Travel: Solo's Culinary Experience

When coming to Solo (in central Java), you definitely cannot escape from the Javanese delicacies, which are more often than not, made with those rich santan (milk made from squeezing the white flesh of coconut kernel). Here’s my full recommendation for the complete culinary adventure of the one-day menu in Solo---always successfully made my waist shapeless every time I’m spending a holiday there:

Start your MORNING with a tall glass of super sweet tea (the term “add sugar” is probably won’t be needed for Javanese people, as I always go with “add water/ice, please”. The thought while sipping this beverage is always “I’m drinking sugar with a splash of tea, instead of drinking tea with sugar.” And of course the traditional nasi liwet: rice made with santan, usually accompanied with boiled chicken, boiled scramble egg, and the delicious white sauce-look-alike made from---can you guess??—santan!! YUMMY…

The NOON won’t be complete without Hayam Wuruk’s great fried/grilled tender-bones chicken, the fried ones usually accompanied with delicious golden crispies that goes soooo well with warm rice… slurphhh… the bones are so tender, you barely can tell the difference between bones and meat. And, oh, of course, don’t forget the tall glass of super sweet tea… (Oh my dear poor bladder.) For dessert, don’t forget the sweet traditional snacks jajanan pasar such as onde-onde, kelepon, etc.

In the AFTERNOON you’ll hear the soft ding ding sound drifting in cool afternoon’s air that come from the wedang ronde vendor’s bell, luring us to call the vendor, and enjoying the warm and sweet wedang ronde: ginger beverage.

And then for DINNER, the whole experience wouldn’t be complete without a nice warm beef clear soup, famously known as soto kwali. Even though there are several other warungs (delis/stalls) or restaurants that are offering this menu, my recommendation is my family’s all time favorite: “Soto daging sapi, Kwali Asli, Pak Kasiyo.” The warung is located in front of SMP Negeri 13 Surakarta (beautiful old building, by the way), at Jalan St Syahrir (widuran), before number 83-85, next to Adam Air and a notary’s office.Only opens at night, I think, with long hours, maybe until three in the morning or when the soup all sold out.

As the term “warung” suggested, don’t be too surprised to find it rather dark, cramp (mostly caused by so many people trying to get a seat there), and a bit lack on the clean side. But I always find the look has a certain charm: all that Salman Khan and Rani Mukherjee’s and F4/other Taiwanese idols’ calendars, local celebrities (perhaps) doing their first project as the glasses' or automobile garage’s model calendars on its walls. Stuffs like that really can create a classic atmosphere rarely found in other places nowadays.

As for the food: HEAVENLY! Especially after the long drive from Jakarta, when your whole body had seemed to go dead on you, and the car’s air conditioner had froze you for hours. The warm nice clear soup is usually accompanied with empal gepuk (sweetened beef fry), steamed eggs, perkedel (fried mashed potatoes), etc; it’s your choice. Ah, and then after that, don’t forget to wash all that down with the super sweet tall glass of tea… ;-p

Felt a bit guilty after gulping all that? Well, to tell you the truth, I did too. Cause while some people are loosing their puppy fat when they get older, I seemed to have been gaining them this last few years… *shucks… But, hey, it’s okay! We’re on holiday! (^___^)v