Order 1: Ayam Geprek Jumbo Sambal Limo. Price: 55k
Order 2: Salted Egg Chicken. Price: 48k.
Order 3: Nasi Goreng Gila. Price: 45k
Order 4: Roti Bakar Srikaya Keju. Price: 35k.
Order 5: Shanghai Red Ruby. Price: 35k
Order 6: Es Sirsak. Price: 35k
Order 7: Lychee Refresher. Price:35k
Order 8: Sunny Orange. Price: 35k
Order 9: Tamarind Cooler. Price: 35k
tl;dr: A cozy restaurant sharing the same space as Djournal Coffee. A nice mid-range restaurant to grab a quick lunch/dinner. Keep your party small, because this place only seats 40 at most.
Love the aesthetics of this location! Even though it's undeniably small for a restaurant, I have to say, this place is fully furnished in a tasteful manner that creates a cozy environment. Come here during the evening and this place looks even more beautiful. I noticed plenty of vintage items used as a part of the restaurant's decoration, but fortunately it still maintains a modern luxurious vibe.
Part of the Ismaya group, the People's cafe serves your common Indonesian cuisine, as well as Western items like pizza, pasta and salad, all at an affordable price relative to the restaurants in the Sudirman area. Most items are priced between Rp 20k - Rp 60k, so it's not going to break your bank. Yes, some might say that it's overpriced for Indonesian cuisine and you're just paying for ambience, but I beg to differ. Depending on the items you get, I am sure you can agree that the price is justifiable.
I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation from the Ismaya group to try out these items, but for simplicity sake, I'll tell you which items I had tonight that's worth ordering:
1. Ayam Geprek Jumbo Sambal Limo
A large slab of crunchy boneless fried chicken, with spicy flavorful sambal. Can't go wrong with this.
2. Salted Egg Chicken
Yes, I think Salted Egg has successfully moved from a trendy food to a staple flavor for a dish. Creamy and salty, the salted egg sauce of this dish is very well balanced, unlike some places that use WAY too much MSG to create a mindblowing first bite.
3. Es Sirsak
Not too sour or sweet, once again it's a balanced dessert (see the pattern here?) that's a refreshing way to end off your meal here in The People's Cafe. Plenty of juicy soursop bits that will fully satisfy.
4. Shanghai Red Ruby
Topped with huge chunks of avocado, red ruby and nipa(also known as attap chee in Singapore), and fat juicy lychees too! This dessert is definitely off the charts in terms of sweetness. But that's expected for Es Shanghai. Nothing particularly different in terms of flavor, however they're really generous with the amount of toppings and syrup. Suitable for those of you with the sweetest of tooth.
Note to Management : Thank you so much for the invitation tonight! The food is presented especially well for us tonight and the service by the waiters/waitresses is great. No problem on recommending this to a friend that's visiting Jakarta, for sure. It'd be nice if you're able to pay more attention to the Zomato Reviewer's table, instead of the food bloggers/instagrammers. Our followers are 100% real, by the way.