Alumni yearn for 'nasi pecel' from famous food stall
Alumni yearn for 'nasi pecel' from famous food stall
Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
"One pecel banjir and one es sari", Nanang told a food stall attendant while wiping the sweat from his brow.
That morning, Ibu Wiryo's Warung Sego Pecel (SGPC), a food stall selling nasi pecel -- a sampler plate with small amounts of rice, fried chicken, blanched vegetables, tofu, rice noodles and peanut sauce -- in the vicinity of Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, saw only a few visitors.
At the entrance to the food stall, an old street musician was playing his zither. The music was the perfect accompaniment to Nanang's breakfast, which he polished off with relish.
Nanang, 40, is one of the food stall's best customers. He first went there when he was still studying law at Gajah Mada University, Indonesia's oldest university.
Although he now works for a well-known private company on Jl. Kaliurang in Yogyakarta, he always eats breakfast at SGPC as for him, nothing beats pecel banjir and es sari.
As befits its name, pecel banjir translates literally into nasi pecel with a lot of peanut sauce. Es sari, meanwhile, is iced tomato juice. For both you pay only Rp 5,000, an indication that university students are generally able to afford the food at SGPC.
Thanks to the reasonable prices of the items on its menu, the food stall has survived, although there are three similar food stalls on campus. Most students have visited the food stall at least once.
It was opened by Dalijo Budiwinto in 1958. An employee of Gajah Mada University, Dalijo and his wife started the business to earn some extra income. With only a little capital, Dalijo asked his wife to sell nasi pecel in a small and simple building with a plaited bamboo roof to the east of the central building of Gajah Mada University.
So dear is SGPC to the students that in a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Gajah Mada University in 2000, the association of the university's graduates (Kagama) awarded a citation to the founder of the food stall.
Sadly, the atmosphere in the food stall is not as romantic as it was in the 1970s, when students congregated there not only to eat but to discuss the issues of the day.
"In the past, students regarded this place as their home. They stayed for a long time, chatting with their friends and with us," said Dalijo, now retired from Gajah Mada University.
Dalijo said the funny names of the dishes on SGPC's menu had come from the students themselves.Pecel kramas (literally, shampooed pecel) is pecel served with sup banjir (literally, a flood of soup).
Pecel emoh peluru (literally, pecel that refuses bullets), is pecel without podded green beans, while pecel emoh ngganteng (pecel that refuses to be handsome), is pecel without bean sprouts.
Sup ngganteng is soup with bean sprouts, sup subrah, soup plus pecel ingredients and sup tanpa kawat (soup without wire cable), is soup without white rice noodles.
If you want to take nasi pecel home, just order nasi pecel di untel-untel (pecel put on a string).
Dalijo enjoys talking about the food stall's history.
"Once, a well-dressed person came here in his car. When he paid for what he had bought, he gave us quite a lot of money.
Smiling, he confessed that as a student he had routinely taken three pieces of tempeh, but told the staff he had only taken one.
In its present location, alongside Selokan Mataram, the food stall is still crowded, especially during lunch hours, when dozens of cars are parked in front of the two SGPC food stalls run by Pak Dalijo's children, which are separated by a distance of only about 50 meters.
Each of the two food stalls offers the same menu and both claim they are the true inheritors of Ibu Wiryo's SGPC food stall.
Two other food stalls go by the name SGPC at Gajah Mada University. One is located to the north of the university's school of engineering, while the other can be found to the north of Pingit graveyard.
It is at the latter that old Pak Dalijo can be found on any given day.