“Wrapping up our visit was a portion of its Serabi Solo, a sweet-toothed diner’s wet dream that comes in three different flavours: original, chocolate, and cheese.”

The capital of Indonesia is swamped with a multitude of eateries that offer various local traditional dishes that hail from different parts of the country. In short, it’s a culinary melting pot. One restaurant that serves authentic local cuisine – mainly those from the city of Solo – is Dapur Solo Ny. Swan, which has been around since 1988.

Out of its five outlets, we made a beeline to its branch in Panglima Polim and promptly discovered that the joint’s menu consists of more than just delicacies from the city also known as Surakarta – it also has a variety of dishes from other parts of the archipelago. After reading through the selections available, we decided to give its signature Nasi Langgi Kuning Spesial (Special Yellow Langgi Rice) a whirl. Dished up with scrumptious side dishes including fried chicken, fried potato sambal, beef floss, slices of omelette, chips, and sweet-and-spicy sambal, the dish symbolises the homogeneity of Indonesia culturally and ethnically.

Next up on our list was Selat Solo, which comprises beef, boiled egg, carrot, long beans, boiled potato, tomato, and chips, garnished with acar (marinated shallot and cucumber). Further inspection reveals that it’s actually quite a guilt-free treat – light enough for your low-carb diet. Wrapping up our visit was a portion of its Serabi Solo, a sweet-toothed diner’s wet dream that comes in three different flavours: original, chocolate, and cheese.

Founder Ny. Swan started the business from her garage, which began with peddling Rujak (mixed fruit salad) and then through hard work, expanding it to become a successful restaurant chain. One of the employees tipped us off that Ny. Swan has relinquished her on-field duties and now oversees her culinary empire from the branch in Sunter, which doubles up as their headquarters, while her daughter now handles the operational side of things.

Jl. Panglima Polim 1, No. 59,
South Jakarta
T: 021 722 2311
Open daily from 9am to 8.30pm
Rp.40,000/US$3 per person