Rujak Es Krim

After last night's spicy dinner, I wanted more! I found a restaurant serving 'special sambal' (SS), little plates of chilli sauce mixed with various other ingredients which you eat with vegetables and meat dishes. More sweating!

To cool down I went to find 'rujak es krim', a dish that was the first thing I read about when I started to research food in Yogyakarta. The blog I read describes it as "shredded cucumber, papaya, yam-bean, mango, and pineapple - mixed together with sambal rojak & palm sugar, added coconut milk based ice cream on top (we call it Es Puter), just... perfect."

I was excited about trying it and although the recommended stall was closed, I found this guy and wow, it was amazing! I really loved it. I've added an extra photo to show the pink ice cream but you can't see the mixed salad and sauce underneath. It's definitely sweet but trust me, it's really delicious!

A local girl called Riri offered to show me some food around the city, so in the evening we had dinner and then went to have some 'kopi joss', a very strange coffee which has a lump of charcoal floating in it. When they add it, it's still hot, so it sizzles. This is another local delicacy I'd read about but I was unable to work out why they add the coal. Riri asked the staff and the only explanation they gave was that it reduces the amount of caffeine. I have no idea whether that's true or if it makes any difference at all but it was a new experience, so it was worth it.