Cafe Pendawa Lima

The best place to buy indonesian groceries. Try martabak, nastar cookies, and tempeh!!!

Café Pendawa simply exceeds my expectations. This corner store offers a variety of Indonesian foods and snacks, some that I haven’t found even in LA.
I wrote a blog post about Indonesian sweet snacks (
) without thinking I could find most of them in the States. However, after frequenting Café Pendawa every week, I realized that Café Pendawa carries at least nine out of ten snacks on the blog list! It’s just that some of them are not available every day, so going there weekly hasn’t been boring for my tastebuds at all. The only snack on the list that I haven’t seen there is kue ape. I also haven’t seen regular kue putu, but Café Pendawa sells putu mangkok. My favorites from Café Pendawa are martabak manis (pretty much the sole reason I go there every week), getuk lindri, lemper, pastel with green chili pepper, brem, and serabi. It’s pretty much a struggle for me to limit my purchase to what I can eat in 2 – 3 days because there are just so many options.

As an out-​of-​towner craving hard-​to-​find Javanese fried snacks, I was not disappointed when I stopped by Café Pendawa Lima. I had seen a photo of their fried goodies on Unilocal and had to see for myself. They had the usual suspects — tahu isi, tempe goreng, lumpia, but they also had other amazing goodies, like lopis that are nearly impossible to find in the DC area… I stocked up and I’m already looking forward to my next trip back to Philly.
It’s definitely an unassuming hole in the wall spot, and it’s a very narrow shop so make sure not to bring a big bag.
Cash only! Terima kasih, Café Pendawa Lima!

Love this place the owner so nice the food so good and I just realized it most of the comes from Indonesia restaurant in Philadelphia. No wonder so delicious.

I am Indonesian, I was not expecting much about this place. But I was surprised they had everything I wanted and needed, including «Sator Beans (Pete)» which is very difficult to find in the US (except you buy online). More surprise! The owner is originally from my hometown, Malang — Indonesia. Their customer service is pretty good too.

Wow! This place is great! We love it! Large selection of Indonesian groceries. You can also find a lot of Indonesian snacks & prepared food. Indonesian snacks are so seriously yummy! If you haven’t tried, it’s definitely worth trying. From the outside, it looks like any corner bodega but once you’re inside, you feel like you’re in a different country, hearing the TV playing local Indonesian program, you can almost forget that you’re in Philly.
The guy behind the counter were friendly. Great place to buy all your Indonesian goodies.

This is basically an Indonesian market that looks like a generic corner store on the outside. The owner is from my wife’s hometown of Malang. Prices are reasonable and better than your online market prices. My wife was happy with her shrimp paste options and was delighted she could get petai here. What is petai? Fuck if I know. Just google that shit and you’ll see. Anyway… Point being is if you’re wanting to cook some kick ass Indonesian food and wondering where the hell you can get certain stuff, I’m pretty certain you can get it here. They also have some pre-​made Indonesian food. I really recommend the pork dumplings (no, the owner is not Muslim obviously).

Cheap, variety of snacks and street vending style meals, and lots of flavors…
Definitely a place to go to if you have the munchies (and yes I am referring to y’all potheads out there). And btw, I don’t smoke but I can imagine how heavenly this spot is to those who are just wanting to satisfy their munchies.
Check out the spot. The guy behind the counter is pretty awesome too. Very nice service they offer to the patrons.

Great take-​out lunch options. I tried the fish & egg with vegetable curry over rice. The mackrel was sweet and smoky, with a kick from the chili sauce. For $ 5 it’s a delicious, flavorful and filling lunch. You’ll need a nap afterwards, which will just help make room for more.

The first time I stepped into this place, I felt like I had been transported 15,000 miles away. Total Indonesian experience– including TV blaring in Bahasa Indonesia. This place really shines in two ways. First, everything you might need for making Indonesian find can be found here including kecup-​manis, sambal oelek, tempeh and all the spice packets needed for beef rendang, nasi goreng ect.). Tons of other treats and specialty foods can be found here. Second, this shop has a huge amount of prepared food available. From roadside snacks to prepared lunches, they offer a huge range of Indonesian food to try and enjoy.
You can find this place by the huge moneygram sign hanging out front!

A must for Indonesians in Philly or people who just love Indonesian foods. I go here for some essential ingredients so I can cook Indonesian. The store is small and full of stuff but they do have the basics plus lots of home cooked meals, snacks and sweets. One thing I don’t like is that all the fried snacks are placed in the middle of the store, uncovered. People pass by all the time so I keep thinking there must be so many bacteries on the food haha. But as said: I go here mainly for my basic ingredients, plus soms sweets. Parking is a nightmare by the way.

This place brings a lot of memories for many Indonesians. They got a lot of ready-​to-​eat food, including some Indonesian snacks/​chips.
The ready-​to-​eat food range includes many Indo street food such as Tahu (fried stuffed tofu), Risol (Spring roll like), Tempe; all at $ 1.25 a pop. They’re kinda similar from the ones back home, so they’re pretty good.
They also serve pre-​packaged food such as rendang, fried rice, noodle, otak2x, empal (dried beef) etc. The empal & fried rice’re actually pretty good. They also serve some drinks such as Teh Kotak (sweetened jasmine green tea) — winner!
Overall, the place’s very small & cramped. They serve many Indonesian food & snacks along with other daily-​use products (Indo shampoo, etc). The food however can be either a hit or a miss. Most of them’re also more like home-​cooked quality, hence they’re cheap. For Indonesians, this store’ll bring back a lot of memories.

Cheap indonesian food for take away. If you’re watching your wasteline, close your eyes for the first few steps because you’re immediately presented with a host of various fried foods. It seems to be a rotating stock of food and they don’t always have what you’re — what am I looking for? I have no idea, but I’ll try anything and so far I’ve liked most of the fried foods there. All of them are lukewarm and usually decent tasting at that temp, but definitely use the microwave to make them even better. They also have meals in a refrigerated section and a various grocery items in the back.

small indonesian food store down in the corner. you’ll see alot of indonesian stuff, snacks and drinks. the price is very cheap too
the owner of this store is the same to the owner of Indonesian Restauran: D
you should go there btw highly recommend for their resto… everything is Delish!

So friendly and helpful-don’t be shy… ask!!!
Upon being hooked by Hardena (up the block), we decided to continue our Indonesian adventure and stop by Café Pendawa. There is no sign, other than the one on the door and the Money-​Gram sign hanging from the exterior of the pink-​ish building — could be kind of easy to miss, I suppose.
Especially interested in Jamu, I came to see what medicinal tonics and herbs that folks around the world have used for years before the advent of products from Pfizer, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, and the like. Jamu focuses on natural herbs/​roots found within the environment to help the body produce its own antibodies to fight infection/​disease/​etc. (ie: the use of nutmeg to treat insomnia, guava for diarrhea, lime to promote weight loss and basil to counter body odor — just some of MANY, many uses), rather than prescribing various drugs that can (in some cases) destroy natural elements of the body and immune system.
I did walk out with some interesting supplements, but also stocked up on some delicious snacks (if you don’t know what it is, just ask — the staff will be more than happy to help:)…tofu fried rice balls with vermicelli noodles and fresh pepper, a kind of samosa-​ish treat with chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, and a chili sauce, along with various types of Mi Sedaap (at the recommendation of a previous poster — THANKS:). As others have said, lots of fresh looking, pre-​packaged foods and desserts to take out.
Just a fun place to explore and indulge your culinary creativity!
PS: I am not AT ALL a doctor, just a curious person who likes to travel and work as a psychologist on the side… so these are simply my own musings on jamu, rather than medical advice.

It’s a bit hard to recognize since the sign outside says moneygram, but inside it’s more of a grocery store with a variety of ready-​to-​eat foods and snacks.
This is my place to go when I’m craving Indonesian food.
The food varies on different days, as I’ve heard that there are multiple vendors/​cooks. Which is disappointing, since every time I go my favorite Indonesian food isn’t available.

Always love to come here for a great gastronomic, cultural adventure. Usually wind up getting some of the fried stuff they have when you enter. Everything I’ve tried has been great!
Self-​serve; but you may need assistance in figuring out what these goodies are. I’ve always had someone who works in store help me. They have always been friendly, kind and patient; as there is much to choose from.
The tempeh is really good; just thin slabs coated in some type of flour & fried. I dipped it in the sambal listed below (a must purchase) & Trader Joes Chipotle hummus for a protein packed taste sensation. I’ve had really great spring rolls, fried tofu stuffed w/​rice vermicelli & veg, sticky rice w/​chicken in a banana leaf, a fried mashed potato thing w/​savory-​sweet filling of veg & chicken. Got a huge, heavy fried thing that was was made from lakatan bananas. Just about everything is $ 1.50 so you can try a few w/​o breaking the bank. Spice levels can be high here on some items. Bags of green chilis are there so you can grab a few gratis just in case you require more heat. There are also a multitude of prepared meals, snacks, desserts pre-​packed that I have yet to try. Cartons of iced jasmine tea are nice also.
ATTENTION SRIRACHA FANS! In back of the store is a sambal called Pohon Cabe Chili Sauce. Comes in a small plastic bottle for $ 1.50. Get it. Thank me later. As it says on back of bottle– «Hygienic. Healthy, Halal, Delicious &Safe.»

Really? That’s what they called it? I always referred it as «Pendawa enterprise» for some reasons lol great place to get most indonesian stuffs. Everytime I go to Philly for work, I will always visit this store to bring something back to DC. And absolutely love the little snacks that comes every saturday (i think). And they do sell little packs of meals if you want to eat some indonesian food, or too lazy or not sure how to make (like me)! :p
I always go there during the daylight. It’s kind of at the sketchy area.

If you’re looking for a perfect and immediate crash course in Indonesian comfort and street food it really doesn’t get much better than Café Pendawa Lima.
The name of Pendawa is in fact VERY deceiving considering that it isn’t a café at all, and is more of an ethnic mini-​market of endless possibilities. You can stop in to use a shady ATM, grab a quick soda and pack of smokes, or make a money transfer (guessing at least since its posted on their entry); just as easily as you can pick up some rare Indonesian noodles dishes and desserts, interesting Asian condiments, and plenty of packaged goods. But the marketplace is definitely best if you’re looking for a cheap and inexpensive lunch or dinner since most of the meal options offered are well proportioned and go for $ 4 – 7 a pop.
While you look through many of the packaged items and various rolls and … pastries (???) you’ll be quick to notice a significant language barrier. Of the 3 – 4 times I’ve been here I’ve of yet been unable to describe any of the dishes that I’ve picked up by name. While some do have a label that lists very basic ingredients, even that succeeds in adding onto the mystery at hand. but so far what I’ve picked up has led to some very interesting results. Take for example:
1) A plastic container of noodles with meat that touted pork, ground beef, chiles, noodles, and a meat ball.
Result: A room temperature phở minus gnarly ingredients like tripe and tendon. the pork and beef was identifiable and the noodles were quite enjoyable. but the only obstacle was getting over removing the chiles and meatball from their individual plastic bag containers, especially the meatball which is submerged in liquid (water?) and is held in the bag by an awkward knot. But upon mixing everything together properly added up to a beyond delicious experience.
2) 3 random patties in a plastic container that resembled the equivalent of crab cakes for beef (?).
Result: Indonesian Scrapple! I know no better way to describe what they tasted like. And damn was it worth it!
3) Random thing in a bag that looked like an empanada with 2 chiles and only cost $ 1.50.
Result: Empanada outside with an egg a bit of chiles, and any of the random ingredients that you mind find within a good spring roll. Yum!
4) I think these are spring rolls, and at $ 2.50 for 5 what’s the harm in finding out?
Result: these spring rolls taste like chicken!!!
So far this experiment in deliciousness has been a flavorful road well traveled. so far, so good. Cash only!

I absolutely LOVE this store! It has all the Indonesian staple products you will ever need such as hot sauce, chips, instant noodle, spices, beverages, and many more. I also like the prepared food and snacks section of this store. Most of the time, I enjoy the prepared food and snacks I get from here. Anyhow, it’s always helpful to ask who made those since various cooks made the food over in this section of the store. Sometimes different cooks have different taste.