Ny. Swan Dapur Solo

It’s time to go traditional!

Dapur Solo was founded by the Swan Kumarga 25 years ago. It was started as small business in a garage selling exclusively for children and housewife in the neighborhood.

With the vision to conserve Indonesian food, she continued growing the business until becoming one of the best Indonesian restaurants in Jakarta to date.

Determined to serve quality food to their customer, Dapur Solo has only opened 4 branches around Jakarta; 2 in Sunter and 1 each in Tangerang and Polim Jakarta Selatan. The main branch is still the most crowded with the most item offered. This time, I did not go to the main branch though as we eager to try the new established place in Sunter II instead.

There was 2 traditional food stalls selling Telor Kerak and Kue Ketan in front of the entrance. My aunt said that we did not use to be able to find these 2 traditional snacks around as it’s only being served during Indonesia Independence Day on August 17. As time goes by, our food has become more and more conserved. Indonesia started to realize how food is an important part of our culture. 

We arrived at about 6.00pm last Sunday and got a table straight away near the groups’ dining room. Different from their main branch, the space here is more spacious. They also have outside seating exclusively for smoking dining area.

Looking through their menu, I was undecided which one to choose between the oxtail soup and asam iga but then we ended up ordering 3 soups; Rawon, Sop Buntut and Asam Iga, to share. As side dish, we also ordered Kerak Telur and Ketoprak.

Growing up in Palembang, Sumatera; I don’t really know much about Java Traditional food. So please bear it with me if I said that was the first time I tried Kerak Telur.

I also clear my understanding about the difference between Gado Gado, Karedok and Ketoprak which look very similar and using the same peanut sauce. Gado Gado and Ketoprak turned out to be very similar to each other as they use the same ingredients. The only difference between the two is whether the vegetables cooked or raw. Karedok is quite different as it consists of Vermicelli noodle, Tempe, Tofu and depending on the restaurant, Karedok seldom includes green vegetable.

Enough for the longggg story, let’s start reviewing the foods here in Dapur Solo.

The oxtail soup was just OK. The soup lacks of flavors comparing to the one that I usually have. Instead of resembling the taste of model gandum soup, it tastes more like a normal beef soup. I guess they put too much water that the stock became too light.

The Asam Iga was the highlight of the day as we all love it. They still have a sweet Javaness flavor mixed with sour and spicy that comes from asam jawa (tamarind) and bird’s eye chili respectively. 

Rawon was probably the one that did not fit my taste the most although It did not mean it's not good as my cousin really like it. My palate just did not like the strong sweet flavor in there.

Ketoprak was so so with a limited variety of vegetable. The peanut sauce was light and quite delicious. It’s peanut sauce anyway, you can’t hardly go wrong with it!

Last but not least, Kerak Telur. I just found that Kerak Telur is made of rice as the other main ingredients beside the egg itself. I feel Kerak Telur taste similar to cooked rice served with egg and abon. It’s tasty but there is nothing really special as it was the taste that everyone familiar with.

Long story short, I think Dapur Solo is a great restaurant with a great value for home style Javanese cuisine. The only downside is that they do not provide any jajanan pasar in the new branch here, not like in the main branch.

Dapur Solo
Jl. Danau Sunter Utara No. 7 Sunter II
Sunter - Jakarta Utara 14350
T : 021. 296 15 353

Website: Dapur Solo