Pantjoran Tea House — Restaurant in Jakarta

After strolling around Pecinan Kota Toea (Chinatown at Old Town Jakarta) with a tour held by a community, we ended up having lunch at Pantjoran Tea House. This is a tea house that also serves main dish. Although we didn't have tea here, but we really enjoy the tasty foods. They also provide frames that will give you information about Chinese, tea history, and many more.

Pantjoran Tea House consists of two floors. The first floor is smaller without air conditioner, whereas the second floor is bigger and comfortable with air conditioner. For the food, they it provide in three sizes, which are Small, Medium, and Large. We were group of four ordered all food in small size, and you know what the portion was quite big and fit for us.

Here are what we tried :

Sapi "Canton" small portion (IDR 80,000) Large, thick, and tender slide beef with sweet canton sauce.

Udang Telur Mentega Krispy small portion (IDR 80,000) One of the chef recommendation menu from Pantjoran Tea House. Prawn with butter egg and crispy floss.

Kailan 2 Musim small portion (IDR 55,000) One of the chef RECOMMENDATION menu from Pantjoran Tea House and also from me! Vegetable named kailan that is served in two "seasons', which mean in two different kind of cooking. The left one is my favorite! The leaves are served crispy with garlic. It similar with crispy seaweed snack. And the right one is the common sauteed kailan with garlic.

Tahu Lada Garam (IDR 32,000) Again, this one also one of the chef recommendation menu. Crispy beancurd with salt and pepper. The rounded beancurd is thick and soft. I like the sauce, too.

And last but not the least, don't forget to eat all of these with warm rice with...

they sell a large selection of premium tea, with some dishes to accompany your tea time. since this place is specialized in premium tea, don't be surprised to find out that their price is above average. they guarantee a high quality tea, though.

if i'm not mistaken, they have more than 30 kinds of tea leaves and i had no idea what to choose, started from white, green, black, floral tea and many more. don't worry, the staff is very helpful, just ask them what tea they would recommend based on your taste preference. they're very thorough in explaining all of the process, from the history behind each tea, the benefit, how to brew, until how to enjoy it.

so basically they will give you a pack of the selected dry tea leaves, then take some for you to enjoy and you can bring home the rest of it. they will demonstrate how to brew it, and you can try to brew it yourself afterward or ask them again to serve you.

beside the tea, i also tried the dim sum. the steamed pao bun was very delicious. the bun was moist and the custard filling was sweet but not overbearing. i tried the crispy tofu with salt and pepper too, and it was really delicious.

the place itself is designed with old china theme decorations with lamps, furnitures, and accessories. it would be better for you to come with friends or family there, rather than being alone to cherish the art...

Price is really expensive. Food isn't good, the dimsums taste just like any frozen food you could buy at supermarket. And the "authentic" tea doesn't really authentic at all. The tea at chinese franchise restaurant is even more authentic than this tea. If it's authentic than they could provide more variants to the tea ( like black tea, red tea, etc).

The services are also terrible. We eent in and no one seated us. Not very kind and treating us coldly.

The only thing good or decent is the interior which is styled after chinese culture which is very Instagrammable. Almost every customer that i encounter here are only here for the photos. Not the tea nor the food.

Conclusion : pantjoran tea house doesn't provide cultures whatsoever. It's just another money grubbing business under the name of "culture" to make it unique. And they put a very big price for you to experience this culture.

Pantjoran tea house, if you're reading this. If you eant to make a restaurant about chinese culture. At least do it properly. This is just shoddy awful

Not good at all. Didn't enjoy any single second here 1/10

Edit : oh, and i forgot. The "tea" they serve. Isn't demonstrated, nor served properly. Please learn more about the...