Ranan Samanya Photography

There is a new restaurant inside Vredeburg Fort Yogyakarta. Opened in April 2012 and branded as Indische Koffie, this place’s setting resembles that of Cafe Batavia in Jakarta‘s old city area. After exploring the fort in the afternoon, a sip of one of its non alcohol Apéritifs in the empty restaurant was a welcome cool in my throat.

After my sweat subsided I ordered one of my favorite meal, rawon rice. Rawon is a black beef soup. I often explain it as the Indonesian goulash to my non-Indonesian friends. The black colour is a result from its main ingredient, the seed of football fruit, Pangeum edule. Rawon is usually served with salted egg and either prawn crackers or, in this restaurant, melinjo (Gnetum gnemon) crackers. Chili (red or green) is always there to make the taste more intense. The beef was tender and the soup was tasty, albeit a little cold.

I enjoyed my time in Indische Koffie that evening, which I closed with a pot of hot tea.