Market Mystery

A new series, cousin to Grocery Games, in which I chronicle mystery items found at the market and attempt to discern what they are.

Today's market mystery: 

These things. 

These weird, deep red, octopus-shaped things were in the fruit section at our weekly neighborhood Saturday market... are they fruit? flowers? vegetables?  In the heat of the moment I decided they looked like they would be an essential component of the Lord of Darkeness' tablescape in Legend:

Then, the next day, while bopping around Chatuchak, Bangkok's massive weekend market, we saw this drink for sale next to the lime juice and coconut water we were eyeing:

Roselle (with questionable spelling).  

Ah ha, mystery solved!  Roselle is a variety of hibiscus.  The drink, which in Thailand can be hot or cold, is supposed to be good for your cholesterol.  Now we know.  And knowing is half the battle.

Dranks

I've done my fair share of complaining about restaurants here in Jakarta, but there are many things at which restaurants here excel.

For example: decor.  The decor at restaurants here is insane.  Funky, coordinated, modern.  I love it.

Also: presentation.  The food is generally presented in a really cool way... fun dishes, neat arrangements, etc.

Pitcher of fresh minty limeade, complete with accompanying mini-pitcher of simple syrup.,

Finally: drinks.  The array of options for interesting non-alcoholic beverages here is outstanding.  I guess when the majority of the country (or at least this island) doesn't drink alcohol, restaurants have to come up with exciting ways to entice diners into buying a fancy non-alcoholic drink with their meals rather than sticking to water.  As opposed to the U.S. where your non-alcoholic options are typically limited to soda or overly sweetened iced tea, here they go out of their way with fresh squeezed juices and smoothies, fun virgin cocktails, refreshing sparkling lemon or limeade drinks with fresh juice and herbs. 

Plus, on top of that, they typically let you sweeten your own iced tea or lemonade with simple syrup served in a cute, tiny pitcher.  This is awesome.  I hate in the U.S. that either the drink is pre-sweetened and it's far too sweet, or you have to stir in crystallized sugar that never really dissolves into your iced tea.  First world problems, indeed. It's so easy to make simple syrup!  Even the Starbucks here have it here as the default sweetener.  I love it, as you can probably tell.  It's a simple (har har) thing, but it's a really nice touch. 

Satay and Batavia

Last Saturday night, we went to dinner with Ben and Erin, followed by a drink or two at Cafe Batavia, a relic of the Dutch colonial era here in Jakarta.  

Loungin'...

We had plans to hit up a particular restaurant for padang food, but our plans were foiled, as they were closed when we arrived.  We walked around a bit and randomly chose to try this satay restaurant that ended up being pretty great... cool middle eastern decor, cold beers, and giant dragon boat full of various types of satay from all over Indonesia (chicken, fish, beef, squid, tofu, other tasty things shall remain unknown because I don't know what they are and probably don't want to know), with eight different dipping sauces.  Mmmm...

Giant dragon boat full of satay!! So good.

Not-so-tiny dips.

 After dinner we ventured to Cafe Batavia, which is in Old Jakarta, right on Fatahillah Square, which is a bumpin' local hangout on Saturday night.  I know the photo below is terrible (taken through the window (that wouldn't open) on the second story of the cafe), but you can kinda see all of the stalls set up, selling everything from t-shirts to handmade Barbie clothes to jewelry to "magic beans" (we could only deduce that they had some aphrodisiac-like powers), and offering such services as cupping, tattooing, and palm reading.

Terrible photo of Saturday night chaos at Fatahillah Square.

 Cafe Batavia itself was pretty interesting... definitely had a weird colonial vibe to it.  Not someplace I'd like to hang out every day, but definitely worth a visit.

Ben dan Erin minum di Cafe Batavia.