Few days ago when we were around Wijaya-Dharmawangsa area, Mr. K felt like visiting a coffee shop in the neighborhood just to relax and sip some good drinks. After browsing around, we decided to visit this cute little coffee shop named ESCAPE Coffee (perhaps you know why I was SO interested, LOL!) which is located on Dharmawangsa Raya street.
The coffee shop is a true definition of hidden gem, though. It was quite difficult for us to find this place although we are very familiar with the area. The hint is, it’s located just near to Sanatorium Dharmawangsa and Harvest Cakes by the end of the street. If you use Google Maps, somehow it will drive you to different side of the road, so it’s better to just stick to these hints instead.
Didn’t take any picture from the outside but you won’t miss the white building with glass door/windows and Vespa bikes (more on that later). The parking area is quite spacious for a coffee shop like this, and from outside, the place looks like a tinier version of Honey & Me.
Heard from our hipster-looking barista (hello!) that the place used to be an old house from colonial period, and only got a little touch of renovation in the front side. Even since when we parked the car, we already noticed the colonial-style window and we fell in love to the details almost immediately.
The coffee shop has many areas, the indoor area is divided into few areas, one near the entrance, another one (with less daylight exposure) by the left of the counter, and another one in the innermost side of the house, separated by a door. For smokers or natural light hunters, go to outdoor area where it’s heavenly green with nice lighting.
As I wrote earlier, we spotted few Vespa bikes in the front yard, and we saw another one parked in the indoor area as well. Feeling curious, I asked the barista what’s with all the Vespa, whether it’s a coffee shop for Vespa lovers community or what. XD Don’t blame me, because I have been in a coffee shop created for folding bike community in Wijaya area as well. According to him, they had no such purpose in the beginning, just put the Vespa for accessories, but many Vespa lovers/riders are happy with that and they start coming as regular visitors and hanging out there. Cute, no?
The best table in the indoor area, IMHO. Love the sturdy-looking furniture and the green surrounding! <3
The electric sockets are available neatly below the cushion (of each table), and it deserves a single photo show on the blog, LOL.
ESCAPE Coffee serves their own-roasted coffee, as well as loose leaf tea, mocktails, and few selection of quick bites, mainly pastries. We didn’t try any of the food because we just had lunch somewhere else, but we are sure we’ll come back another time.
Hot Cappuccino IDR 30,000
Okay, I admit my first order was the mocktail drink but I ordered this again just for the sake of seeing their latte art. Enjoyable as it is, I am not even complaining about the art.
Magic Purple IDR 49,000
With a faint color of pink and blue, this drink was a major crush for kids (or the inner kids of us adults), period. The taste was a resemblance of cotton candy flavored drink, only less sweet and just perfect for my afternoon time.
Drip Coffee IDR 35,000
Mr. K chose his drip coffee with Sunda Arumanis beans using V60 filter, the only available one in ESCAPE. Drip coffee amuses me the most when it’s in the making process, and this one is not an exception. The result was a bold-tasted coffee with medium acidity, not too aromatic. I find it still too acidic for my liking, but Mr. K was happy with it.
We spent good deal of time there for a “short afternoon coffee break”, and had a great moment with our drinks. The place is definitely a win, except the mosquitoes flying around and competing to suck our blood. We chose to sit in the indoor area by the left of the counter, the lighting is minimal and I think we kind of digging our own hole by sitting there. The mosquitoes clearly loved us and thanks for all the bites. 🙁
Nonetheless, ESCAPE Coffee is clearly a place that we want to revisit and hopefully we can always escape there whenever we need some good time with good coffee! Cheers!
*All prices are inclusive of 2.5% service charge
*The Food Escape team are not paid whatsoever for writing this post.
** This review is written based on our visit on 28 October 2015.
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ESCAPE COFFEE
Jl. Dharmawangsa Raya No. 42
Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
Ph. +62 21 2930 5544
Opening Hours:
Mon – Sun 8AM – 10PM
Fri – Sat 8AM – 11PM
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