Humble Warung Jirak offers nostalgic epicureans rare fare

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

People sometimes travel long distances to go to a simple eatery just to enjoy food that suits their palate. One such place is Warung Jirak, seven kilometers east of Wonosari, the capital of Gunungkidul regency.

This modest foodstall offers a special menu of red rice that locals call nasi gogo. It is probably the only foodstall in the mountainous regency to offer the dish.

In the past, when the rice distribution system was still unreliable, residents of Gunungkidul grew the red gogo rice in their rain-fed fields in the wet season. In the dry season, they grew cassava to supplement their need for a staple food.

But today with a better distribution system, people in Gunungkidul are no longer dependent on the wet season for rice, especially red rice.

Today when people have a wide range of choices, red rice has practically become an oddity. In fact, taste wise, red rice is no better than any other type of good quality rice but it is more nutritious thanks largely to the post harvest process. The grains are husked by way of crushing them with traditional equipment instead of using a machine.

Warung Jirak has a kind of nostalgia for locals who have long migrated in search of a better life. It is so popular that incumbent and former senior bureaucrats in Jakarta drop by whenever they visit the regency.

The foodstall is now managed by Ibu Purwanto, 45, who belongs to the third generation of owners after Torejo and Martono. The simple foodstall made of bamboo and wood is clean and well maintained.

The dining room design resembles those found in the villages. The guests are seated on a mat placed on large traditional divans.

The main dishes include red rice, tempeh, papaya leaf soup, empal (spiced, fried chunks of beef) and fried tempeh. Hot strong tea is served in a teapot with crystal sugar.

Warung Jirak's customers come from all walks of life. Many Jakartans who happen to visit Yogyakarta go there to savor the low-priced fare.

Bu Purwanto charges about Rp 2,500 as a basic price for each meal consisting of red rice, papaya soup, curried tempeh and a drink. If a guest needs additional side dishes like empal, he must pay an additional price.

Though dishes in the food stall sell well, she will not cook more than two bamboo baskets of rice a day as did her predecessors. This is ensure continuity of supply because red rice has become rare in Gunungkidul and elsewhere.

Gogo paddy can grow well only in rain-fed rice fields and it means that there is only one harvest a year.

Gunungkidul is so far the biggest producer of gogo paddy, but fewer farmers in that regency grow this kind of paddy today. To guarantee the sustainable supply of red rice, Bu Purwanto has to grow gogo paddy in her own rice fields.

Growing the paddy involves somewhat complicated calculations. Farmers must be able to sow the seeds and apply fertilizer.

"We still hold Wiwit, a traditional ceremony in the middle of our rice fields every year before the harvest, by offering flowers and food to Dewi Sri, the goddess of rice," Bu Purwanto explained.

The traditional ceremony is intended to bring a good harvest.

Farmers in Gunung Kidul treat the dry unhusked gogo rice kept in their rice barn to be planted in the coming season.

The complex process has made farmers reluctant to grow gogo paddy and turn to other varieties. Moreover, the production level of gogo paddy is usually low.

Warung Jirak still enjoys a high degree of popularity with a loyal clientele.

Bu Purwanto recalled a day when a group of 70 people from a Jakarta state-owned company came to her stall without prior notice and many were disappointed because there was not enough rice for all of them.

Some of the guests then went to Wonosari and came back with five kilograms of red rice and, to their second disappointment, it turned out to be the wrong kind of rice. It was bird feed.

"We cooked it anyway and the hungry guests finished every bit of it," she said.