Kopitiam Oey is a business venture owned by a famous culinary TV personality, ‘Om’ Bondan Winarno. With all his extensive knowledge and experience regarding food, he utilized it all to create this kopitiam business venture. Kopitiam itself defined like the usual coffee shop and Mr. Oey himself designed it truly like Chinese style. Oh by the way, if you don’t know about it, ‘Oey’ is actually pronounced ‘Wi’ that stands for the first syllable for the surname of the guru. So what I meant as Mr. Oey at the beginning that means it’s for Mr. Winarno.

At first, I didn’t notice that this belongs actually to him but you can see pictures of him all over the place. I knew it later from the internet. As for the interior, it’s Chinese old school with old style wooden seats and tables so that means no cushion at all. Pictures can be seen everywhere on the walls, old advertisements, newspaper/magazine articles, the menu in big pictures, and you can laugh at the funny ones. The place was not that big so you can see the kitchen right away further back. Overall, the place possess a warm and cozy atmosphere, be it in the afternoon or night.

The menu itself was extensive, Mr. Oey seems to be utilizing his knowledge fully and recreating famous dishes from specific areas all around Indonesia. FYI, the drinks are for all day but the dishes are differentiated for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Starting from the drinks you can find many kinds of coffee such as the originally brewed coffee up to Vietnamese coffee drinking style and not to forget, the best thing from this place, it’s the Wiener Melange (IDR 15,000). Wiener Melange is actually a coffee topped with vanilla ice cream. You gonna need a good ice cream for this and once it all got mixed up, it’ll become a great coffee!

You can find also tea in all its forms. You can have the original Javanese pot tea, Moroccan mint tea, and of course the star of the show, Teh Taloe (IDR 12,000). I forgot whether they have the coffee version of this too, but anyway it’s a mixture of tea with milk and raw egg(s). The taste was quite okay, it’s almost like Teh Tarik but you can feel the egg aftertaste which I doubt most people can stand it. It’s not particularly hard to find this drink as you can find it almost anywhere in a Padangnese restaurants. As for the rest, I think you should try Es Cincau Cikini made with milk and ginger and best served for hot afternoon and for only IDR 10,000! So as you can see, the price range for the drinks were quite okay and you can even find drinks below IDR 10,000.

Now here comes the food. I’ve been there until this day around 4 times and for the first time I only tried the Spring Roll for the snack and it wasn’t that good. The second time, we were only having the coffee. Then the third time was when I tried Mie Kepiting Pontianak (IDR 23,000) and it was quite okay, I took a sip for the Nasi Goreng (IDR 23,000) and it’s just okay but certainly has its distinctive taste. Then the last time I visited the joint was at the lunch time, we immediately picked the most inviting among the few available lunch dishes.

I picked Lontong Cap Gomeh (IDR 26,000) and my partner picked Nasi Rames (IDR 26,000). I need to confirm again later for the prices. The portion for the dishes were just fine for me (perhaps Mr. Oey already took careful measure for this). So it was okay for me and certainly too many for my partner. Haha..However, at the first taste for the Lontong Cap Gomeh, the broth was cold so I immediately asked for a warmer one. I was a bit disappointed because of that but lucky for them that the taste was just great. I had a clean slate for that. As for the Nasi Rames, it was good too and I was indeed satisfied. Closed by Wiener Melange, that made the whole lunch very worthwhile!

Indeed, I have to agree to what Mr. Oey said about his place, ‘Koffie Mantep, Harganja Djoejoer’. Though Kopitiam Oey still need for improvements but for this I trust on Mr. Oey high capability and even so, this place still attain one of the most recommended place among such in my heart. Give it a try!

The Judgment (based on scale of 10 score plus the comments):

1. PRICE (9/10)

Koffie Mantep, Harganja Djoejoer!

2. INTERIOR (6/10)

A warm coffee shop with a Chinese Peranakan interior style. Though without cushioned seatings, you’ll enjoy the welcoming atmosphere of this place. Luckily it’s opened in the further side of the busy Jalan Sabang.

3. SERVICE (6/10)

Just fine.

4. TASTE (7/10)

If it’s about the culinary guru, Mr. Oey. You should not underestimate his measure for this one. Even so, the food still needs improvements however for the drinks, it’s an A-OK!

5. OVERALL (7/10)

Has the potentials indeed to become a famous place to dine.

Additional Information:

Location : Jl. H. Agus Salim/Sabang no. 18, Jakarta Pusat.

Website : http://www.kopitiamoey.com/