Street at day, restaurant at night

All streets in all countries are only streets all day long.  There is nothing except city decorations, pedestrians, beggars, and hawkers or sellers.

Street 1

Street 2

Street 3

Street 4

But do you know that in Indonesia, a normal street at day can be changed to an open-air streetside restaurant at night?
Malioboro street in Yogyakarta is one of those unique streets. The street is the center of Yogyakarta’s largest tourist district which is surrounded by many restaurants and hotels nearby.

Malioboro street at day

Malioboro street at night

If you are a souvenir lover, this street is your heaven. The street is crowded with small stalls selling variety of local goods like batik, silvers, leather puppets, rattan ornaments, bamboo handicrafts, blangkon, miniature of traditional vehicles, key chains, and other accessories. If you are good at bargaining, you can buy these items for a very cheap price. Try to bargain for a 50 % cut.

Souvenirs from Yogya

Authentically designed guitars

Miniatures of traditional vehicles

Don’t forget to bargain a lot

At night, it is another heaven for culinary lovers. A very unique culture of eating in the streetside restaurants is ‘lesehan’ or sitting on the ground.
When night comes, most of the streets will be closed by several mats, tables, and food stalls. The hygiene is not too good because it’s on the streetside, but the unique experience of eating in ‘lesehan‘ style and enjoying the street band can only be felt in Indonesia.

Lesehan dinner 1

Lesehan dinner 2

Lesehan dinner 3

Lesehan dinner 4

Lesehan dinner 5

Street band 1

Street band 2

Small streetside stalls

(See this video about the Malioboro street at day)

(And this video about Malioboro street at night, and ‘lesehan’ style)

(Credits go respectfully to the rightful owner)

Padang rice is ‘recycled’ food ?

In American states, McDonald’s is everywhere. When you are walking or driving in your car, it’s not weird to see a McDonald’s every 5 minutes.
“Hey look, a McDonald!”, 5 minutes later, “Hey, another McDonald!”, 5 minutes after that, “Enough with the chicken, seriously.”
Well, it is everywhere, right? You can see in the picture below. The red dots are the Mcdonald’s.

Nevertheless, when you come to Indonesia, you can spare the disturbed thought because you won’t always see McDonald’s.
What you will always see, though, is Padang restaurant. They are everywhere all over Indonesia. They serve the famous rendang, a cow meat seasoned with spicy spices. They are also known for the unique server’s skill which is carrying many plates at once, and I am talking about 10 plates, not just 2 with 1 on each hand.

Rendang

Padang restaurant 1

Padang food 1

Padang food 2

Padang food 3

Savory, isn’t it? But you have to know this. Padang foods are actually ‘recycled’. Not the one that goes through recycling, though.

In the morning, they are all new and freshly-cooked in the kitchen. Then people come and eat, some eat until the plates clean, but some don’t.
Those unfinished foods are actually going back to the main display and will be eaten by the next person ordering it.
So, you might want to think twice or thrice before helping yourself to the Padang foods.

(See this video about Padang restaurant)

(See this video too about Padang restaurant and the skillful server)

(Credits go respectfully to the rightful owner)