Have You Explored Lombok Yet, Sobat Pesona?
Besides beach tourism, learning about local customs and traditions is just as exciting! For instance, in Central Lombok, you can enjoy traditional Lombok cuisine at Bonjeruk Tourism Village or try pottery-making at Penujak Tourism Village, located about two kilometers from Lombok Praya Airport.
Curious? Keep reading to learn more!
Culinary Adventure at the Bamboo Market in Bonjeruk Tourism Village
This is a must-visit for food lovers! Located in Dusun Peken Bat in Bonjeruk Village, Central Lombok, this unique culinary hub is set within a bamboo forest, with traditional food stalls also made from bamboo and topped with thatched alang-alang grass roofs.
One of the signature dishes here is Ayam Merangkat, a special dish often served during pre-wedding or wedding gatherings. At the Bamboo Market, this dish is presented in a traditional bamboo container and covered with a red lid. The package includes grilled (sometimes shredded) free-range chicken with a rich spice blend, served alongside side dishes such as clear vegetable soup, fried tempeh, cassava chips, salted egg, fried tilapia, and sambal. Each package serves three to four people.
Aside from Ayam Merangkat, you can also try Bebalung (a beef bone soup) and traditional snacks like Kue Cerorot and Banget Jeruti. Kue Cerorot has a soft, chewy texture and is uniquely shaped like a small trumpet, made from rice flour, palm sugar, and coconut milk. Banget Jeruti is made from sticky rice and savory coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves. Pasar Bambu also offers take-home treats like Jaje Tujaq and Poteng (a type of fermented cassava).
In the middle of Pasar Bambu, there’s a plaque recognizing Bonjeruk Tourism Village's achievement of being in the top 50 of Indonesia’s Best Tourism Villages in 2021 and a top-five rating for its clean public restrooms, a testament to its commitment to visitor comfort.
Historic Dutch Buildings
Aside from culinary delights, Bonjeruk offers walking or cycling tours that take visitors to see traditional weaving artisans, coffee roasters, and more. For history buffs, there’s a historic Dutch-era house with a gate bearing the name of its former owner, Ir. H. Lalu Widjaje, a district official at the time.
Within the gated area stands a grand Dutch-style house with a spacious yard, and inside, ancient furniture and items like a typewriter, historical photos, and a kris dagger are preserved. Visiting this house requires an appointment with the caretaker.
Most of Penujak’s residents are pottery artisans striving to revive their craft after demand declined due to the Bali bombings. Two art shops, Damarwulan Artshop and Yulia Pottery, remain active.
At Yulia Pottery in Tenandun Hamlet, you’ll find the signature product, Cerek Maling, a unique water jug with a fill opening at the bottom that somehow doesn’t spill water when used. Yulia Pottery also makes a variety of other items like candle holders, ashtrays, table decorations, and large furniture, with coloring done either using factory pigments or natural dyes, such as tamarind skin for a red hue after being soaked and heated to over 100 degrees.
Visitors can experience pottery making through the Pottery Education Package, which costs 50,000 IDR and includes a pottery lesson with a piece to take home, lunch, and a souvenir in the shape of a small bird whistle.
In Adong Hamlet, you can also learn large pottery-making from the husband-wife artisan team Amaq Soan and Inaq Soan, specialists in creating large items like water jugs, barrels, tables, and chairs. This pottery center often attracts foreign visitors, especially from the Netherlands, who come to learn the craft.
Pottery starts with drying and roasting clay until it resembles flour, then sand is added for strength, a required step in making large pottery. In good weather, creating pottery takes about a week.
After pottery-making, take in the lush gree
Penujak Tourism Village, which reflect the villagers' primary livelihood of farming. During harvest season, pottery-making is paused.
Sounds fun, right? Let’s keep exploring more tourist villages in Lombok. After all, who better to support Indonesia's tourism industry than us?
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