What’s up, Jakarta!
It has been rediscovered that west Jakarta is the new “IT” spot for hangouts, perfect place to
spend your weekend. Located in the heart of Puri Indah area along the side of
already established restaurants such as Trattoria, The Fctry and Crematology
nearby. This newly populated restaurants and café seemed to be drawing more and
more crowds from outside the west area, willingly making a trip to do some
restaurant and café hopping.
In recent days a crowd has been seen and spotted to flock
the cozy little café called PAPAJO Eatery. As for PAPAJO eatery, the facade and
cute logo might pique your interest.
As you enter the eatery, you are greeted by an insta-genic
décor with its pastel-colored themed; meaning that in every corner of this
café, you would point your camera for your instagram feed, it will look good. As
for the ambience, the café itself exudes coziness and warmth that entice you to
spend a day in this place having chitchats while dining their scrumptious food.
The sunlight from the many windows makes the café bright and
gives off a warm and clean feeling; it somehow makes you feel welcomed.
Moving on to the dishes this café offers, surprisingly they
served Asian themed dishes rather than western dishes that you would typically find
in cafes like these.
Spicy Crispy Garlic Noodle (IDR 42K)
The sautéed spicy garlic noodle sauce served along with
shrimp dumplings looked dry and spicy, it was my least favorite dish. I felt
that there are room for improvements for this dish, in terms of taste and
presentation. It tasted a little bit bland for my taste and the chilly oil to
make it spicy made the whole dish very oily. The shrimp dumplings were sadly also
on the bland side; it lacks depth and the umami feel that you are looking for.
Nasi Goreng Babi Rica (IDR 48K)
This spicy fried rice with chunks of diced-cut pork meat is
a hearty dish, it satisfy your hunger and cravings all at once. The perk of
this dish is the decently priced and portioned, quite a satisfying dish
overall.
The crispy pork loin over butter rice (IDR 52K)
One of my more favorite dishes from this café; the butter
rice was moist and gives off an mouth watering fragrance. The pork was cooked
crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside as you bite to it. The
black pepper sauce completes the dish by adding mouth-watering flavor.
In summary, the ambiance and decently priced homey food in
west Jakarta will make me want to come back for more. I wish them success and
to keep evolving into a staple café in this side of town.
