Shangri-La Jakarta

Shangri-La Jakarta is one of the leading five-star hotels in Jakarta, billed as ‘an oasis of serenity and calm’ in the centre of one of the world’s biggest and busiest cities. The Vegan Food Quest checked in for some peace, luxury and top quality food…vegan style.

There are 661 guest rooms in the Shangri-La Jakarta and we stayed in a Horizon Club room which gave us access to the Horizon Club Lounge where we could enjoy breakfast, afternoon tea & cocktails. We were pleased to see the option of non-feather vegan pillows in our room and can report back that our bed was very comfortable.

We really enjoyed the hotel grounds; lush, manicured tropical gardens with beautiful plants and trees created a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of the city outside. There was even a thriving vegetable and herb garden and we really appreciated the way plants were labelled so our plant based questions were answered.

The pool was huge with good number of really comfortable loungers and if all this relaxing wasn’t enough, we even squeezed in a few visits to the CHI Spa where there was a whole range of treatments, steam room, hot tub and sauna to choose from, not to mention a modern and well equipped gym.

The Vegan Food

The vegan food at Shangri-La Jakarta was nothing short of amazing, everywhere we ate we were spoilt for choice.

In the Horizon Club we enjoyed a breakfast that covered all the bases in terms of being healthy, tasty, indulgent and vegan. Homemade muesli with cold soya milk and fresh berries was low on sugar, full of healthy seeds and fresh and dried fruit. We loved the gluten-free savoury pancakes filled with hummus, avocado chunks, tomato, onion and coriander. We marvelled at how light and spongy the pancakes were and thought the filling inside was perfectly tasty.

Well we did say the breakfast was indulgent.

Soft slippery rice noodles seasoned with soy, generous amounts of black pepper and crispy fried garlic on top; wheat noodles with a spicy peanut sauce and a sour, spicy ‘pav bhaji’ accompanied by cauliflower fritters that were nicely dense with spiced gram flour, giving them a very satisfying texture.

We also ate breakfast at the main ‘Satoo’ restaurant where there was an impressive and tasty range of Indian dishes including a lovely mild upma, well filled spicy samosas, light sour idly pancakes and cubes of sweet, sour ‘besan dokhla’.

A very well stocked and vegan friendly salad bar with an excellent range of dressings awaited us, meaning that making a salad was quite an exciting experience. Our vegan hands selected fresh salad leaves, beetroot, sun dried and fresh baby tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts finished off with a fruity and sharp, sweet raspberry vinaigrette.

There were local Javanese dishes for us to sample too incuding ‘Ketoprak’, the dish was delicious, with spicy rich peanut sauce covering fried tofu cubes, soft rice cakes and crunchy beansprouts. We enjoyed sampling the ‘jamu’ traditional herbal medicinal drinks, made especially by a lady who had many years of experience in the creation of these health giving drinks, allowing us to experience some local culture too.

The amazing vegan food at Shangri-La Jakarta didn’t stop at breakfast though, in the Horizon Club at afternoon tea, we were served sweet lotus rolls, spicy ‘asinan betawi’ salads and edamame beans and in the evening they prepared vegan canapés to serve with fabulous cocktails.

We also dined at Shang Palace and Rosso, two of the restaurants located in the hotel. Both catered excellently for our vegan needs and we enjoyed well thought out and tasty vegan menus, at Shang Palace we were treated to an adventure in Cantonese Fine Dining, vegan style and Rosso delivered one of the most memorable vegan Italian meals we’ve every eaten.

Please click the links for detailed reviews of our meals at Rosso and Shang Palace.

The Vegan Food Quest Verdict

Check in here if you want a peaceful, luxurious escape from the busy city outside, you’ll experience a vegan friendly stay where amazing vegan food is never far away.

If budget allows, pay the extra for a Horizon Club room and be sure to check out both Rosso and Shang Palace for a vegan culinary adventure.

We were guests of Shangri-La Jakarta but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views

Shangri-La Jakarta
Jalan Jend Sudirman
Jakarta 10220
Indonesia

Telephone: (62 21) 2922 9999
Email: slj@shangri-la.com
Cost From: £200 / $300 per night (May 2015)