Jakarta - Restaurants

[Quim Reaper]

Jl. Raden Saleh No. 47 Menteng (021) 3150606

The Oasis has been a Jakarta institution since 1968. Expensive, but well worth it for the food and the ambiance. Good atmosphere for a romantic date, if you feel like springing for that much for your cewek du jour, but don't bring along her friends also unless you have a MAJOR expense account.

Also good solo or for the guys meal out - where else can you get a Rijsttafel served to you by a dozen virginal maidens? Well, okay, not virginal - this is Jakarta after all - but the effort to provide the old colonial presentation is definitely there.

Could not find an old receipt, but I seem to recall that the Rijsttafel was about Rp. 235,000 per person, when I last visited about 18 months ago. If someone has been there more recently, hopefully they can update this info.

Don't arrive before opening time, as I did once, or you will miss the gong show. Also, note the dress code - no jeans and no sneakers.

[Quim Reaper]

I was trying, not so successfully, to be funny - in a mountain oyster kind of way. They are, I believe, made of dough at this particular establishment.

Normally they're not vegetarian, ie. bite-size ball-shaped beef croquettes. But they come in all different tastes in Indonesia, sometimes chicken, as we found out. Dining out here is like a box of bitterballen, you never know what you're gonna get!

[Joel Goodsen]

.. bitterballen appetizer (not sure what they are, but considering their name and appearance I hope they are vegetarian).

Normally they're not vegetarian, ie. bite-size ball-shaped beef croquettes. But they come in all different tastes in Indonesia, sometimes chicken, as we found out. Dining out here is like a box of bitterballen, you never know what you're gonna get!

[BuleDaddy]

This is a huge chain in Indonesia with Padang, Sumatra style food. These guys have it down pat. A smorgabord beyond belief and super clean, using strict Moslem dietary/cleanliness laws that are almost identical to Kosher. The guy there in Magga Besar remembers what I like a year later and slings all my favorites like fried fish, Tempeh, Chicken, and vegtables at me. He only charges you for what you eat. I have to lie down afterwards I am so stuffed. I like to take the girls there with their sisters and nephews and nieces. Very sweet people, are the Javanese.

The Fish Market near the airport is a treat on your way out. Get your jivin' Javanese driver to do the buying for you and don't even let the fishmongers see you are with him or the price might double. Get some lobster, prawns, big fish, and squid. I'll pack some cooked leftovers up and have it for dinner in Sunar later. They serve up utak utak which is rice boiled with fish heads or milkfish flattened into rice wads with pepper and onion, charcoal roasted in Banana Leaves and you dip them in peanut sauce. You eat that while they clean then grill the giant fish you just bought over their coconut husk embers they fired up for your party. They serve that with eggplant, tomato (sambals) and mannis leaves. You eat it with your left hand, but they have utensils. I think they frown on Beer or Booze there, but a nice, cold TeaBotel hits the spot. I always tell the driver to get something for he, his missus and the family for later becasue they really love the seafood but the big fish there is a delicacy to the average Jakartan. They serve coconut juice warm there but to watch the smiling guy with the shaved head chop up your coconut to get to the juice like a gurka killing for the queen makes it worth it.

[Lambasts]

This Chinese Restaurant, Jade Garden in PI, serves excellent xiao lung bao-chinese dumplings.

The prices a tad steep for JKT. Mostly patronised by ceweks2 of chinese origin in indo.

[Quim Reaper]

Quaint little restaurant attached to an antique shop of some type. This place hasn't changed in the nearly 25 years since the first time I visited it - at least as of my last trip 18 months ago. I don't think even the prices have changed except to account for major devaluations. It is one of the few good restaurants I frequented in the old days that still exists in its original form.

I suppose the food could be described as simply prepared dutch-influenced western food. I usually have ordered a steak of some type and bitterballen appetizer (not sure what they are, but considering their name and appearance I hope they are vegetarian).

Inexpensive, good taste, good portions and I never got sick from a meal there - and that was saying something back when there were no western standard restaurant chains in Jakarta.

No air con, fans only, so you might want to go at an off time on a particularly muggy day - if it is busy there may not be enough fans to go around. Otherwise, it has a dark, pleasant atmosphere enhanced by an intermittent interesting environmental effect which I won't explain - if you visit there for an evening meal, you will know it when you experience it.

Location: Jalan Cikini IV Number 8A, Menteng area, roughly midway between Hotel Menteng I and II as the crow flies.

Open: Tue-Sun, noon-3p, 7p-11p

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