THEMATIC BATAVIA
by Louie P. Oviedo

A 100-year old Javanese door welcomes you as you enter the place. Once inside, antique tables and chairs are carefully placed for you to sit and relax. Artworks and mirrors framed by ornately designed wooden pieces adorn its walls. Candle lighted tables invite you to have a drink of coffee or tea and sample the desserts in this thematic world of Batavia.

Batavia, which is also the old name of Indonesia, is perched amidst a string of restaurants that line up the streets of Orosa. Once inside, you are completely transported to the island of Indonesia, home to the wonderful collection of antique furniture and home accents as only Urban Effects can provide. "Batavia is an off-shoot of our antique shop in Parañaque, most of the antique pieces here came from Urban Effects. They all come from the Central Island of Java, from places like Yogyakarta, Madura, and Klaten," Joby Belmonte, President of Batavia, explained.

On each table you would see a piece of calachuchi as its centerpiece. "In Indonesia the calachuchi or kambodja, as they call it, is their favorite flower usually worn during their feasts. The males would clip it behind their ears---just like how our waiters here are wearing them," Joby said.

Batik cloth was used to decorate the glass candleholders perched atop hand-carved tiles from Bali used as candle coasters. "Most of the designs in this place was done by Ito Kish, he's one of our partners for Batavia and also for Urban Effects. We both stayed in Indonesia for quite some time, nauna lang ako by nine months na umuwi sa kanya---that was in 1998, noong may political unrest na sa Indonesia. We finished our contracts then headed for home," Joby recounts.

I tried one of their desserts which is the Atis Cheesecake. It is a green, round cheesecake that looks more like a crosswise cut of a guyabano, rather than an atis, complete with an imitation of how the seeds are placed on the real fruit for design purposes, of course. The base of the cheesecake was rough just like the texture of the atis' rind but its creamy cheesecake glides through the tongue as I savored every morsel trying to distinguish if it does taste like atis. When I found no traces of atis along my taste buds, I asked Joby about it. "Kapag minsan, the taste of our cheesecake depends on the season. If the fruit is not that sweet, they have to add more sugar kaya kapag minsan hindi ganoon kalasa iyon fruit," he answered.

Their Atis Cheesecake was served on a stoneware plate side by side with a silver nickel fork from Thailand to pick the cheesecake with. They are very particular even with their utensils. Their drinking glasses have what I call "aftershock effects" since it has cracks that are just there as its design. "All of these are available at Urban Effects," Joby reminded me.

Most of their pastries are fruits not usually done in this manner, take my Atis Cheesecake as an example. Scroll down their menu and you will find something like: Lanzones Mousette, Chico Pie, Guava Pie, Guyabano Cheesecake, Aratiles Cheesecake, or Caimito Cheesecake. "Most of our customers wonder how we separate the fruit from its seeds. No, we don't eat the fruit then spit out the seeds one by one nor do we use our hands to separate them---there's a machine that does all this," Joby pointed out.

"We had a hard time turning the Lanzones into a dessert because everytime we boil it, it melts. So we turned it into a mousette. And if anyone is interested on buying our cakes and desserts, they can only buy it here at Batavia," he added.

Joby gave me a guided tour of the entire place. The second floor of Batavia is ideal for dating with its dim lights, lots of privacy that is good for romance. While the first floor is designed with your barkada in mind, with the long benches adorning it.

He explained how they converted some of the pieces so that it can be a useful piece of ornament not only for their restaurant, Batavia, but also for the home. There were antique house posts that were turned into lamposts; fences turned into mirror frames or wall ornaments. A piece of ornately carved wood called a Madura M frames the clear, glass window on the second floor. This Madura M was once a part of the opening leading to the box-like beds that served as entrance to the bedroom and is shaped like the letter "M".

Believe it or not, even their comfort room has antique wood for its door.

Going into Batavia was like entering a living time capsule which transports you from modern Malate scene into an ancient time from long, long time ago---true to its name of being old Indonesia.