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Guide · Indonesian food
What to order at an Indonesian restaurant, sambal on the side.
Indonesian menus are long, and most of the words on them are about how a thing is cooked: goreng is fried, bakar is grilled, penyet is smashed. Learn three or four of those and the menu opens up. Here is what to order for two and for a group, what each dish is, and how a nasi Padang table works.
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In short
At an Indonesian restaurant, share. For two: rendang or ayam bakar with rice, sate ayam, gado-gado and an es teh manis each. For a group, add nasi goreng or mie goreng, soto ayam, ayam penyet with sambal, and martabak to finish. At a nasi Padang restaurant served hidang-style, many plates arrive at once and you pay only for what you eat. Use your right hand, eat with a spoon in the right and fork in the left, and do not drink from the finger bowl.
Checked
Read the menu
Five words that unlock the menu.
| Means | |
|---|---|
| Nasi / mie | Rice / noodles |
| Goreng | Fried |
| Bakar | Grilled |
| Ayam / sapi / kambing / ikan | Chicken / beef / goat / fish |
| Pedas / tidak pedas | Spicy / not spicy |
For two
A first-timer order for two.
- One slow-cooked main: rendang, or ayam bakar if you prefer grilled.
- Skewers: sate ayam with peanut sauce.
- Something fresh: gado-gado.
- Rice each, plain or nasi uduk (coconut rice).
- Drinks: es teh manis, sweet iced tea.
For a group
For four to six people.
- Keep the order for two, then add:
- The famous fried dishes: nasi goreng and mie goreng.
- A soup: soto ayam, or rawon (black beef soup) if they have it.
- Something with sambal: ayam penyet or pecel lele.
- Goat for the adventurous: sate kambing.
- Dessert: martabak manis, klepon or es campur.
Cheat sheet
Twenty-two Indonesian dishes, in one line each.
| What it is | |
|---|---|
| Rendang | Beef slow-cooked in coconut milk and spices until nearly dry |
| Nasi goreng | Fried rice with sweet soy, often with a fried egg and crackers |
| Mie goreng | Fried noodles, sweet-savoury |
| Kwetiau goreng | Fried flat rice noodles |
| Sate ayam | Chicken skewers with peanut sauce |
| Sate kambing | Goat skewers, often with sweet soy and shallots |
| Gado-gado | Vegetables, tofu, tempeh and egg with peanut sauce |
| Soto ayam | Turmeric chicken soup with noodles or rice |
| Soto Betawi | Jakarta’s creamy beef soup |
| Rawon | Black beef soup coloured with keluak nuts, from East Java |
| Bakso | Meatball soup with noodles |
| Mie ayam | Chicken noodles, with broth on the side |
| Ayam penyet | Fried chicken smashed into sambal |
| Ayam bakar | Grilled chicken, often glazed with sweet soy |
| Pecel lele | Fried catfish with sambal and raw vegetables |
| Nasi uduk | Rice cooked in coconut milk, with side dishes |
| Nasi campur | Rice with a little of several dishes |
| Nasi Padang | Rice with dishes from the Minang kitchen of West Sumatra — rendang, curries, greens |
| Martabak telur | A savoury stuffed pancake with egg and minced meat |
| Martabak manis | A thick sweet pancake, folded over chocolate, cheese or peanuts |
| Klepon | Pandan rice balls filled with palm sugar, rolled in coconut |
| Es campur | Shaved ice with fruit, jellies and syrup |
Nasi Padang
How a nasi Padang table works.
At a Padang restaurant served hidang style, you do not order from a menu. The waiters bring many small plates to the table without being asked — rendang, curries, fried chicken, greens — and you pay only for what you eat from them. It works best with a group. Eating by hand is common; asking for a spoon and fork is perfectly fine.
At the table
Indonesian table manners.
- Right hand only. Eat, pass food and hand over money with your right hand.
- Spoon right, fork left. Push food onto the spoon with the fork and eat from the spoon. Knives are usually not set out.
- By hand is normal too. Eating with your fingers is common at many places.
- The bowl of water is for your fingers. A small bowl of water with lime, the kobokan, is for washing your hand — not for drinking.
- Shared plates have their own spoons. Use the serving spoon on each communal dish.
- Whoever invites, pays. Splitting the bill is less common than in many countries.
- Sambal is everywhere. Taste a little first.
Keep it
Every plate on the Padang table.
A Padang table is the hardest meal to remember and the easiest to photograph: twenty small plates, all at once. One photo in PlateDiary cuts each dish out into a save, grouped into one moment at that restaurant. When the bill comes, scan the receipt or jot the total, and settle up later with the split bill calculator.
Sources
Where the facts come from
Questions
Questions people ask.
What should I order at an Indonesian restaurant for the first time?
Rendang or ayam bakar with rice, sate ayam with peanut sauce, gado-gado and an es teh manis. For a group, add nasi goreng, mie goreng, soto ayam and ayam penyet.
How does paying work at a nasi Padang restaurant?
When dishes are served hidang style, many plates are brought to the table and you pay only for what you eat from them.
What is the national dish of Indonesia?
Tumpeng, a cone of rice with side dishes, was named the official national dish in 2014. In 2018 the tourism ministry added five national dishes: soto, rendang, sate, nasi goreng and gado-gado.
Do Indonesians eat with their hands?
Often, especially at Padang and casual restaurants — always with the right hand. Otherwise, a spoon in the right hand and a fork in the left is the norm.
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