Image 1: Villa Jatibening soho complex, Tol. Kav. A4, Jatibening, Bekasi, Indonesia, 17142.

This is one of my favorite bakery shops – although it has only been opened for a year – but it’s so conveniently located near my house. I’ve tasted many kinds of bread in all kinds of flavor, and I’ve seen that Gudang Rottie’s customers have grown in numbers. I know very well the three young businessmen who started Gudang Rottie; Faruk, Andhyka and Caesar Darwin. I’d been coaxing the three of them to start serving coffee more seriously, although the equipment they were previously using was suffice.

That expectation finally came true several days ago when Gudang Rottie proudly showed off their latest coffee machine to me. Finally, Bekasi can compete with Jakarta, and we can also start introducing coffee as Gudang Rottie’s main feature. At least, I will hang out more often than I used to, since they also serve grilled items like steaks and such – all are created by the self-taught chef, Faruk Fahrany Al Katiri.

For now, they’re still at the stage of developing coffee menus and hopefully in the near future Gudang Rottie will come up with their own specially-recommended coffee. Even more since Caesar Darwin – one of the managers at Gudang Rottie – is a member of Asosiasi Kopi Special Indonesia or Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia (SCIA) and he had once been a technical support for a national championship Barista event.

Image 2: Specialty coffee in Jatibening, Bekasi. At least in Bekasi we can enjoy a selection of bakery products, but most importantly, Gudang Rottie has started taking coffee seriously by specialty coffee using adequate equipments.

It is interesting to look at Gudang Rottie’s journey which used to be called Cake2Order, led by Faruk –  a law graduate, self-taught turned-pastry chef who does not own any professional culinary degree whatsoever. His love for Tiramisu was the only reason why he plucked the courage to bake it himself, and sold them to his university friends. It was then followed by how his hard work and skills started to pay off until Gudang Rottie was established and attracted many customers in the neighbourhood. Make no mistake, they all started with minimal capital, but the motivation is always to produce the best products and offer the most affordable prices so their bakery will continue to grow.

Image 3: Chef Faruk. Setting up Gudang Rottie with his two partners, he has been in the bakery industry since studying law at the Faculty of Law, University of Indonesia. Now, his current profession is … a Barista.

Why Bekasi and not Jakarta? Someday perhaps they will spread their wings to Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, but I believe that if the remain consisten with their product quality which already attract many loyal customers,  soon enough Gudang Rottie will build its name in Jakarta households. But most importantly, I don’t have to drive all the way through the ruthless Jakarta traffic just to enjoy an American breakfast and a cup of specialty coffee, because I have Gudang Rottie which is less than a kilometer from home. Aside from that, Gudang Rottie is the first specialty coffee shop that I’ve written about – quite a break from the usual articles about new coffee shops which are placed all over Jakarta.

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Image 4: Just unboxed. Before using a commercial machine pictured above, Gudang Rottie used a small, home-appliance machine. When it used to take up so much time preparing coffee, on Monday (19 March 2012) they started serving coffee more seriously by taking up a commercial coffee machine.

Gudang Rottie Punya Kopi

Ini salah satu toko langganan saya kalau hendak membeli roti yang usianya baru setahun beroperasi di kawasan Jatibening, kebetulan berdekatan dengan lokasi rumah. Berbagai sajian roti dengan aneka rasa sudah saya coba dan sekaligus melihat lalu lintas pengunjung semakin hari sudah semakin ramai. Saya mengenal dengan baik tiga orang anak muda yang menjadi motor di Gudang Rottie , yakni Faruk, Andhyka, dan Caesar Darwin. Kepada ketiga orang ini saya  selalu mengompori mereka untuk mencoba sajian kopi yang lebih serius, walau sebelumnya mereka sudah punya alat “ala kadarnya”.

Harapan itu baru terwujud beberapa hari kemarin saat Gudang Rottie  dengan bangga memamerkan mesin kopi terbaru mereka kepada saya. Akhirnya, Bekasi tak kalah dengan wilayah Jakarta dan sekaligus mulai mengenalkan kopi sebagai salah satu menu utama di Gudang Rottie. Minimal, saya akan lebih sering nongkrong di sini yang ternyata menyediakan menu grill seperti steak, semuanya diracik oleh chef otodidak, Faruk Fahrany Al Katiri.

Untuk saat ini mereka masih dalam tahap pengembangan berbagai menu kopi dan semoga dalam waktu yang tak terlalu lama Gudang Rottie sudah punya menu kopi jagoan. Apalagi Caesar Darwin, salah seorang pengelola di Gudang Rottie adalah anggota Asosiasi Kopi Spesial Indonesia dan pernah menjadi juru teknis kejuaraan Barista tingkat nasional.

Menarik melihat perjalanan Gudang Rottie yang dulu namanya masih Cake2Order, yang dimotori oleh Faruk, sarjana hukum yang beralih profesi menjadi pastry chef yang semuanya hasil dari belajar sendiri tanpa latar belakan pendidikan kuliner profesional. Hanya punya kegemaran menyantap tiramisu yang membuatnya berani mencoba membuat sendiri dan ditawarkan kepada teman-temannya di kampus. Selanjutnya adalah sebuah cerita bagaimana keahliannya mulai terasah hingga menjadikan Gudang Rottie sebagai salah satu tempat yang sudah mulai banyak dilirik oleh masyarakat sekitar. Jangan salah, mereka semuanya memulai dengan modal minim, tapi selalu dilandasi untuk menghasilkan produk terbaik dan harga terjangkau hingga usaha roti  mereka terus berkembang.

Mengapa di Bekasi dan bukan di Jakarta ? Suatu saat mungkin mereka akan mengembangkan sayapnya ke ibu kota, tapi saya meyakini jika mereka tetap konsisten dengan kualitas produk yang sudah mulai banyak penggemar, dalam waktu tak lama lagi Gudang Rottie akan menyapa penduduk di Jakarta. Tapi yang penting, saya tak perlu jauh-jauh lagi menembus kemacetan Jakarta bila ingin menikmati sarapan ala Amerika beserta secangkir kopi, cukup ke tempat ini yang hanya berjarak kurang dari satu kilometer dari rumah. Selain itu, Gudang Rottie  menjadi tempat pertama di  wilayah Bekasi yang pernah saya tulis yang biasanya selalu didominasi oleh warung kopi di Jakarta.

Alamat : Rukan Villa Jatibening Toll Kav A4,Jl. Villa Garuda, Jatibening, Bekasi Tlp : (021) 97372883
Luas : 5 x 13 meter
Jam buka : 10.00 – 22.00
Menu : Bakery, Coffee, Grill
Web : http://www.gudangrottie.com/
Facebook : Gudang Rottie