t’s rare that I get blown away by food in Indonesia. In fact, I have been quite disparaging about it in the past, BUT eating Ayam Jamur at Bakmi Kota 21 in Chinatown, Jakarta, just blew me away.
Situated right in the heart of the city, this hole in the wall eatery is obviously as good as it gets, as it gets absolutely rammed with people, all there for the most part to eat noodles and meat grilled in banana leaves. Yeah, you heard that right, and yeah, it was a new one on me.
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Table of Contents
What is Bakmi Kota 21?
Bakmi Kota 21 is a Chinese Indonesian noodle joint that has become famous in Jakarta for one particular dish, Bakmi Bakar. Basically, this is chicken noodles wrapped up in banana leaf and then grilled, giving the noodles a lovely smoky flavour that you don’t normally get from your standard bowl of bakmi.
It became something of a viral sensation, with queues of 30 to 60 minutes being reported at the height of its popularity. Luckily, it was not like that when I went there.
The restaurant started around 2020, and there is actually a pretty nice story behind it. According to the owner, Evan, the idea originally came from his late younger brother, who had always wanted to open his own bakmi business. After he passed away, the family decided to turn that dream into reality, and Bakmi Kota 21 was born.
So, cool story, cheap prices and baller food in a street food environment.
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Bakmi Bakar, Ayam Jamur
There’s much more to the menu than these two dishes, although I will delve into that later.
I started with the Ayam Jamur, which literally means chicken and mushroom. This is then brought out after being grilled, with your choice of noodles, namely:
Bakmi Kecil – thin, smaller noodles
Bakmi Karet – thicker, chewy, more elastic noodles
Bakmi Lebar – wide, flat noodles
Options 1 and 3 were taken, which were then served in a hot banana leaf and on a banana leaf. There’s also some salad, but I avoided this.
Now, I hate mushrooms, but with sambal sauce added it was so banging that I simply just picked them out and concentrated on the chicken. Bakmi Lebar went best with this in my opinion.
I then went back as I loved it so much, and to try the Es Tela Durian Sultan, which they said they would have at 5. Alas, they did not, so we had one simply without the durian.
This is basically an Indonesian dessert similar to halo halo in the Philippines, that is, milk, coconut and yam heavy. Again, it was baller.
I also took a chicken and noodles dish, this time without mushrooms, that just blew me away. It’s smoky, it’s hot, but it does not come across as grilled overtly. It’s just a really unique Indonesian, or Jakarta dish that is damned good and cheap.
No booze here, as you might expect, but delicious sweetened and unsweetened iced-tea. The Menu at Bakmi Kota 21
Prices are extremely reasonable, with the current menu putting most of the main noodle dishes at around IDR 27,000 to IDR 32,000, or roughly US$1.60 to US$2.00 depending on the exchange rate.
Bakmi Ayam Jamur – IDR 27,000 / approx. US$1.60
Bakmi Bakar Ayam – IDR 32,000 / approx. US$2.00
Bakmi Ayam Kampung – IDR 31,000 / approx. US$1.90
Bakmi Ayam Campur – IDR 31,000 / approx. US$1.90
Kwetiau Ayam Jamur – IDR 27,000 / approx. US$1.60
Baso + Pangsit – IDR 22,000 / approx. US$1.35
Bakso Sapi, 5 pieces – IDR 20,000 / approx. US$1.20
Pangsit Rebus, 5 pieces – IDR 20,000 / approx. US$1.20
Es Teh Manis – IDR 6,000 / approx. US$0.35
Es Jeruk Peras – IDR 15,000 / approx. US$0.90
The Bakmi Bakar itself comes with ayam jamur and quail eggs, and you can choose between the three types of noodles.
Where is Bakmi Kota 21?
Bakmi Kota 21
Jl. Hayam Wuruk No. 96A
Mangga Besar, Taman Sari
West Jakarta, Jakarta
Indonesia
The restaurant is on Jalan Hayam Wuruk, right around the Chinatown and Mangga Besar area of Jakarta. There are also more recent listings giving the address as No. 125K, so it is worth checking the map before setting off.
Next to the decent, well priced hotels of Chinatown in Jakarta and honestly well worth going to eat at.
Truly one of the best street food stops in Glodok and I’d go as far as saying a must if you are on the street food trail here. And may I add! The servers here speak some English, are very friendly and it is frankly artisan to see them do their work.
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