Newseum Café is located on Jl. Veteran I No. 33 Central Jakarta (Jakarta Pusat). Despite the clear address of this cozy café, finding it needs a little extra effort since this café is well hidden. But your efforts to find it will be all worth it, since this café is a stylish and creative venue where people can hold artistic events.

Once this place was called the Le Chat Noir or Black Cat Club, which was a meeting place for the middle class in Batavia. Some phenomenal figures such as the French secret agent, Margarethe Gertruide Zelle (Mata hari), as well as the brain of mass massacres in South Sulawesi, Raymond Pierre Paul Westerling, frequently visited this club. In addition to the mystique of this club, there is no information on its establishment.

Later, the name was change into Cuba Libre, which was when it started to provide a wide range of classy cigars and tobacco. The venue finally transformed again into Newseum Café, which is frequently mistaken for “Museum.”

This café has a main area that serves as an art exhibition. The concept of the café is to provide a place for arts, live music performances, books and documentary films and even for film screenings. Other than that, you can hold a private event or a private party in Newseum Café, which must at least be attended by 30 people.

According to this source, Newseum cafe was not an usual cafe, since the Newseum is not open every day like other cafe in general. The place was turned into a cafe when there are events. For example, discussions or book review. However, it does not mean that Newseum closed when there is no activity. It’s just that there was no food and drinks provided. The owner prefer to call his cafe as an “Cafe Event”

How to get here (see the route map):

From Gondangdia /Cikini go to platform 1 and  take Red Line or Blue Line heading to Jakarta Kota and stop at Juanda. Take a 10-minute walk to the southern direction.

From Tanah Abang go to platform 3 and take the Yellow Line heading to Depok/Nambo/Bogor and stop at Manggarai. Go to platform 3/5 and  take Red Line or Blue Line heading to Jakarta Kota and stop at Juanda. Take a 10-minute walk to the southern direction.

From Sudirman go to platform 2 and take the Yellow Line heading to Depok/Nambo/Bogor and stop at Manggarai. Go to platform 3/5 and  take Red Line or Blue Line heading to Jakarta Kota and stop at Juanda. Take a 10-minute walk to the southern direction.

For a map illustration, click here, or see the map below.