The Legendary Oxtail Soup (Sop Buntut) at Cut Mutia

As Jakartans, our culinary world is somewhat segmented into two major categories, the middle to upper class restos and the street style hawker. A true foodie will explore both with the same level of excitement. Having tasted the restos for quite a long streak, I found a liberating pleasure sneaking in a few one of these street style food or what my friends love to call Amigos (Agak Minggir Got Sedikit) =p 

I was intrigued when a friend of mine, a fellow foodie asked me to join him for breakfast in this area. I got tempted on his words as he described how good this joint is. And so off we go. I put on a lot of expectation hoping to find something better than the super famous yet overpriced Bogor Cafe's oxtail soup.

Located in a teeny tiny alley of Jalan Menteng Kecil 1, right on the opposite of Cut Mutia mosque, this place is quite hidden, yet surprisingly crowded. We got lucky having arrived here quite early, cause half an hour later approaching lunch time people started barging in adding heat and noise. 

I got myself their specialty, Grilled Oxtail and Soup with additional Perkedel as side dish. 

The oxtail itself wasn't that pleasing to my tastebuds. It was near bland. On the contrary, the soup was over the top. Savoury, rich in aroma, with a strong hint of beef broth. One sip is more than enough to hook you until the very last drip. Word on the street, since its started in 1967, the secret formula has been maintained in its original taste as it was passed down from the founder, the late Mrs. Hj. Nurjanah. 

My only complaint on this particular menu is the serving size. As depicted in the picture, you can see how ungenerous is the plate of rice and oxtail. I have a feeling that as hawker style food, they have been having problems with the continuously rising price of ingredients. They had to make a choice, to reduce the quantity of the food or increase the price. At 30k a meal, they are considered quite on the high end, I suppose they decided to reduce the size instead of burdening visitors with higher price. If that's the case, its an understandable move. 

All in all, in my personal opinion, eating here has more value on the nostalgic side rather than pleasing the belly. But then again, its a matter of preference. Let me know what you think. 

Cheers,

Fellexandro Ruby 

Food Conversationalist & Photographer

Snack on my tweets at @Wanderbites