AH YAT ABALONE MIDPLAZA

I am an avid fan of dim sum, they're just one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures.

I regret not having a lot of dim sum on my latest Hong Kong trip because my focus was to explore the hip cafes and eateries, one day when I go back to HK I must have a one whole day of dim sum (or yum cha) hunting. I remember when I was younger (probably when I was at the elementary school), literally every single week my parents brought us to have dimsum at various places, back then, when my palate wasn't as sharp as it is, all that I could remember was that they're either "good" or "very good", unfortunately the ones that I went to pretty often.

Truth be told, I don't think there are a lot of good dim sum places in Jakarta, if yes then it would be the ones incorporate with the hotels (according to my experience), I always return to ones I am comfortable with, it's like meeting your best friends and you know you're going to have a good time, one of my favorites (and actually my family's favorites) is Ah Yat Abalone. A couple of weeks ago, I went to have lunch here, I couldn't remember the last time coming here it was like a long time ago, but since I came back and had such pleasant lunch, I thought about sharing my experience to you, and of course tons of foodporns.

A little story about Ah Yat Abalone, it's a seated dining restaurant specializing in Abalone dishes, Abalone itself is this chunky and large (for its class) edible sea snails and often sells for good price. Ah Yat has several restaurants spread all over Jakarta: MidPlaza Sudirman II, Grand Sahid Jaya, and another one in Golden Boutique Hotel, I normally dine at their Golden Boutique's outlet because it's way closer to where I live. For some weird reasons, I love how they keep the restaurant's interior to exactly what it is since the first time it opens for public, there's just something classic, old and a bit vintage about it that I fond of. I came around 12 PM and it was ok busy for lunch time.

My standard for good dim sum is simple: generous and fresh filling with coating that's firm enough to hold the filling, and simply seasoned.

Salted Egg Yolk Pao
Absolutely delicious, I might not be a big fan of salted egg yolk in desserts or pastries, but when it comes to paos, it's an exception. The custard was quite generous, very tasty, and this beautiful flavor combination without one dominating another.

Lo Ma Kai
Glutinous rice covered in banana leaf and filled with chicken filling, some creations include salted egg yolk inside.

I literally had nothing negative to say about their dim sum, as theirs are super good and personally, one of my favorites in Jakarta. I highly recommend this to you. This is purple heart honesty.

I honestly think Ah Yat Abalone holds the reputation for being an expensive Chinese restaurant, that I would agree for some of their signature Abalone dishes, but honestly for the dim sum, it's freaking affordable. Expect to pay a normal price range of IDR 18k-30k per portion, that's like really normal.

Ok now sharing you more food if you fancy something real fancy. Ah Yat Abalone has several outlets in town and each has their own specialties, for Ah Yat Abalone, besides dim sum they also specializes in catering their customers the freshest chunkiest abalone and shark fin creations. Won't start with all the animal harm thing (and please don't comment mean things below) I don't eat shark fin very often, probably once or twice a year for the record. If this is the first time you hear the word "abalone", I explained briefly above but anyway it's actually a kind of edible sea snails that comes in various sizes, the bigger ones are generally better and more expensive.

The prices for their shark fin creations, bird nest and abalone starts from IDR 300k above.

They carefully select the abalone they're going to sell here, that I can believe because as you can see at the photos below, the abalone is chunky with this beautiful shape and color.

Chunky with the right firmness. Screenshot this, a perfect example of a great abalone.

While some prefer having the abalone is the most simple way (just the abalone and a little sauce), but being creative won't hurt, Abalones are perfect for soup and combined with shark fins.

Chinese cuisine is highly familiar with its pig and roast duck creations, therefore Ah Yat Abalone's are personal MUST TRY! If you're thinking of getting both, then take this platter consisting of the fresh and tender roasted duck, sweet-savory red pork, jellyfish salad and crispy pork skin! Everything was seasoned really nicely!!!

Shark Fin Soup

Hong Kong Fragrant Claypot Rice with Preserved Duck and Assorted Lapchong (Pork Sausage) - IDR 60k
Besides having Chinese dim sum, shark fin, bird nest and abalones, if you fancy rice, they have selections of fried rice and this, fragrant claypot rice. The fragrant rice took the longest to cook, around 45 minutes waiting time and minimum order 3 pax for IDR 60k/each, that's why most of their customers smarten up and actually pre-order before arriving in the restaurant. Mine was the ducks and lapchong, but they also have some other toppings such as sausages & mushrooms, salted fish grain, citrus reticulate & water chestnut, preserved vegetable in seafood, chicken rice with egg. Price ranges from IDR 48k to IDR 60k.

Cheers to one of the best dim sums in Jakarta! How can you seriously not love this one?! I had zero complaints actually, that to conclude my review.

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Ah Yat Abalone Forum
Jalan Jendral Sudirman Kav. 10-11
MidPlaza Building 2 Lt. LG
Sudirman, Jakarta Pusat

021 - 570 7333
Opening hours:
Lunch: 11:30 AM-2:30 PM
Dinner: 6 PM-10:30 PM
Average spending for two: IDR 400k
Dresscode: casual

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Map for Ah Yat Abalone