Muslim Islands in the Oceania Indonesian cuisine restaurants

I came to Jakarta for shopping during the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday in 2024. I stayed in a large commercial complex called Ciputra. The hotel is quite good, and there is a big shopping mall without going out. . There are many large shopping malls like this in Jakarta, but most of them are in New Town in the south of the city. This one is relatively close to the airport, bus station and the old town.
  



There are many restaurants in the mall, and I chose two. I ate fish in sour soup Sop Ikan Asam Pedas and fish roll LumpiaIkan at the first restaurant. The sour soup was very delicious with pineapple, and I ate a whole one by myself.
  




At the second restaurant, I ate Kangkung Bawang Putih with Garlic Kale, CumiSaus Padang with Padang Sauce and Big Pepper Sauce. Crab Kepting Jantan Saus LadaHitam. The advantage of this restaurant is that all the photos of the dishes are posted on the wall. There is a small card in front of each photo. You just need to take out the small card and hand it to the front desk. It is very simple.
  





Jakarta Old Town Old Town Jakarta (Kota Tua Jakarta), also known as Old Town Batavia (Oud Batavia), is the most important colonial settlement of the Netherlands in Southeast Asia. It was the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company from the 17th to the 19th century. The Old Town of Batavia was founded in 1619, making it 400 years old this year.




Batavia, 1682, by Weduwe van Jacob van Meurs



The old town of Batavia in 1931, the same building on the left and the picture above


The old town of Batavia in the 19th century, Illustration by Johannes Weissenbruch

Today's old town is very lively. It's like a temple fair. There are people taking photos, palm readers, singers, henna tattoos, and portraits.










Jakarta History Museum

The center of Batavia Old Town is Fatahillah Square, the most important of which The building is the Jakarta History Museum. The Jakarta History Museum was founded in 1710 as the Batavia City Hall.




There is a small area in the museum courtyard dedicated to the special snacks of the Badawi people. I had spicy omelette Kerak telor and iced drink Selendang Mayang. It’s a pity that I didn’t know at the time that the Badawi snacks sold here are Badawi special snacks that are difficult to eat elsewhere. Otherwise, you should try every kind. Kerak telor is made of glutinous rice and eggs with fried shredded coconut, fried shallots and dried shrimp as toppings. During the colonial era, this food could only be eaten at gatherings of wealthy merchants from the Dutch or Badawi people.

It was invented to enhance the taste of glutinous rice. Selendang Mayang is now rarely seen. It is a long-standing Batavia ice drink made from rice flour, vanilla powder, pandan leaves, brown syrup and coconut juice.






The Badawi people are a unique ethnic group formed in Jakarta. Let me briefly introduce their origins: In 1619, the Dutch razed Jakarta under the rule of the Banten Sultanate to the ground and renamed it Badawi. Davia, which served as a trading and administrative center for the Dutch East India Company. Fearing an attack by the Banten Sultanate, local Javanese were initially prohibited from living in Batavia. In addition to the Dutch and their slaves, most of the people living in the city were Chinese and Mardijkers, as well as a small number of Arab and Indian traders. The Mardijker people originated from Portuguese slaves in India, Africa and the Malay Peninsula. After the Dutch defeated Portugal in the 17th century, they were liberated by the Dutch East India Company and brought to Indonesia. Most of these people speak Portuguese and believe in Catholicism. Because few Dutch women immigrated to Batavia, most Dutch men in Batavia chose to partner with local women, but almost never married. Nor do these women have the right to return to the Netherlands with Dutch men. This social pattern resulted in many mixed races in Batavia. Most of the men of these mixed races chose to go to Europe, while the women had to stay in Batavia. According to the 1699 census, there were 3,679 Chinese, 2,407 Mardijkers, 1,783 Europeans, 670 mixed-races and 867 others living in Batavia. Following the peace between the Dutch East India Company and the Banten Sultanate in 1659, many East Indies residents began to settle on the outskirts of Batavia. In 1684, the Dutch East India Company signed a formal peace treaty with the Banten Sultanate. From then on, the swampy areas around Batavia could be reclaimed. There were more and more residents outside the city walls, including Malays, Sundanese, Javanese, Minangkabau and Bugis people, among others. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, various ethnic groups living in Batavia began to merge, and after a hundred years, the current Badawi people were finally formed in the early 20th century. The Badawi people speak a Malay language mixed with large amounts of Hokkien Chinese, Arabic and Dutch, called Badawi Malay, and are the only Malay-speaking area on the northern coast of Java. The food of the Badawi people is also strongly influenced by Indonesian Chinese, Arab, European and native Sundanese and Javanese food.

Wayang Museum

The Wayang Museum is on the west side of the square. The original site was a Dutch church built in 1640. The current building was built in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1912 and renovated in the Dutch Colonial style in 1938. It was subsequently acquired by the Batavia Academy of Arts and Sciences and opened as the Batavia Old Town Museum in 1939. It was officially opened as the Wayang Museum in 1975.










The Wayang Museum has a wayang performance every Sunday morning and afternoon. The wayang groups invited are different every week. When I went there, it happened to be I had already seen the Wayang shadow puppet show team in Yogyakarta so I didn’t go.



Old Town Food

I had grilled chicken rice at Bangi Kopitiam, a restaurant next to the Wayang Museum. Bangi Kopitiam is an Indonesian-Malay-Singaporean restaurant chain, focusing on Indonesian and Peranakan food. This store is located on the facade of a Dutch historical building. It has a nice environment. The waiters are very friendly and they can even pet the cat while eating.








Eat lotus root and fish fingers at the night market on the north side of Fatahillah Square (Batavia City Square). The hot sauce on the lotus was particularly fragrant but super spicy. I drank a lot of water to get rid of it.







Seaside

There is a seaside boardwalk on the northeast side of the old town of Batavia. The scenery is beautiful at sunset. I recall that it was the most important trading port of the Dutch East India Company, but now it has become a place for people to take a walk in the evening. The Dutch, who were besieged by Zheng Chenggong in the castle, were eager for the warships sailing out from here to rescue them.