Top 12 Yogyakarta Foods That Worth To Try!

After arriving in Yogyakarta, you might be wondering about Yogyakarta food to overcome your hunger.

As a distinct town, this place indeed has a lot of culinary types you are craving for.

However, isn’t it incomplete if you travel here but wouldn’t taste the local food? Here’s a guide to finding the type of Yogyakarta food that belongs to traditional ones

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1. Bakpia Pathuk

Bakpia Pathuk includes one of the Yogyakarta foods that have been popular for decades.

Even though this food resulted from Chinese acculturation, Bakpia Pathuk become the typical food present that comes to Indonesian mind when we visited Yogyakarta.

This could be considered a cookie cause the texture is not too soft but just feels right sitting in your mouth.

It is available in three flavors of chocolate, cheese, and mungbean.

You can literally find Bakpia shops on every corner of this city, however, you can visit Bakpia Pathuk 25 for the legendary one.

Not like the other cookies, Bakpia is always freshly made and only can stay at room temperature for a week.

Therefore, make sure you check and ask for the expiration date before grabbing one.

2. Gudeg

Have you ever wondered how jackfruit can be your side dish? That’s how you taste Gudeg.

As a typical Yogyakarta food, Gudeg always has a place in the tourist’s heart when visiting this city.

Shredded jackfruit steamed for hours in coconut milk and brown sugar with some seasoning goes along create a sweet flavor with a mild texture.

Not only jackfruit itself, Gudeg commonly serves with spicy cattle skin stew named krecek and other proteins such as chicken, eggs, tofu, tempeh, and more.

Gudeg has two types, dry and wet.

The dry one has a tendency sweet flavor.

However, if you considering less sweet, you can choose the wet one since it’s more savory.

It is called wet due to the coconut milk contained there is still pretty much there so it can even be soup on your Gudeg serving.

Gudeg goes along well with rice and is such a perfect dish for dinner and also for breakfast.

Some sellers also provide Gudeg with porridge and it tastes just right.

The Gudeg place that is quite legendary in this city is named Gudeg Yu Jum.

This brand is scattered around the city, so you can just type it on Google Maps and find one nearby.

3. Tiwul

Tiwul could be considered a type of rice that belongs to Yogyakarta food.

It comes from the Gunungkidul district.

This dish was quite popular during colonialism when people used cannot afford to buy rice.

Eventually, they came up with Tiwul to replace it.

Tiwul is basically rice made from cassava.

As you can see from the picture, Yogyakarta eats Tiwul with shredded coconut.

Some of them really treat Tiwul as rice which they will combine with side dishes such as salty fish, sambal, and urap.

You could still find some restaurant that specifically serves Tiwul as their main dish.

Simply types on Google and find the nearest one to your place!

However, if you wanna taste the sensation of the original ones, you can choose to explore Gunungkidul while heading yourself to Tiwul Yu Tum.

It would be a nice lunch after spending your sunrise at the beach shore there.

4. Belalang Goreng

Have you ever imagine to taste one of the insects to eat? Yogyakarta food has this Belalang Goreng (fried grasshopper) for you to try.

Belalang goreng is basically grasshoppers that are deep-fried with oils until it turns golden brown and crispy.

When it comes to the taste, it is slightly similar to crispy shrimp.

If you consider the nutrients inside, this scarce snack is rich in protein.

Belalang Goreng would be the type of food present you can have to surprise your friends.

However, make sure you taste a bit if you are a first-timer just to check the allergic.

Some people find itchy on their tongue once they taste it.

5. Brongkos

Brongkos is basically a traditional stew from Yogyakarta food.

It contains red beans, tofu, boiled eggs, and beef.

Seeing from the soup is dark, it comes from the Kluwek which brings an earthy and deep flavor to Brongkos.

Overall, the flavor tends to be savory and spicy which is perfectly paired with hot rice and some traditional crackers such as peyek and kerupuk.

You would be surprised how it goes well with perkedel and fried tempeh as well.

Make sure you have this menu on your list because Brongkos is likely only available in Yogyakarta.

6. Sate Klathak

Sate Klathak belongs to Yogyakarta food that is also popular among tourists.

Indonesia has a lot of types of satay indeed.

This type of satay mainly only uses goat meat.

What makes Sate Klathak different than any other one is the spicy.

They only use coriander and salt to enhance the flavor.

One thing that is unique about this dish is the skewer.

Sate Klathak used bicycle spokes which were assumed to be better to deliver heat.

In a serving, you will have Sate Klathak with Indonesian curry soup and chili.

What a perfect dinner to have Sate Klathak after strolling around this cultural city.

7. Mangut Lele

Mangut Lele is also part of Yogyakarta’s food diversity.

This dish is basically used catfish as the main ingredient.

As you can see, it has soup in it which is made from coconut milk with a bunch of spices going on to elevate the flavor.

Mangut Lele tends to have a creamy flavor from coconut milk but is also pungent and spicy.

One of the traditional restaurants you can find in Yogyakarta is Mangut Lele Mbah Marto.

Here, you can really see the cooking process of Mangut Lele while also serving your own meal by yourself, yes, they have a self-service style, so you can just pick whatever you want to eat with Mangut Lele.

8. Bakmie Jawa

Bakmie Jawa is a must-try among Yogyakarta food you definitely should have a taste at least once in your life.

This traditional noodle dish uses two types of noodles which are yellow thick and bihun.

Instead of using broiler chicken, Bakmie Jawa sellers prefer to use local chicken that tends to have tanginess once you taste the noodles.

Aside from chicken, Bakmie Jawa also used eggs for protein.

It also combines with a bunch of green and cabbage to elevate the freshness.

Bakmie Jawa has two variants you can choose from, the ones with soup and stir-fried.

This is also a perfect option for late dinner after the Malioboro visit.

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9. Oseng Mercon

Another dinner option for Yogyakarta food is Oseng Mercon.

For those whose spicy enthusiasm, this is a perfect challenge.

Oseng Mercon is made from a mixture of beef trimming loaded with spices mainly chili.

This is what makes Oseng Mercon can literally explode in your mouth while you taste it.

Aside from the spiciness, the taste has a deep flavor and is well enough to make you want more even if it’s burning your mouth.

The first outlet named Oseng Mercon Bu Narti was established in 1997.

Nowadays, this outlet becomes a must-visit culinary destination for tourists, especially the ones who like spicy.

Definitely, a challenging food to try.

However, kindly consider your level of tolerance for spiciness otherwise it could turn into a tragedy.

10. Gatot

Gatot also belongs to one of the traditional Yogyakarta food.

It actually the rest of Tiwul that left and cannot be processed.

Same as Tiwul, Gatot is also made from cassava that is soaked and dried above the sun.

Then it will be boiled to be edible.

The taste itself tends to sour.

Gatot also commonly serves with shredded coconut to balance the flavor.

If you wanna a unique snack during your trip, it could be the one to put on your list.

11. Tengkleng Gajah

If you are craving a large meal, Tengkleng Gajah would be the best option you have among Yogyakarta food.

Tengkleng Gajah(elephant) is not necessary to use elephant meat.

However, it actually the goat meat that serves in large portions.

As you can see from the picture, aside from the bunch of bones and meat, you also have the soup which makes this dish fresh.

It is such a perfect pair for rice.

You can also add your own spiciness by asking for add more chili.

Definitely a perfect menu for family lunch.

12. Nasi Kucing

Nasi Kucing is also a popular street food in Yogyakarta food.

It means cat rice but of course, it’s not made from cat meat.

The reason to call Nasi Kucing is that the portion only fits cats which you can see it’s very small.

In a serving, Nasi Kucing is commonly wrapped with banana leaves or food paper with sambal and anchovies as the side dish.

You can also find the ones that have tempeh and tofu inside.

While enjoying Kopi Joss, Nasi Kucing is a perfect accompany to overcome a slight hunger.

Those are the top 12 Yogyakarta food you can choose to try.

While exploring this cultural city, why don’t you give it a shot at those traditional foods?

It is way much better to have a different experience while also tasting the local cuisine.

Make sure you have at least one of them to try and you will understand the palette flavor of Yogyakarta that is tend to be sweet.