5 What to Eat in Malang

I just had a trip to East Java with my family after the New Year day. Actually it was a short 8-day trip to Malang and Surabaya only. We had so much fun and also ate so many delicious foods! Consider myself lucky for having a fellow foodies family. Forget pizza, steak or sushi as in this post I will reveal some of the (un)/traditional foods you have to eat when you are in Malang!

Nasi Pecel Mustika Panderman

What to eat : Nasi Campur and Nasi Pecel
Price : IDR 9000 – 15000 / $ 0.90 – 1.50
Highlight : This place has been established for long time and also very well known in Malang. The price is very affordable and the portion is just right for breakfast.
Address : Jalan Rajekwesi No.10, Malang – East Java5-What-to-eat-in-malang

Nasi Campur
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Nasi Pecel

Rawon Nguling

What to eat : Rawon dengkul (knee), Rawon daging, Sayur Lodeh
Price : IDR 10000 – 57000 / $ 1.00 – 5.70
Highlight : The rawon dengkul was amazingly flavorful with rich broth, the knee parts were chewy yet tender and came in big portion fit for 2-3 persons.
Address : Jalan KH Zainul no.62, Malang – East Java / 0341 324684

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Rawon is served along with raw beansprout and relish

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This kind of plate will be served on every table directly even we do not order. We pay what we eat from the plate.

Nasi Bhuk Matirah Madura

What to eat : Rice with some selections of proteins such as tempeh, empal (sweet fried beed), fried innards (tripe, paru, and etc.). The rice is also served with rawon or lodeh tewel (jackfruit lodeh).
Price : IDR 9000 – 15000 / $ 0.90 – 1.50 (depends on what and how many pcs you choose)
Highlight : All of the innards are cooked nicely, tender and well-seasoned. The rawon is also really nice, a more savory type compared to the sweet-savory broth of the one in Rawon Nguling.
Address : Jalan Trunojoyo no. 10EF (nothern side of Kota Baru Train Station) / 0341   7703377

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Nasi Bhuk

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Nasi Rawon

Depot Gang Djangkrik

What to eat : Pangsit mie (Wonton noodle), Baikut goreng (Fried pork ribs), Kolokee (sweet and sour chicken), Tami seafood (seafood crispy noodle)
Price : IDR 10000 – 60000 / $ 1.00 – 6.00
Highlight : Malang is famous for its Cwie Mie or Pangsit Mie or Noodle, Gang Djangkrik is one of the most notorious place to eat best cwie mie in town. They cook delicious Chinese foods in proper portions fit for family diner.
Address : Jalan Kawin kios 26, Malang / 0341 566283

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Seafood Crispy Noodle / Seafood Tamie

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Kolokee / Sweet and Sour Chicken

Java Dancer

What to eat/drink : Single origin coffees in various brewing method, chocolate, tea, light bites like fried mozzarella cheese and pizza
Price : IDR 10000 – 80000 / $ 1.00 – 8.00
Highlight : They serve (said as the best) coffees in Malang! More to add, Java Dancer is a really nice place with Javanese traditional ambient that would make you stay for hours.
Address : Jalan Kahuripan no. 12, Malang, East Java / 0341 8199899 / www.javadancer.com

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My Family Java Trip, Here and There

My family used to have a Java trip when I was young. As the kids grow older and my parents become busier, it’s not easy to find a suitable time for family holiday. I can say those trips as a Java road trip and Banyuwangi is our last destination. Banyuwangi is where my grandparents from my dad lived there. This city is the east end of Java island in Indonesia. The trip started from Bandung-West Java, the city that we love and where we live in. We traveled by car and our first stop used to be Jogjakarta. This city is an independent province which is located in central-south of Java Island. Jogjakarta is always be a fascinating destination for me until now. It is just too pretty with a very viscous cultural and traditional atmosphere all around the city.

After Jogjakarta, our next destination was Solo, a one hour distant city from Jogjakarta which also has its own uniqueness and again, very rich with cultural sense which is a part of Central Java Province. One or two night(s) in Jogjakarta then another one night in Solo and our trip went through from Central Java to the eastern side which is Malang. Malang is a nice small city that has similar characteristics with my city, Bandung. We used to spend more days here since my uncle and his family lives here. I had a delighted childhood memories during the holiday with my brother and cousins in Malang.

The next destination was in Surabaya, the capital city of East Java province, such a big and metropolitan city. Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia and I can say this is a very neat and well-organized city. Sometimes we stayed for one or two days or just transit and continued the trip directly to Banyuwangi. Actually we did not only visit those cities mentioned above but other cities are not our regular destination such as Kediri, Salatiga, Semarang, Pekalongan, Garut and Cirebon.

Our last Java long trip by car was in 2007 and last end year holiday, we just had another trip by plane. My parents are getting older and it will be very tiring if we go by car. Ok, actually it was not only them, but me and my brother strictly againts the car-traveling idea since it takes too much time to travel and will be sooo tiring. Hehehe.

Last year we went to Surabaya by plane and directly headed to Malang. This time we did not have plenty of time for holiday as we had in the past. We spent about 3 days in Malang and enjoyed the city so much. In Malang, we celebrated my parents’ 28th wedding anniversary at New Hongkong Restaurant. Another highlight in Malang was going to the Jatim Park-Batu. Batu is an area located outer Malang city, we have to travel about 1-1,5 hour to get there. Jatim Park is a very well-maintained outdoor and indoor zoo and animal museum from all around the world, such a nice and worth visiting tourism destination if you go to Malang.

We went to Banyuwangi afterwards for 4 days as well to see my grandparents’ house and met our relatives including visited my grandpa and some passed away elders’ cemeteries. We had a happy time in Banyuwangi including boating to Menjangan Island, a beautiful snorkeling and diving spot. Too bad the location seemed not well-maintained and most people who come are foreigners since many Indonesians not even know this place. Me and my family snorkeled and had a traditional lunch here which was so fun. In Banyuwangi, one of my grandparents’ neighbor has a noodle shop just beside the house, called Kedai Mitra. They are famous for the noodles, ice, and fried meat ball. I could say that all the dishes I had here were so delish and the fried meat ball is my all time favorite! It is a deep-fried pork and prawn meat balls that served with sweet chili sauce. This is so recommended! If someday one of you go here, don’t forget to give the “es kombinasi” a try as well. This is a kind of shaved ice served with condensed milk, ice cream and some Indonesian traditional kind of jelly (?) Hahaha I’m not sure for this part but I’m sure this ice tastes so good.

Four days in Banyuwangi then we headed to Bali which only took 2 hours travel by ferry. We spent about another 4 days in Bali. One of the highlight of our trip was the culinary adventure of course. Too bad that I didn’t take pictures in some places so I merely have this list as follow :

  1. 369 Dumpling House (Sam Liu Qiu) – Surabaya
  2. New Hongkong Chinese Restaurant – Malang
  3. Nasi Krengsengan and Sate Komo Bu Kris – Malang
  4. Kedai Mitra – Banyuwangi
  5. Naughty Nuris – Bali : Naughty Nuris is well-know for the spare-ribs as their specialty, the pork chop and everything meaty and yummy. There are several Naughty Nuris restaurants in Bali but the most crowded is still the first restaurant even the space is smallest compared to other Nuris restaurants.

    Welcome fat and cholesterol.. Hahaha. Super yummy ribs, pork chop and friends..

    Me and mom.. Seems she was not ready to be captured.. Hahaha..

    At Don Antonio Blanco Museum-Ubud,Bali

  6. Surya Cafe Jimbaran – Bali

    Indonesian Style of Grilled Fish

    Balinese Traditional Coconut Satay

  7. Lovina Beach Seafood – Bali

    A traditional one.. There were me, my mom, my uncle (wearing hat) and B’li Ketut as our driver and tour guide

    I miss these kind of foods so bad.. Grilled fish, pelecing kankung, sour and spicy fish soup and sambal matah (chili sauce)

    Bakmi Sumo – Bali

  8. Bakmi Sumo, the owner is my brother’s friend since junior high. This is a highly recommended pork noodle!

    Pork Noodle

     A family  holiday is always be a happy bonding time and a relaxing period to getaway from daily routines. I feel grateful that my family still have the opportunity to do this regularly. In the next post I may write another family trip in various destination. Ahhh how I miss my family so bad when I writing this post.. I want to meet them so bad.. I miss my parents and Noki 😦

    At Karma Kandara-Benoa,Bali


Nasi Krengsengan+Sate Komo “Bu Kris”

This is one of unique East Java food specialty, nasi krengsengan and sate komo.
I ate them at Batu-Malang-East Java at Bu Kris Restaurant. Bu Kris is one of the famous East Java Restaurant in Malang. The one that I visited is in Batu (smaller region near Malang), the restaurant is quite small, traditional like, there was medium size display window filled by trays of foods. There are a lot of dishes, but I didn’t take the photos of them.My bad 😦 Customers can choose the various kind of foods they want and the foods chosen will be reheated. We can eat the foods along with “sambal penyet”; which is kind of Javanese style chili sauce.

When I was there, I chose krengsengan and sate komo to be eaten with hot rice. Krengsengan is kind of Indonesian curry (gulai), rich with various condiments and thick sauce, consists of cow’s innards, like liver, intestine, so on. Hahaha. So Indonesian.. It tastes dominantly sweet and a bit salty.

Sate komo is beef satay but in quite big size, that’s why it called Komo. As mostly Javanese foods, the satay also tastes sweet with a thick tender meat. Even I’m not a fan of sweetness, I could enjoy those dishes. And Bu Kris is recommended for you guys if you want to taste the real East Java foods specialty.

gulai krengsengan and sate komo


New Hongkong I Chinese Restaurant-Malang

I went there by the end of December 2011 when my parents celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary. We were on our holiday in Malang-East Java. New Hongkong is one of the classic Chinese Restaurant in Malang which has turned into more modern one. The modernization obviously seen by the atmosphere and the food presentation there. I think the atmosphere is quite nice, clean and comfy. Here they are the foods we ordered that time :

All the menu ordered : Fried Soft Shell Crab with Salty Egg, Baby Kaylan, I Fu Mie, Cold Dishes (Leng Pan). Fried Pigeon with Ngohyang

I can say the foods here are quite pricey even the taste pretty good. But by the comparation of the quite small portion and and the price,,, Hmmm it can be categorized such as a high price. :p

Addres :
Jl. Arief Rachman Hakim 7-9
Malang Kota/Klojen