108 Club (Previously known as Illigals Hotel & Club)
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Tibs
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Update July 2018 : Illigals just changed its name to 108 The New Atmosphere . I haven't visited yet as I'm not in Indonesia at the moment. I will write about it around August/September. From what I've heard, it's pretty much the same as before. I think the change is only a way for Illigals to keep a lower profile. Contact details: Illigals Hotel & Club Jl.Hayam Wuruk no.108 Jakarta Barat, 111620
Update 2 January 2017: There was a fire in Paragon Hotel and it is closed at the moment. The Grand Paragon is a complex located in Jalan Gadjah Mada. It is mostly famous for having one of Jakarta's most popular luxury karaokes with package prices ranging from IDR500,000 to IDR1,000,000 per hour.
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
Club 36, the bar of the Jayakarta Hotel, is a small club with a live band and a DJ. It is similar to Thai discos in Singapore, with girls from Thailand dancing on the bartop. You can invite them for drinks or offer them flower garlands. Club 36 is very crowded with the Chinese community. It's a good place to go even during the week because it is almost always packed. They also have karaoke rooms.
Padang restaurants are countless in Jakarta, and you may find one in almost every street of the city (for new comers and tourists, Padang is the name of a city in Sumatra). Most of the Padang restaurants are small street food stalls or simple "rumah makan" (basic restaurants), and unfortunately many expats can be reluctant to try this kind of establishment because the hygiene is not up to their standards. The Garuda food chain is a good way to experience Padang food because their venues are clean and comfortable, while the general atmosphere and the prices remain close from that of the original Padang food concept. After seating, the waiters will bring you about 15 different dishes, the most common ones, but you can also ask for more specific ones. Then you will be charged only for what you eat. Padang food is quite hot, though it's not, as many people think, the spiciest cuisine of Indonesia. If your stomach is fragile, ask for a lot of rice, ayam goreng bumbu, sa
Kamseng restaurant is the equivalent in North Jakarta of Dim Sum Festival in the South: Opened 24 hours, it is filled with party-goers and clubbers from nearby entertainment venues. My boss once told me about a place near Hayam Wuruk nicknamed the "wh*res' porridge", and now I think he was talking about Kamseng. If you go there late, you'll understand why. After trying a few restaurants in the area, namely Hunan Kitchen and Lac Mei Che , I had high expectations, but what I tried there was nothing more than a busy warung serving cheap, yet average food. Kamseng has a lot of waiters, but it is so busy you could get more attention in a McDonald's during rush hour. If you are looking for a nice, quiet dinner, this is not the place.