Thread: 40 of Indonesia's best dishes

A nice article on Indonesian food -- don't read it if you are feeling hungry!
40 of Indonesia's best dishes | CNNGo.com

Originally Posted by spicyayam

A nice article on Indonesian food -- don't read it if you are feeling hungry!
40 of Indonesia's best dishes | CNNGo.com

There is Ayam Goreng and then there is THE Ayam Goreng Nyonya Suharti, 208 Jalan Sucipto, Yogyakarta. There are several establishments outside Yogya, including in Jakarta and in Denpasar (Jl Gatot Subroto 109), where the dish sold are excellent, but call me, crazy, prejudiced, or delusional, NONE compare with the EXTRAORDINARY Yogya one sold in the dinky establishment, on the way to the airport.

For those interest, the invention of ayam goreng Yogya-style is credited to one Nini Ronodikromo, a local woman nicknamed Mbak Berek, who began selling bumbu solution-poached fried chicken topped with fried crumbles as a roving vendor in the 1950s and then, in the '60s, opened a warung.

Mbok Berek's ayam goreng borrowed heavily from a version made in Kalasan, a village about 50 kilometers from Yogyakarta; the Mbok Berek chain of eateries that grew out of her warung employs the slogan "Ayam Desa Masuk Kota" ("village chicken that's come to the city").

Mbok Berek's ayam goreng proved so popular that the fried chicken field was quickly filled with copycats, and these days ayam goreng Yogya is sold all over Java in warungs and franchise outlets. (Mbok Berek's original shop is no longer open but other locations, still run by her family, continue to operate in the city.)

Today, the most popular franchise isn't that of the dish's inventor but Ayam Goreng Suharti, which was founded by Mbok Berek's granddaughter. Ibu Suharti's ayam goreng Yogya (as it is known outside Yogyakarta; within Yogya city limits, it's just called ayam goreng) is so iconic, that "Yogya and Suharti is like America and Kentucky Fried Chicken."