TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Whether you are guilty or not, once you enter the Bong Kopitown, you are automatically a prisoner. Bong Kopitown brings out a unique concept: a jail restaurant. The restaurant located on Jl. Raya Boulevard Blok PD1, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, is dominated by black colors, fenced with bars, and even a barbed wire is installed on the roof.
Not only on its exterior, prison cell design are also presented in the interior. It brought back the rugged and gloomy atmosphere of Hong Kong prison in 1967. The walls and floors are coated with cement decorated by dragon and tiger graffiti in classical Chinese style, leg shackles with ballast, and metal bars leading to the second floor of the restaurant. Quotes like "The happiest prisoner on earth, even the mafia like it" is written on the restaurant wall.
Bong Chandara, a motivator, is the man behind the unique restaurant. "The initial idea came from himself, that is to serve delicious yet cheap food with a comfortable room design that never exist before," said Vania Septiana, Assistant Director of Bong Kopitown, when contacted via telephone call.
Bong also creates a "legend" of his own version about the restaurant. Bong, a masterful chef, turned down his profession into a prison cook to accompany his best friend, Kim, who was put in jail for his crime. The delicate of Bong's cooking made three fugitives voluntarily came back to jail. The story is printed on the menu list which is presented in the form of colored newspaper.
Tempo orders some menus which are readily served on the wooden table in only 10 minutes. The food is served on plain aluminum plates, reminding us of the tableware used in 1960s films like Ip Man. The first menu is called Nasi Penjara (Prison Rice) consisting of rice with carelessly smeared vegetable soup, completely representing the appearance of meal which you probably found in prison. The Pera (dry) rice is served with capcai consisted of mustard, fish balls, and sweet corns mixed with egg. There is a little bit of fried onions spread on the meal.
Even though the appearance is "absolutely jail-like", the taste of the food is still "very humane". The soup from capcai makes the dry rice easy to swallow. The pepper seasoning makes the food so tasty.
The second recommendation that have been tested by Tempo is Yamin Chicken Noodle. This is the kind of chicken noodle with broth soup and chicken slices, smeared with crispy fried chicken skin. Tasty.
The last recommendation: Penang Fried Noodle, which is a fried noodle with slices of meat balls, bean sprouts, squid, tomatoes, and mustard are served with salty and sweet soya sauce.
As for dessert, Tempo orders Es Jadoel (Old time Ice Sandwich), which is consist of a pair of bread with square ice between them. Chocolate, green peas, and durian are the available flavors. The ice does not have a smooth texture, but creamy and frosty iced. Just like when you freeze up chocolate milk in the freezer.
The food there is served in jumbo portions at cheap prices. If you order both Jail Rice and Yamin Chicken Noodle together, you will only have to pay Rp29,000. Penang Fried Noodle is priced at Rp30,00 while the Ice Cream Sandwich at Rp12,000. Various tasty dim sums are also available at Rp9000. Other meals are priced at Rp20,000 to Rp32,000.
Tempo also tried Kopi Tarik and Kopi Tetes. Kopi Tetes (Coffee Drop) are served similar to Vietnamese coffee, which is collected drop by drop through a coffee filter and mixed with milk. According to Vania, the coffee which is served is Arabica coffee from Sumatera. Even though mixed with milk, the coffee's odor is still very strong, but less acidic. Avocado Chocolate Coffee, which is served with dominant chocolate flavor, diced avocado, and ice, is very satiating and fresh.
If you feel that Kelapa Gading is too far from your place, you should cheer up because Bong Kopitown will opening soon in four other locations this month, Citywalk Summarecon Bekasi, Plaza Semanggi, and Sagan, Yogyakarta. "In other places, we will still use the jail concept, but we will maximize it. For example, all of the visitors will have their meal inside one large cell room," said Vania.
RATNANING ASIH
