Camden Bar (Cikini and Gandaria)
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Jakarta100bars
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I had been to Camden bar in Bandung , but never to their two branches in Jakarta. I corrected this mistake last weekend by visiting both Camden Gandaria and Camden Cikini in one evening. Both bars are very popular, almost any day of the week with a clientele of Indonesians in their early 20s. Cikini's crowd is more upper-class (including a few foreigners - backpackers and interns) while in Gandaria you have mostly young students. Typically, they will buy a beer tower (IDR250,000) and share it at a table with some snacks.
King of Kebab claims to be the only authentic kebab in town and they are not lying! They have a tiny location on Jalan Gunawarman, just in front of Holy Crab , where you will probably meet the owner, a Palestinian who worked in Australia and Singapore. He prepares the sauces himself and imports the beef from Australia. The kebabs are not so big but the prices are low (Rp38,000 for one). It is very convenient for an after party craving as they stay open late. You can park your car easily, order from go-jek, or eat on the spot in one of the few tables provided.
Taco Local is a tiny Mexican joint located in Senopati. They just reopened after being closed for a few months for renovation: Actually they used to be even smaller than that... They extended the restaurant to the bicycle shop just next to them (that is why you will find some old bikes hanging from the ceiling). In a nutshell, the food is cheap, delicious, worth every penny and the staff is friendly. What more can you expect ? In Taco Local, until recently, you had to get your food yourself at the counter because they did not have any staff for the service. Then the place became more and more popular and just now they are turning into a more proper restaurant. For what I ordered on the picture, I paid less than 100 000 Rp with a beverage!
D'Marco Café is located on Jalan Sabang, 5 minutes walking from the backpacker street Jalan Jaksa . It is a simple place to hangout, with minimalist design and cheap prices. Opened on May 2012, it is becoming a popular hangout spot as the three owners are quite active to promote their restaurant and to organize events. The concept of specializing in Martabak , the Indonesian streetfood favourite (a sort of thick pancake) is also helping. It's a little more expensive than eating it in the street, but still very reasonable as the prices range from Rp10,000 to Rp26,000.
It may seem like an obvious thing to say, but if you are looking for the best Chinese food in Jakarta, you should go to its Chinatown, in Glodok. I had already tried a few weeks ago Hunan Kitchen , and I had promised myself to come back to try some of the other popular Chinese restaurants in that area. Lac Mei Che Huo Kuo is also specializing in Sichuan cuisine, but with a focus on seafood. It was full when I entered, and apparently the customers are mostly Indo-Chinese, from the upper-class. The main room is pretty basic, just some boring tables and decoration. The only thing you will notice is the aquarium, with live fishes, turtles and some weird, huge oysters I had never seen before.
Hunan Kitchen is one of the best value-for-money Chinese restaurants I found so far in Jakarta. It specializes in Sichuan cuisine, best known for its use of spices, herbs and plants. Located in Glodok, Jakarta's Chinatown, in a gloomy street full of massage parlours, bars and karaokes, it is also walking distance from Jayakarta Hotel and Hotel Mercure Kota. It is quite authentic I thought. Actually, there are a few other Chinese restaurants in the area, and after my positive experience in Hunan Kitchen, I intend to come back and try some of them. Hunan Kitchen looks new from the outside, and it seems quite popular with the Indo-Chinese community. Inside, there isn't anything fancy, but it is clean. You also have an army of waiters, efficient and friendly. The menu contains a great variety of dishes , and you would have to be very picky if you don't find something you like. Apart from the usual dishes made of chicken, beef, pork, fish or duck, you also have tur
Self-proclaimed "the best value steak in Jakarta", Ali Baba is indeed a cheap, but clean restaurant. At the time of my visit, the prices were Rp38,000 for a New-Zealand tenderloin, and Rp75,000 for Australian tenderloin. It should be noted that the NZ steak tasted pretty much the same as a local one. If you want to eat something decent for western standards, you have to choose the Australian beef. Ali Baba is all new, with some vintage decoration. It doesn't look high class, but it is far better than competitor Abuba Steak in terms of design. Regarding taste, if you choose the imported meat, I think it also tastes similar. But for those who know it, I would rate Suis Butcher in Bandung a bit higher.
Abuba Steak sounded to me like Abuja Steak, the capital of Nigeria, so I had a strong feeling against this restaurant before visiting it... Fortunately, it was a great surprise and a place I recommend to everyone, excluding vegetarians. The outside doesn't look so great and would need some painting. The inside is similar to that of a warung, basic but clean, with some posters of meat ads. You have about 30 tables, and 1/4th of them were taken when I visited. Many people seemed to complain on internet about the smoke of cigarettes, but in the Abuba I visited, in Wahid Hasyim, no smoke at all since there is a private/closed room for smoking. There is also a small musholla for praying in the back... My only concern was that the AC was not functioning very well, so it was a bit hot for eating. Click on the picture to see the menu