What to eat in Indonesia: 14 most famous & must try food in Indonesia

September 3, 2025

indonesian cuisine — Must eat in Indonesia. source: indonesia.travel

Indonesian specialties are famous all over the world for their traditional flavors. When traveling to the “land of thousands of islands”, you definitely cannot miss enjoying the cuisine here. So, what to eat in Indonesia? Take note of 14 must try food in Indonesia, delicious and famous Indonesian specialties for more information in this article!

1 day in jakarta, 24 hours in jakarta, jakarta one day trip blog, jakarta itinerary for 1 day (1) — Indonesian cuisine | must try food in Indonesia

source: ourglobaltrek.com | must try food in Indonesia

Overview of Indonesian cuisine

source: allpointseast.com | must try food in Indonesia

Indonesia stands out for owning more than 6,000 large and small islands with people living there, so Indonesian cuisine is also very diverse. Many culinary regions of Indonesia develop based on the uniqueness and cultural distinction of each cultural region in the territory and are influenced by foreign countries. Along with that are extremely famous specialties that have made the country’s name and captivated many people when they have the opportunity to travel to Indonesia.

This Living Nomads travel guide will introduce to you the top attractive Indonesian specialties that you should not miss when you have the opportunity to travel to this country.

Must try food in Indonesia: Rawon – black beef soup

The pieces of braised beef are stewed until soft and melt together with Keluak seeds | must try food in Indonesia

Rawon is a beef soup with a very distinctive black color and quite attractive flavor. The main ingredients to make this dish are beef and black Keluak seeds. Black Keluak seeds will be boiled thoroughly and buried in ash for a month to remove toxic substances before becoming a unique ingredient in Rawon dish.

source: monicaisinthekitchen.wordpress.com | must try food in Indonesia

In addition, to create a divine sauce mixture, the chefs will add Bumbu spices to the soup pot.

Bakso Meatball Soup

Large, round and extremely firm meatballs | must try food in Indonesia

If you visit the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, you must definitely enjoy this delicious Bakso meatball soup. This soup is usually cooked from a mixture of meats together or chicken, beef, fish meat separately with a sweet broth from vegetables.

source: BBC | must try food in Indonesia

The meat will be rolled into round balls, poured with fragrant soup and enjoyed with fresh noodles or wontons, boiled eggs, onions, extremely attractive and filling.

Nasi Goreng – Fried rice

Nasi Goreng is a traditional Indonesian fried rice dish, although the ingredients and price are quite affordable, it is ranked in the TOP of attractive Indonesian specialties that you “must try” when coming to Indonesia.

Fried Rice “Nasi Goreng Udang Ayam” and Fried Noodles “Bakmi”. | must try food in Indonesia

Nasi Goreng | must try food in Indonesia

Indonesian fried rice attracts many people because of the attractiveness of ingredients such as tomatoes, chicken eggs, cucumbers, and typical flours. Rice grains are fried with chicken broth, coconut milk, chicken broth, and spices such as chili, hot sauce, and pepper, creating a delicious, aromatic flavor. Nasi Goreng is often eaten with fried eggs, meatballs, fish, etc. It is extremely delicious.

Spicy marinated fish

Grilled spicy marinated fish is a dish that is prepared and has very simple ingredients. The most commonly chosen fish to prepare is still salmon because of its characteristic aroma and fatty flavor. The fish is washed, then cut into molds, and marinated with chili powder, pepper, and some other spices. When grilled, the aroma and golden color when the fish is grilled will definitely make many people hungry and want to enjoy it immediately.

Ikan Bakar grilled fish with mainly spicy. — Grilled fish with a rich flavor and charred skin | must try food in Indonesia

Otak-Otak malaysia (1) — Each roll of fish wrapped in Otak-otak banana leaves is grilled directly at the food stalls. | must try food in Indonesia

Ikan bakar (Grilled fish) kuala lumpur malaysia (1) — | must try food in indonesia

This dish is often enjoyed with raw vegetables, wild vegetables, star fruit, pineapple or cucumber to avoid getting bored.

Pempek fried fish cake

Pempek fried fish cake is a specialty of Palembang and has become a popular street snack and is loved by many people in Indonesia. Pempek has a small chicken egg filling, covered with a layer of fish meat and flour to fry until crispy. This dish is enjoyed with chili sauce, black sauce, quite attractive.

The fish cake shell is fried crispy with the salty taste of the sauce | must try food in Indonesia

Satay grilled meat skewers

Satay grilled meat skewers are an extremely famous Indonesian specialty and are loved by many Singaporeans when introduced to this country. Satay is simply a grilled meat dish of Muslims, but thanks to the way of marinating with special spices and diverse meat ingredients such as chicken, fish, lamb, rabbit … it has created an attractive dish as it is today.

Full skewers of grilled meat with a bowl of rich bean sauce

The grilled meat skewers are dipped in spicy peanut sauce or soy sauce, served with a few slices of cucumber, ketupat rice cakes or onions to enhance this special flavor.

Nasi Kuning

Nasi Kuning rice is cooked with a special type of yellow rice, so it has a very eye-catching color. For the Balinese people in Indonesia, yellow is one of the four sacred colors and this dish is often eaten with coconut milk, fried eggs, spices, peanuts and fried anchovies. This is a very popular breakfast dish of the Indonesian people.

Beef Rendang

When it comes to traditional Indonesian cuisine, we will immediately think of beef Rendang. This is an Indonesian specialty but is popular all over the world.

Beef Rendang is cooked from beef stewed with coconut water, simmered until the broth is thick and fragrant. The dish stimulates all senses from sight, smell to taste with its eye-catching, passionate aroma and irresistible deliciousness.

beef rendang malaysia (1) — The pungent spicy taste mixed with the tender beef and the sourness of lemon leaves served with hot white rice is really unforgettable.

Salak Fruit

When it comes to specialty fruits of Bali and Indonesia in general, Salak cannot be ignored. This is a fruit originating from the palm family, growing in clusters, mainly grown in volcanic sand. In particular, depending on the soil conditions, Salak in each region is also different: for example, Salak in Java is moderate in size and sweet, while in Bali it is larger but has a more bitter, astringent and softer taste.

Salak indo — With this fruit, you can buy it in most local markets and supermarkets.

Bebek Betutu

Bebek Betutu is compared by many to the Chinese Peking duck, but it is transformed in a very different way. The ducks must be raised for at least six months to be used as the main ingredient for this dish. The duck will be stewed for about 10 hours to soften the duck meat and then marinated with spices before being fried.

The crispy fried duck meat is marinated with quite rich and eye-catching spices. source: https://nakula.com/blog/the-culinary-journey-savoring-bali-flavors

When enjoying this Bebek Betutu dish, you will feel the soft, salty, sweet, juicy taste of the meat without being mushy, you can even chew the small bones. This is an extremely unique specialty of Indonesia, imbued with the cultural characteristics of this beautiful island nation that you cannot miss when you have the opportunity to come to Indonesia with your family.

Nasi Gudeng – braised jackfruit

The jackfruit fiber is stewed for a long time at high temperature so it has a dark brown color

It can be said that Nasi Gudeng is quite similar to braised jackfruit in Vietnam, but Nasi Gudeng is prepared in a more elaborate way. The young jackfruit fibers are shredded, then stewed with eggs, coconut pulp and other vegetables. When all the ingredients are soft and mixed together, they can be enjoyed with white sticky rice. Indonesians often eat this dish with a very spicy chili to enhance the taste.

Tempeh (Fermented Soya Bean Cake)

source: klook.com | must try food in Indonesia

Tempoh is a typical and extremely popular cake in Indonesia, this dish appears in almost every meal of the people here. Tempeh cake is made from easy-to-find ingredients but the preparation method is very sophisticated and elaborate with many different stages.

Soybeans are soaked in water to remove the solids, then boiled and fermented for 24 to 36 hours. Finally, mix the mixture with rice flour, shape into long blocks and fry until the crust feels crispy and turns golden brown.

Otak Otak – Grilled Fish Cake in Banana Leaves

Otak Otak is a dish made from the lean meat of mackerel, carefully wrapped in banana leaves and grilled over hot coals. The lean fish is cleaned, then ground and marinated with spices such as pepper, salt, coconut milk, chili sauce, lemongrass, and chili. When grilled, the fish meat and the smell of banana leaves give off a fragrant and extremely stimulating aroma. This dish is often eaten with Java peanut sauce or chili sauce mixed with fermented soy sauce.

You may not know this, but this Otak Otak dish is quite famous not only in Indonesia but also in other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore… Currently, the Otak cake style has been transformed with many other ingredients such as crab, squid… to diversify the choices for all tourists.

Java Fried Noodles

For a long time, fried noodles have always been one of the favorite dishes not only of Indonesians but also of groups of tourists coming here. The noodles have won the hearts of many people not only because of their fragrant flavor but also because it is a typical grain of this country.

A plate of noodles stir-fried with many different types of fresh vegetables

There are many types of noodles made from different grains such as glutinous rice, rice, soybeans, green beans… This dish has a quite affordable price, when you eat it, you will feel the slight toughness of the noodles along with the sweetness of the stir-fried vegetables such as carrots, onions, cucumbers… all bring a very delicious and easy-to-eat feeling.

After being prepared by the kitchen, the dish will be placed on a small plate, decorated with a little raw vegetables and chopped onions. To make this dish more delicious, you must pay attention that when eating fried noodles, it must be accompanied with traditional Indonesian dipping sauces.

In addition to the attractive specialties that Living Nomads has compiled above, there are still many other specialties in Indonesia. Therefore, let’s plan with your family or group of close friends to explore the unique culture and cuisine of the archipelago today.

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