Solo Indonesia – Best Places to Eat and Dishes to Try

Solo is known on the domestic food scene in Indonesia for having some delicious food, although many visitors to Indonesia never venture here to try it out properly. This is a real shame as there are a wealth of toothsome dishes to try and many of these are street food snacks which can be bought very cheaply or eaten in small local cafes. If you want fine dining then Solo also doesn’t disappoint as there are some colonial style eateries here which are also housed in period buildings that are a great introduction to Javanese food as well as colonial Dutch snacks and dishes.

Dishes to try in Solo

If you want to start with low end bites then you need to try some of the local dishes for which Solo is known. One such dish not to miss is Timlo Solo which is a soup that is made with chicken livers, egg and sausages which are wrapped in pastry. There are Timlo Solo cafes all over the city and you can expect to pay around USD 5 for a bowl of the soup and a drink. Some places to try this amazing soup dish are Timlo Solo, Timlo Sastro and Tirai Bamboe although many of them sell out of the soup in the early evening so you need to go early to be sure to snap up a bowl.

You should also make sure to try Gudeg which is a curry that is said to come from the city of Yogyakarta but which has its own twist in Solo and is known for having a looser sauce. Gudeg in Solo is also saltier than its sweet cousin in Yogyakarta and comes with eggs and a dark sauce that coats the meat which is usually chicken. In Solo this curry is also often made with chicken feet which are considered a great delicacy and it is served with rice to soak up the sauce. One famous place to get Gudeg is at Gudeg Margoyudan which opens overnight from 1 am to 5 am, so if you are looking for a night time snack then this is the place to go.

Fine dining in Solo

If you are looking for some fine dining options then you can try somewhere like 1863 Restaurant and Lounge on Jalan Monginsidi which is houses in what would have been a colonial mansion in the days of old. As the name suggests, this dates from 1863 and you can get some Javanese fare here as well as Dutch colonial snacks like bitterballen which are balls stuffed with a kind of beef ragout and then fried. You can also get Dutch pancakes and other international fare here. They also serve beer and you can expect to pay between IDR 50,000 and IDR 100,000 for dishes here.

Another option in this category is Soga Restaurant and Lounge on Jalan Slamet Riyadi which is also part of the House of Danar Hadi complex, so you can also check out the gorgeous batik exhibition here at the same time. The food here includes Javanese dishes as well as some Dutch fare and the restaurant is decorated with antiques from the colonial period. They also have live music in the evenings and this is a good choice if you want something other than local cafes and street food. You can expect to pay between USD 5 and USD 10 for a dish which means that this is still an affordable option. We loved it for the pretty surroundings and the old world feel of the restaurant which makes you feel as if you are dining in the Solo of days gone by.