Feeling So In Love with Bandung at Braga Punya Cerita

On the last Sunday after Eid Al-Fitr holiday, bf and I decided to go back to Bandung early to avoid any traffic that can be caused by the Eid Al-Fitr counter-homecoming flow (does that even make sense?).

In my country, every Eid Al-Fitr, everyone will make time and effort to go back to their hometown to celebrate the day with family. The development of the area is significantly different in Indonesia, with most of the central (of business, government, you name it) is located in Jakarta and around. Hence, a whole load of people move to Jakarta and around (Banten & West Java) for bread and butter. By a whole load of people I mean around six hundred thousand cars are going back from Jakarta to their hometown in the east side of the nation.

So we decided to go back earlier to avoid the counter-flow. As a result, we arrived around 11 PM in Bandung, safe and sound. And hungry.

We decided to go to Braga area to eat and walk. Braga, is a very fine place in Bandung to walk around. Restaurants on the side and nice sidewalks. There are a bunch of restaurants in Braga, but this one always stands out to me because of the name of the restaurant : Braga Punya Cerita (trans : Braga Has Story / Braga’s Story). So we decided to give it a try and sit in the very front table so we could eat while enjoying the view.

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Braga Punya Cerita – Bandung
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Bf just looking through the traffic
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Wall of Story – Braga Punya Cerita

 

The table number is a cute tiny book, by the way.

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Our table – Braga Punya Cerita

 

I opened it and it’s actually a book about Bandung & Braga. This page I opened below is titled ‘Menyusuri Serpihan Jalan Braga’ (Walking Through The Street of Braga).

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We ordered right away, and as I was craving with Indonesian food, so I decided to order Nasi Ayam Sambel Ijo (rice with chicken cooked with green chilli). And bf, having a more non-traditional tongue than I am, he decided to order Bistik (basically a beef steak).

And while we waited, I took a look around the place. Maybe because it’s not really lunch time yet, we were actually the only one eating. Good for me, I can take pictures comfortably 🙂

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Inside view

 

Inside, there are a lot of frames of old articles on the wall, like these ones below:

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And then there’s a mural of our current mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil:

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Ridwan Kamil Mural – Braga Punya Cerita

 

This is their toilet sign, using the popular phrase ‘Man to the left because women are always right’. Agree, girls?

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Toilet Sign – Braga Punya Cerita

 

They also have a second floor. Before going to the second floor, this quote is printed on the wall beside the stairs.

“…I always fought the rules that I think are not good for my people. I am a nasionalist and that is something that I have to show.”

– R.A.A. Wiranatakoesoema V, 1931 (the 11th and 13th Mayor of Bandung)

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“…Saya selalu melawan peraturan yang menurut saya tak baik bagi rakyat saya. Saya seorang nasionalis dan hal itu harus saya tunjukkan.
– R.A.A. Wiranatakoesoema V, 1931
(the 11th and 13th Mayor of Bandung)”

 

And as you take the steps, you will see the photograph of Bandung’s mayors through the years. Here in the last step is the current mayor, Ridwan Kamil.

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On the second floor, there are a lot of pop up clip and a little description of buildings in Bandung.

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Second floor – Braga Punya Cerita
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Pop up clip & description of Bandung buildings are all over the wall
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Pop up clip & description of buildings in Bandung are all over the wall

 

And psst, they have this little garden with one table for two on the back of the second floor. In case you want to propose to your girlfriend or reserve a romantic dinner 🙂 It would be beautiful if you put on Christmas tree lights all over the tree, don’t you think?

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And then I got so hungry I decided to go back to my table. Who knows, maybe the food have arrived!

Aaaand, it hasn’t. After another like 5 minutes of waiting, these babes arrived:

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Nasi Ayam Sambel Ijo – IDR 35k
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Nasi Ayam Sambel Ijo – Braga Punya Cerita

If you look closely, you might be able to see that the chicken is actually covered with omelet. And they tasted good 🙂 However, it’s too spicy for my taste. I expected it to be less spicy since anything ‘sambel ijo’ is usually still edible by me. But, since the omelet and the chicken tasted good, I ended up setting apart the ‘sambel ijo’ (the green chilli) to the side and eat it just little by little.

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Bistik – IDR 27k
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Bistik – Braga Punya Cerita

Bf’s bistik actually arrived with chips, rice, and carrots. It’s actually pretty good, the sauce is a little more tastier than any other bistik usually served in Indonesia. It’s just that usually the meat is beef, but this one is chicken. Bf still eat it happily and finish it right away 🙂

The main star is actually this green babe:

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Hijau Menggoda – IDR 27k

This is bf’s drink, called Hijau Menggoda (Teasing Green). It’s a mix of avocado and melon juice. Seriously, before this, I never thought that avocado can be blended together with any other fruit. Apparently I was wrong, because this is lit. Starting from that day on, I would totally make a mixed juice of avocado and melon.

Meanwhile, I ordered Ice Honey Lemon Tea, which basically just lemon tea with honey instead of sugar. It tasted like how I imagined it would be. It’s very good at making your nausea go away after eating so many food. Can’t really tell how bf could finish his meal along with the avocado + melon juice, to be honest.

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Ice Honey Lemon Tea – IDR 18k

 

Like  any most restaurant you might have come to, they still charge you service & tax. So expect to pay more than what I put here.

Would I come back? Yes, I actually would like to have another seat here while watching people pass by on the Braga street. I’m totally going to bring my brother once he visits Bandung so I could persuade him into buying their signature drink : Peuyeum Milkshake, muahahaha. And also, I would like to have a cup of coffee next time because they have this coffee corner:

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And if you would like to feel very Bandung, you should come here because all decoration they put up in this restaurant is about this lovely city 🙂

Go check out their website here. They actually have healthy diet menu if you are on a diet. You can check out their menu here.

Braga Punya Cerita
Jalan Braga No. 64
Bandung, West Java
Indonesia
40111
(022) 421 0046 / (022) 420 3786

Cheers,
Grc