Empal Gentong – Beef and Offal in Coconut Milk

Friday, 2023-01-13

One of the highlights of 2022 was the visit from our daughter and her boyfriend from Canada last November. The last time she came back home was in 2015, but we met her again in 2016 and 2019 when we visited them in Canada. They stayed 4 days on their layover in Singapore first. They arrived in Jakarta on November 14th evening, flew to Bali the next morning, and stayed there until November 20th. The following morning, Monday, November 21st, we started our long road trip to visit our hometown, Malang, in East Java, about 860 km from Jakarta. Since it was a long drive, we decided to stop halfway and spend a few days in Yogyakarta in Central Java, about 570 km from Jakarta.

The car was full of our luggage and boxes full of snacks for souvenirs.

We started our road trip at 9:00 to be sure the rush hour traffic had subsided. We planned to have "Empal Gentong" for lunch, a specialty beef soup originating from Cirebon, which is about 217 km or 3 hr drive, and it's on our way. The first 90 km has been a struggle. It took almost 2 hours to get out of Jakarta and the suburb due to the heavy traffic of the surrounding industrial areas. The rest of the trip was a breeze as the toll road was quite empty.

The new toll road that's almost empty.

The last toll gate entering the town of Cirebon.

What is Empal Gentong?

Empal Gentong is one of Cirebon's specialty foods which at first glance, is similar to curry. It is cooked using a large clay barrel we call "gentong". Empal Gentong consists of beef and offal cooked in coconut milk with yellow seasoning. Yellow seasoning is a term we use for basic seasoning, commonly used in traditional Indonesian dishes which generally consists of; turmeric, candle nut, shallots, garlic, pepper, coriander, galangal, ginger, salt, and sugar.

As we were approaching the city center, we could see a big yellow signboard of the resto we wanted to visit. We had been to at least 3 different empal gentong restos in the past.

The name of the resto is "H. APUD" (The name of the owner, and he's a Hajj). When we arrived, it was around 12:35 and the place was busy at lunchtime. We had to park our car about 100 meters from the resto.

The front of the resto looked so smoky from grilled beef and lamb on skewers (satay).

The resto was quite big, divided into 3 sections. The front and the back sections are the smoking section, and the middle section is air-conditioned for non-smoking. I noticed most of the patrons were government officials and soldiers.

These are what we call it "Kerupuk" or crackers. These crackers are a popular snack to complement your food. There are shrimp crackers, melinjo (Gnetum gnemon) crackers, and tapioca crackers (white).

A simple menu that consists of 2 types of empal gentong (coconut milk soup or clear soup), nasi lengko (vegetarian rice dish), grilled lamb, and beef on skewers (satay).

Our order consists of 3 empal gentong (2 mixed, and 1 meat only), and 1 clear soup empal gentong for my wife. 10 skewers of grilled beef, 10 skewers of grilled lamb satay, and of course 4 rice.

Empal gentong with savory, and thick coconut milk soup topped with deep-fried shallot, and chives.

10 skewers of grilled beef with sweet soy sauce, sambal (chili sauce), shallots, bird-eye chili, and lime.

10 skewers of grilled lamb with sweet soy sauce, sambal (chili sauce), shallots, bird-eye chili, and lime.

We didn't have to wait too long for our order to come even though the resto was quite busy. All the meat and offal have been pre-cooked. The soup is constantly heated and when there's an order, they just put the meat and offal in a bowl and pour some soup, and sprinkle some toppings. The satay or grilled meat was done in front of the resto, which was why the front of the resto was so smoky when we entered. I just don't understand why they do it in front of the resto; is it done purposely to attract passer by? One thing was for sure, everyone smelled like grilled meat when we enter back our car.

The food was ok, nothing special. We've tasted better empal gentong from a less popular place. If I had to choose empal gentong again, I would choose a different venue. We spent less than 1 hour there before continuing our journey to Semarang, the capital of Central Java to taste the famous "Bamboo shoot Lunpia" (spring rolls), and then Yogyakarta, also in Central Java where we would stay for 3 days before going to Mount Bromo, and then Malang, in East Java. This is only day #1 of our 9-day road trip. More to come...

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A baby boomer who's trying to embrace and adapt to the new digital world. Worked for over 30 years in the IT industry before retiring and now run an online vegetable delivery and hydroponics equipment business. Enjoy traveling, cooking, writing, playing pool, and all IT-related stuff. You're always welcome to leave a comment or feedback, and an upvote or reblog is also greatly appreciated.