Foods in Makassar aren’t short of exciting attractions with plenty to select from. Nevertheless, what defines Makassar best is its large variety of scrumptious culinary delights. From appetizers to desserts, from fresh fruits to freshly caught seafood, this is the city that indeed has all of it with regards to flavor. Therefore, here’s a peek at some of the culinary treasures that you certainly should taste when you’re in Makassar:
1 | Konro Soup
Captures the essence of a real ‘Makassar’ characteristics. Featuring a big chunk of Beef’s rib at the center of a brown-black-ish broth, it’s where the tenderness of meat fuses beautifully with the strong tasting spices of the soup. Similar to most Indonesian Food, Konro Soup is also served with steamed rice, however in Makassar sometimes it’s served with buras or ketupat rice cakes. These days, there are variations of this dish called Konro Bakar or Grilled Ribs marinated and coated in spices typical to Konro Soup.
2 | Coto Makassar
Coto Makassar is one of the most famous dishes of Makassar. Found in almost every corner of the city, the recipe is merely a ‘must try’ to make your visit to Makassar complete. Another variation of Indonesian’s popular ‘Soto’ soup or stew, coto Makassar uses beef mixed with various innards. Rather than steamed rice, this soup is traditionally served with ketupat or buras rice cakes. The dish includes many different spices and has been strongly influenced by Middle East cuisine.
3 | Fresh Sea Food
From scrumptious chili crabs, steamed prawns, sweet and sour squids, to barbecued fish, you can find all kinds of seafood here plus they all are freshly caught from the ocean.
You may also try some uncommon seafood which is seldom found elsewhere like what the locals call ‘Kulu-kulu’ fish. With lots of seafood restaurants as well as street food stalls that you could see here, one thing is for sure: Makassar is a seafood paradise.
4 | NyukNyang: The Meatballs of Makassar
Nevertheless, Makassar has its own unique Bakso called Nyuk Nyang. Apart from the ordinary boiled Bakso meatballs soup, there’s also deep fried Nyuk Nyang directly called Nyuk Nyang Goreng or Fried Nyuk Nyang. Both are tasty. Most Nyuk Nyang is made from beef. However, there are also made from pork, so be sure to ask the waiters before ordering them.
5 | Es Pisang Ijo and Es Palu Butung:
Es Pisang Ijo or translated as The Green Banana Ice consists of a steamed ripe banana wrapped in a green pancake-like dough made from rice flour (hence the name) topped with a vla or custard made from coconut milk and syrup and after that added with a few ice shreds or cubes. Sharing the same sweet custard, Banana in Es Palu Butung isn’t wrapped in dough, but are steamed before being served. What makes both desserts extraordinarily scrumptious is that both of these can only be made with certain kinds of bananas.