my eyebrows arise to read one of the list on a menu saying ‘cola jawa‘. what is that? cola must be another name of coke and jawa is something [must be] related to javanese, within culinary aspect in this point.

so I order this mocktail, whilst pampering myself in an old house with art-deco styling called roemahkoe or literally translated into ‘my house‘. there’s a corridor which connecting part of the front house and the dining room, fully furnished with stuffs from bygone era.

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it’s cool, just like I pay a visit to my grandparents’ house. old pictures are hanging on the wall, whilst tables and chairs made from fine teakwood and looks pretty old -probably as old as the history of its house- and all dining sets mirrored colonial style had been touched this place.

oh, I wasn’t pay a visit to someone’s house! this is a bed and breakfast in the district of laweyan, solo or surakarta hadiningrat in central java. but I quite “disagree” with official website’s statement that said roemahkoe as bed and breakfast. for me, this is rather to a uniquely boutique hotel

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have a look my room. so cozy and comfy and can not be said too small. all of the stuffs inside are perfect located. stained glass windows and door, attached bathroom with shower, nice bed with soft pillows and wooden floor about two steps higher than ground level.

and there’s a stained glass lamp over my head for reading. ah, how I love these accentuations within my room. and kindly noted, my room is not counted as junior suite or royal suite. it’s “just” a deluxe room with great value in rates.

there’s a terrace in front of my room overlooking small pond with mini fountain and gold fishes on it. surrounded by greenery foliages and anthorium flowers.

a wooden carved chair in madurese style called ‘bale-bale kecil’ looks matching to be put in my verandah. and there’s a modern painting hanging on the back of bale-bale kecil. I imagined about spending a nice evening here, companied by beloved Nicholas and cups of tea. our fave grűner tee vanille.

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but the evening not yet come! back to the dining room, my mocktail served in old-school style. high glass ornamented flowers and leaves pattern in the same colour with a small spoon. the cold temperature that comes from the ice cubes created a foggy shadow by the glass. so tease me! It’s a fine thirst quencher for a sweating day in solo.

it takes several minutes for my lips to feel what exactly cola jawa is and made a conclusion. cola jawa is exactly nothing else than kawista syrup drink. a jepara’s traditional syrup which made from kawista fruit. coincidentally, the taste is close to coke without any soda in it. added with grass jelly and ice cubes.

since it’s lunch time, I continue to sample the traditional menu which enlisted amongst international and javanese cuisine here. And my choice goes to tantalizing ‘jangan bening roemahkoe‘.

it’s a spinach clear soup served with steam rice and terik daging or beef marinated in central java’s traditional herbs. hmmm …. remind me to my granny’s kitchen nostalgic menu!

and since there’s still space available in my tummy [oh boy!] I try another menu called pecel mbokmase. steam veggies with peanut sauce topping served with over hard egg, fried chicken and traditional crackers called gendar.

then for dessert, I take pisang owol. banana fritter served with muisjes [chocolate chips] and ice cream scoops of vanilla and strawberry. served on a plate covered by banana leaf with undescribed leaf fragrance -kindly note, I am a person who always likes banana leaf to be used as food wrapper or eateries service in traditional menu.. the aroma that comes out is slightly different and it’s really nice.

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before the evening has set, I walk around batik district of laweyan where roemahkoe is located. many old buildings still remains here, including this bed and breakfast itself, which turned from a batik merchant’s house.