Peponi: Short Escape: Perusahaan Roti, Kuwe, Makanan & Minuman: Toko "Djoen"

I always have a thing with an old bakery. So, last March 4, 2018, when I visited Yogya, I decided to give up pampering myself on saloon but searching for Perusahaan Roti, Kuwe, Makanan & Minuman: Toko "Djoen" in Malioboro instead.

A week before, my friend in college, Ageng Yudhapratama has visited this bakery and post his story on Facebook. His post attracted me, so I decided to visit it for an hour before I had to go back to Semarang.

Meanwhile, another friend who studied in Tourism Studies, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Ronny Sulfa shared me another information he knows about Djoen's old oven. He is quite lucky since he got a chance to visit the kitchen, due to the city tour that he arranged with his friends in Tourism Studies and several other people in Kelas Heritage from Sobat Cagar Budaya community or whatsoever.

Perusahaan Roti, Kuwe, Makanan & Minuman: Toko "Djoen"

So, What Is Djoen?

It is one of an old bakery in Yogyakarta, which located in front of Ramai Mall, near Ketandan gate. Tante Pin (or Hadinah--it is her Indonesian name, and she ages 81 y.o) was the 2nd generation owner, and she inherited the bakery from her in law. But before them, a Chinese owner from Temanggung had started this business (using the same name, Djoen) around the Dutch colonialism period before finally he moved back to Nederlands (so around 1930, they don't know the exact year).

Tante Pin or Hadinah, the second generation owner of Djoen.

Just like any other old bakery (yes, I mention Toko Roti Sidodadi in Bandung), the bread in Djoen has a mild taste, the size is pretty big and it's so fluffy. The price is also low. Take an example like the banana soes I bought this afternoon which costs only 7K, pastry 12.5K per ounce, while the super big white bread costs only 15K. Other meal includes ontbitjkoek, nastar, peanut bread and pastry, etc. requires 7K also.

In a short convo Tante Pin said, she can make more delicious bread, but of course, the consumer might think the price is pretty high. Thus, she decided not to do that and take the average price.

Toko Djoen's soes bread

My friend said, the employee bakes the mould in the back of the bakery using an antique stove, but the recipe is still kept by Tante Pin only. Unfortunately, Djoen's customer is not as much as before since the pavement along the Malioboro street can't be used to park the vehicles. So, the number of customers continues to reduce due to the severe access to buy the delicious bread.

Another things, just like other Chinese businesspeople who live in Yogyakarta, Tante Pin's in law still did siesta (close the business around 2-5 PM to take a nap), but Tante Pin doesn't do that because she loves to take care of her own bakery. And last, there's another Djoen in Yogyakarta (not "Djoen Lama"), but her husband's younger brother owned it. They only provide simple snack just for an occasion like a funeral (no soes and pastry, etc.)

The Kitchen and The Antique Stove

Djoen's kitchen is located on the back of the store. The elongated form of the shop also enables the owner to enter the kitchen from the side door. Roni said, Djoen is still using the original stove which allows them to bake 40 mold at once. He added, previously Djoen had two ancient stove, but one of them is already demolished. However, the observant people could see the differences in the store, which looks like has been split into two, with a bulkhead locates in between.