Kitchenesia.com - Everyone knows it and has a love/hate relation with it. Unlike your flashy meet up point or coworking space, Warung Tegal — shortened as “warteg” (a food stall that specifically serves Javanese food) — is not a place to see and to be seen.
However, it is a place where food and democracy coexist. College students, ojek drivers, police officers and dandy millennials in their 4-wheelers gobble up an assortment of homemade Javanese dishes whose price is budget-friendly to most people. It is not an overstatement that warteg is, without question, the only place where the gap between rich and poor zero. Did we mention that it is budget-friendly?
There are 30,000 warteg properties spread across Jakarta. I do buy their food. But to be sincere, I barely eat at one of them. I prefer takeaway. It is because nearly all of Wartegs I’ve encountered epitomized their notoriety: unhygienic, humid, and uncomfortable. Maybe it’s just me. But somehow I have a feeling that you’d agree.
Being a typically small space, warteg is where people munch unattractively, sweat excessively, and smoke heavily. However, in warteg, though your comfort in eating is sacrificed for cheap and fulfilling food, you’d find your true self, your primal self where primordial needs suppress pride and fashion. Your being, your Indonesia.
That doesn’t stop there.
Recently, there's a new warteg-like eatery in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta being the talk of the town. The name is Wahteg.
Commentaries about Wahteg are ubiquitous on both online and TV, and nearly all of them give this “millennial warteg” good reviews. Whether the term “millennial warteg” exists or not, it tickles my interest to go - and perhaps eat there.
One Thursday after lunchtime, almost all of Wahteg chairs were occupied by late-lunch diners. It is quite surprising since similar ventures are rampant in this area. To think that one-year-old restaurant outwin its old competitors is pretty unusual.
Its facade reflects the typical warteg design with glorious big glasses encompassing half of its front side, allowing bystanders to peek inside. The only significant thing of Wahteg is its chic-vintage design, full gradient of pastel green. Wahteg’s design somehow tells me that it would offer relaxing and cool ambience, the one that your original warteg only wish it could have.
While the similar design often applies to cafe or casual eatery, you won’t be mistaken it with other types of restaurants. There is a signage in front of it that says “mbetahi lan ngangeni”, a famous slogan of Tegal district that says “Tegal is a comfortable city that makes you always long for it”.
Wahteg is made of two-floor shophouse: the first floor is for food showcases and non-smoking guests seats; second floor is a full sitting area for non-smoking and smoking guests. To separate these two types of visitors, there is a double door that prevent smoke goes outside. Every floor of Wahteg is also equipped with air conditioner and Wi-Fi.
Yes, the obligatory Wi-Fi. Seems like Wahteg intends to grant every warteg lovers’ wish: a comfortable and connected mealtime.
The menu is pretty much warteg-like: tempe orek (sweet-sour tempe), fried noodle, smashed potato, variants of sauteed veggies, stir-fried squids, and fried fish and chicken.
However, all Wahteg’s dishes are not special. They can be found in other 30,000 wartegs around Jakarta, and most likely throughout Indonesia. Wahteg doesn't have any signature dish that makes their guests long to eat at it again. It is quite contradictory with its slogan boasting “making you yearn to visit and eat again.”
On a different counter, Wahteg also offers the endangered and legendary Limun Oriental Cap Nyonya Siluet. Hats off to Wahteg for their effort in bringing this beverage from miles away. But I doubt if any of the millennial visitors know this drink. But to think that Wahteg sells this legendary drink while their target markets most likely won’t buy it pretty much tells me the big Wahteg’s dedication in making their restaurant authentic.
My plate was crowded with traditional sauteed squid, stir-fried bean sprout, prawn bakwan, sambal, and rice. For their taste, I should say there is no significant difference between Wahteg and the good old basic warteg. The price is a little higher than normal warteg, but still affordable for workers and students.
With its ambience, Wahteg definitely elevates the humble warteg above mere “cheap food”. It is warteg nearly done right. For warteg sceptics and also warteg devotees, Wahteg is a good place to rebuild good relationship with warteg or perhaps the long lost one.
As a closing, here’s what my partner the photographer said about Wahteg: “Wahteg is first on my list when I am hungry. But when I crave for Tegal food, I prefer the take-out from warteg.”
