Jakarta's Memories restaurant now a place to remember

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Memories restaurant lived up to its name in the saddest way last night.

Manager Klaas Kemp ushered out the last of the Valentine's Day diners, said goodbye to some of his 54 staff and locked the door of the restaurant for the final time after 12 years in business.

Opened in October 1985 on the first floor of the Indosemen building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, the restaurant built up a loyal clientele of businesspeople, bankers, ministers and those merely intent on a culinary trip down memory lane.

But the good days came to a grinding halt with the catastrophic economic collapse that began in the middle of last year.

"During last year's Idul Fitri holiday, business was down but that was understandable," Kemp said. "But it had picked up by June, and my Indonesian clientele was then about 55 percent."

Loyal clientele included prominent statesmen Radius Prawiro, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, Sudharmono and their families, besides foreign envoys.

Kemp went on vacation, and returned to find the local currency on an inexorable slide into a netherworld of worthlessness.

Memories' US$10,000 monthly rent soon became unaffordable, and the owners informed Kemp two weeks ago that the restaurant would have to close.

It was an especially sad end for Kemp, 71, who arrived here 27 years ago to train workers for a cruise ship line. He married an Indonesian, fathered two sons and stayed on, working during the 1970s as a manager for the Oasis restaurant (he is credited with reintroducing Rijsttafel dining at the eatery on Jl. Raden Saleh, Cikini in Central Jakarta).

Oasis' owners, the family which also owns the Aqua mineral water company, suggested he explore new restaurant possibilities in the 1980s.

"At first, we talked about a Polynesian theme, but I did not think this was the place for that," Kemp said. "So we opened the restaurant as a grill."

It was his baby, and he was given free rein on the project.

"I wanted it to be like another world, like people were stepping back in time."

Kemp fattened the menu with Dutch favorites; it eventually covered four pages, not including separate fliers for profiteroles, waffles and other desserts.

He succeeded in turning it into a homage to the cuisine of his homeland and furnished it with antiques, such as original cutlery from the former Dutch East Indies shipping line KPN.

A local band, trained by Kemp in Dutch, German and English songs, was hired to serenade patrons with tunes from yesteryear.

Naturally, Kemp retains his own bank of fond memories from over the years. A young man who brought his thrilled grandfather, a former KPN captain, to the restaurant. The elderly couple who came every Valentine's Day and requested, year after year, the same table.

Longtime Jakarta resident and Memories patron, E.J.B. Huisman, said he felt for Kemp.

"I saw it all start from the beginning, when this place was just bare walls. It is very sad. This is his life. But what can we do?"

Although costs of imported foods soared last year, Kemp refused to skimp on quality.

Dutch herring, a menu mainstay, was marked with a "not available" sticker after its price became exorbitantly high.

"People come to Memories for memories. I don't want to finish a good memory by serving bad quality. When I go down, I go proudly," Kemp said.

Some of the restaurant's workers will be reassigned to other firms in the business group, but Kemp said he spent "sleepless nights thinking about this. I feel lousy".

There is a slight possibility the restaurant may reopen at another location.

"I still see a spark of light. But I would definitely not choose the location of a high-rise," Kemp said, describing the Indosemen building management as not "lenient" in handling the payment issue.

"I would prefer a house, but those are hard to find."

Huisman said he would not be among those marking Memories' final night of business.

"It would be too much. I just want to have good memories of what this place meant to me over the years."