All together now at Surabaya's Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun

All together now at Surabaya's Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun

Omar Prihandono
Contributor
Surabaya

"OK, reserve 100 tables right in front of the music stage. Just
stay cool, there'll be flocks of people coming to see him,"
Freddy Istanto said in a somewhat panicked voice to his
assistants.

Rumor had it that presidential candidate Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono would visit Kya-kya Kembang Jepun -- simply known as
kya-kya among Surabayans -- that night and demonstrate his newly
developed skill of singing on stage.

Although SBY had yet to leave his hotel room, Freddy was right
that hordes of people were already descending on the 800-meter
outdoor dining area, which is guarded by two huge gates with
nine-meter wooden dragons on top of them.

Welcome to the hottest street in Surabaya.

"This is probably the only place in Indonesia where you can
spot a presidential candidate sing his heart out while you are
eating a plate of delicious kangkung cah (seared morning glory),"
said Freddy, who is a lecturer at Petra University, Surabaya,
smiling proudly.

The initial idea to revamp the area was simple. It set out to
turn the main street of Kembang Jepun, the old, mostly forgotten
Chinatown into a public area where people could come to have a
good time, relax and eat good food from well-organized street
hawkers.

"Before, nobody dared visit Kembang Jepun at night. It still
is one of the busiest wholesaler centers in Surabaya, but when
all the shops closed at 5 p.m., who wants to get mugged by thug
in a dark alley and go home without a penny in your pocket?" said
Freddy.

In early 2003, he presented the idea of revitalizing the
nightlife of Kembang Jepun -- said to be named after a Japanese
prostitute from World War II -- to the municipal government of
Surabaya, with the name kya-kya, from the Mandarin for "taking a
stroll".

He received a lukewarm response from the powers that be, as
well as a corny suggestion for a more "appropriate" name of the
center.

"They thought the name kya-kya was 'too Chinese' and came up
with Taman Wisata Surabaya. I was like, what? This is a Chinatown
and though it bears a Chinese name, everybody can visit it."

Freddy and his event organizer went on with their plan and
with support from local businesspeople as well as a local media
mogul, the Rp 5 billion project was launched in May 2003.

"I didn't want a great idea to die young, so I established PT
Kya Kya Kembang Jepun to professionally manage everything about
the street festival."

It is not just mere lip service to assure vendors and
investors that they are onto something good. Seven days a week,
at 4 p.m. an hour after shops close for the day, Freddy's force
of 100 servers and cleaning service staff begins spraying the
business area with sanitizer, before reloading the food carts
which are stored at nearby depots.

Two hours later, visitors from all parts of Surabaya start
flooding the street in search of dinner.

"I recruited members of Karang Taruna (a local youth
organization) to become servers and cleaning service staff, while
I approached some of the preman (neighborhood thugs who run
protection services) of Kembang Jepun to keep an eye on the
safety of visitors. I want every part of the community to get
their fair share of this new fanfare."

If it was possible to get mugged in the shadier sections of
Kembang Jepun, don't think that your pocketbook is completely
safe at Kya-kya Kembang Jepun. This time, though, the damage will
be done by splurging on the irresistibly mouthwatering dishes
from around 200 food stalls that flank the old street.

From authentic Chinese food to the sumptuous East Javanese
dishes, from tender grilled lamb to freshly served seafood, it's
tough to pick only one kind of food and bring it to your table,
under the glare of glitzy red lanterns.

Apart from the fact it has been established in a once bustling
Chinatown, Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun might be just another ordinary
street food center, like those to be found anywhere in the
country. But surveying the number of visitors that can reach up
to 7,000 on weekends, you sense that it's not just the food they
are coming for.

The food is not the only attraction here. Knowing that
culinary enticements alone would not be enough to keep the
visitors coming back for more, Freddy added the touches of a
night fair.

That is why upon entering the gate, visitors are greeted by a
palm-reading corner owned by a Chinese granny, for instance, and
there is even a tattoo artist who demonstrates his skills in the
center of the dining area, surrounded by awestruck kids and their
parents.

When you see an old Chinese fortune teller reading the palm of
a Javanese young man's hand or spot a guy singing the popular
Cucak Rowo dangdut-Javanese language hit in front of his wife and
children, it is clear that the place has revived the meaning of
unwinding and dining out in an unpretentious environment.

Most importantly, it has the spirit of place that is hardly
found in even the city's luxury shopping malls. Of course, for
those presidential-wannabes, Kya-Kya Kembang Jepun serves as the
ultimate see-and-be-seen place to gain support.

Following efforts by the aforementioned presidential
candidate, Freddy and his team has to prepare themselves for the
visit of another presidential candidate, he of the horrifyingly
neat hairdo.

"He'll come along with his 300 aides and most likely will also
sing on the stage," Freddy said with a grin.

Fortunately, unlike those candidates who arrive for a fly-by-
night visit, Kya-Kya is not about a one-time-only visit for those
who love good food and a good time. It's been playing its role as
a true melting for the past year, and looks likely to become a
city institution.