A couple quick clarifications and then location pins:
1) EDIT: Adding this one in. Had a few comments so far from people in Jakarta furious that this is a "hit piece" talking about the bad stuff in the city. I understand that not everyone has seen an OTR video before, but these are documentaries, not vlogs. There is a narrative, the entire point is to tell a story from beginning to end, and if you (as a viewer) feel the same way about anything at minute 115 vs. minute 2, we haven't done our job. The introductory segment explaining the global perception of Jakarta is necessary to understand why the city is overlooked, which sets up the rest of the story. If you literally only watch two minutes, don't understand (despite the words and visuals) that it's referencing international media and news stories and not about our own opinion, and get angry that anything bad is said about Jakarta...keep watching, or at least understand it's probably not a great idea to comment about what's in or not in a video after watching the first one percent.
(now back to the rest of the list)
2) In the interest of not making this a ten-hour video, I did cut some parts for time, including a much deeper dive into peanut sauce. The concept and origin is from Jakarta as explained in this video, and the details included are correct. However, the most common version of "satay sauce" as known today was created later on Madura island, near Surabaya, and the Madurese people deserve credit.
3) We didn't clarify in the video, but Restoran Borero is a Ternate restaurant, however the owner's family is from Buru, which is the island Dennis referenced. Both are in the Maluku Islands and the dishes shown here are native to both places.
4) In the fine print of the nametag for Chef Vito, "La Porsea" should be "Lapo Porsea"- apparently got autocorrected and didn't catch it.
5) It's not one of our locations (those are below), but the satay place that Chef Ray Janson raves about is this one: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PtUsWQKT9P3s5QFq6

Location pins:
Day 1:
1) Soto Betawi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/txKLUB6z8gWSUrvT9
2) Gado Gado and Satay: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vvkNrFugxFu6nfDT8
3) Manado: https://maps.app.goo.gl/XEhGLtMoNCXze6PPA
4) Borero: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9cFubC56crVMmr7U8
5) Lapo Porsea: https://maps.app.goo.gl/scb7BUMLa4h6RHcAA
Day 2:
1) Kopi Es Tak Kie: https://maps.app.goo.gl/yRn6GHWKbDY3XVzcA
2) Noodles: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uNN4p8pkMLVQmd3w7
3) Cafe Batavia: https://maps.app.goo.gl/m8N7kiWcensB8r31A
4) Brookland Coffee: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ufxPzSpUWkxm9s3r7
5) Pork Satay: https://maps.app.goo.gl/u8BLWnQpaoNcYYEr5
6) Nasi Padang: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ShqUa3qvKeookyAH6
7) Izakaya: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hBJe8f4RUTCZGg4a6
8) Warteg: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uYkp5dgzZL9x1iYKA

I used to love watching Anthony Bourdain growing up. His comradery with his fellow chefs, his respect for other's culture, and willingness to learn by listening to someone else's tale.
OTR is probably the closest I've come to that having that feeling as an adult. Thank you OTR crew ♥️

Can't have an OTR video without first flipping a coin to guess who the villains are: the Dutch or the English. 🤣

Im Vietnamese and lived in Indonesia as a boat person refugee.  I loved there food.   Always enjoyed your vlog. History is complicated, however we live in the present and we should enjoy the present which History has given us. The Vietnamese can forgive the U.S. so can the Indonesian forgive the Dutch.  You shouldn't be concerned how they have forgive and moved on with the present life. Enjoy the present

Jakarta is one of those places you can complain about endlessly and still somehow miss the moment you leave. It’s chaotic, sweaty, frustrating, funny, full of life and people who love it really, really love it.

I suppose that’s why they call it

The Big Durian

and damn, I was drooling over all that food. Wish we had access to that kind of food here.

Thanks for making these two hours such a joy to watch or actually, more than two hours now that I’ve already replayed this.

My Grandfather was one of the individuals and at the time one of the only member of Jakarta's Government that is of Chinese descent that was responsible in keeping many of the old buildings and historical sites intact during the rapid urbanization of Jakarta in the 1960's and 1970's, mostly under the then Governer Ali Sadikin (nicknamed the Marine Governor of Jakarta), and while he passed when i was only 9 years old, seeing comprehensive videos like this about my home city, reminded me a lot of him and the stories given to me by people around him about his dedication to keeping the history of Jakarta intact and able to be enjoyed to this day.

thank you so much for this video OTR, im sure if my Engkong ( how i call my grandpa hehe) was still around, he would be happy to watch and tell you all the deeper history of Jakarta.

Putting Jakarta at culinary heaven is so thoughtful.

the halal section was tip of the iceberg but the non-halal section just another level

people know Jakarta as Indonesia’s capital city, but food megalopolis is quite accurate. my mouth was watering just watching this despite it being my daily food😂 also really enjoyed the history bit of this all, a good reminder that it’s never “just food”.

I love that you ate with your hands 😭 I'm from Brunei and nasi padang is my favorite from Indonesian cuisine.

Street food scenes in Jakarta is actually massive. You gotta be willing to travel around unknown corners and mingle with locals.

Culinary history is so tied to war, oppression and conflict, I'm glad you don't shy away from it.

I've lived in Jakarta on and off for the past 20 years and thoroughly endorse this video - it's like a love letter to the city's cuisine, which is so broad and diverse that this barely scratches the surface. I endorse what Adam says, come and experience it for yourself.

Crazy that apparently foreigners coming to ethnic food places in Java is rare. Isn't like... the incredible indigenous diversity of Indonesia one of the coolest things about the whole place?

OTR in Indonesia again. Unmissable and joyful stuff.

Adam, colour me impressed! Usually I have to add corrections or clarifications on these kind of videos about Jakarta or Chinese people, but you and your team have impressively left me with nothing to say! I'm a proud Cantonese Chinese and 5th generation Batavian. We are called Cina Kota, as opposed to newer waves of Chinese transmigrants from other parts of the country, who I think are now the majority in Jakarta, ever since the second president centralised all major industries in the city between the 60s-90s. My great great grandparents came to the city around the turn of the century, close to 130 years ago. My great grandparents lived along the southern part of Gajah Mada/Hayam Wuruk Street, the major street intersecting Glodok, and my great grandfather commuted to his work at a (now demolished) Dutch company building along Kali Krukut, the canal that passes through Stadhuisplein.

I watched all 2hrs of the documentary, earnestly listening, thinking I would have to correct/clarify something. Usually people focus more on a certain aspect, i.e. the Dutch side, but miss out on another side i.e. the Chinese side. But you even got the migration waves correct! The 16th-18th centuries saw the domination of specifically Zhangzhou and Xiamen traders from the south of Fujian. Not just in Batavia. But across Southeast Asia and Taiwan, whether that's Manila, Malacca, Hoi An, Tainan, or elsewhere in the region. It had a lot to do with Ming loyalists opposing the incoming Qing dynasty. The 18th century saw the rise of the rise of Guangdong migrants, namely Hakka, as miners to the outer islands, like West Borneo and Bangka, and even other parts of Southeast Asia like Phuket. It was in the 19th century that we start seeing these Guangdong migrants, as well as migrants from other parts of Fujian, like Quanzhou, Putian, and Fuzhou, make their way to Batavia and Java. Due to the instability of the Opium Wars in China, and the need to fuel resources for the west's industrialisation, and of course to replace slavery, this was a big boom for the Overseas Chinese community. Not just in Southeast Asia but across the planet, to Peru, South Africa, and New Zealand as well. And with globally established communities and freedom of movement in/out of China by the early 20th century, we saw an influx of migrants from Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shandong as well. In fact, there are a few Shandong eateries in Jakarta that I wish you had tried. At least you should have tried kwotie (pan-fried pork dumplings).

Now writing this comment, I realise I do have something to add. Hopefully you have it in an un-cut video somewhere. I wish you had also touched on the Indians of Pasar Baru, the Arabs of Pekojan, and Portuguese of Tugu. They were also integral parts of old Batavian society, and whether it was my late grandfather, or whether it is myself today, we still have people of these communities within our circle today. Perhaps if there's another video (maybe a Surabaya one?) you can revisit this topic again, since these communities exist there too. Unfortunately, I'm not knowledgeable on Surabaya. But if you had done it in Jakarta, I would have recommended Queen's Tandoor as one potential location to check out.

I have been to other ex-colonial port cities in Southeast Asia, such as Phuket, Georgetown, Malacca, and Singapore, with a similar history to Batavia. And honestly, they are doing much, much better both in terms of historical preservation and food. I don't think Jakarta needs more of these westernised "elevated" eateries where one meal is multitudes more than what average workers in the city can afford. Jakarta needs more accessible street food. Better hygiene, walkable roads, multilingual signage, less pollution, and reduced noise pollution, so you can actually enjoy your meal. In those other cities, while exploring by foot, I could easily stumble upon an authentic meal from my ancestral hometown in China. Where as the same thing in Jakarta would either be too esoteric to find outside of ones own home, halalised for the masses, sold at twice the price, or any combination of these.

In terms of Indonesian food overseas, unless you're funded by a government initiative like Thailand's, it really is down to the diaspora. I have countless relatives abroad. One of them opened a classic Cantonese Chinese restaurant. But on occasion, they serve to the local Indonesian student community as well! Had the roles been flipped and they opened an Indonesian restaurant while on occasion serving Chinese students, they would likely not be able to earn their living. And F&B is a very labour intensive industry. A lot of migrants would not do it if they had more options. I think much of the Indonesian community abroad (can't speak for everywhere of course, but lets say in western countries at least) are fortunate in not needing to resort to opening a restaurant.

My personal dish of choice whenever returning to Jakarta would be congee. Whether that's the Betawi-style that's now common across the city, or the Cantonese-style that is more prevalent in older parts of the city (check out Kamseng), there's something about the simplicity of it that balances out Jakarta's chaos.

This guy. This man is the NEW ANTHONY BOURDAIN OF THE 2020's!! You hear it here first!!

It's 10PM here in Melbourne and you pop up with a two hour long video? I have work tomorrow. This is sadistic.

Pasti kaget itu ibunya, benar benar jarang orang luar indo dateng atau makan selain jawa sumatra. Paling jauh Sulawesi, Kalimantan NTT maluku Papua ini regio besar jarang sekali di jelajahi.

love these long form deep dives in a city's cuisine. It's an antidote to the tiktok food slop.