December in Jakarta comes with festivities, warmth, and togetherness.
This festive season, SEMAJA by ISMAYA takes you through a flavourous journey served on an elegance and a sense of narrative that unfolds course by course.
This year’s holiday offering, titled Rasa Vakansi, is less a menu than a gentle journey across Eastern Indonesia, tracing places where Christmas traditions linger in kitchens as much as they do in churches.
From Manado to Minahasa, the dishes draw on regions where spice, smoke, and comfort have long shared the same table.
In collaboration with Purana, the Indonesian fashion house founded by Nonita Respati. Together, they propose an immersive dining experience that blurs the line between what is eaten and what is seen.
When Fashion Joins the Feast
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Purana’s contribution arrives not on the body, but on the table. Through Purana Home, the brand introduces a bespoke tableware collection adorned with the Birds of Paradise (Merpati Mahkota) motif to be an emblem of freedom, elegance, and quiet splendour.
Plates, bowls, and serving pieces become more than vessels; they act as visual punctuation, framing each dish with a distinctly Indonesian sense of grace.
Nonita Respati, founder and CCO of Purana, stated, “culture is not only meant to be worn, but it is also meant to be experienced. And by bringing this collaboration with SEMAJA, that philosophy translates into a dining room where art and gastronomy converse easily, and where the table itself becomes part of the storytelling.”
Reimagining Comforts and Warmth in The Elegance of Traditional Culinary
Executive Chef Glenn Erari approaches festive cooking with restraint and warmth, offering four December-only dishes that feel both nostalgic and carefully refined.
The meal opens with Panada Roa, a soft, golden bread encasing smoked roa fish. It arrives fragrant and inviting, lifted by a silky tuna emulsion and a dusting of roa powder that leaves a lingering whisper of smoke.
Next comes Sumsum Asap Minahasa, a dish that leans unapologetically into indulgence. Melting bone marrow meets smoked brisket, brightened by fresh dabu-dabu and balanced with roa emulsion. Warm house bread encourages hands-on eating, a reminder that luxury need not be distant.
The heart of the menu is Short Ribs Brenebon, a slow-cooked interpretation of the North Sulawesi classic. The beef is tender and deeply flavoured, simmered with red kidney beans, nutmeg, clove, and pandan. It is the sort of dish that feels reassuring without being heavy, familiar yet quietly surprising.
Dessert arrives as Klapertart in Cloud, a playful and elegant finale. Coconut custard is paired with rum raisin ice cream, coconut crumble, and a final flourish of rum flambé. It is sweet, aromatic, and gently theatrical, an ending that lingers long after the last spoonful.
‘Shop The Table’ to bring home the experience
Every dish from the Purana Set Menu is served exclusively on Purana Home tableware, reinforcing the idea that presentation is part of pleasure. Guests who find themselves charmed by the plates and décor may take advantage of “Shop the Table,” an opportunity to purchase selected Purana Home pieces directly.
Each set menu also comes with a complimentary gift from Purana, a small but thoughtful gesture that adds a personal note to the experience.
Year-End Destination to Uniwind with Warm, Nostalgic Local Dining Experience
Unsurprisingly, the collaboration is poised to become one of Jakarta’s cultural highlights this festive season.
Everybody is expected to pass through SEMAJA’s doors throughout December, ensuring that the conversation continues well beyond the dining room.
Yet even without the buzz, the appeal is clear. This is dining that understands the value of atmosphere, of pacing, and of a well-set table. It is festive without being loud, luxurious without being showy.
Purana x SEMAJA Festive Dining Experience
Price: IDR 580,000++ per person
Available: until 31 December 2025
SEMAJA by ISMAYA, Menteng – Jakarta
Jl. Gereja Theresia No. 41, Menteng, Central Jakarta
Executive Chef: Glenn Erari
Cuisine: Modern Indonesian Dining
Instagram: @semaja_id
Website: www.ismaya.com/eat-drink/semaja
