YOGYAKARTA: Home of the Yummiest Indonesian Food :) #Travel2Indonesia

Yogyakarta food is one of the best- kept secrets in Indonesian cuisine and the yummiest we have tasted throughout our 2-week trip of Indonesia. Yogyakarta or Jogjakarta (karta means city) is considered as the art, cultural and culinary capital of Indonesia. 

Filipinos would love Yogya food because it is sweet and usually spicy with sambal. I love it more than the Singaporean or Malaysian cuisine. It is a lot better than the Indonesian food from Jakarta which is usually a compromise of flavors between authentic and continental influences.

I was literally blown away with the unique flavors and left me craving for more. Unfortunately, you have to fly to Yogyakarta to really get a taste of it. Don’t miss to include this when you travel to Indonesia.

Here are my top 5 yummiest foodie experience in Yogyakarta:

Travel to Wonderful Indonesia Blog Series:

• KOMODO DRAGON’S Lair & the Secret Pink Beach!
• MT. BROMO Sunrise Experience: Catching the Sunrise (Part 1 of 2)
• MT. BROMO Sunrise Experience: Hiking to the Volcanic Crater (Part 2 of 2)
• YOGYAKARTA: Home of the Yummiest Indonesian Food 🙂
• BOROBUDUR Sunrise Experience (The Biggest Buddhist Temple in the World)
• BOROBUDUR NOTES: Planning your Awesome Borobudur Experience
• ORANGUTANS @ TANJUNG PUTING: Largest Population of Wild Orangutans (Day 1)
• ORANGUTANS: Dr. Birute’s Work @ Camp Leaky, Borneo (Day 2)

#1 GUDEG by Yu Djum

It is best to visit the old kitchen of Yu Djum to taste the best Yogya Gudeg.

Gudeg is a sweet young jackfruit dish usually served with nasi (rice), tahur egg, ayam (chicken), sambal and krecek (crunchy beef skin). 

The sliced young jackfruit is sweetened with brown sugar.

The jackfruit is slow-boiled by wood fire for 13 hours with water, brown sugar and some salt.

In one room, raw chicken is cleaned and prepared for the different variations of gudeg:

Gudeg + Sayap uses Chicken Wings
Gudeg + Ayam Suwir uses Shredded Chicken
Gudeg + Paha Bawah uses Chicken Leg Drumstick
Gudeg + Paha Atas uses Chicken Thigh
Gudeg + Ampela Ati uses the Liver Heart
Gudeg + Kepala uses Chicken Head
Gudeg + Dada uses Chicken Breast

See Gudeg Yogya Yu Djum Menu

Gudeg is usually enjoyed with Telur which is Hard-Boiled Egg cooked in brown sugar and salt.

Coconut milk is a key ingredient of the dish drained the old-fashioned way by hand.

Also, Brown Sugar is used throughout the preparation to sweeten the different ingredients.

Santan sauce is created by mixing the coconut milk with brown sugar, salt and shallots.

Then it is cooked and mixed occasionally in high temperatures.

The sauce is then simmered with a secret recipe and reduced until it turns thick into “arek”. It is combined with the boiled jackfruit to form the Gudeg.

Sambal is also made fresh in the kitchen with tomato and chili to make the Gudeg spicy. This is my favorite sambal in Indonesia — sweet and not too spicy.

To complete the Gudeg, a sweet crisp beef skin called Krecek similar to Pinoy’s “balat ng lechon”( crunchy roast pig’s skin) is added.

The owner Yu Djum is still active in preparing the banana leaves where the Gudeg will be served.

I love the eco-friendly packaging to address the high demand of take-out for Yu Djum’s Gudeg.

Gudeg Yu Djum
Karangasem mbakek GT 111/22 J.Kaliurang Km. 4, 2 Yogyakarta
Telephone: +62 274 515-968
Mobile: +62 856 286-6001
Operating Hours: 5.00am to 7.00pm  

Related Blog Posts:
GoBackpacking.com | Gudeg Yu Djum: Inside the Kitchen of a Famous Yogyakarta Restaurant 
TimeTravelTurtle.com | Handle the heat or get out of the kitchen 

 

#2 Royal Ambarrukmo Indonesian Breakfast Buffet

When you are in Yogyakarta, make sure to book in Royal Ambarrukmo which serves the best Indonesia breakfast buffet 🙂

Gudeg Jogja is one of the main highlights of the Indonesian buffet.

The ingredients are deconstructed and you can assemble the gudeg in your own liking.

The buffet also offers a wide array of different kinds of Krupuk but my favorite is the ube chips 🙂

Try Sup Timplo which is a soup made of chicken stock, noodles, vegetables, mushrooms, fish balls and chicken sausage.

Another unique soup to try is Bronkos which is tofu with red beans, quail eggs, and chili.

Bubur Ayam is a popular breakfast treat which is like a chicken porridge.

Another interesting dish is Kupat Sayur  – packed steamed rice and pumpkin with coconut water.

If you are overwhelmed with the selection, go for the make your own Nasi Uduk combination.

You’ll never go wrong with Nasi Goreng or Mie Goreng 🙂

I love the unlimited serving of sweet and spicy Sambal for breakfast 🙂

Royal Ambarrukmo Yogyakarta
Jl. Adi Sucipto No. 81, Yogyakarta 55281 – Indonesia 
Telephone: +62 274 488-488, 
Email: info@royalambarrukmo.com or sales@royalambarrukmo.com
Website: http://www.royalambarrukmo.com/ 

 

#3 Street food (Bakso and Satay)

Satay. I love the Indonesian street food specially the different types of satay in every corner.

They charcoal grill it for you on the spot.

It is served with kupat (packed steam rice) and sambal (chili).

Bakso is popular street food which is a meat-ball soup dish.

Essentially  these are  meat balls, tofu with noodles, celery, fried shallots, and hot beef broth. 

It’s a complete meal by itself and make sure to request not to put any MSG in advance.

(TIP: Don’t miss to check out Malioboro when you are in Yogyakarta 🙂

#4 Prambanan Indonesian Dinner

One of the unique musical shows in Yogyakarta is the Ramayana Ballet that dramatizes the love story of Rama and Shinta with a traditional ballet dance accompanied by original gamelan music. The ballet is performed in open air theatre with the Prambanan Temple as the backdrop.

Ramayan Ballet Ticket: Klas VIP (Rp 300,000), Klas KHUSUS (Rp 200,000), Klas I (Rp 150,000), and Klas II (Rp 100,000). Video Camera charge (Rp 50,000)

I love the Indonesian dinner buffet setup where you dine with a beautiful view of the Prambanan Temple.

They have all my favorites: Chicken Satay, Mie Goreng, Nasi Goreng, Gudeg, and Sambal 🙂

This is the kind of Indonesian Food that I miss. (I do hope it becomes available in Manila 🙂

The ballet runs from 7.30pm to 9.30pm and honestly it was a bit dragging. You have to read the plot of the full story of Ramayana to be able to follow. The highlight of the play is the first part finale with the Monkey King setting fire to the entire stage.

RAMAYANA BALLET PRAMBANAN
Jl. Raya Yogya – Solo Km. 16, Prambanan, Yogyakarta
Telephone: +62 274 496-408 or 497-771
Website: http://www.borobudurpark.co.id/ 

 

#5: Yogyakarta Royal Cuisine

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Another must see place in Yogyakarta is the Keraton (Sultan’s Palace) to appreciate the culture and history of Indonesia. The city has a unique political structure where the Sultan is also the elected governor of Yogyakarta.

Sultan’s Palace Admission Ticket (Rp 12,500), Photo permit (Rp 1,000)

The Palace Pavilions and Javanese structures are beautiful.

Thendak Siten –  to touch the earth for the first time is one of the traditional ceremonies  in the keraton (Sultan Palace).

The Sultan’s child is placed on the earth for the first time and locked in a cock cage with different materials like jewelry, money, paper, books, pencils, necklace, etc.. The first thing that the child would touch would foretell the child’s future

This portion of the palace has a museum to pay tribute to the previous Sultan who is considered a national hero of Indonesia.

Also, checkout the special batik designs previously only worn by royalty.

Near the Sultan Palace, is the Water Palace where the Sultan would often go on a vacation to “hunt” for a female partner.

A view of the water palace pool from the Sultan’s lookout point.

Complete the tour of the Sultan’s Palace and the Water Palace, with a taste of the Royal Cuisine in Yogyakarta.

We had a lunch buffet, it’s interesting but there’s nothing “royal” about the cuisine. 

I think it would be best to order ala carte and check out the unique Indonesian food in the menu. Any tips on what’s good in Bale Raos?

BALE RAOS
Royal Cuisine Restaurant
Jl. Magangan Kulon No. 1 Kraton Yogyakarta
Telephone: +62 274 415-550 
Website: http://www.baleraos.com/

Travel to Wonderful Indonesia Blog Series:

• KOMODO DRAGON’S Lair & the Secret Pink Beach!
• MT. BROMO Sunrise Experience: Catching the Sunrise (Part 1 of 2)
• MT. BROMO Sunrise Experience: Hiking to the Volcanic Crater (Part 2 of 2)
• YOGYAKARTA: Home of the Yummiest Indonesian Food 🙂
• BOROBUDUR Sunrise Experience (The Biggest Buddhist Temple in the World)
• BOROBUDUR NOTES: Planning your Awesome Borobudur Experience
• ORANGUTANS @ TANJUNG PUTING: Largest Population of Wild Orangutans (Day 1)
• ORANGUTANS: Dr. Birute’s Work @ Camp Leaky, Borneo (Day 2)

 

Live an Awesome Life,

 
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
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If you have tips on awesome food and travel destinations, please email me at anton@diaz.ph.

Full Disclosure: I wrote this blog post myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I have no business relationship with any company mentioned in this post or any organization promoting it. As a policy, I don’t accept advertising from food and travel places we feature in the blog. Our trip was courtesy of Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia to promote travel to Indonesia. 

P.S. I noticed that there’s not a lot of dessert in the Indonesian Cuisine aside from the popular Pisang Goreng. Filipinos love desserts to end a meal, are there any popular Yogya dessert that we should try next time?