Hi folks! Happy new year 2020! Didn't expect me to come back so soon huh!
This entry is gonna talk about one of my favorite cafes, Watt Coffee, and it's gonna be mostly in Indonesian. Why? Simply because I feel like it.
I first noticed Watt in late 2015, one year after its establishment. I actually found Watt through Dough Darlings, a doughnut company that I followed on Instagram. At the time Watt was their stockist. Although Watt was a Dough Darlings stockist for a super brief period of time, I became a fan of the cafe's other offerings, mainly their coffee, pizza and French fries.
Watt is a hidden gem of Central Jakarta, in the literal sense of the word. Its first store was located in Kwitang, in the same row as the first Gunung Agung store that opened in 1953. To get there, you had to go deep into a one-storey office building that also housed a cinema community, Cinema Poetica. Once you walked in, you'd be greeted by a steampunk-themed interior and a roastery room to your left.
Now I know this is unrelated, but I like to hold consulting sessions with my thesis students at cafes when I can't meet them on campus. And over the years, there's been only one student that I ever took to Watt for consulting sessions: Daniel T of batch 2011.
Since September 2018, Watt has occupied a new location that's more spacious, and they've traded their steampunk theme with a rustic one. The new location, which is part of Capitol Park apartment, stays true to Watt's hidden gem nature: it doesn't even have a signboard facing the street and to get there you have to walk deep into the apartment compound. I visited Watt in the new location for the second time yesterday since May 2019 and was surprised to find that they no longer had the Kemang, South Jakarta, store. For a split second I feared that Watt might disappear soon, but 2020 is their sixth year into the culinary business so they've definitely gotten through the typically rough first five years safely.
Regardless, I'll try to visit Watt more often, just like I did their first store. And apart from their offerings, Watt will always have a soft spot in my heart because it was a dear part of December 2015 - so far the best December in my post New Zealand life. Also, it introduced me to Kinfolk magazine, which is a must-have for every wannabe hipster out there.
