Hello, friends, especially foodies!
Recently, when I was craving Gado-Gado (Indonesian Salad), I took my husband to a popular authentic Javanese restaurant located in Central Park Mall, West Jakarta.
The restaurant's name was Java Kitchen. Just like its name suggests, they served Indonesian dishes, especially traditional Javanese cuisine.
As you could see, they had many ready-to-serve dishes that you could choose from. You could have them served with rice as a set meal or order them à la carte. There were so many dishes available—around 30 different dishes, I think!
By the time we arrived, it was almost 2 PM. I had to wait for my husband to finish work and make his way to Central Park so we could have lunch together. It was a little late for lunch, but just look around… there were still so many customers! The restaurant was quite full.
Fortunately, we managed to get a table and chairs inside the restaurant.
After we were seated, the waiter brought us the menu. Besides all the ready-to-serve dishes we had seen earlier, they also offered many other Indonesian dishes, especially Javanese specialties.
One of the first things mentioned in their menu was the reason why they served healthier food. According to the restaurant, their dishes contained no MSG. They used organic rice, mineral water for their drinks and juices, vegetable oil, real coconut milk, and natural spices. They also stated that their food contained no preservatives or meat tenderizers, was traditionally prepared, was halal, and used natural ingredients.
Uniquely, they also shared the restaurant's history and mission in the menu.
When we opened the menu, we could find various soup dishes such as Lamongan Chicken Soto, Sulung Beef Soto, Betawi Soto, Rawon (Black Beef Soup), Lontong Cap Gomeh, Oxtail Soup, and Fried Oxtail Soup.
Later, we found their rice dishes, including Mini Tumpeng Rice, Rames Rice, Semarang Chicken Rice, Langgi Rice, Timbel Rice, Gudeg Rice, and Pecel Rice.
Next, they had Salted Fish Fried Rice, Seafood Fried Rice, Javanese Fried Rice, and Javanese Fried Noodles.
For fish dishes, they offered gourami cooked with mango sauce, grilled gourami, gourami with cobek chili paste, and sweet-and-sour gourami.
They also served satay (Madura-style chicken satay and Maranggi beef satay), smashed chicken, gado-gado uleg, rujak cingur, tahu telur (tofu and egg), fruit rujak, gado-gado siram, stir-fried water spinach, sour vegetable soup, corn fritters, mendoan tempeh, and French fries.
For beverages, they had Kopyor Coconut Ice (a rare one!),
Es Teler, mixed ice, red bean ice, Delima Ice, Dawet Ice, Milo Dinosaur Ice, Selasih Orange Ice, Selasih Cucumber Ice, Lemongrass Lemon Ice, avocado juice, iced lemon tea, iced lemongrass, and various traditional spiced drinks.
It didn't take long after we ordered before the waiter brought our food and drinks.
Here was our table!
I ordered:
GADO-GADO SIRAM
This is a Javanese-style Indonesian salad containing boiled egg, tofu, boiled potato, lettuce, long beans, cucumber, cabbage, bean sprouts, water spinach, and fried shallots.
It was also served with crispy crackers and melinjo chips, along with a delicious peanut sauce. The peanut sauce had a sweet and savory flavor with smooth texture —so perfect!
I also added some chili sauce to give it a little extra spiciness. 🌶️
My husband ordered:
TAHU TELUR
It consisted of fried tofu combined with egg and bean sprouts, served with petis sauce.
Petis is a traditional Indonesian sauce made primarily from fermented shrimp. Its flavor is savory and sweet, making it a delicious combination with the fried tofu and egg.
It was also served with shrimp crackers.
We also ordered the rare one for our beverage:
KOPYOR COCONUT ICE
Kopyor is a special type of coconut from Indonesia with a natural genetic mutation that makes its flesh soft, crumbly, and loose inside the shell.
The texture was totally different from regular coconut flesh—it was very soft and almost fell apart easily.
They served it with red cocopandan syrup, which gave it a moderate sweetness. It was so refreshing and tasty!
Although they costed quite expensiv but i think it worth the price.
Wanna Try Tasty Yet Healthy Indonesian Food too?
Come and try it yourselves!
JAVA KITCHEN
LG 105A Unit, Central Park Mall
28th Letjen S. Parman Street
Tanjung Duren, Grogol
West Jakarta
Open daily: 10 AM – 10 PM
Thanks for reading my article! If you enjoyed it, please upvote, reblog, and follow me, and stay tuned for more CRAFT things from me!
All of the pictures were taken with a Samsung A52 5G Android phone.
A Bit About the Author
Devy Leona
She works in a bank, but she is interested in CRAFT (CRaft, Art, Food and Travel). To pursue her passion for art, she enjoys cross-stitch, embroidery, hand sewing, crafts, crochet, and drawing. Find her creations at https://de-creartique.redbubble.com and https://decreartique.threadless.com/designs.
You can also find her cute collectible pixel cat pictures here: https://opensea.io/collection/pixelcryptocat.