Work Retreat (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Compleatly un-food related, but this weekend I got the oppurtunity to take part in a work retreat that the organization I am volunteering/interning for was hosting. A massive coach bus was rented and people from the office, including some of their children and spouses, as well as myself were taken to Gunung Api Nglanggeran (Nglanggeran Volcano), which is a now extinct volcanao, and to beautiful Indrayanti Beach on the south coast of central Java where we had lunch and spent the rest of the day.

Posing with some collegues at the foot of the volcano

Narrow passage between two huge walls of solid lava rock

View from atop







Street Food 3 (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

This isn't necessarily street food since its in a mall food court, but I decided to put it in this category anyways. Here we have Taiwanese/Indonesian sweet desserts. Tapioca, black rice pudding, coconut milk, sweet yam etc.

Little snack box I got for lunch from work

Fried cracker with little crustaceans...they looked like baby frogs to me but apparently they aren't.

Fried cracker with little micro shrimp

Street vendor where I got my rice porridge from today.

Meal Time 3 (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

The other day a colleague of mine and I went to Kota Baru to go to a small "restaurant" that serves "Choto", a hearty spiced beef soup served with ketupat (rice steamed inside coconut leaves). I also had Es Pisa Hijau (iced green banana dessert) which is essentially unripe green banana wrapped in a pandan flavored doughy pancake and served on top of coconut custard, strawberry syrup, and crushed ice.

Makeshift restaurant on the sidewalk. The best places to eat in my opinion.

Choto: beef soup seasoned with a million different spices and fried shallots.

Es pisang hijau

Other treats they had on the table to eat: fried tofu and lumpia, seasoned quail egg satay, beef intestine satay, coconut and pandan rolled pancakes (probably has red palm sugar inside)

Bumbu Desa (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Cuisine: Javanese
Location: Jl. Kartini No. 8 Sagan, Yogyakarta

Today my boss took myself and two other colleagues for lunch at Bumbu Desa. I was not sure what type of restaurant it was, but was pleasantly surprised to see it was sort of a mix between the ordering styles you'd expect from dim sum and a buffet. All the food is laid out beautifully in bamboo baskets or large solid rock bowls and you pick what you want and they warm it up and bring it to your table where you can either share or eat it all for yourself. Instead of your regular ketchup and condiments, here they have an assortment of different sambals (ground fresh chili) such as garlic chili, green chili, fermented shrimp chili etc which you can scoop on your own and eat with your food.

(I don't know why but some the photos came out a little blurry, oh well)

Layout of all the dishes

Chicken, satays, fish, ribs etc

My favorite sambal station

YUM

The green one is my favorite

Es kelapa muda: young coconut drink with strawberry syrup. The other one has crushed ice and sweetened
condensed milk.

For the Love of Fried Chicken, Rice, and Sambal

While I've been in Jogya I have developed an obsession with eating Indonesian fried chicken, hot white rice, and spicy fresh ground chili (sambal). So simple but so so good. I'll be honest, I've been eating this stuff everyday, twice a day even. Gotta hit the gym when I get back to Canada. But for now I will most certainly enjoy :) 

Fried omelet with rice and my plate of fried chicken, fried tempeh, boiled papaya leaves,
 cucumber, and garlic sambal (from Pak Bro 'restaurant')

And again.

Pak Bro. Simple little 'restaurant' set up on the side of the street around the corner from my office. My official lunch
destination. And dinner too, when I am feeling glutinous.

Pak Bro

Fried eggplant (tasted like sh** so I didn't end up eating it. Think sponge soaked in oil. I thought it was going to be battered),  coconut rice, fried chicken, veggies, green chili (from Xtreme Restaurant)

Xtreme Restaurant



Same thing, but with a side of garlic stir fried morning glory, my favorite (from Nsi Uduk Resto)



Nasi Uduk Restaurant

 

Little outdoor patio



Slightly different, but probably better than all the others I have tried. This is actually called nasi Padang (Padang rice, Padang is a region in Sumatra). The picture makes it look gross, but really its just rice, papaya leaves, fried chicken, fried tofu, and green chili sambal.



Street Food 2 (Jogyakarta, Indonesia)

Bakso: Indonesian beef ball noodle soup

Traditional candies

Frying red bean balls (glutinous rice flour filled with sweet red bean or mung bean paste).
If your craving, you can get these back in Edmonton at TNT.

Traditional sweets. Shredded ccoconut, pandan, and tapioca flour being steamed inside bamboo shoots.



Durian ice cream. Actually really good, especially when served with fermented black sticky rice.