tapas !!!!!???? drinks and food were so unexpected and the inappropriate behavior of its chef. 

Everything written here is based on my own personal experience and genuine opinion without any negative intention to discredit any parties. I have not been offered any incentives or payment to write this review.

Instagram : tac_travelandfood
TripAdvisor : AdeHilman

The Hermitage Lounge

Last night we were wandering around Jakarta, just looking for a fresh atmosphere after a day of work. Initially there was no definite destination where we want to go. Only want to get away, out of the house and relax, hohohohoho.....

Long story short, our trip entered the city toll road. In the middle of indecision about where to go, we decided to try the famous street-side nasi goreng (fried rice) at Taman Lembang Menteng area in Central Jakarta. We have heard from many people that it tastes very good and that you have to queue pretty long to get yours served. But unfortunately it turned out to be a WRONG DECISION!!! Last night there were so many break-fasting gatherings in Menteng area, so the traffic became extremely jammed due to many cars parked on the roadside. It was nearly 8 pm. And just to pass a-500 m road we have to spend 45 minutes. That was crazy!!!

I felt very sorry to my wife to choose a trip to Menteng that evening. A traffic-jam like this was certainly very stressful and frustrating. In the midst of turmoil heart, our distress was increasing because all of a sudden, I need to answer the call of nature, seriously!

We must seek a toilet that was clean and comfortable, ASAP! But, we didn't know where and we didn't see any sign of Petrol station where we can use the toilet. Thanks God! suddenly I saw the building of The Hermitage hotel right a few meters away from our vehicle. We decided to go there as soon as we could. "Hotel certainly has a toilet that is comfortable and clean", that was what we had in our minds.

Finally we arrived at the hotel. Wooowww! Seeing the hotel from the outside and a quick look at the guests who were waiting for their cars in the lobby, suddenly we felt very embarrassed. We did not dress well-enough for traveling to the hotel, especially for a hotel like this! Because we didn't plan to come here at all, moreover my son was in his pajama!!

My wife insisted that we better find other place that was more "grounded". She was so worried that we would be despised and underestimated because of our appearance. But I told her, I did not know where else to go, and I was so desperate for toilet.

Anxiously, we entered the hotel parking lot. We were greeted by a security guard and he helped me find a parking space and beyond our expectations, he was directing us to the entrance and opened the door for us. Hmmm...A very good start! (I thought in my heart). We used the elevator, and went straight to the lobby. While in the elevator, our son apparently smell a delicious chocolate aroma. And he immediately said,"I want chocolate! I want chocolate!" Arriving at the lobby, the first place we headed was certainly the toilet. At last! I felt so relieved!

Since we were already in the hotel, we ventured around to look at the hotel decor. It was unique and very colonial. The hotel walls were predominantly in white color and the lamps were also very classic and old-style. There were many old-fashioned photos and paintings decorated the walls, including the pictures of our late president Bung Karno and his beautiful Japanese wife Ma'm Dewi.

Actually we wanted to quickly get out and continue our journey again. But our son insisted to look for chocolate that he smelt in the elevator earlier. As a result, we asked one of the officers there, where we could find a cake shop. And we were directed to go to the lounge because there was a wide selection of cakes and drinks available.

Entering the lounge we were again enchanted with the room decor. Feels so antique and aristocratic. The lounge was divided into two areas, namely smoking and non-smoking. We were served by a waiter who was very friendly, and willing to answer anything we asked. His name was Hada. We greatly appreciate his hospitality and willingness to serve us even though we were dressed very bad for the premises like The Hermitage Hotel.

 Colonial style door of the lounge

Lamp decoration

My son in his pajama and I was only wearing capri (knee-length) pants

Seeing a cake in the display, our son was so excited. And he immediately pointed his favorite chocolate macaroon. My wife was also keen to try the lemon-meringue eclair. Apparently, they both very delicious. My son demanded for more and of course we stopped him.

 Choice of Eclair and cake slice on the display rack 

 A perfect shape macaroon in various flavour IDR 30,000 each, that was why no matter how tasty it was, we had to stop our son from having too much..lol

The fluffy and melt in your mouth Lemon Meringue Eclair IDR 30,000 each

In addition we also ordered the Flamingo Pink Tea, which was recommended by Mas Hada. The tea was made from hibiscus flowers and had a very distinguished fragrant aroma.

Besides providing snacks and beverages, Hermitage Lounge also provides a selection of light meals. And their signature is Soto Betawi which was cooked with Wagyu beef instead of offal pieces ("jeroan" in my language) and we decided to give it a try.

After waiting a while, the Soto Betawi arrived. The appearance was very tempting and we couldn't wait to taste it right away. It was indeed remarkable! Very different from most Soto Betawi we've ever eaten before and it was quite spicy, it made it even more flavorful. It was quite a generous portion. We ordered only one bowl and we shared.

IDR 128,000/portion

The lounge also provides free Ta'jil (sweet food eaten upon breaking the fast for Moslem). There were three kinds of cookies and several kinds of dried dates. We tried them and They were very good!! especially the cheese cookies Kaasstengel.

 From the left : Sugar cookies, Snow cookies and Cheese cookies

We also learnt that High-Tea is also available daily from 15:00-17:30 for IDR 128,000/set including drinks. There are two choices of Indonesian snack or Western snack. We will definitely come back to try the high-tea and blog about it. Subscribe for more updates...See ya

Ratings for this lounge :
Taste         *****
Ambiance *****
Service      *****

Find them here:
The Hermitage Hotel
Jl. Cilacap No.1, Menteng, Jakarta Pusat 10310
Phone : 021 31926888

Everything written here is based on my own experience and genuine opinion. I have not been offered any incentives or payment to write this review.

Instagram : tac_travelandfood
TripAdvisor : AdeHilman