Soto Roxy H. Darwasa

My colleagues made a plan for lunch and asked me to join. They were craving for Soto Betawi in Roxy area. I was excited because I've heard about this place but never gotten a chance to go there.

I wasn't aware when we already arrived at the place. The place doesn't look like a restaurant at all which I had in my mind. It's a very old house and only got a banner in front of it. Looking at the banner, I believe this Soto Roxy is owned by Haji Darwasa and located at Jl. Tidore no. 2, Jakarta Pusat. Hey..., so many nice cars were parked there and it's even hard for us to find a space to park.


Oh my... who will expect that this place is so crowded inside? People have to wait and stand to get a sit. Luckily, my colleagues and I got seats as soon as we entered but in a few minutes later, people started to queue and stand beside us; waiting us to finish our meal faster. Hmmm... next time, must make sure to come earlier because it's really crowded after 12 pm.

Yes, the soto absolutely is delicious but you can not really enjoy your time eating there because everything is in a hurry and it's not nice and so uncomfortable being stare by those hungry people who stand beside you; ready to grab your seat as soon as you finished your meal. Believe it or not, starting with the ordering, food coming onto the table, eating the Soto and paying the bill, all took my colleagues and me in less than 20 minutes!!!


Let's see what happened after we made our order:
First the chili sauce came to the table. There's no taste at all in the chili padi/bird's eye chilies sauce... only hot hot hot! But it's so perfect when you mix it into the Soto :)
Then followed by the rice with fried shallots on the top and kaffir lime (jeruk limo/limau) on the side of rice.
Finally the Soto served on the table and we could start to enjoy our Soto :)

I looked what's all inside the Soto, uhmmm.... if this is Soto Betawi then how come there's no tomatoes in it?

The jeruk limau/limo (kaffir lime) is a must to put in the Soto because it really enriched the flavour.
They provide sweet soysauce (kecap manis), white vinegar (cuka) and white pepper (lada).

Soto (Betawi) Roxy H. Darwasa:
The main ingredients of this Soto are the beef broth and tick coconut milk (coconut cream) with a lot of seasonings such as clove, bay leaves, nutmeg, cinnamon, spring onions, garlic, shallot, ginger, galangale, coriander, peppercorns, black cumin and candlenuts.
The meat is beef but commonly there are other parts like innard (lung, heart, tripe, liver, intestine), ears, or legs.

And the toppings are Emping (malinjo nut chips), fried shallots, and chopped spring onions.