Gudeg Yu Djum

Wijilan is lined with gudeg shops and sits close to the palace and the Alun-Alun Utara square, so it is an easy walk or becak ride from the main sights. Yu Djum, whose full name was Djuwariyah, began selling gudeg on Jalan Wijilan in 1950. The family business now runs several outlets, and the recipe has passed through four generations.

Gudeg is made from young jackfruit cooked slowly with palm sugar, coconut milk and spices until it turns deep brown. Yu Djum still cooks over firewood, which the family says keeps the heat steady through the long simmer. The classic plate puts gudeg on rice with sambal krecek (spiced beef skin), chicken, chicken liver and a braised egg. The flavour is sweet first, then savoury, with a gentle heat from the krecek.

This is a simple shop where locals and domestic tourists eat quickly and leave with boxes. The regional tourism board listed individual items at about Rp 6,000 to Rp 35,000, with take-home packages from about Rp 35,000.

Gudeg travels well, which is why so many people buy it here as a souvenir. It comes packed in a besek, a woven bamboo basket, or a kendil, a clay pot, and keeps for around two days, longer if chilled.

One travel guide gives opening hours of 06:30 to 21:00 daily. Confirm locally before going early, and note that the shop does not take reservations. Mornings are the traditional time to eat gudeg in Yogyakarta, and the morning is when the stew is freshest.

Yu Djum herself died on 14 November 2016 at the age of 85, and her children and grandchildren now run the kitchens. The stew she started selling in 1950 is still cooked to her method.

Sources: The Jakarta Post, 2016. Facts checked November 2026.