Wonosobo Restaurants

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It must be some kind of conspiracy, in hotels all over the world, to serve food that is as far removed from reality and local taste as possible. It was also the case in Wonosobo, Java, Gallery Hotel. Though breakfast was delicious, it was unreal.

Favorite Dish: When you stay in Gallery Hotel, you'll get a free, delicious breakfast. We had bubur ayam(chicken porridge) and soto ayam(savoury chicken noodle soup). The bubur ayam was better and topped very prettily with a whole egg, croutons, spring onions, chickens, peanuts and sheletered with a piece of cracker ( Kerepok).

Just outside the periphery of Wonsobo's main mall and pasar, there are a myraid of roving vendors ( kaki limas) and small warungs ( coffeeshops ). When we were walking around at 6pm, only 3 warungs were open, one selling Chinese food, the other Nasi Padang and the other selling Fried Chicken. We chose the last one and settled down for a feast. Earlier, we were caught in a torrential rainstorm and we wanted some food to warm ourselves

Favorite Dish: It's not just the Chinese that believe that food has medicinal properties, most south east Asians do too. When I was in Wonosobo (a mountain village 2000m above sea level) , I found out that the local dishes were meatier and the drinks spiced with ingredients believed to give warmth to the body. Take the local tea for example (teh jahe), it's made of ginger, cinammon, sugar and spiked with pepper. The stew (sop buntut) on the other hand has chunky pieces of ox tail and is spiced with cloves ( a 'warm' spice). Colourful garden vegetables top the stew. I had both the stew and tea as I was caught in a rain earlier that day. It tasted good and it warmed my spirits and body . The stew was savoury and the tea was refreshing and not nearly as spicy as I thought it would be. I had a piece of grilled chicken (Ayam Bakar ) too and like the ones sold in Yogya, it was sweet and charred at the ends.

Cost: A meal like this cost about a paltry USD2-3 per person.

Sometimes, it pays to venture out of your 4/5* hotel instead of eating the unreal food they serve in there. I did it in Wonosobo (Java) and boy was I glad, there were lots of street vendors clustered around the tiny mall and pasar ( market ) over there. Once you walk over there, you can smell hot food. I walked over to a kaki lima ( roving vendor ) and bought the village's specialty, crispy fried soya bean puffs smeared with sticky black sauce. It was unbelievably good. The fried banana was good too, so was the fried cassava.

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While on our way back from Wonosobo to Jogja, I stopped by this roadside restaurant on the recommendation of my driver cum guide Wisnu. He told that the food is good, the restaurant is spacious and the good view of the highway and the valley. It was already lunch time, so I decided to stop and try the local fare. Moreover, they would provide free food to Wisnu also. I had white rice, green vegetables with mushroom, Sambal chicken asparagus soup and Satay with Coke. All this for just IDR 24 K. The ambience of the hotel is good and the rest rooms were clean. We were there for almost one hour and the time was well spent

Favorite Dish: Asparagus soup and Chicken Ayam