Everything Random

I am so glad to be back in Jakarta after more than two years. People who know me understand why Jakarta has a special place in my heart. It was where I worked intimately with data, if you can call it that way, and the place where I get to test some of the bravest ideas I have about development.

Other than that serious stuff, Jakarta is also a place of good food and delectable culinary offerings. If you have more than 14,000 islands, blessed with abundant marine and terrestrial resources. That will surely make every dish delicious, regardless of how it’s cooked – grilled, sauteed, blanched, boiled etc. So in this post, I will be talking about two restaurants I sampled – one for brunch (but also for all-day dining) and another one for dinner. The first one was recommended by a colleague, the latter by a friend.

Brunch Place: Farm Girl Table

This one sits on a rather narrow street, a few meters away from Jalan Sudirman, Jakarta’s main arterial road. I was attracted to this place because it shares the same name as the restaurant I went to in Notting Hill, London, some three months ago. This, however, is homegrown, launched by an Indonesian chef trained in New York, some five years ago.

The interiors remind you of traditional American brunch places. The service crew looks sleek and dapper in their uniform, and the place is well-lighted, with natural light in one side and a hodge-podge of trinkets decorating the walls.

The restaurant’s menu is extensive – full of every body’s comfort food. There’s a selection of starters, salads and wraps, burgers, pasta, and a range of drinks from smoothies to juices, and coffee. This time, I opted for a pineapple and ginger fiz, spicy tuna with crispy wontons for starters, and a jumbo shrimp scampi for mains. All good. Definitely “homey” and comforting. I will surely recommend. Also, definitely get a reservation if you come with big groups and on regular eating hours (10 to 1 for brunch; 6 to 8 for dinner)

Dinner Place: Semaja

I would have wanted to go to my favourite Menteng restaurant, Seribu Rasa. But given that I only have a few days in Jakarta, and I have not really gone to a new place because every time I come here I also go to the usual suspects, I decided to try a new place recommended by a friend – Semaja.

Semaja just opened three years ago but has already built a strong following and was named one of the best by Indonesian Tatler in 2026. The interior is stunning, to be honest, and the chairs are comfortable. There is this Mediterranean look to the place, but it is also infused with local Indonesian craftsmanship.

Semaja is part of the Ismaya Group, so the food should not be surprisingly delicious. Ismaya also includes a few other really good Indonesian restaurants, such as Social House, SKOLA, and DJournal. So, Ismaya’s range is quite impressive. Semaja is on the top of its offerings.

The restaurant serves Indonesian fusion – bringing in the classics with a modern twist. For this visit, I got a Roti Abon Papua, the classic roti with beef floss, as a starter. For my mains, I followed the waitress’s recommendation: Iga Konro Bakar, beef short ribs sous vide, served with soup and a selection of sambals. The starter is a take on Papua’s local dish, while the latter was said to be of North Sulawesi origin. I drowned the food with Kunyit Asem, a concoction of turmeric, ginger and honey, as I was not in the mood for alcohol.

As somebody who has worked in a resort and restaurant for more than five years as its management accountant, I also had a good education on how restaurant food is prepared. My beef short ribs, of course, were already cooked some days ago; they were tender and well-seasoned, but served a little cold. The heating process must not have worked well. Even my soup was unfortunately lukewarm.

While it is delicious, the preparation was a little bit off. I will not likely come back, nor will I recommend this to friends. But the sambal is good, so that was the saving grace.

There you go. Two more restaurants to try in Menteng in the next couple of days. Somebody will save this day, of course.