SITUATIONS sometimes invite us to restaurants that we often come across but rarely stop at. That's what I experienced when I was shopping at Thamrin City in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.
While you were busy shopping, suddenly it was time to break your fast. Finally, an affordable franchise restaurant, D'Cost, became an option. I have eaten at D'Cost before. Maybe three or four times.
The memory that remains about D'Cost is its unique motto: five star quality, street prices (as cheap as if you cook it yourself at home). The second memory is about the ordering method via the remaining cards on the selection board.
So, the food and drink menu is in the form of cards provided on a large board which also contains photos of the food and drinks. Visitors choose the name of the food on the card according to their taste. Then hand it over to the cashier and pay for the order.
Well, in my opinion, a system like this is not practical for visitors who are not familiar with this type of cuisine. For example, I, who is familiar with pomfret fish and sweet and sour soup, immediately ordered these dishes. I also chose Japanese tofu with oyster sauce.
The sweet and sour pomfret fish soup leaves an impression on the tongue. Cooked using typical Indonesian spices, with a sour taste that comes from star fruit and spicy chilies with the right composition.
Japanese tofu with oyster sauce is also very suitable for eating with rice. For drinks, I ordered sweet iced tea. The problem is, the sweet and sour fish soup has to wait a long time, around 20 minutes. Meanwhile, I need it urgently because I have been fasting all day. When choosing a menu, there should be a waiter who explains the matter so that visitors can order according to their time and tastes.
What about price?
If you look at the motto about street prices (which are associated with being cheap), sweet and sour fish soup is not suitable. For small pomfret fish, the price is IDR 90,000. On the market, the price of a pomfret fish the size of the one I ate (less than 1 kg), is around IDR 25,000 per fish. However, each city in Indonesia has different prices.
However, for other food orders, in my opinion, the prices are affordable for boarding school children. And what is important, every visitor can know the price from the start so they can choose an order according to their wallet.[]
