Welcome to another day of exploring Jakarta with Agung and Bivi. It’s been a while since the last time we went out and about the capital city. Last year we went on a whirlwind of sauntering Central Jakarta—Cikini, Pasar Baru, Jl. Surabaya, Pos Bloc, Munasprok and Salihara. They were fun and we thoroughly enjoyed them, but I thought we’d take it a little further this time—well, for me anyway: two weeks ago we went to Tebet! Agung is pretty familiar with the place, but I’d never been here before.
For those of you who don’t know—including myself, really—Tebet is actually located in South Jakarta, although pushing towards the east. According to Agung, Tebet was the hottest hangout spot for high schoolers back in our day. There’s a whole street of bistros and clothing stores where teenagers used to hang out on the weekends. But, when you’re a Blok M high schooler, you don’t see the need to go to Tebet—much like how New York’s Upper East Siders never even think of going to the Upper West Side—hence my first time being here now. So let’s go!
Welcome to another day of exploring Jakarta with Agung and Bivi. It’s been a while since the last time we went out and about the capital city. Last year we went on a whirlwind of sauntering Central Jakarta—Cikini, Pasar Baru, Jl. Surabaya, Pos Bloc, Munasprok and Salihara. They were fun and we thoroughly enjoyed them, but I thought we’d take it a little further this time—well, for me anyway: two weeks ago we went to Tebet! Agung is pretty familiar with the place, but I’d never been here before.
For those of you who don’t know—including myself, really—Tebet is actually located in South Jakarta, although pushing towards the east. According to Agung, Tebet was the hottest hangout spot for high schoolers back in our day. There’s a whole street of bistros and clothing stores where teenagers used to hang out on the weekends. But, when you’re a Blok M high schooler, you don’t see the need to go to Tebet—much like how New York’s Upper East Siders never even think of going to the Upper West Side—hence my first time being here now. So let’s go!
📷 Fujifilm X-T100 with Fujinon Aspherical Superb EBC XC 15-45mm lens
For the First Time
Much like all areas in Jakarta, Tebet is undeniably huge. There are a lot of interesting places we could visit, no doubt. However, for now, we were determined to visit mainly two places—the first being Warpopski. It is a pretty legendary eatery in Tebet, serving a unique selection of menu. We’ve actually tried their food once at Joyland, although it was in collaboration with a local eatery in Bali. Aside from their food, Warpopski is also well known because it is first opened and owned by Ryan Riyadi a.k.a. Popo, a popular street artist native to Tebet. The place itself is located in a communal art space.
Their signature menu is Nasi Siram Rempah—which is a rice dish bathed in spiced sauce and topped with an egg and meat or seafood of choice. The lady at the till recommended us try Nasi Siram Rempah with Beef Se’i topping, so that’s why I went with. Meanwhile, just to mix things up, Agung chose the same menu with Squid topping. As for the drink, Agung went for Badak Sarsaparilla—a local sarsaparilla soda brand—and I tried their Pandanus Tea. Everything we ordered was insanely good! ✨
Much like all areas in Jakarta, Tebet is undeniably huge. There are a lot of interesting places we could visit, no doubt. However, for now, we were determined to visit mainly two places—the first being Warpopski. It is a pretty legendary eatery in Tebet, serving a unique selection of menu. We’ve actually tried their food once at Joyland, although it was in collaboration with a local eatery in Bali. Aside from their food, Warpopski is also well known because it is first opened and owned by Ryan Riyadi a.k.a. Popo, a popular street artist native to Tebet. The place itself is located in a communal art space.
Their signature menu is Nasi Siram Rempah—which is a rice dish bathed in spiced sauce and topped with an egg and meat or seafood of choice. The lady at the till recommended us try Nasi Siram Rempah with Beef Se’i topping, so that’s why I went with. Meanwhile, just to mix things up, Agung chose the same menu with Squid topping. As for the drink, Agung went for Badak Sarsaparilla—a local sarsaparilla soda brand—and I tried their Pandanus Tea. Everything we ordered was insanely good! ✨
Building Bridges with Nature
Full and satisfied, we made our way to our second location: the nearby Tebet Eco Park. This is a cute 7.5-hectare park located in the heart of Tebet. Initially, there were two different parks right across the street from one another—the North and South parks. They recently underwent a total makeover to merge the two parks into one. The revitalisation process started in September 2021 and the park was finally open for public in early 2022. Now the park functions as a place of harmony for ecological, social, educational and recreational purposes, propelling itself into one of the hottest hangout spots in Jakarta.
Today the park is divided into 8 zones—the Infinity Link Bridge, the Community Garden, the Children Playground, the Community Lawn, the Forest Buffer, the Plaza, the Thematic Garden and the Wetland Boardwalk. The Infinity Bridge is the bridge that connects the North and South parks, which is shaped like the infinity symbol—this is the biggest highlight of the entire park. The Community Lawn is a contained, communal space out in the open where people can just hang out, away from the streets. The Plaza is a wide, open seating area by the entrance where people can just hang out—and possibly share meals. The Wetland Boardwalks are small bridges just over a little river running through both parks. Everything else feels pretty self-explanatory, no?
Old top + boots + socks + hat // thrifted dress // Roti Eneng tote bag // photos of me by Agung
Building Bridges with Nature
Full and satisfied, we made our way to our second location: the nearby Tebet Eco Park. This is a cute 7.5-hectare park located in the heart of Tebet. Initially, there were two different parks right across the street from one another—the North and South parks. They recently underwent a total makeover to merge the two parks into one. The revitalisation process started in September 2021 and the park was finally open for public in early 2022. Now the park functions as a place of harmony for ecological, social, educational and recreational purposes, propelling itself into one of the hottest hangout spots in Jakarta.
Today the park is divided into 8 zones—the Infinity Link Bridge, the Community Garden, the Children Playground, the Community Lawn, the Forest Buffer, the Plaza, the Thematic Garden and the Wetland Boardwalk. The Infinity Bridge is the bridge that connects the North and South parks, which is shaped like the infinity symbol—this is the biggest highlight of the entire park. The Community Lawn is a contained, communal space out in the open where people can just hang out, away from the streets. The Plaza is a wide, open seating area by the entrance where people can just hang out—and possibly share meals. The Wetland Boardwalks are small bridges just over a little river running through both parks. Everything else feels pretty self-explanatory, no?
Old top + boots + socks + hat // thrifted dress // Roti Eneng tote bag // photos of me by Agung
What They Did Wrong
Secondly, remember the small river—or was it canal?—that runs through both parks? It’s a really nice and quaint concept, sure, but unfortunately, in reality the body of water stinks like nobody’s business. We saw some people sit by the riverbank, yet I couldn’t help but to wonder how they could stand the stench. It was really unbearable!
And this isn’t exclusive to just Tebet Eco Park as well; a lot of parks in Jakarta has failed on this front, due to the disgusting rivers—one other example would be Taman Langsat in Blok M. This is something I can hardly understand, since I’ve been to various other cities across Indonesia whose rivers are being cleaned regularly and literally do not even send any unpleasant odour to anyone passing by. So why can’t Jakarta be like that?
While the park was mostly beautiful, I found that a lot of the elements just do not work as well, since the city’s infrastructure doesn’t support the vision of the park itself. First of all, there are no official parking lot. Eventually, we found a wide open space to park, but it was definitely not provided by the government—there was a basketball field smack dab in the middle of it and food stalls lining the sides.
It feels a little inconsiderate and—sorry not sorry—hypocritical of the government to expect people to ditch their vehicles for the public transport and choose walking more, when all they’ve done is provide infrastructure that enables cars and motorbikes to roam the streets, easier than getting access to a bus.
Secondly, remember the small river—or was it canal?—that runs through both parks? It’s a really nice and quaint concept, sure, but unfortunately, in reality the body of water stinks like nobody’s business. We saw some people sit by the riverbank, yet I couldn’t help but to wonder how they could stand the stench. It was really unbearable!
And this isn’t exclusive to just Tebet Eco Park as well; a lot of parks in Jakarta has failed on this front, due to the disgusting rivers—one other example would be Taman Langsat in Blok M. This is something I can hardly understand, since I’ve been to various other cities across Indonesia whose rivers are being cleaned regularly and literally do not even send any unpleasant odour to anyone passing by. So why can’t Jakarta be like that?
While the park was mostly beautiful, I found that a lot of the elements just do not work as well, since the city’s infrastructure doesn’t support the vision of the park itself. First of all, there are no official parking lot. Eventually, we found a wide open space to park, but it was definitely not provided by the government—there was a basketball field smack dab in the middle of it and food stalls lining the sides.
It feels a little inconsiderate and—sorry not sorry—hypocritical of the government to expect people to ditch their vehicles for the public transport and choose walking more, when all they’ve done is provide infrastructure that enables cars and motorbikes to roam the streets, easier than getting access to a bus.
What They Did Right
That being said, we thoroughly enjoyed the park—and wished we had arrived there sooner. The first zone we went to was no doubt the Infinity Bridge, since it’s so iconic and I was dying to see it. I adore the design very much, especially the colour—as you know, orange is my favourite hue. Although the bridge was obviously rather long, we didn’t feel to tired walking up and down it, crossing from one side to another and then back. We loved seeing the view of the entire park from above, it was so perfectly quaint.
The second zone that attracted our eyes was the Children’s Playground. It was pretty rare in Jakarta to find free, accessible playgrounds for all, so it was rather nice for the city to provide some really cool equipments here. There were all sorts of trampolines, climbing walls, playhouses, slides, sandboxes and swings for the children to choose from—and from the looks of it, they enjoy it a great deal. The ground is also, for the most part, made out of soft materials that will minimise injuries.
Most of all, I really appreciate and admire how clean the whole park was—except the playground, which was littered with single-use cups and snack packagings. Although, now that I think about it again, I don’t remember seeing a single trash can at the park. It’s possible they exist, I just didn’t notice them. Either way, I’d like to give a moment to honour the park rangers who must have kept the park clean. Well done, all of you!
Have you ever been to Tebet?
Where do you think we should go next?
What They Did Right
That being said, we thoroughly enjoyed the park—and wished we had arrived there sooner. The first zone we went to was no doubt the Infinity Bridge, since it’s so iconic and I was dying to see it. I adore the design very much, especially the colour—as you know, orange is my favourite hue. Although the bridge was obviously rather long, we didn’t feel to tired walking up and down it, crossing from one side to another and then back. We loved seeing the view of the entire park from above, it was so perfectly quaint.
The second zone that attracted our eyes was the Children’s Playground. It was pretty rare in Jakarta to find free, accessible playgrounds for all, so it was rather nice for the city to provide some really cool equipments here. There were all sorts of trampolines, climbing walls, playhouses, slides, sandboxes and swings for the children to choose from—and from the looks of it, they enjoy it a great deal. The ground is also, for the most part, made out of soft materials that will minimise injuries.
Most of all, I really appreciate and admire how clean the whole park was—except the playground, which was littered with single-use cups and snack packagings. Although, now that I think about it again, I don’t remember seeing a single trash can at the park. It’s possible they exist, I just didn’t notice them. Either way, I’d like to give a moment to honour the park rangers who must have kept the park clean. Well done, all of you!
Have you ever been to Tebet?
Where do you think we should go next?