Indonesian Cuisine Guide — What to Eat & Where

Fried rice with egg, vegetables, kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), and usually chicken or prawns. The national dish. Every warung does it. The best versions are wok-fried over high heat at proper Indonesian warungs, not tourist restaurants.

Slow-braised beef in coconut milk and spices until dry and intensely caramelized. Padang restaurants (found everywhere in Indonesia) serve it on a "all the food comes out at once" basis — you pay only for what you eat.

Skewered meat — chicken, goat, beef, or lamb — grilled over charcoal and served with peanut sauce or kecap manis. Sate Madura and Sate Ponorogo are the most famous styles. Found at every night market.

Vegetable salad with peanut sauce — blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh, hard-boiled egg, and rice cakes, all drowned in a rich peanut dressing. One of the best vegetarian options in Indonesian food.

Balinese suckling pig — whole pig stuffed with turmeric, galangal, and lemongrass, then roasted on a spit. A ceremonial food that's now available in specialist warungs. Ibu Oka in Ubud is the most famous — arrive by 11am, it sells out.

Young jackfruit braised in coconut milk and palm sugar until sweet and tender. Yogyakarta's signature dish, sold in gudeg restaurants (warung gudeg) throughout the city, often from midnight as an early breakfast.

Fried noodles with vegetables, egg, and your choice of protein. The street food twin to nasi goreng. Best eaten at a kaki lima (mobile cart) late at night when the charcoal heat is at its most intense.

Clear or coconut milk-based soup with chicken, vegetables, and noodles or rice. Dozens of regional versions: Soto Ayam (chicken, clear broth), Soto Betawi (Jakarta, rich coconut/milk broth with beef), Soto Banjar (Kalimantan, aromatic). A staple breakfast food.