If visiting a single street food is not enough for your foodie experience this weekend, then how about more options for you to try in only a single stop? If that’s the case, let us visit Pasar Tebet Barat right away.

Many of us would still remember how rare it was to see that Pasar Santa suddenly got frequented by the teenagers – especially because of the food. While it was not necessarily very traditional, there was a time when the diversity of street food from around the world can be found here.

The trend must come down at one point sadly and Pasar Santa is now a shadow of its former self. However, we at the FoodieS here would like to reignite again those moments by encouraging our readers to visit traditional marketplaces from time to time. In this issue, we dedicate this for the beloved Pasar Tebet Barat.

Like any other local markets, Pasar Tebet Barat is already busy from early morning. The market is known for its vast selections of wedding invitation designers, stationeries, fabric shops, and even a department store in addition for the fresh producers upstairs. Despite the age, it is kept clean and comfortable.

Playing a central role to keep the world spinning is the food industry itself here. From simple snack and cake shops to colorful nasi rames stalls, you can also find a full-fledged Padangnese cuisine vendor, nasi gudeg, nasi uduk, gado-gado, and many more.

Last time, I decided to take a different path than my wife who chooses over nasi Padang with dendeng balado, beef lungs, and cassava leaves. I scoot over to the next stall for a serving of nasi uduk with toppings such as teri kacang (stir-fry peanuts and anchovies), cumi asin (sliced cuttlefish cooked salty), and the exotic stir-fry papaya flower buds.

Upon finishing our rounds with rice, we cleanse our palates with a glass of es cendol from Bandung’s famous Cendol Nurita who happens to have a small outlet here. Not stopping there, I treated myself with more traditional snacks such as the kue pepe, sosis Solo, and a fried tofu filled with fishcake. I had to stop here and reserve more options for my future visits here despite of the temptations.

So, there are things that we could achieve from visiting traditional marketplace. Not only that we satisfy our senses with food, we can also contribute ourselves for the future of many people and even the whole country by appreciating the local products more.

That’s the reason why we need to love our markets.

PASAR TEBET BARAT | Jalan Tebet Barat Dalam Raya no. 58-59, Jakarta

Opens everyday from morning until evening

Spend IDR 15,000 – IDR 30,000 / person

Featured in FoodieS Apr 2016 issue and Qubicle:
http://qubicle.id/story/searching-for-street-food-pasar-tebet-eats

Photography: Rian Farisa