Warteg, Romanticized
Staying up late, whether it be of deadlines or cat videos online, when the clock strikes midnight, a familiar feeling would strike you as well, hunger. The choices are endless these days, from 24 hour food delivery services to pouring boiling water over an instant meal. Say, maybe you’re feeling a bit stuffy, being in your room for so long, cramming in the same position for hours, you decide to go outside. Look for a food kiosk that’s still open this late at night.
In Indonesia, we have these food kiosks called Warteg, an abbreviation of two words “warung”, meaning kiosk or small shop and “Tegal”, a name of a town in West Java. The name is said to derive from its origins in the 1950s, many workers and their families from all over Indonesia were brought to Jakarta. While the male workers worked on projects, their wives opened these kiosks selling a generous amount of food to the workers. Most of these people were from the town of Tegal, hence the name of Warung Tegal.
What is Warung Tegal? It is essentially a kiosk on the side of the road offering a place to sit down and have a meal from varieties of homecooked Indonesian cuisines. The food are placed on trays behind a glass display, from noodles, chicken, beef, fish, soups, veggies, take a pick!
When you walk in, you are greeted with a plate full of rice, and a question from the attendant behind the counter, “Sama apa?” or “With what?”. A plate of rice is essential in Indonesian food that you would be assumed to eat rice. You would then have to point at the glass display, at the sides you’d want with your rice. Generous amount of beef, or chicken, or whichever sides you picked are scooped onto the same plate as the rice, yes, even soups! I mentioned that there are noodles as the side dish, yes, fried noodles, they pair very nicely with rice, especially if you’re famished.
After picking your own meal, you get handed the plate, a perfect dish of your own choosing.
You order yourself a glass of hot tea as you sit down on the bench, putting your plate on the counter just at the front of the glass display. You sit between a middle aged man who is sipping his glass of black coffee, talking to another middle aged man, most likely his friend, and three teenagers slurping their instant noodles while casually chatting amongst themselves. Yes, Warteg also sells instant noodles, and they somehow always, always taste better than the ones you cooked yourself.
You enjoy your meal as the people around you chat about. The teenagers are rambling about films they’ve watched, and films they want to make, ideas shouted in between laughter. They seem to be film enthusiasts and filmmakers as well. One of those ideas shouted might just be the next film you see at the silver screen. On the opposite side, the two middle aged men are sipping their glasses of black coffee, burning through a pack of cigarettes as they chat their lives away. Sometimes the attendant behind the counter would join in on their conversation. They seem to know each other quite well, maybe the men are regulars here.
When you finish your meal, you get up and walk to the cashier. Now, this is the part where one’s moral is tested. Some Warteg make the customers pay for their meals before eating, not the one you’re in right now though, you have to recite what you picked. The Cashier announces your total and you pay him the right amount. You walk towards the exit, the teenagers are now bickering about plots and storylines, while the middle aged men have ordered another two glasses of black coffee, seems like they’re not going home anytime soon. You though have to go back to cramming, so you keep walking. As you are outside, three other people come in and laughter erupts from inside the kiosk, welcoming them as they start eating, talking, and sipping their coffee and tea through the night.