Ivy's Guide: What To Eat at Pasar Santa

At the earlier stage, Pasar Santa might only has ABCD Coffee to thanks on bringing the humble market into a place to go for coffee lovers. But now, they have grown into a modern market and one of the destination to go for foodie with the variety of stalls selling not only F&B.
 
A quick look on what Pasar Santa looks like. Don't imagine an air con and comfortable market, as they make the market just as is before. They don't do any renovation but rest assure as the place is clean and all the vendors have their own humble design concept. We enjoyed our visit due to there are so many great stalls selling good and affordable food. Pasar Santa has really turn into a pioneer on being the first market for hang out place. They even have their own popular hashtag #jajandipasar

Several things to take note about Pasar Santa modern market:
1. Unlike the typical market operational hours, the vendors at Pasar Santa open pretty late, most of them start to open around 2pm, though there are also some vendors open start from 12 afternoon.
2. Not all vendors open everyday and they tend to change their opening hours weekly so it is very important to follow the instagram of the vendors for update. You can check each of their ig @pasarsanta.
3. All vendors don't have specific closing time. Most of them closed when they are sold out.
4. Most of the vendors do not take credit card, so make sure to bring cash in hand.
5. Make sure to wear comfortable clothes. The market can be hot and humid especially on weekend when it's crowded.

When malls seem to be a bit boring, Pasar Santa can be a good change of scene.

Aside from the food vendors, there are also many stalls selling things beside food such as clothes, books, and accessories but I will not do a review on that. There are around 20 - 25 stalls and counting at the moment, and of course we haven't tried everything. I could write about all the vendors at Pasar Santa but you can check that from their instagram as I want to focus in making the guide list only on the vendors which I have tried.

So, here's my guide on what to eat at Pasar Santa! *post will be updated frequently*

PAPRICANO MEXICAN CANTINA
@papricano_mexicancantina
Ph. +6281514298907
Opening hours:
Wed - Fri: 3pm - 9pm
Sat - Sun: 2pm - 10pm

One of the busiest stall in Pasar Santa is this Mexican vendor. Selling all kinds of Mexican food from tacos, quesadillas, burritos and many more in affordable price. We tried the beef buritto (30k) and beef taco (25k) and satisfied with both. The taco here is hard shell, crisp and crunch. Don't forget to order their special Horchata drink. 

CLAYPOT POPO
@claypotpopo
Opening hours: 
Fri: 6pm - finish
Sat: 12 noon - finish
Sun: 1pm - finish

Claypot Popo only serves one type of food. Beef or chicken claypot rice (25k). Each claypot rice comes with choice of meat, tofu, corn, carrots and egg yolk on top. Served hot for your pleasure. We chose the beef claypot and enjoyed it very much.

FATBOY
@fatboy_jkt
Ph. +6281294124024
Opening hours: Changing daily, pls check their instagram.

One of our personal favorite vendor. Fatboy serves delicious kinds of satay. Fish, seafood, chicken, beef and sausages. Everything is nom nom but our recommendation goes to the sausage!

BEYOND CENDUR BAR
@beyondcendur_bar
Ph. +628128132312
Opening hours: Thursday - Sunday 2pm - 9pm

Beyond Cendur (Cendol Durian) Bar serves variety of cendol and durian desserts. There are plenty of options from cendol mixed with cincau, glutinous rice, even durian as the best seller. We tried the Iced cendol durian and though it tasted good, but it was way too sweet for our taste buds.

JUDAS(JUICE & SMOOTHIES) BAR
@judasbar
Ph. +6281316077857
Opening hours:
Wed - Fri: 12noon - finish
Sat - Sun: 3pm - finish

Cold pressed juices seem to be everywhere at the moment. So far only Judas sells the fresh healthy cold pressed juice in the market. We tried one of the juices pricing in 30k and loved it. The container packaging they used is unique and cute! Located next to the popular cherry crumble from Ladies who bake.

BARNANA
@barnana_jkt
Opening hours: Sat - Sun 3pm - finish

Barnana proves how innovative they are with their delicious idea of having frozen banana wrapped inside melted chocolate and topped with your favorite choice of toppings, from nutella, sprinkles, orea, salted caramel, peanuts and many more. With 16k per stick, make sure to try this one as it is good!!! Love the soft frozen banana and who could resist chocolate?


KI.CCHIN
@ki_cchin
Opening hours: Tue - Sun 12pm - 9pm

Ki.cchin serves Japanese teppanyaki with choices of chicken, beef, and gyu tan with affordable price of 20k for regular and 25k for large. We tried their Beef teppanyaki and Tonggy gyu tan don. Though the beef teppan was good with tender meat, we simply loved the tonggy gyutan don. It was grilled with cuts of chilli padi and we can request the spiciness level, the gyutan was sliced too thin, I mean come on it's only cost 20k, but the overall taste was excellent.


NYONYA KECIL
@_nyonyakecil
Opening hours: Fri - Sun 3pm - sold out

My undying love over ox tongue brought us to Nyonya Kecil, a homemade cooking stall serving ox tongue rice as their main. Here, the ox tongue rice cooked in two ways, stir with chilli or with butter sauce. We opted with chilli and loved it so so much! The ox tongue probably isn't the best I've had, but we absolutely love the broth and hint of butter they used. The broth marinated into the steamed rice and it was so yummeh. A must try, don't forget to ask for more chilli cuts. Aside from ox tongue, they also had chicken wings and traditional herbs drink like kunyit asem and beras kencur.

MIE CHINO 
@mie.chino
Opening hours:
Wed - Sat: 12pm - sold out
Sun: 2pm - sold out

Mie Chino is definitely one of the most popular stalls at Pasar Santa. The place never missed out of crowds and empty seats are almost never seen. They only have one menu, but I guess one is all that matter. People go crazy over their tangy chicken noodle. It was good and cheap with only 15k and another 5k to add some meatballs.

CUBLAK
@cublak
Opening hours: Wed - Sun 3pm - sold out

Cublak focuses on serving Seblak, a traditional dish from West Java. It's a tapioca crackers which is soaked into a hot water until it soft, then add the ingredients and cook it with some condiments. At Cublak, you can choose to have your seblak with meatballs or dumpling. One bowl of seblak comes with crackers, rice noodles, eggs, shredded chicken and your choice of meatballs or dumplings. With only 18k - 23k, I find it pretty cheap and fulfilling. It was my first time tasting a seblak which I don't even know what the hell it is until I tried one. If you are someone who like to dip crackers into your soup of meatballs or instant noodle, you'll probably want to try Seblak.

SIOMAY TIBAN
@siomaytiban
Ph. +6283811428428
Opening hours: Tue - Sun 12pm - sold out

MIE SOP MEDAN 61
@miesopmdn61
Opening hours: Fri - Sun 11am - sold out

As the brand is, they are serving signature Medanese Mie sop with other daily changing menu. When we went there, aside from their signature, they are serving Soto Ayam too. We only tried their mie sop (18k), and wasn't really a fan of it. We personally feel it need more kicks on the flavor. 

SEPOTONG KUE
@sepotongkue
Opening hours: Wed - Sun 1pm - sold out

Sepotong Kue serves homemade choux, pastry and ice cream. Customer can choose to have flavors of ice cream they like to have it on top of the choux. Some of the ice cream selections are vanilla, green tea and chocolate. We only tried the fruit choux (7,5k) and it was good. The choux was well made, good texture with fresh fruit and amazing vanilla vla.

SATE PADANG AJO RAMON

At the parking lot of Pasar Santa. Start open at 4.30pm.

Sate Ajo Ramon is not something new. They have been in the market for many many years, but I still feel the need to include them on the list. To date, they are still the best sate padang in town. If for any reason you haven't tried, please do. Guaranteed that you won't be disappointed. Our personal favorite is the beef tongue as it has more tender texture.

So, you're ready for Pasar Santa? 


PASAR SANTA
Jl. Cipaku No. 1
Tendean, Kebayoran Baru
South Jakarta
IG: @pasarsanta

**Updated Dec 8th, 2014