We don’t live near a good wet market here in Jakarta, so I usually do the marketing in a supermarket. Unfortunately, the produce isn’t always very fresh, yet we pay quite a bit more, so once in a while, we make our way to PIK Market, which is about an hour away from our place (with good traffic).
Thanks to the SG/MY whatsapp chat group, I’ve been able to get my fish and pork from their recommended sellers, and I thought I would just share the “finds” here, in case there are other expats who are super new to shopping at PIK Market (like me). Disclaimer: I’ve only been to the market thrice, so I’m not an expert at all, but so far, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve been able to get from these sellers. (Bear in mind that although the recommended time to go to the market is super early, like at 6am, I usually get there at 10am, but I still manage to get decent quality food.)
Where exactly is PIK Market? PIK stands for Pantai Indah Kapuk (no idea what that means, sorry), and according to Google, it is at Kamal Muara, in North Jakarta, and near the Tzu Chi Centre.
PIK Market
PIK Market has both a fresh/wet market, as well as a food court. There are also shops selling specialty dishes on both sides of the main entrance, but we’ve only tried the Ming Fa Bak Chor Mee from there. (Honestly, it’s not that great, and we prefer Yong He Bak Chor Mee, which is a short drive away. More about that later!)
Inside the market
When you enter the market, go down the small flight of stairs, and you’ll see a lot of stalls selling fruits and vegetables. There are also small shops selling a variety of items, including baby food, canned food, cooking utensils, Chinese medicine, and dried food.
If you’re looking for seafood, chicken, or pork, go down another level via the escalator or stairs. On our first visit, we were quite overwhelmed by all the stalls, and didn’t know which one to patronise, so we just bought fish and prawns from random stalls. Before our second visit, I consulted the ladies in the SG/MY whatsapp chat group, and some recommended this seller, who has two stalls in the middle row of the seafood section.
Seafood Section
The recommended fishmonger (in blue)
For meats, I forgot to ask about the chicken sellers, so I took a walk around the area, and randomly picked a stall. Most of the stalls had whole chickens, but the one I bought from had deboned chicken legs, which is what I usually get from Ranch supermarket.
Meat section
Chicken seller
The recommended pork seller is at the far corner of the meat section. I like that he rinses the pork before grinding it, and when I told him it was for babies, he put it through the grinder twice, so that it’s minced well.
The recommended pork seller
The food court is on the second level, above the fruits and vegetables section. We haven’t tried many of the stalls, but the most frequently recommended ones are roasted pork rice, and duck beehoon. I also like the fried dough fritters and soya bean drink stalls, perhaps because they remind me of home.
Food Court
Roasted Pork Rice
Duck Beehoon
If you’re craving for bak chor mee, and don’t mind driving about ten minutes from PIK Market, I would recommend going to Yong He Noodle House in Pluit, instead of eating at Ming Fa, which is at PIK itself. The noodles and ingredients seem fresher and of better quality to us, but feel free to try both and let me know which one you prefer!
Yong He Noodle House
The menu
There’s also Teck Kee Tang Lin Pau near Yong He, and we really enjoy the char siew paus from there.
Teck Kee Tang Lin Pau (image from Google)
Address: Ruko 38, Blok A No.7, Jl Jembatan Tiga, Pluit, Penjaringan, Jakarta Utara
This is by no means a comprehensive guide to shopping at PIK Market, so please do leave a comment on this post with your favourite stalls and tips. Good things must share, right?
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