Tiger Tales

Night and the City

Jakarta is home to some of region's best nightspots, SARAH PORTER visits Indonesia's capital to find out which ones should be on your after-dark itinerary. Photos: TIMUR ANGIN

In a large colonial-style lobby lounge in one of Jakarta’s five-star hotels, impeccably groomed Indoneseians and expats mingle over pre-party cocktails. Tonight’s main event is a party at Hotel Borobudur’s Musro nightclub, one of the oldest such venues in town. Over 1,000 members of Jakarta’s “in” crowd are on the guest list, drawn by the promise of Parisian DJs and accompanying go-go dancers, and the allure of the party’s lethal mini martinis.

Welcome to just one tiny corner of Jakarta’s glittering nightlife scene. Despite its lower profile party-wise than competing regional hotspots like Bangkok, Jakarta offers up more fun than you can poke a swizzle stick at, with swish eateries, stylish wine bars and pumping nightclubs.

Jennifer Karjadi has her finger on the nightlife pulse. The former shoe designer and sometime DJ is co-owner of the successful wine bar chain Cork & Screw and of the French bistro bar, Loewy. She was one of the first businesspeople to open a wine bar in Jakarta – Manna Lounge – and attributes its popularity to her first-hand knowledge of what makes a good night on the town. “My business partners and I like to hang out,” she says. “We like to eat, we like to drink and we like to socialise. And I think that’s why the bars are so successful.”

What’s Jennifer’s ideal night out? “Right now, my favourite place to eat is Capocaccia in Pacific Place,” she says. “It’s an Italian franchise and the food is excellent. I also recommend Pepenero in Mega Kuningan for Italian.”

Social House is Jennifer’s pick for post-dinner drinks, while Dragonfly with its expat-friendly Vintage Nights every Wednesday, and Blowfish – which attracts the youngsters thanks to a mix of hip hop and R&B – are her venues of choice for clubbing.

“Of course, you have to be dressed up for everything,” she cautions. “Then, if I want to continue, there’s Stadium, which is open 24 hours a day. It’s so dark in there that you have to take your sunglasses because it might be morning when you come out. That’s the great thing about Jakarta, there’s more nightlife here than anywhere else in South-East Asia.”

Another person who’s making the most of Jakarta’s booming nightlife scene is Jean Baptiste, a professional party organiser who relocated to Indonesia from France with his partner a little over three years ago. “When we said we would move here, our friends said, ‘Oh dear, Jakarta, but why?’ This is not a tourist city yet, but it’s changing. My home is Paris, so I like big cities, but we can have a lot of parties here now with a lot of people.”

Surprisingly soft-spoken for someone in his line of work, Jean has held pool parties on hotel rooftops and all manner of themed parties at other local hot spots, but he says the best thing about Jakarta is the low cost of attending gigs by international DJs. “X2 is a good place to go for a real club experience,” he says. “They have world-class DJs like Judge Jules and Wally Lopez and it’s affordable.”

But Jean says visitors often undestimate the sophistication of the nightlife scene here. “You can be bounced out the door if you’re not wearing the right shirt in Jakarta,” he says. “Of course, you will not get bounced from a restaurant but men who wear short-sleeve shirts and jeans can sometimes feel uncomfortable. It’s one of the most difficult rules to follow. Sometimes the girls can wear a skirt and it’s like a belt, but the boys have to dress up more – even if your tank top is from Jean Paul Gaultier!”

As someone who has visited at least 60 clubs and 100 bars city-wide, what would be Jean’s game plan on his last night in Jakarta? “Well, I would drink champagne at Portico. Then go to Seribu Rasa in Menteng or perhaps Dapur Babah, for the mix of Asian and Dutch tastes and for a look at the antique furnishings,” he says. “Then, I would go to Dragonfly, a place to be seen where you’re sure to find a crowd. And there’s always Red Square, where everyone can dance on the bar.”

Back at Musro, it’s 3am and the dance floor is a heaving mass of bodies moving in time to Paris-based DJ Nauf’L’s beats. Bare-chested go-go dancers wearing masks, hotpants and long black velvet capes are wrapping up their last performance on stage. The party is drawing to a close. A group of friends at the bar starts to order last drinks while mapping out the night’s next move. There’s little argument among them: they’ll head to Stadium for many more hours on the dance floor.

NIGHTLIFE VENUE GUIDE

For dinner: 7:30-9:30pm  
• Seribu Rasa (128 Jln Haji Agus Salim, Menteng, Central Jakarta, tel: +62 (0)21 392 8892)  
• Dapur Babah (18-19 Jln Veteran I, Central Jakarta, tel: +62 (0)21 7060 2256, www.tuguhotels.com/ taojakarta/index.html)  
• Pepenero (1F Menara Karya Bldg, Jln HR Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, tel: +62 (0)21 5794 4727)  
• Capocaccia (G-51B Pacific Place Mall, 52-53 Jln Jendral Sudirman Kav, tel: +62 (0)21 5797 3658, www.capocaccia.co.id)

For pre-club drinks - and more food: 9:30pm-midnight  
• Cork & Screw (Wisma Kodel, Jln HR Rasuna Said, Kav B-4, Kuningan, tel: +62 (0)21 5290 2030)  
• Loewy (Oakwood Condos, Lingkar, Mega Kuningan, tel: +62 (0)21 2554 2378, www.loewyjakarta.com)  
• Immigrant (6F Plaza Indonesia, tel: +62 (0)21 3983 8257, www.immigrant-jakarta.com)  
• Social House (Harvey Nichols at Grand Indonesia, 1F East Mall, Jln Jend Sudirman, Central Jakarta, tel: +62 (0)21 2358 1818)  
• Portico (Ground Fl, Senayan City, Panin Tower, tel: +62 (0)21 7278 1641)

For dancing: midnight-5am  
• Dragonfly (23 Jln Gatot Subroto, tel: +62 (0)21 520 6789, www.ismayagroup.com)  
• Blowfish (City Plaza at Wisma Mulia, Jln Jend Gatot Subroto, Kav 42, tel: +62 (0)21 5297 1234, www.blowfish-puro.com)  
• X2 (8 Jln Asia Afrika, tel: +62 (0)21 572 5560)  
• Red Square (Unit X210-211, Plaza Senayan Arcadia, 9 Jln New Delhi, Pintu I Senayan, tel: +62 (0)21 5790 1281, www.redsquarejakarta.com)  
• Musro (Hotel Borobudur, Jln Lapangan Banteng Selatan, tel: +62 (0)21 384 2050, www.hotelborobudur.com)

And even later (or is that earlier?):  
• Stadium (111 FF, GG, HH, II, JJ, Hayam Wuruk, West Jakarta, tel: +62 (0)21 626 3323, www.stadiumjakarta.com)  
• Hotel Alexis (1 Jln RE Martadinata, North Jakarta, tel: +62 (0)21 6983 3333, www.alexisjakarta.com)