New in Jakarta: Horapa Seafood & Thai Kitchen

Horapa Seafood & Thai Kitchen is a new restaurant in Jakarta, although it is actually a branch of its first restaurant in Semarang. The word horapa is the noun in Thai, for a cultivated variety sweet basil, an ingredient so common in Thai cooking (also in Vietnamese, Laotian & Cambodian), that Americans simply refer to it as Thai basil. Alas, you can expect plenty of horapas used in the dishes here.

        Smoking dining area     |    One of the private rooms

(right) Healthy Juice IDR 35,000

The restaurant is located at a prime spot Menteng, on the same stretch as other established restaurants like Lara Djonggrang and Bunga Rampai. The dishes are authentic creations of a Thai chef. What we had for dinner were:

Toua Kegh Pao Kai Sap  (beef IDR 49,000 / chicken IDR 45,000) | Gai Ho Bai Tey  IDR 59,000/6pcs

Keuw Wan Gai  (Chicken IDR 69,000 /  Beef IDR 89,000 / Shrimp IDR 99,000)

O Suan Krop  (Scallop IDR 69,000 / Shrimp IDR 85,000 / Softshell Crab IDR 89,000)

Pla Too Rad Horapa  (Gourami IDR 99,000 / Snapper IDR 109,000 / Grouper IDR 159,000)

v Toua Kegh Pao Kai Sap: stir-fried string beans with minced beef, garlic and anchovies
v Gai Ho Bai Tey: marinated pandan (boneless) chicken
v Keuw Wan Gai: thai green curry with chicken and eggplant. It tasted slightly sweet and only mildly spicy.
v O Suan Krop: crispy fried omelette with scallop, served with sweet Thai chili sauce.
v Pla Too Rad Horapa: one of the signatures here, fried fish with horapa sauce and spicy mango salad–

My personal favourite is the fried fish (Pla Too Rad Horapa), cut into boneless chunks and it's supposed to be eaten with the fresh horapa leaves, topped with spicy mango salad. I happened to dug into the chili hidden in the salad, which immediately made me hiss like a snake! But all's well, that could not stop me from liking this dish.

What I observe from most Thai restaurants, is the limited variety of dessert in the menu (not good if you're a sweet tooth like me). Since there were only 3 dessert items to choose from, we had Mang Chiap (candied cassava, served with savoury coconut milk) and fried banana. I like the Mang Chiap, which combines sweet and savoury flavours in one.

Mang Chiap IDR 19,000 | Fried Banana (6pcs) IDR 19,000

Generally, everything we ate, tasted delicious and the flavours were bold, typical of Thai cuisine. If you dislike crowded places or the shopping malls, Horapa is a plausible alternative, also good for family dinners or other private events for which you can book one of the private rooms.

*) Total = Subtotal + 16% Service Charge and tax PB1

Horapa seafood & Thai Kitchen
Jakarta: JL. Teuku Cik Ditiro No. 31 | Menteng | Ph: +6221 3108057
Semarang: Paragon City Mall Level 2 #18 | Ph: +6224 86579055
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