We took the kids out to Kebun Raya Bogor for some fun picnic action last Saturday. By “kids” I meant Nadja and Gavin, my two honorary cousins, and by “we” I meant me and Davie. The four of us headed to the City of Rain approximately at nine in the morning, straight from my house. We gathered an hour earlier to finish up some things that needed to be prepared, which were mostly the food that we were going to bring.
Davie was in charge of cooking some Spaghetti Carbonara, while I got the side dishes duty. I made a few slices of Ovomaltine Banana Sandwich, some Sausage Rolls, a somewhat-healthy nuggets made from deep-fried breaded chicken breast, and I also brought along some peanuts and fruits for side snacks. Gavin had snacks and drinks duty which he shared with Nadja. We took off bringing a lot of food in our car, including a rattan carpet that would fit the four of us.
On our journey to Kebun Raya Bogor, we made a quick pitstop at this coffee shop me and Davie been dying to try, the Anthology Coffee. Located adjacent to a lake somewhere in Sentul, Anthology Coffee serves a wide variety of coffee and tea, and the view was amazing from where we were seated. Although it was rather hot that morning, we decided to occupy one of the outdoor table so that we can bum some smokes in between our sips of hot beverage.
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| We needed coffee to start our morning. |
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| The blooming tea that me and Nadja had. |
I had me a cup of Flat White, along with a pot of Anthology Blooming Tea that I shared with Nadja. “A combination of different tea, herbs, and flower leaves carefully wrapped around each other into one bud and blooms when it steeped,” says the menu. The tea came in a transparent pot with two adorable, and also transparent, tea cups. The sight of the mutation is very beautiful, and the tea itself had a very yellow color, with just slight green. It may look far from appetizing, but the taste is very vibrant and soothing.
My Flat White, on the other hand, was rather strong (which was good because I hadn’t had my share of coffee that morning). The texture was a bit thicker than any other Flat White I have ever tasted and the flavor was dominated more by the bitterness. I had a few sips of Davie and Gavin’s drinks and I came to an understanding that I’m no fan of bitter iced coffee, nor bitter iced latte. I need me some sugar to go with them.
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| My cup of Flat White. |
After refueling ourselves with some nicotines and caffeines, we continued our quest to find a perfect picnic spot for us to enjoy lunch. In about 30 minutes, we arrived at Kebun Raya Bogor, which were very much packed with locals trying to rejuvenate themselves from the hectic days of working. It took us a while to find our designated decent spot to rest our bums. I had a feeling that Davie, who was driving back then, was almost on his last straw.
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| Favorite child. |
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| Sliding down your girl's DM be like. |
We finally arrived at this particular area that was less inhabited compared to some other areas within Kebun Raya Bogor. We parked our car, grabbed our rattan carpet, organized our food on it, and placed ourselves accordingly for lunch. The four of us lunged to Davie’s Spaghetti Carbonara, followed by a set of frantic hands reaching for the nearest side dishes available.
We indulged ourselves in food, in the enjoyable sunny weather of Bogor, in the very chill and relaxing ambience of the park itself, and in some harmful games of cards. Who ever loses had to be punished and, unfortunately, Davie lost the most on our numerous set of games. The loser had to eat anything the winner said, and by “anything” I meant funky food combination. I lost once and I had to eat a piece of Sausage Rolls dipped in Tolak Angin (a herbal vitamin in a form of liquid, very popular with us locals), while Gavin had his share of eating Kiwi without its’ skin peeled off. Davie, on the one hand, had to settle with eating a piece of sausage with a piece of cookies and cream flavored choux cookies.
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| Our first picnic together! |
Night fell, Davie suggested an idea of going to Warpat (Warung Patra Puncak), which is a set of warung somewhere in Puncak where the cool kids like to hang out. I have never been to Warpat in my entire life, unlike the rest of the group, so I was very excited. Davie promised me that when we go to Warpat he would introduce me to his favorite dishes in the whole entire Warpat, the Poffertjes. “The Poffertjes they have at Warpat is the best Poffertjes I’ve ever had,” he said, “you definitely have to try them!”
And, so, there we were, conquering one of the outdoor table at one of the warung at Warpat. The place was super crowded. The transition of people coming in and going away seemed endless. They keep rotating in a count of minutes. We were very lucky to get ourselves some seats because this place will usually get even more packed towards midnight.
Gavin, Nadja, and I got ourselves some Indomie, while Davie had only the Poffertjes for dinner. It got colder as we drove up from Bogor to Puncak and a bowl of Indomie was truly a life safer. I also had me a couple of half-boiled eggs in a cup, dashed with pepper and salt. Them eggs really did me good, my body was instantly warmed-up after a couple of spoonful of it.
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| My bowl of Indomie Kari Ayam. |
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| Look at them deep-fried ball batter! |
A bowl of instant noodle later, came our Poffertjes. We ordered two servings and each plate had five pieces of the humongous Poffertjes. They looked very different from the flat and small Poffertjes I know as they were very plump and big, yet hollow when you cut through them. Topped with powdered sugar and, probably, drizzled with some butter, the Poffertjes exceeded expectations. It was the best Poffertjes I have ever had! There were no funky taste of yeast in it and the butter was overflowing like free wine on a Ladies Night. The outer texture was very crunchy, while the inside was rather flaky and somewhat gooey. The combination of butter, fried batter, and powdered sugar was amazing. I couldn’t help but to devour every pieces I had, despite the fact that they just got out from the frier.
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| "You jump, I jump," says Jack. |
An hour to midnight was when we decided to head back to Jakarta. We were exhausted, I got to sleep for a bit on the back seat, while Nadja and Gavin stuffed themselves with metal songs that I was not familiar with. Unfortunately, the traffic was very dreadful, so it took us around three hours to finally arrived at our beloved capital city.
Anthology Coffee
Komplek Danau Teratai
Jalan M. H. Thamrin, RT 003 RW 008
Cijayanti, Kecamatan Babakan Madang
Bogor, Jawa Barat - 16810
Opening Hours:
WED - MON: 8 AM - 8 PM
Contact:
+62 21 2293 0210
Warpat
Jalan raya Puncak
Tugu Selatan, Cisarua
Bogor, Jawa Barat - 16750
