Forget The Traffic, Take a Break at Djule Kofi

Jakarta's Little Tokyo (Melawai-Blok M area) has just welcomed the newest addition to its growing list of coffee shop tenants. Let's say 'djule' (it means 'hello' in one of the Indian local languages), to Djule Kofi.

Djule (read: /dʒoo-leh/), is related to another (hipster) cafe in North Jakarta, Ombe Kofi. The latter created quite a lot of buzz last year for being the pioneer of a coffee shop springing up at someone's garage. The homey concept, tight knit team of self-made baristas and an army of kick-ass pops and moms running a youthful coffee place in North Jakarta, made an interesting formula that got people curious from far and wide.

So Djule is situated in the heart of Melawai, at a juncture that's easily visible from the streets. To park your vehicle, you need to enter the Blok M Square complex though. On an early Sunday morning, parking is a breeze, but if visiting at any other hours, you'll need quite a lot of luck to even find a spot deep within the labyrinthine commercial complex with narrow alleys.

On the first Sunday that Djule opened for public, I plucked all the strength I have to abandon the comfort of my bed so early in the AM and drove south to catch the place (hopefully) empty, for the sake of capturing clean photos of the interior. So I arrived at around 8.15 AM and there was already a group of cyclists who were enjoying their morning cuppa joe after the cycling sesh. Good news for cyclists, the folks at Djule are tolerant enough to allow the bikes to be parked inside.

What I really dig about Djule is the interior. One would not expect to find a rustic yet sophisticated spot amidst the hustle and bustle of the perpetually jammed Melawai stretch. The interior feels very masculine with black as the dominant element, and the wooden touch incorporated in the furniture, walls and beautiful staircase balances the masculinity. The entire place is not that huge, but the high ceiling-ed space (with a member-only mezza nine floor) does the trick. At the center of the whole place, is the open coffee bar. On the counter, sat two sturdy espresso machines that churn out 4 different coffee varieties.

You could see I'm a little too obsessed with the interior...

Start ordering from here

Colourful cups added some warmth to the place

Sea shell chandelier? That's just so hipster....so loving it!

I chatted up with the boys (Om Johny) from behind the counter and I encourage you to, because then you can learn to appreciate the effort and the belief that made this place. I requested them to add real food soon and turns out they've prepared the kitchen to do just that (hurray!), it's still work in progress though. I'd like a beautiful place like this to be strong in its food offering too, because nowadays, there are plenty of great places serving great coffee too, but the ones with seriously good food is still quite a rare find. So at the time being, they only have pastry and dried goods (granola, etc).

Pretzel Soft Rolls IDR 25,000 | Regular White (cappuccino) IDR 40,000

One thing to take note is you need to order your food / drinks at the cashier near the entrance and take the ticket to the barista. They will only make your drink after they get your ticket, so don't just happily sit down after paying k? LOL

Canele IDR 28,000

I'll probably pop by again next Sunday after my morning run on the Car Free Day stretch. Care to join me? =)

*) Prices are subject to 10% Tax

Open Hours: 8 AM - 8 PM (everyday)

Djule Kofi

Jl. Melawai Raya No. 6

South Jakarta

Ph: +6281214386899

Click here to open in Maps

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