Rima Melati new cafe in town

JAKARTA (JP): Movie actress Rima Melati has joined the growing trend of artist restaurateurs by opening Colours, the new cafe in the basement of Menara Thamrin (Thamrin Tower) on Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

Jakartans will recognize the place, formerly known as Pete's Tavern Pub, which operated from 1984.

"We changed the name and layout of the building to attract young people to visit our restaurant.

"Cafe sounds modern and it will become popular among young people," Supardi Boekan, the general manager of Indonesia Service Organization (ISO), said while addressing the soft opening of the cafe on Wednesday.

The cafe, open Monday to Saturday from noon until midnight, offers live music by local musicians and various kinds of food, including gourmet cuisine, said Soepardi.

He declined to divulge the investment total of the new cafe. "We only spent money on the cafe's layout, including the brick ornaments on the wall," he said, adding that ISO, a holding company which operates six pubs and cafes in Jakarta and Bali, would make no commitments to open other cafes in the near future due to economic hardships.

ISO is owned by Rima Melati, a veteran female artist who starred in films such as Salah Asuhan (Wrong Education, 1961) and Kasih Tak Sampai (Star-Crossed Lovers, 1973). Rima, who has recently done some sinetron (television drama) projects, is shooting a television drama on location in the Netherlands. (asa)