Welcome to the warm and friendly city, and don’t forget to taste its simple, yet hearty cuisine.
Yogyakarta is a city – or technically, a special region – in Central Java that’s simply charming and offers warmth and hospitality from the local people, as well as its own plethora of cultural traditions and arts. On the culinary front, the town also has some memorable signature dishes up its sleeves that are reminiscent of comforting home-cooked flavours.
Gudeg
The most well-known dish from Yogyakarta is gudeg, made from young, unripe jackfruit that has been shredded and stewed for several hours in palm sugar, coconut milk, garlic, shallot, candlenut, coriander seed, galangal, bay leaves and teak leaves. While this vegetarian dish is what gudeg is, a gudeg experience isn’t complete without opor ayam (chicken in coconut milk), telur pindang (hard-boiled egg cooked in special sauce), and sambal krecek. One of the most popular restaurants to get authentic gudeg is Gudeg Yu Djum.
Sate Klatak
In a nutshell, sate klatak is mutton satay grilled on coals. What makes it unique is the use of bicycle spokes as skewers. Now whether they’re real bicycle spokes or not is up to anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure, the pioneer of sate klatak first changed bamboo skewers for iron ones because he found that iron spread the heat through the meat better, hence being better to thoroughly cook the meat. The name sate klatak itself is onomatopoeia, as “klatak klatak” is the sound of the salt as it’s being sprinkled on top of the satay on the grill.
Angkringan
When you’re talking about angkringan, you’re not talking about one specific dish, but more of a culinary experience. The name angkringan itself describes a street vendor with a traditional food cart complete with long wooden benches. An angkringan generally sells nasi kucing (cat’s rice, named for its tiny portions) that’s usually served with shredded omelette, beef floss, sambal and a choice of chicken or fish. The most interesting part is the side dishes and light bites selections to complement the nasi kucing. You can usually find fried snacks and quail egg satay, among others.
