Dining and Drinking

Jakarta is a world-class culinary hybrid where ethnic Indonesian and global influences come together to produce diversity and a spectrum of intercontinental fusion foods with a local twist. As the capital of a developing, predominantly Muslim country, it possesses an abundance of modestly-priced halal fare. That said, however, this is a city where you can eat anything from curried pork to grilled kangaroo and order drinks from a lychee mocktail to a glass of Chateaux Lafitte. On the same block, you can spend IDR8,000 on a hearty plate of fried noodles and IDR800,000 on an artful tableau of cold-water raw fish.

Food Stalls set the Scene

Most eating in Jakarta takes place in the street. Even the most casual observer cannot miss the mobile army of warungs (food stalls) and snack vendors in perpetual search of customers, weaving their way among jalopies, juggernauts and BMW sedans. These vendors sell nosh, the quintessentially Indonesian satay or bakso tok-tok (Chinese soup) from as little as IDR500 a portion.

Visitors are more likely to encounter this breed of vendors in office blocks, shopping areas and popular entertainment districts. And miraculously, these peddlers also spring up around more itinerant crowds at building sites, queues, traffic jams or even demonstrations! They serve Indonesians on modest salaries, foreign visitors on a very tight budget and long-term foreign residents with pride in their strong stomachs. As a rule, these stalls have no access to running water, and vendors either bring along non-refrigerated cooked food or cook in the open, dusty, humid, traffic-clogged street, where patrons also eat. Consequently, as quaint or exotic as this experience may seem, it is only recommended for the intestinally courageous.

Fast Food and Global Grazing

The city is home to the usual Third World assortment of First World fast-food franchises, plus a flood of inexpensive local clones and other modest eateries. They proliferate around busy shopping areas like Blok M and at food courts in fancier air-conditioned malls such as Plaza Senayan, Taman Anggrek Mall and Plaza Indonesia. There you can graze your way around the world in minutes for less than the price of a sandwich on Madison Avenue or a gin and tonic in a London pub. Choose from a huge selection of foods such as pizza, quiche, tacos, kebabs, curry, sushi or hamburgers. Follow this with low-fat yogurt, ice cream, tropical fruit salad or chocolate-chip cookies. To accompany your meal you can order from a vast array of fresh fruit juices, soft drinks or a limited choice of alcoholic beverages, such as the local Bintang beer, and end with a cafe latte or a bowl of green tea.

Eating across the Isles

Alternatively, you can sample modest cuisines from across the country’s 3,200-mile-wide archipelago, including safer versions of all the items offered by the warungs described above. Classics include bubur ayam, a chicken-and-rice porridge; the West Sumatran, Padang dish rendang, consisting of beef cooked in a dry, spicy coconut sauce; gado-gado, an assortment of blanched vegetables and fried tofu in peanut sauce; and the very spicy pork or chicken dish from Manado, rica-rica. Satay House Senayan, Mirasari Restaurant, Dapur Sunda, Dapoer Tempo Doeloe offer a wide range, while spots such as Restoran Pulau Dua and Raja Laut Restaurant specialize in Indonesia’s diversity of seafood dishes.

Gastronomic Ghettos and Swank

Smarter eateries can be found dotting the city and in major hotels. Again, they offer a local and international kaleidoscope of choice. Those located in and around the business district of Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, Jalan Jenderal Gatot Sobroto, Jalan H.R. Rasuna Said and Jalan M.H. Thamrin cater to the lunch crowd and the affluent after-work diners and drinkers, local and foreign. Cinnabar for chic fusion, Lan Na Thai for Thai, Le Soufflé for French, Hazara for Indian, Tien Chao for Chinese and Chianti Classico Bistro for Mediterranean food are a few examples of the stylish central eateries popular with the business crowd. You can also indulge in even fancier eating experiences at Riva, Margaux and Zigolini.

Many of the city’s classier bars lie in this same city-center area, mostly in hotels. CJ's Bar and B.A.T.S. are some which attract well-heeled city workers. More modest drinking establishments sprawl in less plush surroundings around busy shopping districts like Blok M.

To some extent, the demographics and living arrangements of expatriates drive the restaurant and bar business. Therefore, Japanese and Korean food and drink are readily available throughout the city, in office blocks and near centrally-located apartment complexes these communities tend to favor. Bushido Japanese Restaurant are particularly popular spots. In the meantime, an abundance of upmarket restaurants, cafés and bars targeting Western tastes sprout up in the residential expatriate enclave of Kemang, south of the city, especially along Jalan Kemang Raya. William's, Toscana and Anatolia are just four of the dozens you will find along this busy stretch.

World-class Style

Jakarta offers a few absolutely matchless dining and drinking experiences. An extraordinary spot that distinguishes the city is Café Batavia.

Cafe Batavia, facing the splendid colonial Fatahillah Park northwest of the city, provides another memorable experience. Named after Jakarta’s Dutch colonial antecedent, it captures the old city’s elegance in its magnificent architecture and conveys a stylish, international assurance in its eclectic art collection and in the twin Hong Kong and Pacific Rim menus it presents. A visitor cannot fail to be charmed.

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