Snack shop tempts both adults and children

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Nestled in a typical Kampong setting, Cemal-cemil snack shop revives childhood memories with its old-fashioned treats and snacks.

Not only these goodies, but every element of the small shop -- like the interior, the packaging, the toys -- the overall atmosphere that these details radiate, immediately evokes the memory of time gone by. Entering the shop -- which is located in Desa Payon complex on Jl. Kemang Raya, South Jakarta -- is a pure delight.

And it was nostalgia (and a craving for childhood treats) which inspired owners, Yeany C. Dahlan, Eby Karsono and Satyorini Purawan to set up this unique business.

"We were having lunch and discussed a lot of things, including how much we longed for the treats we ate when we were children. But it is hard to find such tempo-doeloe treats now," she said.

Then the discussion progressed into talk of actually setting up a shop specializing in selling various traditional snacks and wrapping them, or packaging them, in harmony with the old fashioned theme.

For the location, they chose Desa Payon complex because it also houses a restaurant selling traditional homemade food and its ambience matches the concept of their shop. And in May, 2003, Cemal-cemil snack shop first opened its doors to customers in Jakarta.

To accent the theme, a pedicab, once a popular mode of transportation in the capital, is parked right in front of the entrance and inside, dozens of tempo doeloe sweets, biscuits and crispy snacks are attractively displayed on shelves.

The shop's logo bears a picture of three satisfied and cheerful children with the inscription Buatan Indonesia asli (made in Indonesia) and is attached to all goods it sells.

The delicacies include permen payung (umbrella shaped candy), permen rokok (cigarette shaped sweets), telur cicak (lizard's eggs candy), kembang goyang cookies, sagu warna (sweet colorful sago), stick talas (crispy taro stick), kacang sukro (coated in peanut) and mancho (sweet crispy snack coated in sesame seeds) among others.

Some of the sweets are temptingly stored in small glass jars, just large enough to squeeze a hand into, or square cans, commonly used for krupuk (traditional crackers).

The shop's main target market is actually adults. They fondly recall such delicacies, perhaps with the acute sensation of their enjoyment as children.

"They appreciate the treats and in turn introduce them to their children," Yeany said.

Most of its customers, she added, are locals. Some buy the treats to eat at home, while others buy them as gifts for their relatives living abroad. There are also various traditional toys, like tik-tok toys, bamboo flutes, parachutes, paper windmills, wooden arrows and push wooden birds, as a bonus when buying 200 grams of candy.

Several treats are sold in interesting containers, like a wooden truck, a traditional horse and cart, gelas kaleng lurik (spotted tin mugs) and traditional measuring scales. "It takes creativity to combine the treats with toys or unusual packaging but it's much more interesting," Yeany said, while adding that prices range from Rp 1,000 to Rp 60,000.

Some of the toys and the classic packaging is sent from Central and East Java but others, including the square (krupuk) cans are especially made for Cemal-cemil shop.

"If we could only find a few old fashioned objects, before finding the suppliers or the workers to make more, we would just display the objects in the shop to hint at what we were wanting to convey," she laughed.

Most sweet delicacies are also sent from small villages near cities like Solo, Yogyakarta and Salatiga (all in Central Java) where they are still popular, while the biscuits are prepared by several families in Jakarta to ensure quality.

"We heard they can make delicious traditional treats and we ordered from them!"

"But unlike modern snacks, the variety of tempo doeloe is quite limited, nowadays they are also rare. We have sought out new varieties of old-fashioned treats for our shop. Whenever we travel we continue to look... since we would likely find them in small towns in Java," Yeany explained.

Beside traveling, the three also do a little research to enrich their knowledge of old fashioned delicacies and their varieties.

"We went to several book stores to find books on such delicacies and we also consulted our parents on whether a particular treat was truly old fashioned before adding it to our list. We do everything we can to gather information," she recalled, laughing.

Sometimes customers too can be a valuable source of information by pointing out which old favorites are not yet available at Cemal-cemil snack shop.

"Some people come to us to find certain treats and when they do not find what they are looking for, they describe the treats to us and we do our best to make them an addition to our range," Yeany explained.