Yogyakarta is famous for its great food. With a large international community and great local recipes the city offer plenty of culinary options for visitors. I want to share with you 5 of the best culinary choices in Yogyakarta.

Also read:

The Best Places to Eat in the South of Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta Food Tour: Experience the Local Cuisine

The Essential Guide to Yogyakarta Tours

Gudeg is one of the famous local food here in Yogyakarta. This is one dish that you should definitely try when you visit Yogya. While there are many places that serve Gudeg in Yogyakarta, my favourite one has to be the one on Janturan street, which is called Gudeg Pawon. Besides its tasty Gudeg, eat in the restaurant gives you a great experience of old fashioned Javanese style kitchens – it reminds me a lot of my grandma’s kitchen. The restaurant is a tiny bit of a guilty pleasure of mine whenever I come and eat at Gudeg Pawon. The restaurant is open from 10-12 pm. That is right! That late night! Enough about gudeg, I want to share with you my other favourite food/drinks that you can try when you are in Yogyakarta. Let’s start, shall we?

nasi pecel yogya

  • Nasi/Rice Pecel – Warung in Demangan Baru Street

There is nothing fancy about this small restaurant. The place is clean and pretty basic. They only have limited menu of Nasi Kuning (Yellow rice) and Nasi Pecel. The best thing is they are really tasty (so tasty!). It is a good choice for breakfast (if you are lucky, you can get it for lunch, they run out quite quickly), and it is pretty cheap.

es campur warung handayani

  • Es/Ice Campur – Warung Handayani in Alun Alun Kidul Keraton

Warung Handayani is really famous for the Nasi Brongkos. Nasi Brongkos is the other local cuisine of Yogykarta, but the dish is less famous than Gudeg. It is basically rice with red beans soup. To be honest, it’s not my favourite, the taste is just too boring for me. Other than Nasi Brongkos, Warung Handayani also sells Nasi Soto (which I like), Es Campur (which I freakin love) and much more. Es campur is a drink made from Tapai (traditional fermented food found), coconut flesh, probably syrup, coconut milk and ice cubes.

sate klatak pasar wonokromo

  • Sate/Satay Klatak – Warung Mas Bari, near Wonokromo Market, Pleret

Oh my god, I think this Sate Klatak is the best goat Satay that I have ever eaten in my entire life. Hahaha. The satay is pretty simple though. They just grill the meat with a tiny of salt and probably garlic. The unique thing about it is that the skewer is not bamboo, but comes from the spokes of a bicycle. This apparently makes the meat more tender.

chocolate lava cake lotus mio

  • Chocolate Lava Cake – Lotus Mio in Tirtodipuran Street

Lotus Mio is a place that I visit quite often. They have pretty awesome simple decorations – almost everything is made from wood. You kind of get that peaceful ambiance, especially with the small Buddha statues in front of the door. Anyways, basically the food and gelato are all tasty, but I want to highlight the dessert; the Chocolate Lava Cake here is to die for – it’s a chocolate cake served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and so far the best dessert in town.

bebek goreng mangkuyudan

  • Bebek Goreng/Fried Duck – Warung in Mangkuyudan Street

Actually I prefer grilled duck rather than fried duck, but seriously I can’t really find a good one here. This small warung in Mangkuyudan street somehow met the minimum requirement, even though it is fried duck. The nasi uduk (coconut rice) is nice; the sambal (sauce) is so tasty and the important thing the duck is tender. I personally think it is better than Bebek Cak Koting, the famous one in Yogyakarta.

nasi kuning demangan

There you go, all my favorite yummies in Yogyakarta after I lived here for -/+ 3 months. I shall update this list of mine again when I find another delicious food / drinks in the future. This is a hard list to built without drooling. In the mean time, share your favourite places too. I want to know and give them a try!

Booked Your Accommodation? Here are the Best Hotels in Yogya for Every Budget

Luxury Hotel – The Phoenix Hotel
Mid Range Hotel – Gallery Prawirotaman
Budget Hotel – Adhishana Hotel Yogyakarta

P.S. Need help arranging your Yogyakarta holidays? Save yourself some time! Here’s a list of Shared and Private tours.