Menteng at Twilight: Jakarta's Post-Ramadan Takjil Vendors Linger in May

The azan Maghrib ripples across Jalan Cikini Raya and a hundred plastic cups of es kelapa muda catch the last tangerine light. Ramadan ended three weeks ago, but in Menteng — Jakarta's leafy, colonial-grid neighbourhood — the takjil vendors have refused to leave. They have discovered what locals already knew: the appetite for cheap, hypersweet twilight snacks does not expire with the holy month. The carts simply pivot from devotional to recreational, and the crowds keep coming.

This guide maps the post-Ramadan takjil trail that still hums through Menteng and its surroundings every evening in May, from syrup-drenched kolak stalls near Taman Suropati to the iced-drink vendors lining Jalan Sabang. You will learn exactly which carts survive past Lebaran, what to order at each, and why this ephemeral food economy matters. Consider it a field manual for Jakarta's most delicious act of collective procrastination — the city clinging to Ramadan's best culinary habit long after the fasting is done.

1. The Kolak Cart at Taman Suropati's Southwest Corner

Walk to the southwest entrance of Taman Suropati — the oval park ringed by embassies and banyan trees — around 17:30 and you will find Pak Darto's aluminium cart. He has sold kolak pisang here every Ramadan since 2011, but for the past three years he has stayed through May because, as he puts it, "orang Menteng sudah ketagihan" — Menteng people are already addicted.

His kolak is unreasonably good: Lampung bananas simmered in coconut milk thickened with a whisper of pandan and a heavy hand of palm sugar. The texture sits between custard and broth. He adds sliced bread-fruit on Fridays, a detail worth planning around. A cup costs Rp 10,000, and he typically sells out by 18:45.

Avoid the temptation to order the plain es cendol from the neighbouring cart — it is watery and overpriced at Rp 15,000. Pak Darto's kolak is the anchor; let it be your first stop. Pair it with nothing; it demands full attention.

You can sit on the park's curved concrete benches under the lampposts that flicker on around 18:00. The embassy security guards are used to snacking crowds and will not bother you. Bring cash in small denominations — no vendor here carries change for Rp 100,000 notes.

2. Jalan Sabang's Es Campur Corridor After Dark

Jalan Sabang — officially Jalan Haji Agus Salim — transforms nightly into Jakarta's most accessible street-food strip. During Ramadan, the eastern pavement between Jalan Sabang 16 and the Kebon Sirih intersection fills with takjil-specific vendors. In May, about a dozen remain, and the star is the es campur stand directly opposite Sabang 16 Famous Restaurant.

The es campur here is maximalist: shaved ice over red beans, fermented cassava tape, grass jelly, condensed milk, coconut flesh, and a scoop of durian purée that you can smell from three metres away. At Rp 18,000 it is a steal. The vendor, a woman from Padang known as Ibu Neli, uses actual block ice hand-shaved on site rather than machine-crushed ice, which keeps the texture coarse and satisfying.

Your strategic move is to buy the es campur, then walk thirty metres south to grab a martabak manis from Martabak Pecenongan 78's satellite cart. The pairing of icy coconut sweetness and warm buttery pancake is peak Jakarta hedonism. Eat standing. No one sits down on Sabang.

Be aware that Jalan Sabang gets congested with motorbikes after 19:30. If noise bothers you, come at 18:00 when the vendors are fresh and the crowd is thinner. The street is one-way heading northwest, so your Grab driver should drop you at the Kebon Sirih end.

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3. Gorengan and Fried Banana Vendors Along Jalan Cikini Raya

Jalan Cikini Raya, the boulevard connecting Menteng to the Cikini train station, hosts a rotating cast of gorengan vendors who peak during Ramadan and thin but never fully disappear in May. The most reliable setup is fifty metres south of Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta's arts centre, where two carts operate side by side from about 16:30.

The left cart specialises in pisang goreng — battered Kepok bananas fried in recycled palm oil until the edges crisp into lace. At Rp 2,000 per piece, you should buy four. The right cart sells bakwan (vegetable fritters) and tahu isi (stuffed tofu) that are competent but unremarkable. Focus your appetite on the bananas.

What makes these vendors special is timing: they fry in small batches every ten minutes, so you are almost guaranteed a hot piece if you wait. The worst thing you can do is grab from the pre-fried pile sitting on newspaper. Point to the wok and say "yang baru" — the fresh ones. The vendors respect the request.

After your gorengan, walk north two minutes to TIM's courtyard café for a Rp 12,000 kopi tubruk. The pairing grounds the sweetness and gives you a reason to linger near one of Jakarta's genuinely interesting cultural venues.

4. The Mysterious Onde-Onde Lady of Jalan Teuku Umar

Every evening at precisely 17:15, a woman in a green hijab parks a glass-cased cart at the T-junction of Jalan Teuku Umar and Jalan Imam Bonjol, across from the Indian Embassy. She sells exactly one thing: onde-onde, the sesame-seed-crusted glutinous rice balls filled with sweetened mung bean paste. Nobody seems to know her name. Regulars call her Ibu Onde.

Her onde-onde are the size of tennis balls — roughly twice the norm — and she fries them to a mahogany sheen. The interior is hollow and steamy. Each ball costs Rp 5,000, and she carries perhaps sixty per evening. During Ramadan, she sells out in twenty minutes. In May, she lasts until about 18:30, giving you a wider window.

The technique to eating them properly: bite a small hole first and let the steam escape, then tear apart with your fingers. Biting directly into a hot onde-onde is a reliable way to burn the roof of your mouth. You have been warned. Pair with the es teh manis from the drink vendor ten metres behind her.

This is arguably the most photogenic takjil moment on the trail. The golden spheres stacked in the glass case against the backdrop of colonial-era mansions and embassy walls make for genuinely arresting imagery, especially in the 17:30 golden-hour light.

5. Es Buah Mega-Cups on Jalan Gondangdia Lama

Jalan Gondangdia Lama, a quiet residential street one block east of Menteng's main drag, hosts a post-Ramadan es buah vendor who deserves cult status. His cart sits beside the parking lot of Gondangdia Gospel Church, and his speciality is a one-litre plastic cup of mixed-fruit ice that functions as both drink and dessert for Rp 20,000.

The cup contains hand-cut papaya, melon, jackfruit, basil seeds, nata de coco, and a generous pour of cocopandan syrup over shaved ice. What elevates it beyond the standard es buah is the addition of avocado slices and a drizzle of chocolate condensed milk — a Javanese street-drink signature that sounds chaotic but works brilliantly. The vendor, Mas Rizki, is a university student from Yogyakarta who started the cart during Ramadan 2023.

Order the "spesial" version for Rp 25,000, which adds a scoop of vanilla ice cream that melts into the syrup and creates a creamy top layer. You will need both hands and a wide straw. This is not elegant eating; this is joyful, maximum-volume Jakarta refreshment at its most sincere.

The street is well-lit and calm enough to sit on the church's low perimeter wall without feeling rushed. Mas Rizki operates from around 16:00 to 20:00 and accepts GoPay, making him a rare cashless option on this trail.

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6. Bubur Sumsum at Pasar Cikini's Rear Entrance

Pasar Cikini, the traditional market tucked behind Jalan Cikini Raya, is not a place most tourists find. Enter through the rear alley off Jalan Cikini IV and turn left past the fabric stalls. In the final row before the market ends, a permanent warung run by Ibu Siti has served bubur sumsum — rice-flour porridge with palm-sugar sauce — since the 1990s.

During Ramadan, she doubles her output and adds a takjil menu including candil (glutinous rice balls in ginger syrup) and cenil (tapioca pearls with grated coconut). In May, the candil and cenil disappear, but the bubur sumsum remains, and frankly it is the only thing you need. The porridge is silk-smooth, the palm sugar liquid and deeply caramelised.

A bowl costs Rp 8,000. Ibu Siti closes by 17:00 most days, which means this is your pre-twilight stop — hit Pasar Cikini first, then walk the evening trail. She operates Monday through Saturday; the market is shuttered on Sundays. Her warung has no signage. Look for the large aluminium pot with a ladle propped against it.

This is old Menteng eating — no Instagram aesthetics, no English menus, just a woman who has perfected one dish over three decades. Sit on the wooden bench, eat slowly, and understand that Jakarta's food culture runs deeper than any trend.

7. Why the Vendors Stay: The Economics of Post-Ramadan Takjil

Understanding why these vendors linger matters if you want to find them reliably. During Ramadan, a takjil vendor in Menteng can earn Rp 500,000 to Rp 1,500,000 per evening — serious money in a city where the monthly minimum wage is around Rp 5 million. When Ramadan ends, revenue drops roughly sixty percent, but overhead is near zero: most carts are owned outright and ingredients cost under Rp 200,000 per day.

The math still works in May because Menteng's residential density and foot traffic from office workers heading home through the neighbourhood sustain demand. The vendors who stay are typically those without alternative employment — students, retirees, and migrants from Central Java or West Sumatra who see no reason to stop a profitable routine.

By mid-June, most will vanish. The habit fades as Jakarta's social rhythm moves on to other patterns. A few — Pak Darto, Ibu Siti, Mas Rizki — operate year-round in some capacity, but the cluster effect, the sense of a twilight food market materialising from nothing, is a May-specific phenomenon. You are witnessing the tail end of something.

This impermanence is precisely what makes the trail worth walking now. Jakarta rewards those who pay attention to its temporal food cultures — the durian season carts of December, the ketupat vendors of Lebaran week, and here, the takjil afterglow of May.