Taste Of Jakarta

Ate here several times and liked everything, so I was seriously bummed out to go by and see a «For Lease» sign in the window. I hope the owner (s) open another restaurant or, better yet, a food cart — preferably down near 10^th and Alder :-)

Went for lunch at around 1PM and found the place deserted. Turns out they were closed for about 2 weeks for vacation and just reopened. Our lunch was good — I had the fried chicken lunch and my wife had the tofu dish. Both solid 3-​star. The yellow rice is great, if you have the option for yellow rice, take it. Their dishes are on the spicy side, but not overly spicy.
Last time we were there they were serving dishes on styrofoam, they’ve upgraded to china plates but the forks and spoons are still plastic.
If you want some decent Indonesian food for little money this is the place. Décor is nothing to write home about, but the food is solid.

I’ve been eating at indonesian restorants all over the country, but this is by far the WORST INDONESIAN FOOD EVER! and I am from Jakarta, Indonesia. The worst part about it was the SERVICE! the owner/​servers was not friendly at all to me (what did I do? or is that just a «special treatment’ for indonesians? :). My American husband noticed it also.
Nasi kuning was tasteless, balado and gado2 tasted like it was made using ready-​made spice paste you get from asian store. nothing special. and what’s up with paper plate and cup? not environmental friendly.

4 stars ONLY because I travelled in Indonesia. And became an immediate fan of the food. Rather lover of the food. This place was very good. ALMOST as good as the real thing. Not sure if the environment (paradise) was lacking, or if the food just isn’t QUITE the same.
However, service PERFECT.
They were well informed and very helpful.
They explained also that some ingredients they could not get or couldn’t get fresh. So that could be one reason it just wasn’t QUITE the real deal.
Very good none the less.

Went for lunch and we were the only ones in there so no wait right at noon. Service was quick and food was delicious and filling. Had the Nasi Padang which was delicious! beef was tender and tasty, defintely want to go back and try more.

First of all, how many Indonesian places are there in Portland. I’ll tell you: one and only one. Even if Taste of Jakarta weren’t amazing, it would be reason enough to come visit just to experience this amazing and woefully under-​appreciated cuisine.
But Taste of Jakarta does a wonderful job of presenting the Indonesian classics. I’ve spent time traveling the Malay peninsula and the food here very much reminds me of the best I had there. The cook is a real talent who brings these far-​away flavors right to my doorstep in Portland, Oregon, of all places.
My favorites are the beef rendang, jackfruit curry (jackfruit!) and the sublime fried chicken which, I was happy to see, was recently given its props by the Portland Monthly Magazine. It is indeed some of the finest fried chicken in town and from a very surprising source.
You’d be hard-​pressed to spend more than 10 bucks on a meal and at lunch you can plunk down $ 6 for a mound of food. Throw in the company of the amiable owner and you’ve got yourself a mighty fine lunch hour.

Great place! My wife and I go here probably once a week. The fried chicken lunch is fantastic… these people know how to do fried chicken. I get the spicy beef curry. This restaurant is simple, but the food they make is great. The owner is always friendly, informative, and happy to talk to you about how things are made.
I am somewhat amused by one of the poor reviews that holds the music on the radio against the restaurant. Additionally, you are expected to pay up front, which begs the question why the person sat for 15 minutes waiting to pay. Ignore the self-​important low reviewers and focus on the food. It is consistent, it is good, and the staff is reliably friendly. It may not have the ambience of Jakes, but it is a great place to grab a good meal.

For a tiny, casual eatery with good food, Taste of Jakarta hits the spot. I’ve tried several entrees and although I have no personal experience traveling in Indonesia and sampling authentic Indonesian food, I found the food that this restaurant produces (authentic or not) to be quite tasty.
Yes, the ambience lacks and they use paper plates and plasticware. This is why I opt for carry out. The food is always ready fast and the prices are decent.
I have gone back and will continue to go back to Taste of Jakarta.

The food is okay. Jackfruit is good and the beef curry is good. But I would agree with the other reviewers that this is just a stand posing as a restaurant. I also just couldn’t get over the fact that they are still using plastic forks and paper plates and plastic tubs to serve the food in. (thought it was just a temporary solution the first time i went.) I was told that they don’t have a dishwasher and would have to raise the prices if they did. Pleeeeaaaassee spare me. Will spend my lunch money next door at Chef Naoko instead (where they have durable dishware and use compostable to go containers) in the future.

I had to try it. I just couldn’t trust in the reviews; I had to find out for myself.
After traveling in Bali and taking an incredible cooking class, I have longed for the distinct spices of this food ever since, and seldom found what I wanted. Here, I did not.
I got Nasi Goreng, which is basically fried rice, but made in Bali it had something amazing, fresh and stand-​alone that made it my favorite dish. I didn’t find this here. It just tasted like very greasy fried rice. The pork rinds did give it a nice bite.
I took someone’s advice and pretended that this place was a food cart so I wouldn’t be disappointed by the atmosphere, which is sparse. The service was very kind and friendly.
Maybe it should be three stars because of the service and because I’ve only tried one item, so I could be totally missing something (even though I’m not tempted to return soon). Also, since I only ever traveled in Bali, I can’t comment on the authenticity of food from the rest of Indonesia. I can say what I liked and didn’t like though, and I didn’t really like my Nasi Goreng. The quest continues.

I’m with Joe S. I wanted to like this place as well. There aren’t a lot of Indonesian places around and I was definitely in the mood for something different. But it doesn’t look like I’ll be returning.
Note, I’m not in a bad mood. But this will probably come off as kind of harsh.
Upon walking into the place, the surroundings are meagre. They’re not dirty or anything, just sort of blah. Light-​green walls, a cheesy little tiki-​like roof (that was there before) and a cash register. The sculpture on the wall was on a piece of plywood. It was klass.
The menu was informative, but they left off the price except for the lunch special. There were about 6 items after that that had no price. I asked the waiter/​owner/​whatever about fish (considering that Indonesia a bunch of frickin’ islands!) and they said that they’ve only been open for about 6 months and they’re trying to keep costs down.
I ordered Nasi Kening, which consisted of a legbone of chicken, yellow rice, 4 fried cubes of tofu, and tempeh in a sweet soy (kecip manis, I’m assuming) and a bit of shrimp-​chips. There were cubed cucumbers and two sad tomato slices that served as a salad (I like neither, and that doesn’t really seem Indonesian to me… maybe I’m wrong). The presentation was very flat. In fact, any of the pictures in the menu were in plastic to-​go containers. When the food came out (it came out quickly), it was served on a Dixie paper plate with plasticware. The drink I ordered came in a box with a pokey-​straw and was 250mL for $ 1.25 (it was Tehbotol, a sweet jasmine tea). It had a slightly chemical flavour, but was ok.
The chicken was tender; the rice was, well, rice; the tempeh was ok; the tofu was plain. The chili sauce he offered also plain. Overall, it was pretty bland, flavourless. I had no idea what to expect for a bill, but it couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 $. The food itself probably cost 2 $ to put together. Everything was really sort of dry, too. I love sauce. This was not the place to get that.
While I’m eating, I’m listening to K103, the absolute WORST FUCKING MUSIC AVAILABLE to man, especially while trying to eat. I seriously had to listen to Whitney Houston while I was trying to eat. That’s really not OK.
I waited for over 15 minutes to get the bill. Eventually I just got up to pay at the register. To my surprise, my entrée (on a paper plate and with plastic fork) was 7.95 $. The grand total was 9.20 $ with a drink.
If you wanted lunch at a cart, would you spend 9 $? I feel like I got hosed. This place is no better than a cart (in fact, most carts are better, and you may as well if you’re going to destroy the planet eating off plastic), is much too expensive for what you get, and was all around just sort of meh. I would have given it 2 stars, but due to the price and the lack of bill, shitty music, and eating on plastic, I couldn’t bear to. There are just too many things wrong with eating a bland meal on a paper plate and not being at a family gathering.
My recommendations: get a frickin’ dishwasher, make something interesting, have some fish, and be a little more giving. I know people have to make a profit, but there’s simply a line.
PS: I wasn’t that hungry going in. I’m hungry now. Boo!
Food: 2 stars
Environment: 1
Service: 2
Sustainability: 0

tried several items off their menu and they were all delicious. don’t really know what «authentic indo» food is but it sure tasted like it. the spicy jackfruit was great, so was the chicken. portions were medium sized. not large but not too small (a bit more would have been welcomed).
the décor freaked me out. really– ugly greenish color + the music was giving me the chills for some reason.
guy working the front was nice and did a good job at explaining the food there.
i’m a little perplexed by the paper plates and forks. only restaurant i’ve been to in portland that served food like that. it definitely cheapened the image of the food, at least for me.

As a vegetarian, I have no problem with Taste of Jakarta at all. In fact, vegetarianism is quite common in Indonesia and the chef here has a high sensitivity to keeping the food away from meat and making it taste great. Most people have never had good Tempe, this place does it right. (Tempe comes from Indonesia after all!)
Also, as far as authenticity, this is pretty much the real deal. I spent some time in Jakarta and Bali, and this food is exactly what I had over there.
I’m glad they are using paper plates, it keeps the cost of the food down, since they don’t have to hire a dish-​washer.
Terima Kasih!

I had the Nasi Padang for lunch (young jackfruit with spicy coconut milk, a hard-​boiled egg will shallots and chili sauce, beef with spicy coconut milk and rice), which was very filling and about the right level of spice. If you’re a self-​admitted wimp when it comes to spice, don’t get this dish.
I got my food to go, but I noticed that tables were served their meal on paper plates, which kind of summed up the atmosphere: it could easily be a cart, but it’s not.
I liked my food quite a bit, especially because it was a bit different (where would I get young jack fruit and how would I cook it?). My vegetarian friend didn’t care for her dish at all: Ketoprak, noodles with peanut sauce, tofu, and tempeh (it didn’t seem like tempeh to her). I think it’s safe to say that vegetarians should beware of this place. This style of food tends to be all about the meat.
Good value for your buck. I was stuffed! I’d probably be here all the time if I was a college student.

For anyone who might have been to Montego Bay in years past, A Taste of Jakarta is now occupying what was once the bar of this former Jamaican restaurant. I say that because, except for the addition of a couple of maps of Indonesia, the décor is exactly the same. The same floor to ceiling photo/​mural of some exotic and sunny local. The same wall of mirrors opposite. The same thatched roof bar area.
That being said, the atmosphere was the only similarity. Though the menu choices were not plentiful, the food arrived hot and fairly quickly. I was a little put off by the plastic to-​go container but had already realized that the emphasis here was Indonesian fast food. I loved the jackfruit curry and the Padang beef was spot on. I thought the price was a great value.
I wouldn’t recommend coming here with a group. They obviously make the food up individually. The table next to me had 6 diners and it seemed that each dish came out at various times so that by the time the last diner was served, the first one was almost finished.
If they would start serving the food on ‘real’ plates with ‘real’ utensils, bring the temperature of the restaurant above 60 degrees (all the diners were wearing their coats inside the place), and bring me hot tea in something other than a flimsy plastic cup I would probably give them at least four stars. That being said, I will definitely visit again.

I’ve been waiting for Taste of Jakarta to open up for a while now and have been craving Indonesian food after returning from a trip to Bali & Lombok!!! Taste of Jakarta was very authentic and did not disappoint. I tried the Nasi Padang and the beef was so tender and full of flavor and spices. Can’t wait to try the rest of the menu.

Growing up with an oma who prided herself on her cooking skills and always had a bunch of indo food waiting for us when we arrived one could say that when it comes to Indonesian food I’m pretty spoiled. This small restaurant just opened up near my apartment in SW Portland. On the outside it doesn’t look like much but what this place lacks in atmosphere it makes up for in taste. The food here is amazing and reminds me of when my oma used to make me all of this stuff. I usually had to drive over to SE 82^nd avenue to the Satay Hut to get my Indo/​Malay fix now I just have to head over to SW 13^th and Jefferson. The rendeng is tender and flavorful. It is different than what I’m used to but kind of a hybrid between «fried meat» and the rendeng my oma makes. Unfortunately I’ve only had a couple dishes here, the rendeng and nasi goreng but everything tasted amazing. I just went yesterday and I’m already feening to get back in to try some gado gado or soto. Go in for lunch for $ 6 lunch specials.

I was excited for months after I heard that an Indonesian restaurant will open in Portland. I miss Indonesian food everyday and for some reasons, I imagined this place will serve every single Indonesian food that I crave since I moved from Jakarta to Portland in 1999.
So, on a cold Friday night, I went to Taste of Jakarta with a high hope and hungry tummy. When I got there, I was so ready to order every single food that I want. Then, I looked at the menu, they only offer about five different type of dishes:
— Indonesian Fried Rice (Nasi Goreng) with chicken
— Padang Rice (Nasi Padang) which consists of rice with spicy curry beef, young jackfruit curry, and spicy egg.
— Yellow Rice (Nasi Kuning) which consists of yellow rice with fried chicken, dried tempeh, and vegetables.
— Noodles with chicken and mushroom (Bakmi ayam jamur)
— Gado Gado Rice (Nasi gado gado) which consists of rice and mixed vegetables topped with peanut sauce.
None of dishes that I crave are on the menu. The menu is simple, price is around $ 7-​$ 8. They have «Teh Botol» which is Indonesian sweet tea and also «Kerupuk aci» which is sort of like rice crackers, but it made out of flour.
I had the Padang Rice. The Rendang (spicy curry beef) was excellent. The young jackfruit curry was yummy. They don’t serve their food on a plate, instead they are using plastic to go container. I was confused at first, but then I saw their sign saying they are «Indonesian fast food». It’s authentic Indonesian food, but I just wish they have more variety in their menu.
Now I miss Jakarta, even more. :).