The original article was published by Destinasian.com. Read HERE.
Writer: James Louie
The newest in a quintet of museum-hotels by Indonesia’s Tugu hospitality brand, this boutique retreat channels the rich Peranakan Chinese heritage of both the site and the family behind the group. House of Tugu opened at the end of 2024 after a painstaking 15-year restoration process, and is unique among luxury hotels in Jakarta for several reasons. The first is its smaller scale and emphasis on the past; the second is the location in the Dutch-colonial Old Town, far from the business districts where international chains tend to congregate. What also sets the property apart are the public spaces filled with antiques in typical Tugu style, and its true-blue Javanese hospitality. Genuinely warm, personable, and unfailingly polite, the soft-spoken staff members will make you feel like you are not in Jakarta at all.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
House of Tugu puts guests in the heart of Jakarta’s Old Town, locally known as Kota Tua. It faces the renovated Kali Besar canal and lies just down the street from Toko Merah, a red-brick landmark built in 1730. Kota Tua tends to be busier on weekends, when its pedestrianized streets bustle with food carts and roving vendors, and visitors wheel around on brightly painted bicycles in front of the former city hall, now the Jakarta History Museum. A more compelling attraction is the nearby Bank Indonesia Museum, which tells the story of Indonesia’s development through its money. (The numismatics room and handsome art deco interiors make the building well worth a visit.) Until the MRT arrives in the area come 2029, the best way to reach other parts of town is via Bluebird taxis, ride-hailing apps, or TransJakarta—the city’s bus rapid transit network.
THE FEEL
The hotel’s vintage style rekindles the memory of the “Forbidden House of Batavia,” the walled mansion of a wealthy Chinese merchant that once stood on this spot. House of Tugu is U-shaped in plan, with the reception and guest rooms on one side and the dining venues on the other. The compound was used as a sugar warehouse before its decades-long abandonment. These days, the ground-floor halls are a repository for myriad treasures: Song and Ming ceramics, keris daggers, even a 17th-century ceremonial boat used to mark the opening of a local canal. Priceless artworks include a canvas of a wintry European scene by Javanese Romantic painter Raden Saleh, and, in the coffee shop, an ink brush painting of a tiger by renowned Chinese artist Zhang Daqian. More broadly, the hotel is also an homage to Oei Tiong Ham, a Chinese Indonesian sugar tycoon once dubbed “the Rockefeller of Asia.” In the magnate’s namesake second-floor suite, guests will find the original invitation to the 1883 wedding of Oei and his Javanese first wife, Raden Adjeng Kasinem. Their great-grandson? Anhar Setjadibrata, founder of Tugu Hotels.
GUEST QUARTERS
House of Tugu has just 25 rooms and suites united by their neo-retro eclecticism. Ornate ceiling plaster moldings, antique sculptures, and replicas of Javanese temple reliefs are juxtaposed with colorful furnishings and artworks. Wood paneling and padded armchairs set a clubby tone in a suite recalling Charlie Chaplin’s first visit to Indonesia in 1927, while the Nonya Besar suites mix Peranakan detailing with Dutch-Javanese influences. Spanning 86 square meters, the three individually designed Riverside suites feature a capacious terrace facing the Kali Besar canal with built-in outdoor seating fringed by greenery. Floor-to-ceiling sliding screens in the Riverside suites open to the bathroom with double vanities and a custom-made copper tub; the folding partition between the living and sleeping areas contains an oversize swivel TV equipped with Netflix, Disney Hotstar, and Prime Video. Turndown service may include a few lines of poetry and a small bamboo basket containing miniature versions of traditional snacks.
FOOD AND DRINK
Babah Koffie by Kawisari, the on-site café, serves coffee from Tugu’s own Kawisari Coffee Plantation in East Java province (founded in 1870). Breakfast options range from feel-good fruit and granola smoothie bowls to heartier local specialties like cwie mie Malang, an East Javanese dish of homemade egg noodles topped with minced chicken, salted egg, and vegetables. Afternoon tea treats at Babah Koffie include croquettes, prawn-and-chicken spring rolls, and a variety of pandan-scented kue (small cakes). Open for lunch and dinner, Jajaghu Restaurant is a fantastical backdrop for Asian and Indonesian food with a twist—the leaves, branches, and trunks of the trees that once took over the space are preserved in cement and lit up in changing colors. Highlights include the beef rendang bitterballen; yellowtail carpaccio in a herby orange sauce (a play on sashimi-like gohu ikan from the Spice Islands); claypot rice featuring duck leg rubbed with a savory Madura-style spice paste; and fried Papuan red snapper with spicy sambal colo-colo. Leave room for the indulgent klepon lava cake and coconut ice cream.
WELLNESS FACTOR
Accessed from the hotel’s shaded central courtyard by a private elevator, the fourth-floor Kamar Solek spa contains a trio of compact treatment rooms, a deep wooden tub for ice baths, and a rustic Russian banya room. (A jacuzzi is planned for the fifth floor.) The spa menu includes Peranakan treatments like an anti-aging facial that uses 24k gold leaf and crushed pearls, and indigenous Indonesian therapies that range from a Balinese boreh body wrap and hot volcanic-stone massage to a 90-minute Javanese massage and skin exfoliation session, complete with a floral milk bath inspired by local wedding traditions.
FAMILY MATTERS
Given the wealth of valuable artifacts on display, House of Tugu will be more suited to culture-minded families with older children. The hotel does not currently provide kids’ amenities or offer activities aimed at junior guests.
SUSTAINABILITY CRED
There are refillable bath amenities and drinking water comes in glass bottles; the hotel has ditched key cards altogether so guests can set their own six-digit passwords to their rooms. Organic, natural ingredients are widely used in the restaurant kitchens. Construction waste was reduced by rehabilitating the site’s existing structures, with unusual antique finds upcycled to become part of the decor. Case in point are a billiard table, an assortment of large keys, and doors and timber frames, all salvaged from the landmark Sociëteit de Harmonie building when it was demolished in 1985.
WHAT ELSE?
As at other Tugu hotels, an Indonesian-inspired afternoon tea experience and complimentary tour of the antiques collection are included in all stays. Soon to come is the attached Peranakan Museum at the back of the property, also run by House of Tugu.
