Pesta Keboen, resto with colonial charm

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.