Sate Kambing Muda Bogem @ Yogyakarta, Indonesia

From the earlier mountain range, we drove again back to the city of Solo passing the famous Begawan Solo River and then we head South of Java Island heading to the city of Yogyakarta. 

Yogyakarta is the largest city in Central Java and it is around 60 Kilometres from Solo. 60 Kilometres in Indonesia takes almost two hours. Interestingly, throughout this journey, I was sharing my travel experiences with the guide and driver and they were listening very intently.

Somehow, we suddenly stumbled upon the topic of the Bodobudur Temple and the guide claimed that Borobudur is one of the seven wonders of the world. I argued on this and somehow the argument went further and the guide said that he would go back home and check on the internet. I know this guide quite well, he would argue something all out unless he felt that he knew it accurately. It was only then, that I realised that the Indonesian school textbooks were disseminating wrongful information to the students till date. In school, Indonesians learn that the Borobudur Temple is one of the seven wonders of the world.

We had a dinner stop as we neared the city of Yogyakarta. Here, the guide ordered food for us and then was communicating to one of his friends to check and back his theory. Finally, after 30 minutes of conversation on his mobile, he finally apologised to me and said yes, he had just discovered that the Indonesian textbooks were wrong and they were all these years been given the wrongful information. Well, I just told him that it was all right and we were just discussing over a point in history. Please do remember that my guide holds a Masters Degree in Indonesian Archaeology. 

Sate Kambing Muda Bogem @ Yogyakarta

The Sate Grill

Interior is quite simple

With that discussion over, we concentrated on dinner. This particular restaurant which we stopped was famous for its kid satay and curry. Here, kid means the baby goat. It was definitely good, soft succulent satay chunks.
Besides this, the shop is also famous for its Lamb Tongseng which is very much the Javanese version of Lamb Stew. The Kid Sate on contrary are not served on skewers but are cut into chunks and served in a plate with some sweet and spicy sauce being poured over it.

Lamb Tongseng a.k.a. Javanese Lamb Stew

Sate Kambing Muda a.k.a. Kid Sate

This restaurant is surely a good place to have your meal specifically if you are looking for simple and authentic food in Yogyakarta. The price is very cheap and the entire meal would cost you less than RM 15 for four pax.

Address: Jalan Jendral Sudirman,
            Kotabaru, Yogyakarta, 
            Jawa, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2230

Rumah Makan Senden @ Senden, Indonesia

It was a decently long drive out of Solo city heading to the mountain regions of Sukuh where we are to visit another two marvels. As I woke up late this morning, I could not have the breakfast at the hotel and was already craving for food as the time now was almost 1 pm.

Hence, collectively we decided to have our lunch at the next good place that comes along the way. Finally we came to this very large restaurant. The driveway seems prepared to receive loads of buses. I guess this must be a favourite tourist stop. However, today this place seemed empty and there were no guests at all when we arrived. 

Rumah Makan Senden

Entrance of the restaurant

We ordered our lunch and then waited for the food to be served. Even after 30 minutes, the food never came and my guide went over to check the status. However, they seemed to be still cooking, that was his response. Since we had ordered fish, I had asked him if they had set out to the sea to go fishing and perhaps they have not caught the fish yet.
It was really tiring waiting for food especially when we were so hungry and I don't see an excuse as to why it should take so long as there were no other customers in the restaurant. Finally, the food arrived after a 45 minute wait.
We had ordered Egg Foo Yong (mixed with prawns), Patin Fish deep fried with Salted Eggs, Fried Tempe (Soya Paste) and Spinach. I am not sure if it was because we were so hungry, the food tasted delicious. 

Lunch Just Arrived

Closer Look At The Dishes

The food portions were also huge and it definitely was worth the price paid for. Satisfied with the great lunch we had, we then headed to the Sukuh mountain range where we are to visit another two temples, both built in the 13th Century. I was informed that it is still another 45 minute drive from here, at least. I hope to be able to post more dishes and good place to dine from this trip.

Address: Jalan Srago Gede,
             Klaten, Jawa Tengah,
            Jawa, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1000 - 2200

Rumah Makan Tio Ciu Matahari @ Bandungan, Indonesia

Earlier we visited one of the historical sites in the middle of a deep forest and by the time we were done, it was almost 7 pm. It was a thirty minute drive back to Bandungan town and we were looking out for a nice diner until we came across this outlet. 

Rumah Makan Tio Ciu Matahari @ Bandungan, Indonesia

As It Is A Mountain Region, It Was Very Cold

They seemed to be quite crowded and it served Chinese food. We parked the car and headed to this restaurant for dinner. Looking at the menu, it seemed like a fusion between Chinese food and Indonesian food but hey, looking at the number of people there, we assumed that it should be quite good.

They served almost everything, from fish, chicken, pork, beef, frogs, eels, snails and everything else that crawls, flies and swims. Interesting. Reminded me more of Malaysia.

Some Of The Offerings Here

Calling Back Home While Waiting For Dinner

With the level of lethargy that had struck us, the food did indeed taste exceptionally good. We ordered Chicken Rica Rica, Sizzling Tofu and Butter Prawns. Initially we ordered some vegetables too but somehow with every vegetable dish that we ordered, they seemed to come back to us after a few minutes claiming that that vegetable had finished. Finally, after four tries, we gave up on vegetables and stuck with the present menu.

Dinner In Progress

We did not take much time here and we rushed through our meal in thirty minutes simply because we had to drive all the way to Solo which is almost on the eastern border of Central Java and East Java which is another two hours and thirty minutes drive.

With dinner done, we moved out of this place heading east. Well, talking about this restaurant, we did like the food here. Though there were some glitches in the service level, but the food and the price was surely worth every dime spent. 

Address: Jl. Lemah Abang, Bandungan,
             KM 3 Semarang, Jawa Tengah,
             Jawa, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1100 - 2230

Sate & Gule Kambing 29 @ Semarang, Indonesia

Today, we were touring Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia. As it was already lunch hour, we were pretty hungry and looking out for a good place to have lunch. There was a 'favourite' shop of the locals just across the Blenduk Church in Kota Lama and we decided to try this shop instead. Unlike my previous trip last month to the Province of West Sumatra where we could not find mutton or lamb, here the favourite meat seems to be that of mutton cooked in various manners. 

Sate & Gule Kambing 29 @ Kota Lama, Semarang

In this shop, the signature dishes were Sate Kambing (mutton sate) and Gule Kambing (Mutton Curry). Sate is meat on bamboo skewers and are found in abundance in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, in Malaysia, the common meat used for this purpose is chicken and beef. In contrary, in Indonesia, there is Mutton Satay, Chicken Satay, Beef Satay, Pork Satay and Horse Satay. In this province, beef seemed a little less popular (perhaps due to the influence of Hinduism in ancient times) but the other types of meat mentioned, are quite common.

Lunch Just Arrived

Sate Kambing

It all comes in standard portion sizes and is eaten with white rice. The sate was good and well prepared and the curry was also good, but not like the Indian method of preparation which we are more accustomed to. The Indian method is thicker and spicier but this was nice too, for a change. Cost, of course was very low as food in Indonesia is very cheap.

Gule Kambing @ Mutton Curry (Javanese Style)

On the whole, the meal though simple was good. It was good to sit among the locals and try the various dishes here. Felt more authentic. If you happen to be in this city, I would strongly recommend you to try out this restaurant. 

Address: Jl. Letjen Suprapto, No. 32 Tanjung Mas,
             Semarang Utara, Semarang, Jawa Tengah, 
             Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1030 - 1500 Daily