Cafe Batavia ....

I must admit that the only time I did the 'touristy' things in Jakarta was during my first trip there some 20 years ago. My subsequent trips were either on 'business' ( i.e. medical conferences) or of late golfing holidays. As such my idea of 'Turismo Jakarta' is purely the Monas ( Monumen Nasional), the many 'revolutionary' sculptures of Sukarno era at many intersections of the city's boulevards, the Ancol theme park and the Mini Indonesia Complex, which if I am not wrong, was initiated by Ibu Tien Suharto.

My partner who almost always travel with me has had her fair share of Jakarta shopping whenever we came to this city and decided, this time, to explore this city for its tourist and historical attractions. And judging from her report, Jakarta has many interesting sites and museums to visit. And the Puppet Museum only charges an entrance fee of 2000 rupiah!

In particular are the streets in the area called Old Batavia. Apparently many reconstruction/rehabilitation works are being carried out to revive this district and many of the heritage buildings are converted into museums.

My partner was lucky to have found a very honest and helpful taxi-driver, Pak Tarsono, and for the whole duration of our holidays there Pak Tarsono was at her disposal all the time. She was very happy to tip him as generously as I did to the caddies at the golf course, every time after Pak Tarsono had chaufferred her around according to her itinerary.

On one of the nights, we decided to check out the Cafe Batavia , located at the Fatahilah Square. The 'square' is to Jakarta what our Selangor Club Padang (Dataran Merdeka) is to Kuala Lumpur. Many young couples ( I assume they are college and university students) occupied every nook and corner of the square. Cafe Batavia is located in an old building at one corner of the square. The interior is reminiscent of the Alkaff Mansion in Singapore (which is also another stylish restaurant as the Cafe Batavia.)

I like the feel of 'old Batavia' of this restaurant. The wall is decorated by pictures of old luminaries who have been to the establishment before. They serve ala carte western cuisine and I chose to try their fresh tuna slices drenched in lime sauce for starter and 'bebek goreng' for the main. (bebek goreng - roast duck). It went down well with a caraffe of the house pinot noir.