ViaVia Yogyakarta

Recently I went to ViaVia Yogyakarta on Prawirotaman road with Marcus. He's been in the town for almost 2 weeks and I've felt obliged (not in a bad way) to take him around and help him with anything he needs me to do. He did the same thing to me when I was in Singapore.

Back to the main topic, ViaVia Yogyakarta is a pretty nice place. It feels better in the evening around dinner time. People gather and chat. On Friday night they also show a music live performance so they turn off the radio usually on. Oh anyway, just in case you are figuring out what exactly ViaVia is, it's a restaurant/cafe. It's not a local Yogyakarta or Indonesian company. The one in Yogyakarta is one of its branches around the world. It's originally run by Belgians.

Times where ViaVia has its branches around the world. ViaVia Yogyakarta's clock is the one right in the middle.

The one in Yogyakarta has two storeys. It also lets its customers use free Internet. Not to mention, it gives a quite culturally local ambiance inside by showing local products for sale. In the case of Yogyakarta, they sell Batik clothes.

I learned that in Indonesia there's only one ViaVia which is the one in Yogyakarta where I'm typing this blog right now.

Talk about the foods, they have various kind of foods to offer. They have either western or local Indonesian foods. I just had an iced green tea and shrimps in oyster sauce and the other day I had fried chicken in butter (local food) and a drink so called Kopyor ice (local coconut milk sort of drink). It shows that they have a quite big variaty on the foods and drinks.

The prices are reasonable even though there are some prices that are cheaper elsewhere. E.g., a banana lassi in ViaVia costs IDR15.000 (USD1.50) and in a cafe just across the street a banana lassi costs IDR11.000 (USD1). But surprisingly ViaVia is still much more crowded than the other cafe. It just has its own way to attract the audiance, and it works very well.

To finish the post, I'd also like to say that the waiters are quite friendly. They talk to the customers. I remember this woman, named Lola. She seems to be a regular in ViaVia Yogyakarta as each time I came here she was there sitting around the same table. Anyway, once I saw her playing Scrubble with one of the waiters. Of course, it wasn't very busy at that time. But it was enough to show that they try to be as friendly as they could with their customers.

So, if you're around Yogyakarta, have a visit at ViaVia Yogyakarta. Here's the address:

ViaVia Yogyakarta
Jalan Prawirotaman 30
Yogyakarta
Tel.: +62 274 386557
Email: yogya.indonesia@viaviacafe.com

P.S: I made an interesting drawing on ViaVia Yogyakarta's Guestbook =) Have a look if you're around there! Here are a couple of pictures so you can recognize my 'signature'.