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Javanese food is thought of as the most palatable. Javanese cuisine uses a variety of fresh spices that give the dishes a wonderful aroma. Javanese cuisine consists of vegetables, chicken and fish with rice.

The basic staple food is served with side dishes of meat, eggs, fish and vegetables. Popular standard dishes found throughout all of East Java are 'Nasi Goreng' (fried rice), 'Sate' (pronounced satay), 'Soto', 'Pecel' (vegetable salad with peanut sauce), 'Gule' (pronounced gulay) and many others while in Central Java, 'Gudeg' & 'Krecek' is something that you have not missed. West Java is known for its fried foods served with vegetables.

Besides local food, there are also many Chinese, Western and Specialty restaurants. European cuisine is available in all hotels catering to tourist destination areas.

Hot Beverages

The only hot beverage Indonesians drink with their meals is tea - tea is usually served with sugar. Powerful coffee (kopi in Indonesia), introduced by the Dutch in 1699, is grown widely on Java, Bali, and Sumatra and is served pitch-black, sweet, thick, and rich, with the grounds floating on top. Indonesian 'kopi' is sometimes laced with chicory or chocolate.

Alcoholic Beverages
Is it just a happy coincidence that Dutch beer goes so well with Indonesian food? Heineken of Holland taught Indonesians how to brew the country's ubiquitous pilsner-style 'Bintang' lager beer, the best accompaniment to Indonesia's hot, spicy food.

For native brews, mildly alcoholic tuak (palm toddy), brewed a month before consumption from various palm sugars , provides you a mellow slow-motion high. 'Tuak' is prepared by filling a length of hollow bamboo with palm juice, which is buried in the ground for a week to allow fermentation to take place. Very popular in non-Muslim regions of Indonesia. 'Brem', usually home-produced, is rice wine made from glutinous rice and coconut milk. Old 'brem' (more than three days old) is sour and contains more alcohol; new 'brem' is sweeter and packs less of a kick. Tipple arak is an insidiously potent distilled rice spirit made from fermented molasses. Tourists like to drink arak with Sprite or 7UP.

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