Pesta Keboen, resto with colonial charm

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Semarang, Central Java

Historical traces of a city can be identified in the "alternative menu" of a restaurant, something that complements one's style in enjoying dishes and drinks and the life of the colonial nobility of the past. They can also be revived through romanticism in the way a party is held, either indoors or outdoors.

Of course, creating such an atmosphere will take more energy than simply perusing the menu of a restaurant. Take, for example, Roeang Makan Pesta Keboen Semarang (Semarang Garden Party Restaurant).

The place is designed (including the use of furniture) to resemble the original condition of an old residential house in a European style, making it not just a restaurant. By chance, the restaurant is housed in a former dwelling place occupied by a Dutch family and built in mid 1800s.

The atmosphere of the room is enhanced by the presence of reproductions of pictures depicting old buildings in Semarang, complete with the year when the pictures were taken.

Now most buildings that retained vestiges of the colonial legacy in the city have had their design and designation changed.

In a picture made in 1925, the building now housing Dr. Kariadi Hospital is presented as Central Burgerlijke Ziekeninrichting. The picture also shows the railway line extending from north to south, running through the city beside the Tugu Muda Monument.

Entering the Pesta Keboen premises, we are confronted with an original 1859 map of Semarang. A tube radio made in early 1900s is also seen decorating the first room, which serves as a sitting room and front office. In the middle room you can see old chairs lined up in a row, forming a suitable combination with old cupboards made before the 1900s.

Inside one cupboard there are hundreds of blue and greenish glass bottles along with kitchen utensils such as thermos flasks, a set of stacked containers made of zinc, porcelain jugs and ceramic plates. All are old items.

Three typewriters made in the 1930s are also on display not far from another cupboard containing old cigar boxes from different countries and old pistols. On the outside part of the main building there is a bar serving snacks with the background walls decorated by various cigarette and tobacco labels.

"We have designed the atmosphere as such that it really captures the colonial nuances. Therefore, the choice of the building is adjusted to the colonial concept," restaurant owner Deded Hari Pratikno told The Jakarta Post. `He said he hunted for antique goods around Semarang and even in Malang and Probolinggo, East Java, before taking them to the restaurant.

In Roeang Makan Pesta Keboen, we not only can enjoy various kinds of popular dishes and drinks from the old times but our imagination can transport us back to an era many, many years gone by.

Loempia (fried flour-made sausage containing minced chicken and small pieces of bamboo shoot), kue Lekker cake, pecel terong (eggplant salad, consisting of eggplants, green vegetables and soy sauce). Pearl porridge and marrow porridge are two of the dishes now hard to find elsewhere. At this restaurant they are available between Rp 6,000 and Rp 7,500.

Then the drinks. You can enjoy wedang kacang hijau, wedang cemu, starfruit juice and young coconut flesh in iced syrup as well as various kinds of pudding at prices ranging between Rp 4,500 and Rp 11,000.

And of course, there are various kinds of soup, like the tomato soup (chicken, sausage and carrot plus legume served with toast), and mushroom ball soup (chicken, beef, edible fungi, rice noodles) at an average price of Rp 9,000 per helping.

Enhancing the combination of the colonial/European atmosphere of the past are various kinds of steak such as tenderloin steak, Cordon Bleu Chicken steak (chicken wrapped in smoked beef and cheese, mixed vegetables, and fried potatoes served in cheese sauce) available at Rp 26,000.

In addition to the dishes of the past, Pesta Keboen also serves a special menu not usually found elsewhere, like its Golden Smoked Chicken. This particular dish is different from smoked milkfish, the unique dish of Juwawa, Pati regency, 70 km east of Semarang.

This smoked chicken was finally perfected through a series of trials and errors for two years before the right recipe was finally found. Fresh chicken is mixed with over three kinds of spices and then steamed for three to four days so that it becomes soft and the spices permeate into the entire chicken. Before it is served, the chicken is smoked on a specially designed stove with a special fuel made of dried sugarcane waste.

To complement the colonial atmosphere, all the dishes are named after the buildings or locations in Semarang using the old spelling such as Oedang Saoes Merah Sinjo Londo, Boeboer Moetiara Djornatan (name of a market) or Koee Lekker Gedoeng Papak (building of finance office) and so forth. The menu list offers over 100 items.

If you wish to savor the romanticism in the style of Toean Meneer (a term of address used for Dutch noblemen), you can choose a package for four persons called Menoe Rijstatafel, the package of Sam Poo Kong (Temple), the package of Stasioen Pontjol (Pontjol Railway Station) or Geredja Blendoek (Blendoek Church), which will be served in a regular order from the opening dish to the main course with smoked chicken or roast gurami fish. Each package costs between Rp 110,000 and Rp 120,000.

Live zither music is presented every Tuesday and Thursday between 12 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. while special keroncong music can be enjoyed on Sundays from 7 pm to 9.30 pm.

Roeang Makan Pesta Keboen, Jl. Veteran No. 29, Semarang, Tel 024 845 3737.