Cakes, Tea, and Shabby Chic Theme Cafe
Cakes and tea! They will be your perfect companion on the weekend. It was really hard to decide where to go. After pass a long debate, I choose a small patisserie in the middle of Jakarta. Exquise Patisserie located in Rumah Cokro, on HOS. Cokroaminoto Street. I am not sure that was the right place to go at first. They don’t have a big sign in front of the building. But I bravely entered the building and the security guided me to follow the corridor. When I walked in, I saw some offices that closed on Sunday all along the corridor. I thought the café already close like the other offices.
But it was surprising! I feel like finding a treasure at the end of the dead road, there is Exquise Patisserie at the end of the corridor. By the time I reached the store, I could see the comfort inner court at the opposite. The café quite stands out with extra decorative in front of the store. You can feel the feminine vibe when you first saw it. There is big twig pink and white flower cover the left window of the door until the upside of the right window. It looks very beautiful, girly, and also Instagramable. There also are two pairs of white classic chairs and table in front of the café.
I shook my head to end the startled and started to walk inside to the store. I was welcomed by the owner and the waiter, they look very kind and hospitable. Then I sat on my table while waiting for my friend. At a glance, I can see the interior and exterior theme is shabby chic. There is a unity style and impressions because they consistently use shabby chic from inside to outside as the store theme. Shabby chic is a common theme for nowadays besides the industrial or minimalist style.
Shabby chic started in Great Britain in 1980s. This style came out when the furniture in 1980 was too expensive for common people. They usually use old stuff from ages, old textile and curtain, worn-out stuff and so on to create an antique look. Not only antique looks, but shabby chic also look splendid, feminine, soft and yet cottage-style décor. The unfinished finishing like rubbing, sanding away, and distressing the finishing used to show the timeworn period. This style emphasized the discrepancy of genuine period décor. The decorator has considered shabby chic as romantic, soft, calming, and usually feminine. They use disheveled color, floral pattern for fabric or barkcloth fabric, and antiques.
Many cafés use shabby chic and Ezquise patisserie one of them who successfully uses shabby chic as their interior theme. This café quite small, there are only six tables inside. Four small tables for a pair of chair, one oval table pair with one sofa, and one big square table in the middle for six people. They consistently use antique-looks furniture in white color with floral pattern. There are so many accessories like vases and flowers everywhere. There is a bookshelf at the corner full of book and once again accessories. They covered one side of the wall by a printed picture and the other wall with a full mirror. It’s feminine and beautiful at glance but too heavy with patterns and decorations. The mirror couldn’t help that much to make the room looks wide.
I chose to sit on the small table at the corner. I threw my sight around to watch other people. There was one group of six people sat on the big table at the center of the room. They laugh very hard and dominated all the room, disturbing another guest. Be out of sorts with that group and situation. But that was not fully their fault, because of the big table in the middle of the room who already dominated all the room. They don’t give enough private space for another guest who sat on the small table to talk to. That big table is giving a big impact for the human circulation; there is only a small space to moving around. On the other hand, however, the café still looks warm and gracious.
Finally! My friends came and we started to try the cake and drinks. We tried Emilie cake and it was very delicious! That mango, coconut, and white chocolate perfectly blend in your mouth. Emilie cake had saved my mood haha! Relieve my disappointed feeling which is caused by the loud and the empty stock of their tea. Overall it was nice experienced in a café who succeed use the shabby chic theme and I can guarantee the cake was heavenly great!
