Dapur Babah Elite & Tao Bar
Dapur Babah Élite, the first culinary outing by Indonesia’s acclaimed Tugu Hotels & Restaurants Group, is set in a pair of refurbished 1940s shophouses located just off Jakarta’s central Merdeka Square on Jalan Veteran 1. This historic location was once one of old Batavia’s (former official name of Jakarta during the Dutch East Indies period) most fashionable streets, with most of its buildings owned by a rich sheikh from Yemen. The restaurant exudes a floating out-of-the-world kind of romance from every single corner, filled with beautiful artworks.
The decor is a menagerie of period mementoes and paraphernalia, such as reclaimed teak furniture, rustic housewares (scales, meat grinders, pestles and mortars), and the signboard advertising Hap Liong Tailor, the shophouses’ original tenant. Rooms are painted in bold pastel-crayon combinations of red and green, black and red, purple and blue, while stone statues of Chinese, Hindu, and Buddhist gods smile down on diners.
GRAND SELAMAT TAFEL
Dapur Babah Élite restaurant is the only establishment which features Grand Selamatan Tafel (Groote Selamatan Tafel). This unique dining experience has two “nasi tumpeng” or Javanese ceremonial rice served in cone shapes filled with a lot of extravagant side dishes. The smaller cone is called Mannelijke Goenoengan (a male cone referring to Governor General who ruled East Indies or Indonesia before its independence in 1945) and Vrouwelijke Goenoengan (female cone referring to Queen Wilhelmina of Holland). The cones are lifted on stretchers followed by a parade of abundant side dishes. The leader of the parade is a Javanese dancer.
NJONJA REDAKTUR'S HIGH TEA
Dapur Babah’s Njonja Redaktur’s High Tea pays tribute to the Peranakan women journalists in the early 20th century. Njonja Redaktur's was the Editor in Chief of the first newspaper dedicated to the Peranakan women in the early 20th century, “Istri”. Many discussions happened during these frequent afternoon teas of Njonja Tjoa and the other Peranakan women in the circle.
