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Upscale restaurants and bars weather virus restrictions
They have had to get creative to stay in business during the pandemic.
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t’s 10 p.m. on a Saturday, and Reno, a marketing manager in his early thirties, would normally be hitting the Jakarta clubs with either friends or clients. But now, during the pandemic, he stays in his apartment accompanied by three friends sharing a bottle of whiskey and plentiful sticks of chicken satay after an afternoon of playing badminton. “Prior to the pandemic, we’d go to a restaurant to eat good steak,” says Reno. “Now that we can’t go to restaurants, ordering takeaway steak clearly isn’t the same experience.”
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, customers of the fancy restaurants and bars once favored by Jakarta’s upper and upper-middle classes has plummeted. Not only must restaurants operate at 50 percent of their normal capacity, frequent and sudden changes in regulations have kept restaurants and customers guessing about the permitted operational hours on a daily basis.
Jakarta’s nightlife is principally separated into two zones, each with a distinct style. The northern part of Jakarta is mainly known for its karaoke bars and the southern part for its glamourous restaurants and clubs to see and be seen in. The unofficial border between these two zones is the iconic Hotel Indonesia traffic circle monument. In the north, big name karaoke clubs are following government orders to shut down, but some smaller karaoke bars have been playing cat and mouse with the authorities. Meanwhile, the south is a mixed bag of closed nightclubs and open restaurants and bars.
One establishment that is currently open is Flow restaurant and bar. Located in Menara BTPN in Mega Kuningan, Flow is a popular hangout for Jakarta’s glitterati and has live music and DJs. Jimmy Minata, the club’s owner, said the pandemic had hit the nightlife scene significantly. He was not even thinking about turning a profit, just surviving and riding out the storm. Located in a business district, Flow is heavily reliant on office workers coming in after a long day of work. Unfortunately, the majority are now working from home.
“Although weekdays are slow, fortunately there are still some customers coming in on the weekend,” said Jimmy.
In early February, city officials discussed imposing strict lockdowns on weekends, but this has not occurred.
“When customers do come, they are not downgrading their spending habits and are still buying their favorite whiskey.”
Jimmy has chosen to keep Flow open because he still believes in the food and beverage industry, and when the pandemic is over, he plans to open another entertainment venue.
While the business model of bars does not allow for much evolution during COVID-19, restaurants have tried to capture and cultivate new markets with new offerings. “One food trend I've noticed during the pandemic is that diners have been focusing on comfort food,” said Jed Doble, a food writer. “I think with the huge uncertainty the situation has brought, people would rather eat food they are comfortable with, something familiar and not complicated.” This is the case at Sudestada restaurant, best known for its Argentenian-style barbecue and steaks. The restaurant recently opened the Sudestada Food Truck. Parked in front of their restaurant in Menteng, the food truck whips up gourmet burgers such as a foie gras burger with caramelized onions and demi-glace mayo and a bacon and pimento cheese burger with red pepper sauce. The food truck is not actually new for Sudestada. Before the restaurant opened in 2019, Victor Taborda, the executive chef, served Argentinian burgers and sandwiches out of the same food truck near where the restaurant now stands. The food truck soon gained a loyal following, and investors helped turn it into a restaurant.
From cover band to recording artist
“Prior to the pandemic, our schedule was normally full and every bar or café we played in was packed,” said Aldy Kanda, vocalist and guitarist of the Kanda Brothers. The band built a reputation as one of Jakarta’s most in-demand café bands, covering Indonesian and Western hits. “Then, by late March 2020, we were playing in a café that had only two people in the crowd!” Aldy recalls, noting that things went from bad to worse, and the band had zero income.
But in July 2020, a major bar and restaurant group offered the Kanda Brothers a chance to play live from their studio and have the recording broadcast to the screens of bars and restaurants. By September 2020, restrictions were somewhat relaxed, and the Kanda Brothers were able to play in some cafés, albeit with fewer shows and at lower prices. Fortunately, during this downtime, the Kanda Brothers developed their own music and held livestreams through their @kandabrothers Instagram account. The fruits of their labor came before the end of 2020, when they got backing to create the R57 Records music label. Now they are growing out of their café band image and are on track to become recording artists that play original music.
