OZU /INDONESIA /JAKARTA /GUIDE
Eating in Jakarta
3 h route4 stopsBest: At night: the carts come out when the heat dropsUpdated July 2026
Here’s the best argument for stopping in Jakarta. Indonesia has more than seventeen thousand islands and around three hundred ethnic groups, each with its own cooking, and all of them have sent people to the capital. The result: in Jakarta you eat the food of the whole archipelago, made by people from there, at laughable prices.
The food is in the street and in the warung, not in the mall restaurants. The carts (kaki lima, “five legs”, from the two wheels, the cart’s stand and the vendor’s two legs) come out as the afternoon cools and each does one thing. And there’s one dish that exists only in Jakarta and is worth hunting for.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
Kerak telor
The dish eaten only here, and it belongs to the Betawi, Jakarta’s original people: a glutinous rice omelette with duck egg, toasted coconut, fried shallots and dried shrimp, cooked in a small wok over charcoal.
The spectacular part is how: when it’s half done, the vendor flips the whole wok upside down directly over the coals, so the omelette cooks from above with the fire beneath. It comes out with a toasted, crisp surface.
You find it at markets and fairs, above all at the Jakarta Fair, and there’s usually one in Kota Tua. Hunt it down: it’s a city dish, not a country one.
- 02
The real nasi goreng
Indonesian fried rice serves as the national dish and everyone thinks they know it, because they’ve had it at a hotel buffet. It isn’t the same thing. The real one is made by a man at a cart, at night, in a wok over a fierce flame, with kecap manis (the sweet Indonesian soy sauce, which is the key) garlic, shallot, chilli and whatever’s going, and it comes with a fried egg on top and prawn crackers.
The difference is wok hei, the “breath of the wok”: that smoky note only a very hot pan over a fierce flame gives, and that a buffet can’t replicate.
You order it in the street, eat it on a plastic stool and it costs a euro. It’s one of those things that reorders what you thought you knew about a dish.
- 03
Gado-gado and sate
The Indonesian salad goes by gado-gado, “mix mix”: boiled vegetables, potato, hard-boiled egg, tempeh, tofu and lontong (rice cake), all under a thick peanut sauce with lime and chilli ground fresh in a stone mortar. It’s vegetarian by origin, substantial and excellent.
And sate: small grilled skewers, chicken or goat, with peanut sauce or kecap manis. Sate ayam from a cart, smoke pouring off it, is the image and the smell of Jakarta at night.
A local trick: order sate where there’s a queue, because it means the meat hasn’t been sitting there since the afternoon.
- 04
The midnight martabak
Indonesia’s street dessert and one of the most excessive things in existence: martabak manis is a thick, spongy pancake cooked in a deep pan, split in half and filled with butter, condensed milk, ground peanut, grated chocolate and cheese. Yes, cheese. With chocolate. And it works.
It’s sold at night from carts with a glass counter, bought whole, cut into squares, to take away. There’s also martabak telur, the savoury version, filled with egg, minced meat and spring onion, a kind of fried crêpe.
Both are eleven-at-night food and neither is nutritionally defensible. Buy it anyway.
Frequently asked
What do you eat in Jakarta?
Kerak telor, the Betawi omelette of glutinous rice and duck egg that exists only here, cooked with the wok upside down over the coals. And Indonesia’s best street food: cart nasi goreng, sate, gado-gado and martabak. Because the capital gathers the food of seventeen thousand islands, here you eat the whole archipelago.
Is street food safe in Jakarta?
Yes, with the usual rule: pick stalls with a queue and turnover, where the food is cooked in front of you and hasn’t been sitting for hours. The busy cart is safer than the lukewarm buffet. And drink bottled water.
What is martabak?
Indonesia’s street dessert: a thick, spongy pancake filled with butter, condensed milk, peanut, grated chocolate and cheese, sold at night from carts and bought whole and cut. There’s also a savoury version, martabak telur, with egg and minced meat.