With all the success the crew had at Kozi Lab in the warehouse down in central Bandung, it’s no surprise that they’ve teamed up again to open another coffee shop in a different location. This time they’ve snagged a large house in Dago atas and converted it into a B&B and coffee shop. And it’s really good!
The houses in this area are all older style, but with plenty of class. I absolutely love these old houses because they still retain some charm, still have great quality fittings and still feel great to be in. Much better than most of the concrete monstrosities in Bandung.
The fitout, to be honest, is fairly minimal. It really looks and feels like a house even down to the piano, courtyard and office areas.
The coffee is good as you’d expect from this mob with my magic having plenty of punch and the milk textured beautifully. Susan’s kopi pisang susu was enjoyable and was perfect for people who want to try coffee, but don’t want to go too full on.
We also ordered some food and it was surprisingly good! I had the ayam tinorangsak which was coated in green chilli, but wasn’t too spicy. Susan had the sop kacang merah and she was happy with the tastiness of it. The main positive of the chicken dish for me is that they provided two small breast portions which is exactly what I wanted.
There are plenty of tables to work at and the wifi clocked in at a speedy 20mbps down and 4mbps up.
Budaraa is a good place to work, have lunch and drink great coffee.
One last thing, the air is often THICK with cigarette smoke, so if you value your lungs, it’s probably best to avoid this place.
Budaraa
Jalan Bukit Dago Utara II No.11, Bandung
(0821) 1739 4118
www.budaraa.com
Instagram: @budaraa
Opening Hours: 08:00 – 21:00
Magic: Rp25.000
Kopi Pisang Susu: Rp18.000
Sop Kacang Merah: Rp30.000
Ayam Tinorangsak: Rp32.000
The coffee is much the same as the other Kopi Armor locations where they specialise in manual brew and offer milk which is of the condensed variety. I tried a vietnam drip as usual and it was good.
But the real reason come here is to nongkrong and I would say that this is one of the best places in Bandung to nongkrong.
The grounds are expansive and house a number of different huts as well as lots of tables. I’m not sure what will happen in the wet season… perhaps they just lose 50% of their seating.
If you love the cool air of Dago and love the outdoors, you’ll love Armor Leuit. No wifi.
I tried the banoffee croissant and although it’s not a traditional croissant flavour, I still expect the texture of the croissant to match what you’d normally get — chewy, yet slightly crispy pastry that isn’t too flakey. Sadly, my croissant was very breadlike with the wrong kind of chewiness. Not sure if it was fresh or not………..
The cappuccino I had was great and I give 2 thumbs up to the baristas. Fantastic milk texture, perfect temperature and damn good tasting.
I also ordered the chicken cordon bleu which is basically a piece of chicken rolled in crumbs and filled with a bit of (beef) bacon and cheese. It’s difficult to tell whether this was a frozen cordon bleu or not, but it was tasty nonetheless. I think it was frozen.
Talking of work, the wifi was slow when I was there. But I’m going to give them a break here because when I visited, the cafe was full. You can’t expect super fast wifi on a day like this. It was still usable and you could even watch a YouTube video if you needed to despite how crowded it was.
There’s a TV where they play all the big soccer matches and the crowds often come and go as the match starts and finishes.
Susan’s red velvet drink was pretty standard. Pink powder with hot milk. It looked good!
They also serve a wide variety of food here, but I haven’t had a chance to try it yet.
I really like this place as a cheaper coffee hang out place. It’s not as modern & flashy as many of Bandung’s new cafes, but it’s still comfortable with good coffee at a great price. Top marks.
Susan ordered a peppermint tea which was just a Dilmah tea bag and cup of hot water — Rp28.000. Sorry, but that is unacceptable. If you are charging Rp28.000 for tea, it absolutely must be special. Not a Dilmah tea bag.
It’s a relatively cozy cafe with decent tables and chairs to work at. In fact, the wifi was quite fast when I was there clocking in at 13mbps down and 9mbps up.
The smoking area out the front is going to appeal to a lot of people, but the real problem is the price of drinks, especially the tea bag and hot water. You can’t expect people to come here and nongkrong when you’re charging so much.
Susan had a green tea latte which came in a mammoth tall glass as big as my forearm. It was predictably enjoyable — you really can’t go too wrong with those things.
We also ordered some food and it was pretty good, but nothing I come away raving about. I got the Tortilla Chicken crispy which was basically a fried chicken wrap with lots of vegetables. To be honest, I appreciated all the vegetables. Some people might prefer more chicken. Susan got the spaghetti meatball which was an Indonesian style spaghetti dish. Something I’m not a fan of, but I know many Indonesians enjoy including Susan. (Indonesian-style meatballs and Indonesian style tomato sauce)
The interior is a bit weird. I think they’ve gone for the stark, sterile white look, but it usually doesn’t work so well in Indonesia due to wonky painting and dirt on the walls. And it doesn’t really work here. The outside area is actually where more people choose to nongkrong and smoke.
The wifi here is fast and there are plenty of tables to work from. I clocked 20mbps both down and up and uploaded a 6 minute high definition video in a few minutes.
I ordered a cappuccino and Susan ordered a peppermint tea. My coffee was nice, but a little weak for my tastes. We also ordered a brownie and some cheese fries. The brownie was awful. I’m not sure if it was stale or not… but it was the same texture as a biscuit meaning it was extremely crunchy. It wasn’t good.
The wifi here clocked in at 3mbps down and 1mbps up which is workable.
I really had high expectations for this place and I’ve got to say, it really could be much better with a few tweaks here and there. But right now, the cafe needs to step up in order to get it running in accordance with their vision.
Stop smoking inside, make sure cakes are not stale (or good quality), amp up the coffee strength.
I ordered a cappuccino and it was quite good. Not like some of the best in Bandung, but not far off to be honest. They know how to make good coffee. End of story. Susan had hot honey lemon and it was perfect for her given that she had a bad cold at the time. A simple drink done well.
The fitout of the place is interesting. There are pieces of art all around the place which give the cafe a pleasant feel. But it’s not ultra modern, and that makes you feel at home. Especially when you look at the garden area. It really does feel like a loungeroom albeit an outdoor one.
The cafe is quite breezy meaning there is no need for air conditioning. There’s a pool table which was getting plenty of use when I was there.
All in all, Kopi Barli is an enjoyable place to visit and hang out in. If you’re up around the setrasari area, drop in and check it out.
And food here is mainly Indonesian food. The nasi goreng kunyit I had was really good and I can imagine their other Indonesian food to be good too. The menu is extensive and you can also find ice dishes like the ones you might find in Korea — I’ll be trying one of these next time.
The wifi here is quite poor with 3mbps down and 0.5mbps up when I tried it. That means you won’t be doing any video streaming or youtube uploads. But simple web browsing and instagram was OK.
I’m really impressed with this place. It’s a cheaper place that gives people what they want. Good coffee, good indo food, good nongkrong environment. Highly recommended.
Moxy is a super trendy young person hotel and of course they need a fantastic coffee shop to go along with it. And they have absolutely succeeded with this coffee shop as it’s one of the better ones in Bandung and the coffee is one of the best.
The coffee here is amazing and one of my favourites in Bandung. They’re using a Brazil, Ethiopia Toraja blend as their house blend and I really love it. The cappuccino is quite large, but it’s also served with a double ristretto so it’s quite strong. Awesome!
We ordered food from the restaurant next door and it was really nice. The nasi goreng was really expensive at Rp54.450, but you know what? It was one of the better nasi gorengs at a cafe in Bandung. Pretty close in price to the one at Ruckerpark… so it’s expensive, but good.
I love this cafe. The wifi was crap, but everything else was great. Fix the wifi and we have a contender for best coffee shop in Bandung.