Cafe Batavia - [Indo-Western food]

Cafe Batavia is a historical colonial style building located at Fatahillah Square, Kota Tua, Jakarta and was used as administration office by VOC after the construction was completed in 1850. Later in 1991 an Australian native purchased the building and turned it into a cafe and opened for public for the first time in 1993.
 

Our first visit here was around 2 years ago for breakfast on a beautiful Sunday. Unfortunately, it was ruined by the poor service, the waitresses were so slow and seems to be more attentive to expat customers than to the locals. Took quite sometimes for the food to be served and the taste was not pleasant at all. Last week, we decided to give it a try again after 2 years (it might sounds weird after our bad experience), but we do believe people will improve.

Guess what??

We were truly disappointed again!!! This time we came for lunch, it was pretty crowded now. First seeing the crowd, we were so excited, we thought the standard might have improved! but NO!

Again, the service was poor, waitresses were slow! They were not very attentive to their customers. We asked for an extra spoon and it never came that we had to asked for several times. My wife asked for desserts menu and it never came, too, that my wife had to walked to the waiter and asked for it. We even witnessed the waiter served the wrong food to the wrong table TWICE on the same day. What was going on with this cafe ???

Do you see frames hanging on the column? they are the desserts menu. The menu was printed at the back of the frame. It is indeed a very unique way, but what took the waiter or waitress so long to pass us one???

We noticed most of the guests ordered local food, so we tried some. The taste was bad, the fried rice was not warm. The nasi campur didn't taste authentic at all, not even close! The only food that was quite acceptable was the satay, at least it was well grilled, and the peanut sauce was quite okay.
If you have been reading my blog, you would have seen other fantastic Indonesian cuisine and tasty fried rice that we had at some other places. And the worst is, the price doesn't correspond to the taste, it is overpriced.

Ice Tea IDR 25K@

Fried Rice IDR 85K 

 Nasi Campur Meneer IDR 75K

IDR 50K, ice cream melted even before it was served on our table

The only thing that we can truly enjoy here is the ambiance of 19th century Batavia and the historical value that the fact this cafe is actually located at our historical point, Fatahillah square. If you are looking for a place to enjoy live music, smoke and drinks, maybe this is the right place. There are quite a selections of drinks and liquor available. But if you're looking for a good food, this is not the right place.

The Bar

The Fatahillah Square were a huge consolation to our disappointment. It was a fun afternoon stroll at the Fatahillah Square. I will blog about it on my next post. 

Everything written here is based on my own personal experience and genuine opinion without any negative intention to discredit any parties. I have not been offered any incentives or payment to write this review.

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TripAdvisor : AdeHilman