If you have less than 24 hours to spend in a new city, where would you go to? For me, the answer is pretty easy, as I would first and foremost, head down to the best coffee place in town that the locals flock to.
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| Where it all began: Warung Kopi Phoenam Jampea, Makassar |
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| The Kopitiam signature: Kaya Toast, Teh Tarik and Kopi Susu |
Warung Kopi Phoenam or Phoenam Coffee Shop could be said to be a pride of Makassar, because it originated from the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, circa 1946. Today, more than 60 years down the road, Phoenam has expanded its reach to other cities across Indonesia, including several franchised stores in Jakarta. I suppose no other coffee shop in Indonesia comes close to Phoenam in terms of the legacy. The history of Warung Kopi (warkop) Phoenam is aplenty online, so I won't bore you with History 101.
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| A vintage photo of the three Phoenam founders |
As we pulled into the driveway of the warkop on jalan Jampea, the place has obviously undergone a facelift since it was first open. Today, the coffee shop looks like a modern shophouse with white tiled floor and there's even free wifi for the guests!
The main area of the coffee shop is actually open air and allows smoking guests, but for non-smokers, there's a separate non-smoking area with air conditioning, accessible through a door near the back of the shop.
I saw a middle aged Chinese lady near the cash register...Upon some casual inquiry, turns out she's related to the first generation owners of Phoenam. The folks there were not intimidated by a camera-wielding bleached blonde chinese girl taking photos of their store, so I guess they must be used to it (the fame) already.
Over the strong Toraja coffee, Pak Gosal pointed out to me that coffee shops in Makassar were mostly run by Hainanese migrants and they were usually located in street corners or junctions. I suppose coffee-drinking habit is as much ingrained in the Chinese' blood as it is to Italians.
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| Unlike kopitiam in Singapore / Malaysia, there's not much theatrics when making teh tarik here |
The menu is pretty straightforward, the usual offerings at kopitiams: black coffee with sweet condensed milk, Ovaltine (hot chocolate), kaya toast, teh tarik and such. Oh, I saw cappuccino on the list, but you can have that in any modern cafe. If you're feeling gutsy, try the Kopi with Telur Susu Madu (black coffee stirred with egg yolk, milk and honey). Sounds like it'll make you puke, but this is actually a pretty popular traditional coffee combo in Indonesia, I've never tried it myself so I wonder how it would taste like...
The Phoenam black Toraja coffee is, to put it bluntly, very bitter and overbearing, even to someone who is used to drinking black coffee like me. After just a few sips, I gave up my cool and finally mixed in the sweet condensed milk, not too much though. Pak Gosal personally recommends to order the Kopi Susu and request for the milk to be separated, because sometimes the standard serving might be too sweet to some people. Besides that, I ordered the Teh Tarik out of curiosity, just to see how they 'pull' the milk and tea mixture. Turns out it was quite an ordinary method, still interesting to shoot). The Teh Tarik is quite sweet, maybe I'd enjoy it better, served with ice.
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| Kopi and sweet condensed milk IDR 15,000 |
As for the food, the choices are typically comfort food in a kopitiam; either toasted or egg-soaked and fried egg or instant noodles with various toppings. If you are used to biscuit like crispy and crumbly kaya toast in Jakarta, Phoenam's is slightly different, as the bread is thick and soft, but crispy outside. The kaya jam is made in house and could be made as a souvenir for your folks back home, selling at IDR 30,000/jar.
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| Roti Goreng Telur Corned Keju (fried egg-soaked bread with corned beef cheese filling) IDR 20,000 |
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| Indonesians have to have chili with everything they eat (but not me!) Teh Tarik IDR 17,000 |
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| Phoenam Kaya Toast IDR 12,000 |
The prices are reasonable, although not cheap, it's still cheaper than the prices in Jakarta. Oh, the lady actually used a traditional sempoa (abacus) to total my bill, this is a rare sight nowadays, don't you think? The next thing I will do, is to try the Phoenam coffee shop in Jakarta, I heard the coffee composition is slightly adjusted to suit the market in Jakarta. Among the flock of kopitiam franchises in Jakarta, Phoenam is not as well known, but it has a great potential yet untapped by the local market, because Phoenam has what others don't: history.
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| vintage chinese abacus |
Warung Kopi Phoenam Makassar
Jl. Jampea No. 5 E
Ph: +62 411 3625453
Warung Kopi Phoenam also opens in other cities in Indonesia: Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Solo Jogjakarta, Samarinda, Palu & Papua
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