Sun, 16 Sep 2001

Places to go when the munchies hit late at night

By John Badalu

JAKARTA (JP): For true clubbers, the ritual of having a bite to eat after the clubs close is essential. For others, when the late-night munchies hit, they may be left feeling a bit hungry if they do not know where to head.

Want something other than Mickey D's Thamrin? No matter where you are, Jakarta offers plenty of spots where you can fill your stomach in the wee hours. Here are some top choices.

Bubur Ayam, Hotel Indonesia (Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta). Welcome to the oldest hotel in town. Located smack in the center of the city, the wonderfully camp Ramayana restaurant (they have hideous mosaic tiles all over the place and fake birds on display) is certainly not the hip place to be, and your neighboring diners are likely to be government officials.

Despite the kitsch decoration, the restaurant is open 24 hours and the bubur ayam (chicken porridge) is worth the trip. Served in a small bowl with lashings of porridge, the chicken meat is plenty and tasty and reasonably priced. Besides the famous bubur, there are the usual hotel room service menu mainstays, such as nasi goreng (fried rice), burgers and sandwiches. So if you happen to be in the area and have a hankering for a late-night snack, try this mouth-watering porridge.

Nasi Goreng Kambing (Jl. Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta). To find the place, just look for the cars parked by the side of the road. You can either eat in your car or hop out and sit in the covered sidewalk stall.

Don't miss the attraction of seeing the way they cook in an enormous wok that can serve 75 plates in one go. Although the goat meat is getting less and less these days, the taste is still unbeatable and it is the quickest service you can find in Jakarta (unless you park 50 metres away from the stall, and then it is difficult to get the waiters to come to you).

The level of harassment from the singing beggars and pirated CD and cassette sellers is reasonably low. Apparently, music video director Rizal Mantovani is a regular at this place. Nasi Goreng Kambing is open from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m., but they close earlier if the food is finished.

Sop Buntut, Bogor Cafe, Borobudur Hotel (Jl. Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta). Newly revamped hotel still serves the same fragrant sop buntut (oxtail soup). This dish is a Jakarta specialty, and Bogor Cafe offers "regular" (the oxtail is boiled) and fried. Both are delicious.

Besides the famous sop buntut, there is an array of choices, such as nasi goreng, all kind of burgers, steaks and desserts. The late-night clientele varies from dodgy-looking businessmen (in those gold-pattern Versace shirts that went out of fashion five years ago) to clubbers from Central and South Jakarta. Expect to pay hotel prices with 21 percent tax. The cafe is open 24 hours.

Bakmi Gang Mangga (Jl. Kemurnian IV, West Jakarta).

It's hidden away in the Kota area, but the best way to get there is to go along Jl. Gajah Mada toward Glodok and turn left when you see a gas station in the middle of the road. There are actually two good places on this street. One is the famous Bakmi Kemurnian (a Bakmi Gajah Mada look-alike; even the menu is more- or-less the same but less glossy) and Bakmi Gang Mangga, which offers a full range of Medan-style Chinese food. But people come here for the bakmi ayam (chicken noodles) or bakmi with some barbecued pork, and the nasi goreng.

This is not a celebrity stomping-ground (they probably get lost on the way every time) but die-hard clubbers from Kota inundate the places during the early hours. Bakmi Kemurnian never closes and Bakmi Gang Mangga is open from 4 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Bubur Cikini (Jl. Cikini, Central Jakarta). Across from the railway station and Kentucky Fried Chicken, the bubur Cikini is different from the usual porridge you find on the streets of Jakarta. Unlike bubur Betawi (sweet soy sauce, peanuts, chicken meat) and krupuk (shrimp crackers), bubur Cikini is the kind of porridge that comes from Sukabumi. It has an egg, with salty soy sauce, tasty chicken meat and sliced cakweh (a kind of fried bread, like an Indonesian crouton).

They are open from 6 p.m. until midnight, but usually run out of food before that. The diners are a younger crowd, including many students from the Jakarta Arts Institute.

Bubur Hostess (Jl. Hayam Wuruk). Yet another bubur place, but that is what people like to eat on a tired stomach. It is located between Suisse bakery and ML Discotheque on a small side street (no name) and it has no sign outside, but the house is No. 24.

It is called Bubur Hostess because at one time the clientele was mostly prostitutes (hostess being the old euphemism for prostitutes) working in the area. And the place keeps the same hours as the hostesses: 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.

Today, there are fewer prostitutes to be seen, with Kota clubbers, local Chinese-Indonesians and early morning exercisers making up most of the customers. They serve plain porridge but you can add chicken, barbecued or red sweet pork and also cakweh. The pork doesn't come cheap but it is crispy and crunchy to chew over. Overall, it is still pretty affordable. Looking to celebrity watch? Well, do you think any public figure wants to be associated with this place, despite its good food? I doubt it.