Budget
Spesial Sambal
A local chain for those who like spicy, hot food. their speciality, as the name suggests, is their various kind of sambal sambal is a kind of hot relish. rp 5,000-12,000.
Gudeg Tugu
Jl. diponegoro, close to kranggan marketplace, 7pm-1am. popular gudeg stall. a complete dish consists of: warm rice, shredded chicken, brown hard-boiled egg, gudeg, areh sauce, and the hot & spicy sambal goreng krecek. rp 7,000-10,000.
Angkringan Tugu
Hawker stall located close to the tugu station serving small rice packs known as sego kucing and various other foods, 6pm-4am. the most popular beverages is kopi joss, javanese espresso dipped with burning coal. rp 1,000-6,000.
Waroeng Steak
A local restaurant chain. their speciality is batter-fried beef steak served with thick gravy. rp 6,000-15,000.
Waroeng Jepara
Jl. wolter monginsidi 49, jogjakarta. fame for their traditional jepara flavours only warung in jogjakarta that serves jepara food, this modern-furnished warung is run by friendly locals. speciality includes "pecil pari" spicy stingray, "bothok tahu" tofu in papaya leaf and "sayur lodeh" jackfruit soup . rp 5,000-30,000.
Soto Sawah Pak Slamet
A local chicken soup store located at 5 km west side from yogya, open morning - afternoon. rp 5,000
Pempek Ulu Bundar
Located strategically near to mirota crossroad, serves delicious pempek and kakap meat ball soup. most expensive menu is rp 5,000.
Rumah Makan Es Ceria
Jl. gandekan lor no. 42. close to sraswijyan, just go west from hotels and turn left. great, cheap eats -all in a huge smorgasboard, you choose what you like and then the cashier estimates a price. tasty and dirt cheap. also ice deserts and fruit shakes.
Soto Pak Soleh
Tegalrejo, near diponegoro museum. this well-known restaurant is pak soleh's family business and is now ran by his son. they only serve yogyakarta-style beef soup as their main menu, which has a spicy taste from the added ginger. rp 5,000.
Soto Pak Marto
A local delicacy of beef based soup served with rice mixed in or separate, go to the one located near keraton. offals are include in unless specifically asked for beef only. fried offals, ordered on the side to be eaten with kecap manis is very delicious.
Midrange
FoodFezt
Jl. kaliurang km 5.5, â +62 274 554554, (http://www.foodfezt.com/). many kinds of local indonesian foods: nasi kebuli, nasi merah, soto betawi, sate buntel, mushroom satay, and also dessert like pancakes, ice creams etc. it has a garden with lots of bamboo tree and other plants. the waiters use wireless gadgets to serve their customers in order to maintain a 'paperless' order system.
Via Via
Jl. prawirotaman, an excellent traveller's cafe, there are clocks on the wall showing the time in other via via cafes around the world and a mix of travellers and indonesian locals. offers a range of western dishes good french onion soup and specialty indonesian dishes at a good price. caters very well to vegetarians tofu and tempe. cane chairs and lots of space and games. rp 20,000-40,000.
Dixie Easy Dining
dixie, jl. gejayan 40b south selokan mataram, +62 274 560745. offers various kind western and asian dishes served with distinct modern-asian style. nice modern-ethnical interior. rp 8,000-50,000.
Ayam Goreng Suharti
Jl. laksda adisucipto 208. â +62 274 515522. a very popular mbok berek fried chicken restaurant, the recipe still remains a secret.
Quali Resto
Plaza ambarrukmo, 3rd floor, near the foodcourt. serves various kind of chinese dishes, but their specialty is kwetiaw wide noodles. rp 15,000.
Pecel Solo
Jl. palagan tentara pelajar 52, sleman adj hyatt regency, phone: +62 274 866588. offers a large selection of solo style foods like pecel solo vegetables with peanut sauce, sego liwet steamed rice with sweet curry sauce, nasi kebuli pungent rice with roasted lamb, and bebek goreng fried duck solo style. rp 10,000-30,000.
Bakmi Kadin
Jl. bintaran kulon 3. javanese style soft-fried noodles. don't miss the popular wedang bajigur, a local beverages made from warm coconut milk with subtle ginger flavor and garnished with diced coconut and kolang-kaling. local kroncong street quartet often performs in the area. rp 18,000-20,000.
Empek-Empek Kamto
Jl. beskalan 3, opp to ramai shopping mall's south entrance, â +62 274 514294. originated from palembang, deep-fried fish cake and served with sour soy sauce. there are many variety of empek-empek: kapal selam means submarine comes with boiled eggs inside, adaaan/bulat has a garlic taste, while lenggang is an empek-empek omelet.
Gudeg Sagan
An eating place in jalan sagan in front of toko sagan baru offering rice, seasoned porridge, gudeg, areh sauce, sambal goreng krecek, complete with chicken and brown hard-boiled egg.
Sendang K Pitoe
A famous shrimp and sea food restaurant located on the outskirts of the city specifically jamur, minggir, sleman. â +62 274 747 1114. very delicious fried shrimp served fresh from the ponds in the still relatively untouched village. don't get mistaken by the nearby mang engking, also a shrimp restaurant with an ill-earned reputation of dirty food.
Sate Karang
Lapangan karang, kotagede. 5pm-10.30pm. grilled beef satay served with lontongs rice cake, peanut sauce and thin curry soup. rp 15.000.
Sapi Bali
Jl. umbul permai, mudal, sariharjo, ngaglik, sleman, yogyakarta, +62 274 7858938. serves balinese style ribs, although a little too hot and spicy for some foreigner. if you do not prefer hot and spicy dish, opt for soy sauce ribs instead. rp 25,000.
Kedai Tiga Nyonya
Jl. jendral sudirman 16. â +62 274 589315. 10am-10pm. peranakan food restaurant, a fusion of indonesian, chinese, and dutch cuisine. their specialty is grilled fish, sour ribs soup, and candlenut chicken. rp 20,000-50,000
Top end
Royal Garden Restaurant
Jl. pekapalan 7, alun-alun utara. â +62 274 386767, +62 274 373343. chinese-indonesian dishes with kraton style atmosphere. rp 40,000-80,000.
Gabah Resto
Jl. dewi sartika 11a sagan, +62 274 515626. western dishes. modern classy decoration. rp75,000-rp150,000.
Androwino Bistro
Jl. laksda adisucipto km 8.7. â +62 274 488588. the all day dining restaurant offering continental and asian cuisine in a relaxed modern javanese setting. the restaurant is located at the top floor of sheraton mustika yogyakarta resort & spa where at the entrance of the restaurant guests will be welcomed with a big painting of grandfather from the hotelâs owner named sampean dalem ingkang sinuhun kandjeng susuhunan pakoe boewono x, 1896 â 1939king of soloand guests will see the beautiful landscaping of tamansari water castle swimming pool and breathtaking mount merapi.
Gajah Wong
Jl. gejayan, â +62 274 588294, (http://www.gadjahwong.com/). serves many kind of dishes including french, italian, indian, chinese as well as indonesian. divided into 3 zones: country, javanese and colonial, each is lavishly decorated and themed with live music. in the javanese zone, you can hear the javanese gamelan music performed throughout the night, while the colonial zone has a live jazz band.
Yogya is filled with many 'high-end' restaurants serving many kind of dishes, from western to asian to asian-fusion cuisines.
Local delicacies
Gudeg
A curry of jackfruit, chicken and egg served with rice, and is the most famous local dish. goopy slop in various shades of brown, the stuff does not look particularly appetizing, but it can be tasty if done right. there are many gudeg restaurants, but the most popular are: gudeg wijilan, gudeg juminten, gudeg bu tjitro, gudeg tugu, gudeg bu ahmad. if you can wake up early in the morning, you may find small stalls serving gudeg just at the corner of the street, or close to traditional markets. if you can't sleep at night, you can go to jalan janturan and enjoy the gudeg pawon enjoying gudeg inside the old style kitchen that open in late night.
Jadah tempe
Sandwich of rice cake and sweet beancake. can be found in kaliurang.
Ayam goreng Mbok Berek
mbok berek's fried chicken. fried free range chicken with mild garlic and coriander flavor served with crunchy crackers.
Es rujak
Or rujak es krim, a fruit salad made from mangos, papayas, apples, pineapples, cucumbers etc., mixed with palm sugar, lime juice, salt, chillies and of course ice cream es krim. all flavors sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, salty in one plate. in case you are at ugm campus, have a look along jalan kaliurang. small foodstalls sell es rujak there only very late morning to early afternoon. if you are not close to ugm, keep your eyes open.
Bakpia
Another bite size snack made from sweetened greenbean paste wrapped with thin dough pastry. the most popular bakpia is known as bakpia patuk, which not surprisingly, are sold in pathuk street, also known as jl. aip k.s. tubun.
Angkringan
A food seller using hopper as store. the famous food sold here is nasi kucing cat rice that consists of a small serving rice with a sambal chilies or oseng-oseng and wrapped using a piece of paper or banana leaf. the most popular angkringan is angkringan lik man, also known as angkringan tugu, located in jalan wongso dirjan, north side of yogyakarta railway station tugu station. see angkringan tugu below. angkringan usually opens from afternoon 2pm or evening 6pm until late night 1am or morning 4am.
Kipo
Bite size snacks made of green colored tapioca dough filled with sweetened grated coconut. can be found in kotagede.
Nasi langgi, locally known as sego langgi
langgi rice. warm rice served with various side dishes. can be found in small stall in gandekan st.
The following dishes should be on every traveller's agenda:
Sweet & chilli cuisine
It's not a big secret to Indonesian people that Yogyakarta people adore sweet foods. The local dish known as gudeg , for example, is distinctively sweet in flavor. Local snacks, such as bakpia dan yangko, are extremely sweet. However, not every local dish is sweet. Krecekâthe orengeish fried beef often served with gudegâis poignantly hot for untrained tongue. Lodeh made by the locals, even though often referred as 'too sweet' by non Jogja, still has a hint of the fiery chilli taste. Its a good idea to ask the food vendor whether the dish is hot or not. For those who are just curious, simply ask them to omit the chilli from the dish and serve it separately. This way you can still taste the original flavour of the dish, but if you can't handle the chilli flavor you can simply not adding the chilli into your meal!
Originally, Yogyakarta dishes were known for their sweetness. However, as more and more people move to Yogya, this small city starts seeing more diversity in flavor. Now you can find many kind of interesting dishes, ranging from sweet, to spicy, to fiery. Sometimes a fusion from other cuisines such as Chinese or Western can be found. Note that restaurants in the center often close quite early by Western standards, with admission often refused after 9PM.