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Weekly 5: Communities bring taste, lifestyle to city
(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)Jakarta attracts people from all over the archipelago and with them they bring their cuisine, attire and trade
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Barbershop: (JP/Ricky Yudhistira) (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
(JP/Ricky Yudhistira)
Jakarta attracts people from all over the archipelago and with them they bring their cuisine, attire and trade. Certain area are well known for their goods and services, the most obvious being the Padang restaurants run by the Minang from West Sumatra and the warteg food stalls run by the Tegalese of Central Java.
Here are five businesses found in the capital that have been handed down generation to generation:
Garut bicycle trade
The majority of people who refill gas lighters, repair shoes and headup barbershops in Jakarta come from Garut, West Java.
Cobblers and lighter-gas men usually walk or ride bicycles around neighborhoods, occasionally announcing their service with an inflection particular to their trades: 'Sol sepatu!' (shoe sole!) or 'korek gas!' (lighter gas!).
Meanwhile, barbers from Garut usually have small rooms or set up a simple chair-and-mirror on the sidewalk under a shady tree, sometimes alone or with other barbers. They are known for being friendly and talkative.
They proudly identify themselves as Asgar, a portmanteau phrase made from 'authentic Garut'.
Klaten and Surakarta cuisine
Angkringan is a type of street eatery popular in Yogyakarta and Central Java that has taken root in Jakarta, especially popular with Javanese patrons. Most angkringan owners are people from Klaten and Surakarta in Central Java.
Angkring is a Javanese word meaning to sit and relax, thus, it is no surprise that the venue is a popular place to do just that during the cooler hours of the day, as they are open from the afternoon until the wee hours.
Angkringan are usually an open cart displaying various side dishes such as quail egg, chicken skin, chicken feet and chicken liver skewers as fried tempeh and stuffed tofu.
One specialty is sega kucing, which literally means cat rice, which consists of a small amount of rice (a portion of one cat) served with a tiny piece of fried milkfish and chili paste. It is usually wrapped in banana leaf and paper.
Bataks on the road
Jakartans who take public transportation, especially Metro Mini and Kopaja (minibuses) passengers, will know that many of the drivers and their assistants are Batak, an ethnic group from North Sumatra.
Some of the minibuses also boast slogans written in various Batak dialects like Siganteng Nauli (The handsome and the beautiful) or Sai Huingot Doho (I remember you, always).
There is no official explanation as to why the profession is so favored by Bataks but some argue that it is because they are brave and not afraid of hard work.
Many Bataks, from clans such as the Toba, Karo and Mandailing, also run stalls at traditional markets and tire repair shops.
Credit worthy Tasikmalayans
Many Sundanese from Tasikmalaya, West Java, arrive in Jakarta to sell home and kitchen ware in middle- to low-income residential areas and, unlike in the capital's hypermarkets, offer customers credit.
Usually the profession, tukang kredit, involves a pushcart or modified motorcycle weighed down with anything from buckets to woks to brooms. They go door-to-door and record the credit standing of their customers in a little book and expect payments in installments on a daily basis.
Younger merchants often come to the city after hearing of the success of relatives. There is usually a system that defines each trader's 'turf', which avoids unhealthy competition.
Kuningan noodles
Do you love instant noodles? Or mung bean and black glutinous rice desserts? Luckily, stalls selling these simple, but delicious, dishes are easily found in Jakarta.
More often than not, these 24-hour roadside establishments are run by people from Kuningan, West Java.
These stalls mostly use Indomie noodles but offer many variations, with typically Jakarta-esq names, such as intel (noodle and egg) internet (noodle, egg and corned beef).
Besides instant noodles, these stalls also offer warm green bean porridge and black glutinous rice served with coconut milk. Some beverages such as coffee, milk and tea are also available to wash down your dinner. ' JP
