TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Cipete Raya Street, the rising star of culinary destination in Jakarta, can be reached from Pangeran Antasari Street or Fatmawati Street, South Jakarta. Food stalls and snack bars are packing up the 1-km long road. From cafe to fine-dining restaurants, from Sundanese to French menu, just pick the ones suit your taste and budget.
Tempo visited Rumah Baba, a restaurant that is located on Jl. Cipete Raya 7A, that serve modern Betawi dish. Wooden chairs and kebaya encim worn by the waitress create the impression of traditional Betawi ambience alongwith pictures of old advertisement flyers hung on the walls that are left bare.
“We design it with elements of Betawi in 1970s,” said Didiet Iswanto, one of the restaurant’s owners.
We tried out Soto Betawi, fried rice a la Baba, and Bing Kero Ice. The soto is a little sweet and there are lots of petai (Parkia speciosa) mine on the fried rice. The Biang Kero ice is a mix of strawberry and lime, a refreshing match for the heavy soto.
From Rumah Baba, we headed to the Jakarta Coffe House on Jl. Cipete Raya No.2. It was full of youngsters, all craving for coffee. Because there are not many kinds of snacks offered beside the coffee, the view in the cafe is dominated by roasting and grinding machines. We tried out Kopi Andalan Si Petung and Mocha Berry.
We kicked the road again and in less than ten minutes, we had seated in a home-styled restaurant on Jalan Cipete Raya 4. It is Kedai Halaman restaurant. From the road, the location seems small but it actually has a large parking area and cool garden.
“We have been here for ten years,” said the cashier at Kedai Halaman, Diah Samidjan. The restaurant is often booked by families for family event, party or arisan. Guests can opt to have Indonesian main dishes from the buffet or just the snacks.
DIANING SARI
