Gado-Gado-Peanut-Sauce Stall, Yogyakarta Malioboro

#travellikealocal Style: a roadside plate, and the street that never really closes The sauce goes on last: ground peanuts, palm sugar, garlic, chilli, and tamarind, poured warm over a pile of blanched beansprouts, cabbage, spinach, and long beans, with a wedge of tofu, a boiled egg, and a few prawn crackers on the side. Gado-gado is Indonesian vegetable salad with a hot peanut dressing, and it's eaten with a fork and spoon, mixing each bite so the sauce coats everything. The crackers go in last, to stay crisp. Malioboro is Yogyakarta's main street, and the gado-gado stalls are on the side lanes off it, not on the road itself. Go at lunchtime if you want the full street experience—Malioboro is a food-and-shopping road that runs all day and well into the night—or come early and eat it before walking the length of it. Stay in the city centre, near Malioboro or the Sosrowijayan area, and walk; Yogyakarta's flat and compact, and a becak or andong ride is more for atmosphere than speed. A plate is 15,000–35,000 rupiah, cash only. After eating, walk south along Malioboro towards the kraton (the sultan's palace), which opens at 8:30 a.m. and is best before the tour buses arrive. Yogyakarta is Java's cultural capital, and this plate is the local lunch. Do it standing up. #streetfood