Warung Kopi Klotok Jogjakarta: A Traditional Sip of Java

Jogjakarta always knows how to relax and making it such an irresistible escape. Sip your coffee, bite your fried banana while sitting in front of a rice field, and have a great day at Kopi Klotok.

Hello, this is Ruth from her holiday in Jogjakarta.

It’s called Warung Kopi Klotok. Located halfway to the famous Ullen Sentalu Museum and Merapi tours, visitors can easily find the kiosk at the end of a narrow alleyway. If you’re renting a car, the driver should know where to turn, otherwise, there are large yellow signs glued to electricity poles along the way to help you out. Don’t get discourages by the lack of parking space or the rather traditional Joglo house of the so-called café. The place is so popular that there are lines and waiting list for the food and drinks.

For the first timers, this restaurant is rather confusing because first you have to find a table and memorize the number. Then you went to order food on different corners, mentioning the table number each time. The waiter will deliver the food to you. You order drinks on a paper and picked it up yourself. Then you pay everything when you’re done.

I have to do an “indent order” for my second row of fried banana because my son finished over half of the first order in no time. Each party/table can only order up to 6 fried bananas (that’s 3 portions) and if they want to order more, they have to return to the frying corner for the second time. This place doesn’t do take out. They argued that fried banana is best served hot but the talk among townspeople offers a rather mythical version of how those yummy bananas shouldn’t reach the main road to preserve the taste.

Whatever it is, we’re having another round. So we wait.

I looked around and realized that we’re lucky to have the table on the corner facing the rice field. If you want a more unique experience, you can sit on one of the mats by the rice fields. The place is always crowded that it’s hard to find open tables. People are there for breakfast (it opens at 7AM), brunch and lunch, maybe all the way through dinner time (it closes at 10PM). I would recommend an early morning visit or sometimes after lunch to avoid the swarming crowd. I was there around 11 and despite the odd hour and on a Friday, the place is packed, mostly with locals although I did saw several foreigners on the tables.

Aside from the tasty fried banana and traditional coffee, Warung Kopi Klotok also offers rice dishes on its menu. The “Nasi Lodeh” is a rice and veggie dish poured with broth. There are different varieties like eggplant and tempe (soybean). You can add side items like fried egg.

If you’re not a coffee person, they also serve tea and orange juice. Our food and drinks for 6 people only come up to 100k. Drinks are more or less 5k each while fried banana is around 6k/portion. Nasi Lodeh is around 10k depends on what kind you order.

Some says it’s like having a homemade meal. With the crowd, I think the home-concept is a stretch. But if you turn your back from the busy restaurant and hectic kitchen and focus on the peaceful rice fields in front of you then, yes, it feels like a retreat to your grandparents’ house in the village.

Where is this?
Warung Kopi Klotok
Jl Kaliurang KM16, Sleman, Jogjakarta