"Hipster palace" are the words best describe Pasar Santa the moment I set foot to this place. Located at Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, Pasar Santa has emerged to be one of the few places where people express their uniqueness and inner creativity - in other words, being anti-mainstream. The atmosphere at Pasar Santa is different, in a good way that would make you want to stay at the marketplace forever. It has this good vibe going on and you can't help but to enjoy being in it.
What used to be a marketplace, where vendors sell veggies and food products like they do in any traditional market you can find, was then transformed into a place where you can spend your weekend at and hangout with your gang. Pasar Santa was infamous for being dirty and slum-like, and the place itself is rather isolated and out of reach from the locals, which explains the declining interest from the citizens to pay a visit. It had it black days. But then, it slowly rise from ashes as groups of creative young people started to develop their independent businesses by renting spaces from the marketplace to give the local citizen a nudge about their whereabouts.
Coffee enthusiasts, vintage lovers, toy collectors, foodies, vinyl collectors, and many others, all gathered here at Pasar Santa and started their business just for the fun of it. Most of the spaces here are rented by these people so that they can express their hobbies and likings. Some coffee kiosk even give out coffee for free! So, you can imagine how cool this place is.
Last night, I finally got the chance to explore Pasar Santa with some friends. As we arrived at the marketplace, we were welcomed with a song from a group of trombone players. Not a sight that you can find everyday, right? The building is rather old, judging from the weary walls and old-fashioned structure, yet it only give the place an even more vintage atmosphere. Kiosks are separated with narrow alleys with bad lighting. The place was packed with people, but it was not like the crowded kind of situation where you would hurt someone's foot every time you take a step. Smoking is allowed here because the place is not equipped with air conditioners - so, for those of you who are smoke-intolerant, better be careful. It wasn't love at first sight, but as I strolled around the place, I found myself fell harder than I expected.
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| The second level of Pasar Santa |
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| We were welcomed with a song from the trombone players |
The first place that we visited was a dessert kiosk that sells homemade Créme Brûlee, named Labrûletory. Allow me to insert you with some info about the kiosk being super small, which make queuing became a rather challenging matter at this point. They serve three flavors of Créme Brûlee here, which are original, caramel, and green tea; and each for under RP20.000,00. They also have some toppings available for you to enjoy your Créme Brûlee with, which are Nutella and Toblerone. I was curious, so I decided to have my Créme Brûlee original with Nutella topping.
They freshly burn their Créme Brûlee here at the kiosk with butane torch - a tool to create flaming hot fire with butane, or flammable gas. It only took a minute for my Créme Brûlee to be served. "You're gonna have to wait for 10 more seconds for the top to hardens, then you can enjoy your dessert," the guy said. I did as he told, then enjoyed my sweet custard.
I'm not that into Créme Brûlee because, as I recall, my first encounter with the french dessert was not as smooth as I expected it to be. I had this mindset of Créme Brûlee being custardy and sweet, yet I was given a blob of sugar-coated blob glazed with caramel that was unpleasant to my taste buds. Never again. But, this time was an exception, because I was very curious with the dessert. Fortunately, the Créme Brûlee was very delicious, making me gain my trust again for the french originated custard.
After we had our dessert, we continued our journey at the hipster palace. Like I said, there were numerous kiosk at Pasar Santa, and each kiosks has its' own uniqueness. For instance, a dinner booth named Claypot Popo that sells cooked rice with tofu, your choice of meat, and veggies that was overflowing with customers which served a nice cup of hot tea to accompany your meal with. The kiosk was at the corner of the building, rather large compared to the other kiosk, and we can see them cook in their mini kitchen with their clay-based cooking utensils as we wait for our food to be served.
And then, there are a couple of vinyl store adjacent to Claypot Popo that allowed us to try out the vinyls with funky old-fashioned gramophones. They were playing out a funky jazzy tunes which I'm not familiar with, yet pleasing to the ears.
The narrow and slightly dark alleys gave out this grunge feeling, especially those walls that were decorated with funky stickers, Halloween party invitations, and reward posters for a missing dog.
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| The narrow alleys at Pasar Santa |
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| Endless surprises at every corner of the building |
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| A simple and funky mural from Dream Waffle |
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| My Choco Banana waffle |
There was this vinyl store that grabbed my attention. The name is Sub Store, and they sell not only vinyls in here, but also vintage clothing. The store was decorated with Japanese themed banners even though the products that they sell didn't have anything related with Japan stuff whatsoever.
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| Loving these banners |
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| They also sell cds and tshirts here at Sub Store |
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| Anyone care for some punk music? |
Dominated with black as it color, DOG (Dudes of Gourmet) is a hotdog booth in Pasar Santa famous for its' one and only menu: Black Dog. What makes Black Dog different compared to any other hotdog is that they use black hotdog buns, also known as Charcoal Buns - buns that are made black with bamboo charcoal. People showed great interest toward this particular hotdog booth there was this long line of people queueing to get a taste of the famous Black Dog. To end my curiosity, I decided to wait in line like other people did. 20 minutes long, but I didn't regret every second of it.
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| Sold Out |
The only thing that they sell here is Black Dog, but it comes in three different ways of serving: single, double, and triple - with, or without cheese sauce. I went with the single Black Dog with cheese sauce, which costed me Rp38.000.
First is that, when we came up to the ordering booth, the guy would jot down our order under our name and let us wait for our hotdogs to be prepared. They will call out your name when your order is served. There were only five active workers at DOG, and hundreds hungry people waiting for their orders to be made, so it was pretty hectic.
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| They only sell Black Dog hotdog here at DOG |
Three people were handling the barbecue table. I was very fascinated by how quick they prepared all the ingredient needed to make a single hotdog. Each person handled a job of their own, yet in the end, they ended up doing an excellent team job.
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| A small bbq table where they prepare their famous black hotdog |
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| The Dynamic Duo |
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| Putting some smoked beef to the hotdogs |
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| Caramelized onions to enhance the flavor |
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| Funky how they use black buns instead of regular buns |
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| I didn't lie about DOG using black buns for their hotdogs, right? |
Black Dog consisted of smoked beef and grilled wurst, topped with caramelized onion, then glazed with chilly and cheese sauce. My first bite of DOG's famous hotdog was not disappointing. I didn't regret having to wait in line for 20 minute just for a piece of hotdog because it tasted good! The black bun was chewy and slightly sweet, it had this crispy edges from being heated on the barbecue table. Both smoke beef and sausage were very oily, yet perfectly grilled according to my taste. The chilly sauce was nice, although it didn't stand out much, and the cheese sauce was very enjoyable. Highly recommended!
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| Selamat makan! |
After we were done with our hotdogs, we continued our exploration. We visited a few vintage stores and creative entrepreneurs - there was this kiosk named book, gatherings & all things creative that had this comic interpretation of the Beatles' song. The guy from the kiosk had this quirky cut, with the cool side cuts and Harry Potter glasses dangling on his nose, and he was explaining to us about one of the Beatles' song "Revolution 9" that has a rather creepy and mysterious sound effect.
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| An interpretation of what's going on in one of the Beatles' song, Revolution 9 |
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| The Beatles' I Am the Walrus |
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| Photos of the store owner's daughter to sweeten up the store |
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| Any of you are KISS's fans? |
Our last stop was at this vintage store which name escaped me. There were lots of cute adorable vintage stuff at this store - clothes, satchel bags, posters, stamps, and many more. I couldn't help but to shop for a piece of cute vest for Rp135.000,00, a Rp30.000,00 worth of poster, and an old tin toy that costed me Rp50.000,00. I lost myself for a second and ended up spending so much on things that I wanted, yet didn't actually need.
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| Calling all stamp collectors! |
It was fun spending my Saturday night at Pasar Santa. I might actually pay another visit to the marketplace sometimes in the future.
So, if you're a fan of vinyl and anything vintage, or if you're just bored of going to the same mall every weekend, then Pasar Santa is the right place for you to visit. Make sure you bring some cash if you're planning to have a food-venture, not to mention if you involuntary get caught up in some cute vintage stuff.
Pasar Santa
Jalan Cisanggiri III
Petogoan, Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta Selatan, 12170 - Indonesia
cool black hotdog, really wanna try it
ReplyDeleteactually this place is next to my grandma's house, but I never had a chance to visit it up until now LOL
Hello Meidiana,
Deleteyou should definitely try it! I would probably go to Pasar Santa all the time if I were you hehehehe :D
can we playing musik on it...?? i have a band... :D hehehe...
ReplyDelete