little rendezvous at Sabang 16

Last week, this guy in the picture, who happens to be a coffee lover, asked me to have a little rendezvous with him at Sabang 16.. When I googled about the place, it turns out that Sabang 16 is located at Sabang Road number 16B, which is also easy to be spotted cause it's located next to Kopitiam Oey, which happens to be owned by Mr. Bondan Winarno, our national famous foodie, and it's almost at the very corner of the Sabang Road itself, just a few metres away from The Baked Goods..

Why Sabang 16?

Well, it serves good coffee with a reasonable price...
They serve nothing heavy except for Indomie, our national instant noodle, or some fries and chicken wings
People always boast about their famous Kaya Toast
I just happened to be in the mood to be an explorer, going somewhere out from my neighborhood area

So it's 7 p.m and when we arrived there were no empty seats. Yes, the place is small enough that when someone is talking, I think all the people inside might have a good chance in hearing it, especially when you are sitting next to their table. The red wall inside, which is very contrast to the white paint from outside, accentuates the darkness of the night. It's pretty easy to be attracted to this small cafe when you are just walking by as the clear window glass allows you to glare at the whole interior inside. Decorated with photo frames and paintings hanging on the wall, the small space blooms coziness. I did not expect to get any intimacy in here considering the small space, but somehow the atmosphere given from Sabang 16 was intimate enough (if you know how to control the volume of your voice and everybody seemed to be in control of theirs)

Can you tell where I am? See how little space they got, yet people keep coming and going from endless time to time..

Desperate for coffee, yes, we both were desperate.. And we happened not to notice that it was 7 p.m. I wasn't even hungry, but we ordered two meals and two cups of coffee.

Simple one page menu

Aceh Gayo coffee (18k). Quite acidic.. Feel free to ask the waiter about the coffee choices..

Papua Nabire ala Vietnamese coffee style (18k). Papua Nabire is the mildest coffee they have

Stir all that condensed milk

The famous kaya toast (16k). The bread is quite thick compared to the usual kopitiam kaya toast. 

Yes, look at that glistening slimy sweet shiny beautiful kaya.. MY PRECIOUSSSSSS 

French Toast (14k). Not bad, not bad at all for a little cafe like this. The bread is dipped in egg milk batter before processed and served with honey and a touch of cinnamon 

I even get to spend some time enjoying oldies American poetry.. This happens to be a real candid photo..

Well, this one, I was just being plain narcissistic

In a weird way, I love the fact that this place is small. The idea is simple. A small down to earth space serving good coffee and good Kaya toasts with never ending customers pouring in at day and night and night and day.. If you need to kill time, give this place a visit. Be adventurous with the coffee choices. Order a sweet treat to accompany your cup of caffeine.. You might find this place as comfy as how I found it.

Sabang16
Jl.KH.Agus Salim (Sabang) no.16b Jakarta Pusat
twitter : @Sabang16
Open daily at 7am-11pm