A Costly Journey Through Indonesia

the original tagline should be "A Flavourful Journey Through Indonesia", but probably "costly" is more suitable to describe Tesate, a new food place in Plaza Senayan, Jakarta, that serves authentic traditional and modern Indonesian cuisine in a whole new sense of style.

located just one level below the Cinema XXI area, from the front side, Tesate looks just like a small coffee shop. but after walking across a small hallway besides the main entrance, we can find a 'hidden' restaurant lounge. the hallway itself is very sophisticated, with a blue lighting and a catwalk feeling.


entering the restaurant area, we can clearly see the mixture between modern and traditional theme, brought by the restaurant. the minimalist look, mixed with the traditional javanese ornaments, like the use of the original javanese letters, really gives the idea of what the food is about. the form of the menu also expresses the same feeling, with the use of the traditional "Kipas Abang Sate" shape as the design.

looking at the prices shown in the menu, some of us might get shocked by the fact that some of the foods can be managed outside for a lot more reasonable price. for example, "Nasi Pecel Madiun" is priced for IDR 65,000 (probably they go to Madion for real to get the food, and the price is more for the transportation cost), while "Kunyit Asam" can be enjoyed for IDR 22,000. however, when you entered the spot, you should already have committed to yourself that here, you are not only buying the food and the taste, but also the atmosphere and the good hospitality.

for the taste of the food, I can say that it isn't really much that interesting. it's enjoyable, but not as impressive as how it looks. on the other hand, the packaging and the placement is quite exquisite. I ordered "Nasi Goreng Kampung" for IDR 39,000, and it comes with a long wooden tray, displaying 3 different plates; one big plate for the fried rice (but not big portion), and two small plates for gado-gado (Indonesian Salad with peanut sauce) and crackers. special note for gado-gado, the taste is quite remarkable.

the colourful and flavourful journey ended when the bill came. like I said before, the price given will take you back to the place where you came from. I could still enjoy the leftover of "High Mountain Green Tea" that I ordered for the drink, which is very strong in taste and smell, which also perfectly symbolized my bitterness when I had to pull out my wallet. for the complimentary, some ginger candies were given along with my change. after all, the journey was worth the price, but obviously I can't do this too often, which means I'm not going back to this place for quite a long time.