Jakarta Travel 02: The Office That Never Opened and a Pepper Crab Picked From the Tank

I opened the door and saw the tanks before any tables.

Bandar Djakarta, a seafood restaurant in Alam Sutera on the west side of Jakarta. I picked a crab at the tank, and a staff member lifted it straight out and dropped it into a basket on the scale. Even on the scale, the crab was still moving its claws.

That same day, I had been touring empty offices.

This is the Jakarta business-trip leg of nine days in Indonesia in December 2024. In Part 1 I went round a rainy Istiqlal Mosque and Kota Tua.

This part has four threads: the office tour to find a base in Indonesia, dinner at Bandar Djakarta with local colleagues, the two Airbnbs I stayed in, and the local food I ate all through the trip.

The route in this post

Date	Where	In a line
Dec 16	Office tour around BSD City	Two-story office
Dec 16, evening	Bandar Djakarta Alam Sutera	Tanks, scales, pepper crab
Dec 17, afternoon	Office tour around BSD City	Shophouse and cat, panel building, 25th floor
Dec 14–17	Alam Sutera Airbnb, 3 nights → Sudirman, 1 night	Number of rooms vs location
Throughout	Satay, breakfast boxes, Padang spread, bakso	A country that takes carbs seriously

---

Jakarta business trip: two days of office hunting

My company hires overseas developers directly to run a global development team, and takes on IT projects for companies in Korea and abroad. So the idea came up of setting up a base in Indonesia. This trip was to see the candidates in person.

The first place we walked into was a two-story (duplex) office. The sofa still had its plastic wrap on, and the windows ran up the height of both floors. Put desks in and it looked ready to use.

The shophouse and the cat

The next afternoon we saw a shophouse. The ground floor was an empty space with nothing but walls; up the stairs came rooms, a bathroom and even a small sink. It felt less like viewing an office and more like viewing a home.

What I remember most clearly from that house is the cat. A tuxedo cat was sprawled on the floor of an empty room. It didn't avoid people at all and strode straight toward the camera.

The next building was different from the outside in. The whole exterior was wrapped in perforated panels, so from inside, the view was a pattern of triangles. Stylish, yes. But it hides the view by just as much.

On bare concrete, 25 floors up

The last stop was the 25th floor. Open the door and the floor was bare concrete, the ceiling all exposed pipes. Picturing where the desks would go and where to put the meeting room turned out to be strangely fun.

Out the window, under the rain clouds, high-rises and low rooftops stretched on and on.

It rained on the way back. Once the viewings were done, I went back to a meeting room and opened my laptop again.

And the trip didn't achieve its goal. Later, for internal company reasons, the opening was called off. Our sign never went up on any of those offices.

---

Jakarta food: Bandar Djakarta, seafood picked from the tank

This was the place the Indonesian developers I work with recommended. On the evening of the first office day, we all went to Bandar Djakarta Alam Sutera.

At this restaurant you look at the tanks before the menu. You pick your seafood from tanks of crab and lobster.

Eating seafood that was alive and moving moments ago is this place's biggest draw.

While you wait for the crab, a starter grilled in banana leaf and small dishes of condiments land on the table. Open the leaf and the white filling is grilled golden. The beer on the table wasn't Bintang but Bali Hai.

Pepper crab and clams

Then the pepper crab. The shell glistens under a coat of thick sauce. It was incredibly fresh. It is still the first plate that comes to mind from the whole trip. I want it again.

What I remember as much as the pepper crab is these clams. They come heaped in their shells with no sauce smothering them, so there's a real pleasure in prying them open one by one. Another dish I still think about.

Meanwhile the table filled up with no gaps left: stir-fried water spinach, huge prawns, razor clams. We sat around one table with local colleagues and shared the seafood we had just picked.

---

Two Jakarta Airbnbs: similar price, different verdict

On this trip I stayed at two Airbnbs. The price was similar, but I lost a room. I still liked the smaller one better.

First, three nights in Alam Sutera. Two bedrooms and a separate living room with kitchen made it a roomy base for a business trip. The building had a gym and a pool too. The pool from the first night in Part 1 is this one.

One night in Sudirman was a studio: bed, desk and a small kitchen all in one room. It was definitely smaller. But at a similar price, the place itself was cleaner in Sudirman.

The reason I liked it was location. A department store was close by, so the moment I stepped outside there was something to do. Inside Lotte Mall there was even an alley of Korean-language signs. A curious sight.

Go up to the pool at night and you're surrounded by high-rise lights; from the room window, the city spreads out under the moon. One night felt too short.

There was one mishap on that city night. I left my AirPods in a taxi. Luckily I managed to reach the kind driver and got them back safely. I'm still incredibly grateful to him.

	Alam Sutera	Sudirman
Stay	3 nights	1 night
Layout	2 bedrooms + living room with kitchen	Studio
What I liked	Plenty of space, gym and pool	Cleaner, close to a department store, night view
Best for	Traveling with others, needing space	Wanting to enjoy Jakarta itself

---

What I ate on the trip: from satay to bakso

Indonesian food suited me well. Everything I ate on this trip was delicious.

Satay and lontong

On the first night after arriving, satay was what I spread out at the apartment. Meat on skewers, grilled and dipped in a sauce like peanut sauce. It's widely said to have started in Java, and one theory says it was influenced by the kebabs brought by Muslim traders. On the side was lontong, rice pressed and cooked in banana leaf.

Breakfast boxes and noodles on rice

The next morning a breakfast box arrived. Next to a round scoop of rice: thin fried noodles, fried bits, and a pile of krupuk, crackers flavored with shrimp or fish.

The morning after that, it was a bowl with curly noodles piled right on top of rice and cucumber on top. Rice and noodles in one bowl. This country takes its carbs seriously.

A Padang-style lunch

The highlight of the trip's meals. Padang food is known as the cooking of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, defined by rich coconut curries and fiery spice pastes. The moment you sit down, small plates cover the table without a gap. Yellow curried fish, fish smothered in red chili. The drink was a green juice drizzled with chocolate syrup.

I also ordered satay at the Lotte Mall near Sudirman. Lunch, with stir-fried water spinach. I emptied the plate before taking a photo.

Bakso Solo

Last up was dinner at Bakso Solo. Bakso is Indonesian meatball noodle soup. It's said to come from the food of Chinese immigrants, and today it's a national favorite sold in every neighborhood. Big meatballs and yellow noodles in broth, with one large fried piece stuck in on top at an angle. With it, a cold glass of Teh Poci.

Add the nasi goreng from Kota Tua in Part 1 and my Indonesian food list is complete.

---

Visiting info: the places from this trip

My visit was in December 2024. The details below were looked up again in November 2026. Where I couldn't confirm something from an official source, I've marked it "check official info before visiting".

Place	Area	What I ate	Before you go
Bandar Djakarta	Alam Sutera (South Tangerang)	Pepper crab, clams, razor clams, prawns	Check hours and booking
Lotte Mall	Near Sudirman	Satay, water spinach	—
Bakso Solo	Near Lotte Mall	Bakso, Teh Poci	Check the branch

📍 Bandar Djakarta Alam Sutera · Flavor Bliss, Jl. Alam Sutera Boulevard Kav. 6 No. 3, Tangerang Selatan, Banten

• 🦀 My visit (December 2024): I went with a group of local colleagues, by car. The sign above the tank priced male crab (Kepiting Jantan, L) per 100 g. That was the sign on the day, not today's price.
• 🍽️ About the restaurant: the booking site Chope lists it as a seafood and Indonesian restaurant with a fish-market concept where you pick live seafood, and as halal.
• ⏰ Hours: daily 10:00–22:00, per Chope. Check official info before visiting.
• 💰 Price range: Rp 100,000–250,000 per person, per Chope. Seafood is priced from the tank sign on the day. Check official info before visiting.
• 📞 Reservations: Chope says the restaurant doesn't take bookings through Chope and to contact it directly. Another guide suggests booking by phone or WhatsApp the day before for weekends. Check official info before visiting.
• 🗺️ Map: Open in Google Maps

📍 BSD City · Serpong, Tangerang Selatan, Banten

• 🏙️ A planned township in South Tangerang, west of Jakarta, developed by Sinar Mas Land. The office candidates I saw were in this area.

📍 Bakso Solo (Bakso Solo Samrat)

• 🍜 My visit: the sign read "Bakso Solo Samrat". It's a chain with several branches, and local media mention one close to Lotte Shopping Avenue in Kuningan. Whether that's the one I went to: check official info before visiting.
• 🗺️ Map: Find it on Google Maps

Tips for business travelers

• 🏢 If you're scouting a local office, look at shophouses, duplex offices and empty high-rise floors together. Even within one area, the options vary this much. Empty high-rise floors may come without finished floors or ceilings, so budget for the fit-out too.
• 🦀 Go to Bandar Djakarta in a group. You need a crab or two plus clams, prawns and vegetables to really enjoy this place.
• 🏨 At the same price point, location beats room count. Evenings were far easier in the city center.
• 🚕 Check your belongings once more before getting out of a taxi. I left my AirPods behind.
• 🌶️ Sambal varies by restaurant and region. Taste a little first, then adjust.
• ☔ December is rainy season in Jakarta. If you're moving between buildings, an umbrella is a must.

Jayden's verdict

The office never opened. I still think about the pepper crab at Bandar Djakarta.

• Highlight: the pepper crab and clams at Bandar Djakarta. If I go back, these two first, no question.
• Where to stay: the Sudirman Airbnb. One room fewer, much easier evenings.
• Local Indonesian food: satay and sambal, plus fried rice.
• Office tour: zero for results, full marks for fun.

Next up is Bali: a dawn flight from Jakarta and straight on to Ubud. Rainy Tegallalang Rice Terraces and Saraswati Temple, a remote-work day that ran from yoga to café meetings, and a villa with rice-field views and a bathtub.

---

Indonesia in 9 Days series

1. Jakarta's first two days: Istiqlal Mosque and Kota Tua
2. Jakarta business trip: empty offices, pepper crab, two Airbnbs and local food (you are here)
3. Ubud, Bali: rice terraces, remote work and a rice-field villa
4. Bali's last three days: Kintamani sunrise, Blue Lagoon and Canggu sunset