We always fancy good, affordable comfort food to appease our midnight cravings. While in Bandung, you may not want to skip the chance to indulge yourself at Madtari.

What’s the difference than the rest, you might ask? We have all the answer.

I don’t know whether the real kopitiam people would agree to include themselves in the same class, but Indonesians have their own version of “street kopitiam” that has been ruling the streets at night for years now. Most of us are even more accustomed to this culture than the original ones based on from what I see throughout the years.

In any given cities, you will most likely find night time hawkers selling a wide range of comfort food such as instant noodles, instant coffee, hot milk and toast or grilled bananas. Indonesians were probably and finally recognized the term “kopitiam” after the Singaporeans and Malaysians started to introduce their franchised coffee shop in our shopping malls. All this time, we only consider these businesses as “warung kopi”, big or small and modern or not.

True kopitiams stemmed their pride from the lifelong legacy of their shops and the classic menu consists of kaya toast, coffee, and soft-boiled eggs. They also have their way on choosing the coffee beans, the specific kitchen tools and the know-how to brew the coffee, and even now at there’s a particular way to boil the eggs which can be very different than our street coffee shops.

Since people consider warkop as a place to enjoy affordable food and drinks, our Indonesian warung kopi has more variety in the menu and that’s where Madtari, the street coffee shop champion from Bandung, has all the edge needed to be the most famous in Bandung.

All my years in Bandung, I used to be a fan of Dwilingga down further on the southern part of the town but I had always been intrigued with how Madtari can achieve full house every single day, weekdays and weekends. They have been moving around for several times now but their followers will always find a way to reach them. Now, they got themselves a nice permanent place, opens for 24 hours, and opens up other outlets around Bandung as well.

Their key to success is at how bold they are in adding “excessive” amount of toppings into their food at no additional cost!

Try to order their instant noodles, toast, or grilled banana, and be ready to see a pile of grated cheddar cheese on top of it. First timer would say something like, “Where in the world is my Indomie goreng?” and yes, what you’re looking for is actually underneath the cheese.

Don’t bother to ask for less because their kitchen is set to give more. That’s just hilarious!

So, there’s no need to argue any longer about this. The true quality of the food may vary and some may even made their toast better or their noodles al dente, but many cannot just pass up the opportunity to indulge themselves with that amount of cheese, chocolate sprinkles, evaporated milk, and even the corned beef.

Doing this and competing at that price may seem suicidal but Madtari has its own way to take over the competition and declare itself as the champion of Bandung.

—–

MADTARI
Halal-friendly
Unsuitable for vegetarians

Address:
Jalan Rangga Gading no. 10, Bandung – Indonesia

Opening hours:
Daily, 24 hours

Spend: IDR 10,000 – IDR 20,000 / person

—–

Featured in THE FOODIE MAGAZINE March 2015 edition

Download it for free here via SCOOP!

Photography by Dennie Ramon