Loewy: Where You'll Never Leave Well Enough Alone

Raymond Loewy (1893-1986), often referred to as the father of industrial design, was the genius behind the iconic Lucky Strike logo and Coca Cola bottle. He's also credited for originating a (design) technique called streamlining, calling the concept "beauty through function and simplification."

I think those idea and concept are truly applied to Loewy, a (near) authentic French-inspired bistro located in the middle of bustling Jakarta. With its open air patio, wooden flooring, aluminium ceilings, tiled walls; illuminated by dim lights and decorated by ceiling fans. It gives out a certain rustic feeling yet intertwined with a chic modern buzz at the same time. The place emanates a timeless appeal, just like Raymond Loewy's designs.

Cheers! To Cork & Screw.

Wine. That velvety liquid regarded as luxury here. That sexy substance which could spice up any situation. Hmm…

I’ve never been a big fan of wine and have always leaned towards hard liquor more. Simply because I considered wine as too light and expensive. Thus, it is inefficient – if you know what I mean.

I would opt for wine if I were to go for a chill out time, maybe for a nice laid-back fancy dinner, which I don’t really do. Me and me friends would usually just go all out and party hard, cheaper than a fancy wine and dine. Second option is to chill at a cozy lounge and just chit-chat through the night, over wine or any cocktails of course.

Experiencing food from Babah's Kitchen

Finally. It’s about time that I check out this place. I’ve always been so clueless when it comes to memorizing streets and finding directions so I always hesitated to look for it. I’d just go to Samarra, to make my life easier.

Turned out it was on the same street as Ragusa Ice Cream and Rive Gauche. But the sad thing was that I didn’t really pay attention to the road because I didn’t know we were going there. So I’m still clueless, more or less.. I just remember it being somewhere near Cikini. Hahahah..

The ‘eldest’ amongst other Tugu Group restaurants in Jakarta (Lara Djonggrang / La Bihzad came next, followed by Samarra & Waroeng Shanghai Blue 1920), Dapur Babah is well known for its authentic Babah cuisine, a combination of Chinese-Indonesian and Dutch cooking. They have a variety of selections, from the simple everyday dishes such as rawon, pecel, and pindang, to the more elaborate such as Dutch steak and Huzaren Sla.