Born and raised in Jakarta • At Biko Group since 2012
Interviewed September 2026
Aninda has never lived anywhere else. Childhood, school, work, all of it in Jakarta, and she has been at the same company since 2012 (Biko group, a Jakarta-based hospitality company that operates and develops restaurants, bars, and lifestyle venues, primarily in Indonesia).
Her weekends go on walking around Glodok, the old Chinatown, looking for Chinese food with her husband. We asked her what visitors get wrong about the city, where she actually eats, and why the traffic stops registering once you live here.
Photo by Aninda Pardede I've always lived in Jakarta. Childhood, school, work, always Jakarta.
I've been at Biko Group since 2012, which makes it the longest relationship of my life, and it's still going strong. No idea for how long, though. Hahaha. I still love the work, and the industry has grown so fast in the last few years.
That Jakarta is a chaotic city.
I'm not saying it isn't true. It is, especially in the middle of the city. But go a little further out and you find a different Jakarta, a kind of harmony hiding inside all the chaos.
I'm stuck in traffic.
On weekdays you'll find me at one of Biko Group's outlets. Otherwise I'm trying a new restaurant or bar nearby, at a party someone invited me to, or walking around looking for a good Chinese restaurant :)
I only recommend places I actually enjoy. I don't really care whether somewhere is hyped or not. If it's good, I'll recommend it, and if a hyped place turns out to be worth the hype, I'll recommend that too.
A good old restaurant that has been around for years and has kept the same quality and service the whole time.
People.
In Jakarta? Food.
Card.
Talk to locals. I mean friends who actually live here and have a similar taste in food to yours. Their recommendations are usually much better than Google reviews.
People who don't like noise, traffic and pollution. And the wrong time to come is when a riot breaks out :)
Pulau Macan in the Thousand Islands, if you want an island escape. Or Bandung, when the traffic isn't too crazy (please avoid weekends). There is so much local food to eat there, and it's the closest city to Jakarta that is genuinely worth the trip, one to two hours away.
Further than that, there are too many options to name. It depends what you want to see, and on your budget.
My mother told me that when she was pregnant with me, the only thing she craved was siomay (steamed fish dumplings). She worked around Glodok at the time, so her favorite siomay came from there, the really authentic kind.
It's funny that I do the same thing now. I love walking around Glodok, the old Pecinan (Chinatown), hunting for Chinese food with my husband, who goes there to take photos.
Whenever something chaotic happens in Jakarta, someone always turns it into a joke, online or offline. Sometimes it's pure sarcasm, but it still makes me smile. However bad things get, people here find a way to laugh about it.
I actually love living in Jakarta :)
Street food.
Coffee, probably.
Traffic. You notice it the moment you land, but once you've lived here long enough you just learn to live with it.
Glodok.
Glodok, Mangga Besar and Pasar Baru.
Overthinking where to go and what to eat. Just pick something and go.
Google Maps.
Pollution.
Home. The place I'm living in right now.
Why listen to Aninda
Jakarta born and raised, and at the same company here since 2012. She has walked Glodok, Mangga Besar and Pasar Baru dozens of times and still goes back.
Local picks
Not the usual tourist list. These are the places Aninda actually recommended in the interview. Click a pin to see why each one made the cut.
