These 11 Banyuwangi Foods will Blow Your Mind, Right Place for Food Hunter

The beautiful Banyuwangi regency in East Java is filled with the most charming things. There are the majestic mountains standing tall like the Ijen, there are lush forests and there are also the beautiful seas connecting Java and Bali. One other thing you must not miss though is the culinary feast it offers with their unique taste.

1. Ayam Kesrut

One of the dishes Banyuwangi is known for is the Ayam Kesrut. Ayam Kesrut is actually a culinary delicacy of the Osing Tribe of Banyuwangi and was even featured at the Banyuwangi Culinary Festival last year. This dish brings local chicken together with spices like big red chili pieces, cayenne pepper, shrimp paste, sugar, salt and a Bilimbi (belimbing wuluh) for a sour taste.

This dish is cooked by cutting the chicken into small pieces and then boiling it into the mix of spices. The cut-up Bilimbi comes in last to add the sour flavor into the spicy mix. It is a simple dish to make, similarly like soup. The taste is absolutely delicious with a tad taste of fresh, sour and spicy flavor to it. You can find this dish in a lot of food stalls around Banyuwangi, specifically around the Ijen mountain, where the cool air makes the dish even more scrumptious!

2. Sop Iga Goreng

This popular dish that has captured the hearts of many people all around Indonesia is actually a Banyuwangi specialty. This beef rib soup is fresh and tasteful with spices like cinnamon, garlic, cloves added together with potatoes, carrots, scallions, celery, and mushroom broth. Unlike any other soup, this beef rib soup features a fried beef rib along with the soup, and normally eaten with rice.

It is rare to see a soup dish with meat that has already been cooked beforehand and fried instead of the usual boiled beef. To add more flavor, it goes along very well with sambal.

3. Ikan Pindang Koyong

Also a coastal area, Banyuwangi offers a scrumptious dish confidently with their supply of fresh fish: the Ikan Pindang Koyong. At first glance, it looks like another popular Indonesian dish named Soto, especially with its yellow sauce, but it is cooked very differently. Like a lot of Javanese dishes, this dish is cooked with spices like salt, sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper, onions, galangal, lemongrass, ginger, and turmeric.

The process of cooking this is kicked off by boiling water and putting in the fish (usually tuna or mackerel). Then put in the tasty spices with medium heat. This will add to the tastiness of this wonderful fresh dish. Serve with rice and voila, your meal is ready!

4. Lobster Asam Manis

Another specialty of the coastal areas of Banyuwangi is the sweet and sour lobster. Usually, lobsters are just fried or cooked very simply, but this sauce is going to let you enjoy the original taste of the fresh lobster with a little bit of sweetness and sour added to it. No better way to enjoy this dish while looking at the beautiful view of Banyuwangi’s beaches. Yum!

5. Rujak Soto Daging

Another soup dish, Rujak Soto is Banyuwangi’s take on mixing two favorite Indonesian dishes, which are rujak and Soto. Rujak itself is a traditional vegetable salad dish that is normally tangy and spicy with its dressing made of ground chili pepper.

While Soto is a soup dish mainly composed of broth, meat, and vegetables. You mix both of these together and add beef to it, you’re going to get the special Rujak Soto Daging! How else can you enjoy a tangy, spicy, warm and comforting taste other than trying this unique dish here in Banyuwangi?

6. Pecel Pitik

Rich with flavor, Pecel Pitik is a Banyuwangi culinary specialty. This dish’s basic ingredients are chicken and topped with coconut pecan spices, cayenne pepper, shrimp paste, salt, and sugar.

All these spices add up into a dish that tastes spicy, scrumptious and has a unique texture (all thanks to the coconut).  You can find this dish all around Banyuwangi, and also in other parts of Java.

7. Nasi Tempong

A mix of boiled vegetables, usually spinach and basil leaves. It is then completed with side dishes such as Bakwan, fried Indonesian snack; Tempeh, and Jambal fish fried in flour. What’s unique about it is that as you serve rice together with this food, the peanut sauce is then poured onto the rice. Chilli sauce is then added, or chili paste which is the main ingredient of the dish. The name “Tempong” actually translates as “slap”, because eating this dish would feel like a slap to the face with its spicy flavor. Sounds like a challenge? 

8. Uyah Asem

Another soup specialty and a spicy dish, Banyuwangi offer is Uyah Asem. This is a simple dish with chicken and a few vegetables like young papaya and Belimbing Wuluh, but the mixture of spiciness and sourness is what captures people’s attention.

This is also normally served with rice, and prepare yourself for that little kick of freshness and warmth.

9. Ketan Ketot

Ketan is very popular in Indonesia, it is sticky rice that is normally barbecued or filled with peanuts and other fillings. Different cities have different ways of cooking this delicious meal. Ketan Ketot is a unique cooking process, a specialty from Banyuwangi’s Osing Tribe. This sticky rice is then wrapped in candlenut leaves, grated young coconut, thick coconut milk, and salt. Uniquely, due to the wrap, it is known to be an antibacterial dish.

10. Tahu Walik

Tofu is a popular ingredient in many Indonesian dishes and is cooked in different ways. Tahu Walik is actually very easy to make because you just need to fry the tofu and dip it into a dough of chicken and beef that is mashed into flour and then shaped like meatballs. This is then dropped back into the stove and cook until golden and crispy. Like any other usual Banyuwangi dish, this is served with rice and chili sauce.

11. Kucur

Unlike the sour and spicy dishes that have been mentioned, Banyuwangi also has a dish for those of you with a sweet tooth. Kucur or Kue Kucur is a dessert made from fried rice flour and palm sugar. These cakes are baked until it’s thick and mountain-like, meaning it’s bulging in the center and thin in the outer parts. This beautiful cake is also said to look like lotus flowers. 

With these delicious unique dishes fit for a lot of occasions, you must be interested to try them out for yourself. What better way to do that than staring into the beautiful view of Banyuwangi itself? Book your tickets now, Banyuwangi and it’s delicious dishes await!