From Glodok’s twitching frogs to goat sate, every alley hides a feast. Photo / Tamara Hinson
Tamara Hinson shares how to eat your way around Jakarta, the city shaping up to be Asia’s culinary capital.
I’m squeezing through the narrow alleyways of a market in Glodok, Jakarta’s Chinatown. I first visited in 2021, and my overriding memory was of stumbling across a market stall piled with still-twitching frogs, tied in bundles of five using elastic bands. This time, I don’t find the frogs but there’s plenty of other eye candy, including glistening slug-like sea cucumbers, bunches of kangkung (water spinach) in retina-burning shades of green, and grills loaded with sizzling delicacies such as sate kambing – goat meat skewers drizzled with a sweet sauce known as kecap manis.
Jakarta’s most recent accolade is its status as the world’s largest city, snatched unexpectedly from Tokyo. It’s also famous for its jazz scene. But it’s Jakarta’s culinary credentials currently putting it in the spotlight. Then again, its food scene, like everything else about Indonesia’s capital, has always been spectacularly diverse.
During a sundowner at Eden, the rooftop bar on the 90th floor of the Pan Pacific Jakarta hotel, I can glimpse the glistening Java Sea. Also on the horizon is the National Monument, marking Indonesia’s Proclamation of Independence in 1945. Nearby is the enormous Istiqlal Mosque and Jakarta Cathedral, an explosion of Gothic grandeur.
Indonesian regions such as Sulawesi, Borneo and Sumatra all shape Jakarta’s food scene, as do Malaysia and Singapore, although the Portuguese and Dutch left their mark, too.
A short walk from Glodok takes me to Fatahillah Square, where chain-smoking entrepreneurs model the pink straw hats that come with the bicycles they rent by the hour. Dutch colonial buildings surround this cobblestone square, home to Cafe Batavia, which dates back to 1805 when the Dutch (who named Jakarta Batavia) constructed administrative buildings for officers. Inside, antique clocks sit atop Javan teakwood dressers.
When I visit, jazz wafts across the restaurant, with its wicker chairs and faded photos of various Dutch governors. The menu is an edible history lesson. Highlights include rujak kepiting (crab with jicama, a potato-like vegetable introduced by the Spanish) and putri mandi – a delicacy made with palm sugar. There are poffertjes, the fluffy pancakes beloved by the Dutch, and egg tarts – a nod to the 1500s, when the Portuguese became the first Europeans to establish a colonial presence in Indonesia.
Good food is never far away – not simply confined to sprawling, selfie-friendly street food markets. My initial base is the Shangri-La Jakarta hotel in the Sudirman Business District. Just a few metres from the hotel, I discover alleyways lined with stalls selling everything from ayam penyet (chicken served with a fiery sambal) to gorengen (fried snacks containing fillings such as cassava). It’s not a polished, spruced-up street food market for tourists, but the Jakartan version of a local high street, complete with strutting cockerels and a soundtrack of the call to prayer, courtesy of the five-domed mosque huddling in the shadow of skyscrapers.
I’m staying mainly at five-star hotels which, in other Asian countries, would often roll out Western-style breakfast buffets with the odd dosa station or curry as an afterthought. However, here, breakfasts are things of beauty, designed to showcase local ingredients. My go-to dishes become delicacies like balado teri, fried anchovies with peanuts (I recommend the version at the Shangri-La Jakarta’s breakfast buffet), orak tempe, stir-fried tempeh served with chilli, and tahu gejrot – tofu drenched in a spicy sauce.
And change is afoot once more, thanks in part to the appetite for fine dining. At the Langham Jakarta, locals flock to feast on the afternoon teas at Alice by Tom Aikens (the scones, served with star anise jam, are to die for), although I’m equally besotted with the price – NZ$90 for two. Meanwhile, at a spot like Fullerton Sydney, an afternoon tea for one is around NZ$90.
I never expected to have the best ceviche of my life at the recently-opened 25hours Hotel The Oddbird hotel, but that’s what happened. At the Ayana Midplaza Jakarta’s Blue Terrace, French-born chef Olivier Piganiol’s legendary house-smoked salmon, served with local butter, is divine, as are the profiteroles drizzled with Balinese cacao sauce.
Piganiol tells me several local entrepreneurs have started championing local ingredients. One example is Indonesian couple Muhammed and Nieta, who founded Mazaraat Cheese in 2015, and produce over 20 varieties – including halloumi and gouda – using local cows’ and goats’ milk. Then there’s Dimas Adhiitya Zulkarnain, who co-founded BORA Soda, producing fizzy drinks inspired by local botanicals. Bestsellers include a ginger ale inspired by wedang jahe, a traditional ginger tea. Both brands can now be found at Jakarta’s top restaurants, delis and bars.
On my final night, I toast Jakarta with something stronger. At Artesian Bar, on the 65th floor of the Langham Jakarta, beverage manager Andrea Marseglia has created one of the most exciting cocktail menus I’ve come across. My personal highlight of the current menu is the Kobb, made with Espolòn Blanco tequila, green chilli and coconut, closely followed by Whisper of Change, a gin-based tipple brought to life with hits of tamarind and eucalyptus – and the perfect, timely tipple for what might just be Asia’s tastiest city.