Yogyakarta is haven for traditional food lovers

Yogyakarta is haven for traditional food lovers

By Sri Wahyuni

YOGYAKARTA (JP): If you are an epicure with a taste for the
traditional, a visit to this ancient city will be worth your
while. Few other cities are as famous as Yogyakarta for their
indigenous delicacies.

Once back home, visitors can spend long hours discussing the
excellent fare they enjoyed at very reasonable prices.

Among its various nicknames, Yogyakarta is known as the city
of Gudeg, for the dish of young jackfruit stewed in coconut milk
and spices. Geplak (a sweet snack made of shredded coconut) and
bakpia (cakes with sweet mungbean as the filling) have also
stamped their name on the city's culinary reputation.

Gudeg has also gained popularity among foreign visitors. They
tend to enjoy eating at major restaurants, while locals find it
most comfortable to have it at roadside stalls.

Curious? Go to Jl. Wijilan, an area only about 500 meters east
of the palace. It is probably the best-known gudeg center in
town; don't be surprised if you have to queue for quite a while.

It is so popular that some restaurants specialize in the dish.
Gudeg Bu Tjitro Restaurant on Jl. Adi Sucipto, just across the
airport, and Gudeg Bu Djuminten Restaurant on Jl. Asem Gedhe 14
are well-known.

It is also commonly available at lesehan sidewalk along
Malioboro main street at night. If this is your choice, be
patient with the ubiquitous street singers who can be irritating.

Apart from the wandering minstrels, Malioboro is a good eating
place for lovers of traditional cuisine: pecel lele (fried
catfish served with fresh vegetables and chili sauce), mangut
lele (catfish cooked in coconut milk, turmeric and spices), fried
chicken, fried pigeon, quail -- you name it.

Western food

If Italian food whets your appetite, visit Kayu Api
Restaurant, at Novotel Hotel on Jl. Jend. Soedirman. Set poolside
with waiters and waitresses dressed in Italian costumes, the
restaurant offers a wide range of specialties.

The hotel's Kedaton Restaurant, which is set in a semi-dining
room style, offers a variety of international cuisine, including
Indian, French, Mongolian, German, Middle Eastern and, of course,
Indonesian.

Italian cuisine is also served at Kemangi Bistro Restaurant at
the city's Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Located beneath the hotel's lobby with a view of Mt. Merapi,
the golf greens and the architectural stupa design, adopting the
same theme as Borobudur temple, the bistro features the first
open-view kitchen in Yogyakarta with its original wood-fired
pizza oven.

Also on the menu are sop buntut (ox tail soup), tumis sapi
(sauteed sliced beef with chili and mushrooms), gado-gado (cooked
vegetables served with rice cake and peanut sauce) and the chef's
fried chicken with five spices.

The bistro would introduce next month a unique selection of
steaks cooked on imported hot stones. It will allow customers to
cook their steak by themselves if they like to do so.

If you are in need of a royal atmosphere, then try Dalem
Joyokusuman restaurant owned by Prince Joyokusumo, a younger
brother of Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.

The restaurant boasts traditional court architecture called
limasan and the original building dates back to 1916.

Prince Joyokusumo and his wife BRAy Nuraida welcome the guests
and give them the opportunity to see around the house.

Offered in a package for a minimum of 20 guests, the royal
lunch or dinner includes a traditional welcome drink and
souvenirs, such as the replica of the palace's logo, and a
cultural show.

The menu includes blu har (beef stewed with turmeric) and bir
Jawa (a drink with ginger and clove flavors). Both were said to
be the favorite of Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII.

Other choices are wedang secang (a drink flavored with secang
wood) and pam brid (a cake made of flour and egg mixed with
grated coconut and palm sugar as the filling, served with coconut
sauce).