Jakarta Food and Travel Guide: Nasi Goreng, Sate and Street Food

Jakarta is a sprawling, humid megacity that runs on street food. Indonesia's capital draws flavours from across the archipelago and beyond, and some of the best eating happens at humble roadside warungs and pushcarts, where a few thousand rupiah buys a plate full of spice and smoke.

What to Eat in Jakarta

The dish everyone knows is nasi goreng, Indonesian fried rice wok-tossed with sweet soy kecap manis, often crowned with a fried egg and a few prawn crackers. Its noodle cousin is mie goreng. Just as essential is sate (satay), skewers of grilled chicken, beef or goat served with a thick peanut sauce and lontong rice cakes.

For soup, seek out soto, a turmeric-rich broth with chicken, noodles or rice that varies from region to region. And for something fresh, gado-gado is a salad of blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh and egg drenched in warm peanut dressing, a satisfying vegetarian option amid all the grilling.

• Nasi goreng — Indonesian fried rice
• Sate — grilled skewers with peanut sauce
• Soto — spiced turmeric broth
• Gado-gado — vegetable salad in peanut sauce
• Bakso — meatball noodle soup

Where and How to Eat

The old Chinatown district of Glodok is a brilliant place to eat, its narrow lanes packed with stalls and traditional shops selling kopi, noodles, and snacks that blend Chinese and Indonesian flavours. In the evenings, look for kaki lima (five-legged carts) and clusters of warungs where locals perch on plastic stools.

A practical tip: tell the vendor your spice tolerance up front, as pedas means spicy and tidak pedas means not spicy, since Indonesian sambal chilli paste can be ferocious. Eat where the queue is long and the turnover fast for the freshest food. Menus at warungs and carts are usually in Indonesian only, sometimes just a handwritten board, so photographing them to translate makes it easy to order beyond the few dishes you already know.