Sup ayam at Kopi Es Tak Kie, Glodok Jakarta
Because by the time we land in Jakarta it's twilight, and the drive in from the airport is nothing but lumpy dark shapes - houses, shops, shanties - lining the road and, when we hit downtown, wide boulevards and tall showy buildings and shopping mall after shopping mall, just like Bangkok. Or Manila. Or Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Because this is our first time in Indonesia's capital (not strictly Dave's first, but his first with time to wander) and in my rush to pack I forgot the guidebook. Because we're up at 5:30am and though there's work to be done on this trip our first appointment isn't for hours, so we've lots of time to kill. Because the place names on our city map - Tanah Abang, Menteng, Harmoni, Pasar Baru - are just meaningless words to us and even last night, though our journey in was a straight shot between airport and hotel we could sense that Jakarta is huger than huge, scary huge. Because we don't know where to start.
But we know there's a Chinatown. We'll get our bearings there.
We ask our taxi driver to take us to the pasar (market) in Glodok. It's 6:30 now and the streets are surprisingly light of traffic. Dawn comes an hour earlier to Indonesia's western islands than it does to the Malaysian peninsula but Jakartans seem to be late risers. Sumatrans too. We wonder, is this an Indonesian thing? By 7am Bangkok's Dalat Klong Toey is heaving, KL's Pasar Pudu packed.
We start at the mouth of an alley off Jalan Pancoran. Not much activity here, certainly no market, just a few sleepy fruit and cake sellers. We head in, walking past shop after empty shop. Nothing's open. No coffee, no noodles. But a few shoppers toting bulging plastic bags and porters pushing carts of vegetables tell us we're on the right track.
We find our market at the end of another alley. It's not big - just a short stretch of narrow brick-paved street running along a stinky canal - but it'll do. There's lots of activity, vendors loudly hawking their produce, rolling carts of live chickens to dodge, motorbikes weaving between shoppers and sellers.
The faces here, unlike those in KL's Chinatown market off Petaling Street, aren't predominantly Chinese,
nor are the ingredients on sale. The only language we hear spoken is Indonesian.

Dried salted fish and oncom
So what says 'Chinatown' here?
Pork sellers, for one. In Malaysian markets they're tucked behind a wall or partition so as not to offend, but in Glodok they're very much out in the open, mixed in amongst other shops and stalls, within arm's distance of Muslim shoppers who appear to pay them no notice.
Then there's foods like soft, fresh tofu (in most Southeast Asian cities head to Chinatown for the best tofu and coffee),
and mooncakes, even though they look nothing like the lovely imprinted mooncakes we associate with the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival. They do look like moons though, with their pale, floury wrappers. Fillings are hit-and-miss; cempedak - breadfruit - is a loser, but we highly recommend biji jambu, a sort of caramel flavored mix of nuts and seeds.
And, further down the lane where the market starts to peter out, there's the crowded Wihara Dharma Bakhti, a large Buddhist temple complex.
We backtrack in search of coffee. Kopi tarik ('pulled' coffee) is what we're after, the thick, strong stuff made by repeatedly pouring water over grounds suspended in cloth bag, the sort of coffee we've drunk at Chinese-run shops and stalls in Thailand and Malaysia.
Down an alley on the other side of Jalan Pancoran we find Kopi Es (iced coffee) Tak Kie. The shop's namesake beverage doesn't offer quite the jolt we're after, but we're happy to relax a while at one of its tables and take in the very KL-ish Chinese coffeeshop atmosphere. Tak Kie's patrons seem to consist mostly of retirees, or at least older folks with time on their hands; you just know they've been eating here for decades. There's congee and fried rice and noodles on offer, but the big seller here is the sup ayam (chicken soup) dished up at the front of the shop.
It looks fairly unspectacular, but the broth is hearty and flavorsome - perfect wake-up food. Big meaty chunks of white and black chicken share space with pre-laid eggs that consist of 100% yolk. On the side, a saucer of coriander leaves, spicy vinegar-chili sauce, Chinese crullers for dipping, and a bowl of rice. Extra seasoning comes from a squeeze bottle of huatiao jiu (Chinese sweet rice wine) - a nice touch.
Energized, we work our way up and down more Glodok alleys, discovering Batavia-era Chinese houses in various states of disrepair (only facades, in some cases).
The owner of this one invites us in for a look. It's more than 100 years old and has been in his family since it was built. We admire its soaring ceilings, thick plaster walls (this thing has withstood more than a few tremors), original Dutch floor tiles, and sturdy jati wood support beams. The two-story number next door is for sale, and for a few minutes we indulge in visions of a sweet little old Jakarta Chinese house - repaired and updated - as home.
As we leave he points us up the street, towards more historic buildings. Oriented, ready to take on more of Jakarta, we leave Glodok bound for Sunda Kelapa.










Beautiful post. Thank you!
Posted by: Jennifer | 2008.07.23 at 13:56
That's really interesting that it would be the Chinese shops with the best coffee. In mainland China I never found anything but instant (barring upscale hotels) until I got to Kunming, where there was a Vietnamese-influenced place that had great coffee and French rolls.
So I wonder why the Chinese outside of China would be the coffee experts.
Posted by: Kitt | 2008.07.23 at 15:42
That tofu looks great! (And they're normally just plain old blocks to me.)
Posted by: Yayie | 2008.07.23 at 16:52
Thanks Jennifer - and you're welcome.
Kitt, that's something that's stumped me for a few years now. The only time we ever had decent coffee in China was on Hainan island, at a little eatery run by folks from Guangxi. They made it bag-style too, as did unfriendly restaurant at the state-owned guesthouse (was there any of type of guesthouse, back in 1985) where we stayed. It was very Vietnamese-style, thick and strong with sweetned condensed milk.
Most of the Chinese in SE Asia are originally from southern and SE China, but I never found a decent cup of coffee in Guangdong, that's for sure.
Yayie - super fresh tofu like this is just the best!
Posted by: Robyn | 2008.07.23 at 19:17
Sorry, i thought the soup looks like turtle soup to me..the signboard also written turtle in Chinese..
Posted by: yat | 2008.07.23 at 22:45
Robyn, I think the correct name of the street is Jalan Pancoran.
Posted by: Albert | 2008.07.24 at 04:21
Hi yat - they were dishing up from two pots and one may well have contained turtle soup. Ours was chicken though .... I know the texture of turtle meat and this didn't have it.
Albert - noted and thanks.
Posted by: Robyn | 2008.07.24 at 08:41
Thanks.
Posted by: yat | 2008.07.24 at 09:36
Hi Robyn,
I am sorry to burst your bubble but it is most definitely turtle soup that you have there. First of all, that shop is famous among Chinese Indonesian for its turtle soup. They don't sell anything else and when supply is low, they even close shop.
Secondly, scrutinizing your photograph, note that the round yellow things are turtle yolk, not young chicken eggs (a delicacy in Indonesia but I'm not sure about other parts of Asia).
Thirdly, the white, gelatinous things you had in the bowl (almost squarish in the foreground) is turtle skin which has a texture between a firm jello and well.. rubber :D.
Fourthly, as someone pointed out, the signs said Turtle Soup, Turtle in fermented soy-bean, and Frog Soup.
I used to hang out in this place (by force, of course) on Sundays when I was young with my parents. Thanks for taking such good pictures of my memories :D
PS: My reply will be way too long but if you're interested in finding out why the Chinatown in Jakarta is so different from the rest of Asia (or the world), it's something to do with the history of Chinese in Indonesia.
Posted by: Venny | 2008.07.25 at 19:09
Hi Venny - thanks for your comment but I can't quite make out if your tone is deliberately cheeky or just tongue-in-cheek?
I stand corrected (and surprised, bec. this would be the first turtle meat I've ever had that wasn't sticky/gummy. I generally dislike it immensely). No bubbles burst here though. I usually don't invest a great deal of ego in my posts. ;-p
And no worries on the length of your comment. There have been longer. But, c'mon - give me some credit. I'm very aware of the history of the Chinese in Indonesia and I understand why they have assimilated there more than Chinese populations in other SE Asian countries. The differences I note in the post (betw. Jakarta's Chinatown and others) are observations only ... not commentary.
Thanks for tuning in.
Posted by: Robyn | 2008.07.25 at 20:09
Hi Robyn,
Oops, I didn't start off trying to be cheeky or anything. I hope you won't take it the wrong way. As for the history of Chinese in Indonesia, my apology. I didn't realize it was just an observation.
Thanks for the reply :D.
Posted by: Venny | 2008.07.25 at 20:25
Hi Venny - seriously, thanks for yr comment and hope you'll comment on our upcoming Jakarta posts. Our knowledge of Indonesian food is patchy.
Cheers,
Robyn
Posted by: Robyn | 2008.07.30 at 13:31
Hi Robyn,
I like the photograph of that pi-oh soup.
I'm currently making article about this tak kie coffee shop, may I used 3 of your picture for my article, thanks
Posted by: Handy Chan | 2009.07.30 at 18:46
re SEA Chinese & their coffee: IMO it's because a good number of Chinese immigrants were involved with coffee plantations & trading in the new world. In fact, all the coffee merchants here are Chinese Indonesians.
Posted by: hungrypig | 2010.08.22 at 04:04