Street food lives, despite burgers

If you think that foreign fast food restaurants have sidelined street food in Jakarta, think again.

City residents still crave traditional childhood foods such as es cendol (rice flour droplets in sweetened coconut milk) to rujak (hot fruit salad).

One vendor, Muhammad Fauzi, sells es cendol for Rp 4,000 (50 US cents) on Jl. Bendungan Hilir out of a small, white pushcart sandwiched between modern office buildings.

“A hot day like today is a blessing for me,” Fauzi said.

He said he could sell one-and-a-half kilograms of cendol a day on a hot day in the middle of the rainy season.

“Business is even better during Ramadan because I can sell as much as 6 kilograms a day,” he said.

Es cendol is typically served in a thick soup of brown sugar and coconut milk; adventurous souls can ask for the addition of jackfruit. Fauzi said he was proud that his drinks were enjoyed by white-collar workers in the skyscrapers on Jl. Sudirman.

“They send office boys during lunch time to buy my es cendol.”

On weekends, most customers were mothers who ordered beverages takeaway for their families, he said.

“Sometimes one customer brings home 10 servings,” he said. Next to Fauzi’s pushcart three workers were seen preparing Javanese serabi pancakes out of a makeshift stall.

One worker, Pujiono, said that serabi came from Surakarta (Solo), Central Java, hence the traditional name serabi Solo. “What makes our serabi Solo different is that we use rice flour, instead of wheat flour, for the batter and it is served plain, without coconut sauce,” Puji said.

While the rice flour and coconut milk batter is cooking, toppings, such as jackfruit, banana, cheese or chocolate sprinkles are added. To enhance the aroma, the pancake is served on banana leaves.

Puji said he usually shared customers with Fauzi. “We also get a huge amount of orders sometimes. Today, for instance, a company ordered 35 serabi,” he said. On a good day, Puji said he could sell more than 400 serabi for Rp 1,500 a piece.

On weekends, he said a new type of customers frequented his stall: those enjoying the Jakarta’s car-free days along Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin.

A few kilometers to the north, one can easily find an alley near Jl. Timor where dozens of carts and stalls offer street food to nearby office workers.

Lunchtimes were most hectic, Farijah said. The vendor said she made upwards Rp 600,000 per day selling rujak for Rp 7,000 a plate, with an extra slice of papaya or watermelon for Rp 2,000.

Yeva Yalesva, a graphic designer working nearby, said she frequented Farijah’s food stall almost every day.

“It feels good to have a rujak vendor close to my office, because I can get a source for fiber easily.”

— JP/map