Sunday Afternoon at Mayestik

Sunday Afternoon at Mayestik

Ocassionally I would go for a Japanese lunch at Midori Restaurant at the Bersih Sehat Health Center in Mayestik, South Jakarta. This ISO9002-certified health center offers the best traditional Indonesian massage in town and is very popular among the Japanese expatriate community in Jakarta.

On weekends, the place is crowded with Japanese men who drop by after their usual morning round of golf for a relaxing two-hour massage. The Midori restaurant located within its premise serves quite good Japanese food too.

I am not a connoisseur nor a big fan of Japanese food. But I like the Midori Restaurant in Mayestik because they have a good five-piece keroncong band that plays during lunchtime. I enjoy spending long lunches there, chomping on my sushi, listening to popular keroncong tunes such as Saputangan, Jembatan Merah and Bengawan Solo.

Yesterday while I was there having my teriyaki salmon, the singer and band was delivering a popular Javanese song that I'm familiar with: Stasiun Balapan.

I've never been to Solo (or Surakarta) before but I know Stasiun Balapan is the train station located in the city. Solo and Yogjakarta--both in Central Java--are considered the centers of Javanese culture. Someone who is born and bred in Solo or Jogja are considered "authentic" Javanese.

And yesterday, at the Midori Restaurant in Mayestik, I listened to the lilting strains of Stasiun Balapan and dreamt of going to Solo someday, on a slow and leisurely train, on a long journey across Java.