Semarang's oldest restaurant serves up history<\/p>\n
By R. Kristiawan<\/p>\n
SEMARANG (JP): The story of Toko Oen, the city's oldest
\nrestaurant, begins in 1922 in Yogyakarta with a housewife who had
\ntime on her hands.<\/p>\n
Liem Gien Nio was the wife of Oen Tjoen Hok, a Chinese-
\nIndonesian lieutenant, who wanted something to do after finishing
\nher housework. She was an expert cook of Dutch and Chinese food,
\nso she started making different types of cookies and selling
\nthem, with her customers including the Chinese and Dutch
\ncommunities and the Javanese nobility of Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
The cookies sold like, well, hot cakes. Liem soon established
\na small cake shop, Toko Oen, at the strategic location of Jl.
\nTugu Kidul in Yogyakarta, with its name taken from her husband.
\nThe shop, with its delicious cakes and cookies, soon established
\na regular customer base.<\/p>\n
As more people came to try the cakes, the family opened
\nanother room where people could sit down and have a drink.
\nAfter three years, they expanded the restaurant again and hired
\nstaff to help them, including cooks making more substantial meals
\nthan cakes.<\/p>\n
The family considered opening branches outside of Yogyakarta,
\nand on April 16, 1936, Toko Oen Semarang on Bodjong Weg, now
\nJalan Pemuda, served up its first meals to customers. Branches in
\nJakarta and Malang soon followed.<\/p>\n
Bodjong, running from the Tugu Muda (Youth Monument) through
\nto the harbor, was the main road in Semarang, home to important
\noffices such as the train bureau and post office.<\/p>\n
Liem's granddaughter Yenny Megaputri, who is a graduate in
\narchitecture from Delft University and manages Toko Oen, said the
\nrestaurant, with its tall windows and high curved roof, was built
\nin the Jugendstijl (young style) that was popular in Europe from
\nthe end of the 19th century.<\/p>\n
What makes Toko Oen special it that it has not changed over
\nthe years. Today it has a mall in front of it and modern shops as
\nits neighbors, but Toko Oen has not changed.<\/p>\n
Toko Oen has always been famed for its rich menu -- beef steak
\n(a European style dish which, however, is never found in the Old
\nWorld), fried rice, satay, tutti frutti ice cream and many others
\nare firm favorites, just as they were when president Sukarno and
\nthe Sultan of Yogyakarta dined there.<\/p>\n
Its interior is even more beautiful than its exterior. The
\nwindows have green curtains and there are checkered tiles on the
\nfloor. Two fans, like in the old days, fight the Semarang heat. A
\ngrand piano has been a resident since 1936 and it still works
\nwell today. Dutch cookies and cakes are displayed in tall glass
\njars, and its menus and crockery hark back to the 1930s.<\/p>\n
Even the waiters, some of them are the sons of the men who
\nfirst worked in Toko Oen, wear the peci (traditional black cap)
\nand white uniforms of their forbears (the Javanese blangkon hat
\nworn by waiters before independence was changed to the peci at
\nSukarno's suggestion.<\/p>\n
\"If a chair is broken, we change it for a similar one,\" said
\nAgustiana Sustianawati, one of the staff members.<\/p>\n
Yenny Megaputri said any change would be to the detriment of
\nthe restaurant's atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\"I love old buildings so I will not make any change to this
\nrestaurant,\" said Yenny.<\/p>\n
The Semarang restaurant is the only one in Indonesia still run
\nby the family. In 1958, Toko Oen Jakarta and Yogyakarta stopped
\nrunning due to the absence of family members willing to take them
\nover. Toko Oen Malang is still running but under different
\nmanagement. But Yenny has made some strategic business steps. She
\nopened two branches in Delft and The Hague respectively in 1997
\nand 2000<\/p>\n
Because of its history and its quaint colonial
\ncharacteristics, Toko Oen is a favorite place to visit for Dutch
\ntour groups. Some of them spent their youth in Semarang; as they
\nsit on the chairs in Toko Oen, perhaps they are reliving in their
\nmind the days of their youth when they danced, sang and dined at
\nthis famous restaurant.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/semarangs-oldest-restaurant-serves-up-history-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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