What To Eat In Jogja: 'Penyetan'

This city has a huge amount of visitors, tourists, and students from other region. Most of newbies are most likely get surprised about how "sweet" is the food here. Javanese loves sweet, they put plenty of sugar not only in desserts but also main dishes. Gudeg is generally very sweet but some places serve less-sweet gudeg to adjust the visitors palate. Aside from gudeg, penyetan is also very popular among locals and comer.

So if what is actually "penyetan"? Pretty similar with what known as "lalapan" in Malang, but here in around Jakarta and most cities in West Java such as Bandung, we're more familiar with pecel ayam. The place that serve ayam goreng (fried chicken) or sometimes ayam bakar (grilled chicken) accompanied with home special sambal that can be spicy-savory or sweet and spicy. Tempeh and tofu are the most general findings in warung penyetan. Here are some of penyetan places that I've visited few times ago when having a food trip to Yogyakarta:

Ayam Goreng Pak Kromo

Local's favorite, sweet ayam bacem. Jogja is really affordable, less than 15.000 rupiah for a medium size of chicken, white rice, veggies, sambal, and drink. It's sweet, very tender, rich in flavor though I got chicken breast instead of thighs. As a condiment, sweet and spicy sambal was quite addictive. In fact that personally I'm not into sweet food but here it's acceptable.

Ayam Goreng Pak Kromo

Jalan Nogolaten, Sapen GK 1 no 512

Yogyakarta

Spesial Sambal Mentah Bu Saring

I do believe that when it comes to Indonesian food, good warung serves good sambal. Means, it became acknowledgement if they have good sambal then you'll have a good meal. A piece of tempe bakar (grilled tempeh) and ayam bakar (grilled chicken), accompanied by mixed raw veggies (cabbage, cucumber, and lemon basil) and tasty spicy savory home sambal. Unlike Ayam Goreng Pak Kromo, personally I prefer the sambal here because it's not sweet but fresh and spicy.

Spesial Sambal Bu Saring

Jalan Hayam Wuruk

Yogyakarta

Sambal Bawang Bu Santi Yogyakarta

It's the combination of both above, sweet ayam goreng with spicy-savory sambal! What I really like from this place is because they serve every dishes with nasi uduk instead of steamed white rice. Similar to betawi style nasi uduk, because it's fluffy but not as soft as regular white rice. If you noticed that I did not have chicken thighs, so you know which is my favorite part. Anyway, as you can see, the chicken was as delicious as the picture. Their home sambal was quite spicy, it suits my palate and probably you, if you can handle spicy food.

Sambal Bawang Bu Santi

Jalan Babarsari

Yogyakarta

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