Hot, sunny, midday heat in Yogyakarta weighs you down with beads of sweat forming on your forehead. Water does not suffice this urge to cool down as your body craves greater substance as it slowly dehydrates. Enter rujak es krim toted around by a kaki lima or street cart, most likely found in the morning and early afternoon. Rujak es krim is made of rujak, the assortment of fruits including sour mango, papaya, apple, cucumber, and pineapple that is combined with es puter, traditional Indonesian ice cream. Es puter means "stirred ice cream" and is made of coconut milk and sugar. The sauce is made of palm sugar, lime juice, salt, and chilies, though I could have sworn there was a hint of tamarind in there. Mixed together, the combination of ingredients creates a cornucopia of flavor inviting sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty to this party. The vendor makes it fresh in front of you chopping up the fruits and grinding the spicy paste using a wooden mortar. The onslaught of flavors satisfies hunger (and dehydration to a point) while thrilling your tongue.
First meal was at a late-night Sundanese restaurant called Nasi Uduk Kebon Kacang, a short drive from the center of Kemang district. Sundanese food includes cities of Bogor, Bandung, and Sukabumi. It was about 02:00 and most other places were closed or closing. Most of the food is already prepared (mid-day) or cooked except for the final step. You choose what you like and they will bring it to your table. Accompanying snacks, nasi uduk or rice with coconut milk (originally from Jakarta) wrapped in a banana leaf, and bottled drinks laid on the table. We had some grilled chicken, a sort of dried or preserved beef, and tempe. This was really delicious and light. Apparently, it is made from a cultured and fermentation process that binds soybeans together into a cake which is then sliced and fried. The result is a crispy, firm exterior and soft interior. It has a light, nutty flavor. The best part is that it is healthy for you being high in protein and fiber. Anyway, at the end of the meal, you pay for what you eat. It is very straight forward. Just tell the server what you ate and they calculate the price accordingly.
Padang cuisine(from the Minangkabau people) is the capital of West Sumatra. Pulling up, Restoran Padang had a steady trickle of motobikes pulling up with patrons asking for their nasi padang wrapped up for take away. The server scoops up some rice on a plate lined with paper and the patron points out what they want from the prepared food. I chose singkong (cassava leaf) as the primary vegetable with sambal hijau, the chili sauce, and topped off with beef rendang. The cooked cassava leaf had a nice, fibery texture and had a fiery tingle from the sauce. There was also other green vegetables that were more bitter in flavor like they were pickled, but also equally very spicy. The beef was very tender, though slightly drier than expected, but the sauce left from the evaporated coconut milk and spices was incredibly savory. Now this is a way better "fast food" option.
The Kemang Food Festival on Jalan Kemang Raya is an open-air (though covered) food court with multiple food stands with Indonesian food, steak, Italian, American, and Japanese. I felt a bit adverse to this food hall, but my host insisted on eating here for the variety of choices. Sit down at one of the wooden picnic tables in the courtyard and dozens of servers representing each vendor will surround you while you peruse the thick binder of menus. They patiently wait for your order and only one lucky server will return to the respective kitchen with your order. Out of the big menu book, my host chose for me Soto Jakarta, a soup with the coconut milk, vegetables, and meat accompanied by a banana leaf packet of rice. The rice soaked up the soup beautifully. The soup was slightly sweet, yet very spicy and penetrated the flavor of the meat and vegetables, which were not overcooked. Yum.
