Where is it? With 996 guests rooms, Hotel Mulia, in Jakarta, is one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. A short hop from the main business district, it's an oasis of opulence in the greenbelt opposite Bung Karno soccer stadium and an 18-hole golf course. The hotel has a huge pool, a heated Jacuzzi, the obligatory spa, a gym, tennis courts and a business centre.
What's the big deal? The Mulia is the flagship in the real estate empire of an Indonesian Chinese family, meaning it's a local luxury hotel competing against foreign-owned ventures, including the Shangri-La, the Grand Hyatt, the Ritz-Carlton, the Four Seasons, the InterContinental and the JW Marriott. If avoiding the hotel chains isn't a strong enough draw in itself, the Mulia's Indonesian ownership has proved a selling point with businessmen from multinational companies, particularly those from the US, following the 2003 bombing of the Marriott in Jakarta.
What's on the menu? The revamped Cafe, the hotel's main restaurant on the ground floor, reopened in December and features five zones based on the elements: earth, water, fire, wood and gold. The entrance near the water zone has a dizzying bank of diamond-white lights and flat-screen televisions. The sushi bar wraps around a floor-to-ceiling funnel of traditional white wood carvings installed behind a slab of volcanic rock.
The Cafe is open 24 hours and lays on lavish buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with Japanese, Thai, western and Indonesian stations. There are two private dining rooms for special occasions, such as the wine dinners the hotel hosts.
Italian restaurant Il Mare specialises in seafood, of course. It crafts tasty fare such as salty Alaskan crab balls in zucchini soup and scallops with foie gras. Its Sunday brunch, with traditional delicacies and free-flowing sparkling wine, is a favourite of expats.
Any other quirks? The hotel prides itself on its lavish flower arrangements in the lobby and the rooms. It also has its own in-house chocolate store and chocolatiers. The huge ballroom can accommodate up to 4,000 guests and the nightclub, CJ's, is popular.