2 Tasteful Fish Dishes in Jogja You Don't Wanna Miss Out

Fish dish for dinner.

Think about fish. Do you put fish on your must-eat-dishes for your trip to Jogja? If you don't, you will probably change your mind after this! Yes, spice your experience up with eating tasty fish in Jogja! Kepik Sawah restaurant has luscious catfish dish to enjoy. Yet, its yummy eel dish is also a good option.

You maybe already have an appealing agenda for your trip to Jogja. Apart from ideas to explore cultural tourism sites in this city, let me remind you of how interesting a culinary adventure can be here. Give yourself a chance to taste bakpia, gudeg, and sego thiwul while you're on vacation here. Eating tasty fish in Jogja is a to-do-thing as well.

I wasn't much into fish. There were times in which I skipped fish as a teen. I remember those old days my mother fed me when I refused to eat just because fish was the menu. Nowadays, most memories of eating fish I have are pretty okay though it doesn't fully change me. Yep, I am a little picky when it comes to fish. Thus, I was glad to find what Kepik Sawah has on its list of menus.

It was Saturday night that my friend and I decided to go to Kepik Sawah. We already planned that for days and I was so excited going there. We chose small streets over the main road to explore the area. Kepik Sawah restaurant was the food place in an area surrounded by many rice fields. 

Once my friend and I arrived at Kepik Sawah, we were welcomed by the restaurant's name signage which was set on the roof. As you probably just guess, yes, of course I took a photo before entering the entrance! Hehehe… It was rather dark though!

The look of Kepik Sawah in the evening

Welcome to Kepik Sawah! Ready to get in?

We chose to sit inside since the sitting area outside was pretty full. We both liked to have some space from others, so we picked the table near Kepik Sawah's cashier desk. The table was lovely; there were some artificial flowers in a vase and some bottles of local carbonated drink. Not so long after sitting, a woman came giving us a list of menus. I saw some interesting Indonesia dishes to try such as Garang Asem, Gadon, Grilled Ribeyes, and Stir-fried Water Spinach. However, instead of choosing any of those dishes, all of sudden, I craved eating tasty fish in Jogja. Hence, the dishes we ordered were Belut Balado Fillet Krispi and Lele Bakar Saus Katjang. To accompany these dishes, my friend and I picked local carbonated drinks.

The view from my table.

Becak's wheel covers used as decorations at Kepik Sawah. Becak is pedicab.

In an attempt to feed your curiosity, I took photos of Kepik Sawah's list of menus. Apart from its special menus (Garang Asem and Gadon), this restaurant served some chicken dishes, duck dishes, fish dishes, beef dishes, eel dishes, barb and shrimp dishes, vegetable dishes, various chilis, eggs, crispy mushrooms, and some snacks. I forgot to take photos of beverage menus, unfortunately. That's why I can't tell you much about it. Sigh... However, this restaurant had many options of beverage such as tea, ginger drinks, various juices, local carbonated drinks, coffee, etc.

Food menus at Kepik Sawah.

Another page of menus list at Kepik Sawah.

Shall we move on from beverage menus and focus on the foods? Okay, great! Hehehe… First, let's put Belut Balado Fillet Krispi under the spotlight! I chose this menu because it was something I seldom found, and I wondered how it would be. This dish was put on my table on a decorative plate above a banana leaf base in a samir cut. The dish was served with a slice of tomato, a slice of cucumber, and basil. In a glance, this dish looked like chicken fillets. Don't you think so? Now, let's pay attention to the word 'balado'. Balado is a part of West Sumatra cuisine. This hot spicy blend of spices is a mix of stir-fried red-hot chili pepper with garlic, shallot, tomato, etc. Belut Balado Fillet Krispi was a combination of balado and crispy eel fillets. In my opinion, when I bit the eel fillet, it was crisp outside and soft inside. I really liked the combination taste of balado and the crispy eel fillets. It was mild spicy, savory with a soft sourness that I guess came from tomatoes. Belut Balado Fillet Krispi I tasted was an appealing yet yummy eel dish! No wonder it was one of customers' favorite menus there! The price of this dish was IDR 23,000.

Belut Balado Fillet Krispi - the eel dish. 

Lele Bakar Saus Katjang stole my attention for I've tasted some delectable Lele Bakar dishes in some culinary adventures, and I was fascinated to know how good a combination of Saus Katjang and Lele Bakar could be. Lele Bakar Saus Katjang was put on my table on a rattan plate in which a banana leaf in a samir cut was put as a base for the dish. The dish itself was served with s slice of tomato, a slice of cucumber, basil, and sambal (chili sauce). Lele Bakar Saus Katjang was Grilled Catfish with Peanut Sauce. It was such a luscious catfish dish to enjoy and the cost for this was IDR 18,000. Smell of grilled catfish and peanut sauce was smoky yet tasty; a smell that triggered and teased your hunger. The catfish looked crisp but its meat was pretty tender. A spoon of this grilled catfish… hmmm…it was sweet yet savory. Peanut Sauce refined the taste of the catfish. So tempting. So mouth-watering. I also had the catfish with sambal. Whoaaa… More temptation! The trio of catfish, peanut sauce, and sambal triggered my tummy aching for rice. 

Lele Bakar Saus Katjang - the catfish dish.

What a splendiferous evening I had at Kepik Sawah. Adding more excitement, my friend and I decided to get our childhood memories back by choosing local carbonated drinks to accompany the dishes we ordered. Such drinks reminded me of days in which I saved IDR 50 for buying a glass of iced carbonated drink after school. We opted for Ndoro Behi's Coffee Cream and Ay Hwa's Sarsaparila for our nostalgic evening. Taste of coffee in Ndoro Behi's Coffee Cream was light, even lighter than my expectation. Taste of Ay Hwa's Sarsaparilla was similar to root beer. The Coffee Cream drink costed us IDR 12,000 and the Sarsaparila drink costed us IDR 15,000. We spent IDR 1,000 for a glass of ice cubes. 

Local carbonated drinks

May the universe conspire in our favor. Cheers!

Culinary adventures will definitely boost enjoyment for your trip to Jogja. If I were you, I would have surely agreed on eating tasty fish in Jogja at Kepik Sawah restaurant. Its luscious catfish dish and its yummy eel dish are two you don't want to miss out for sure.

Oh dear, can you guess how happy I am to post this culinary adventure and share the excitement with you? It took more efforts these days to blog since I've not been so well and need to get some rest. Pfff… I hope next week is better and hey, tell me what you think about Belut Balado Fillet Krispi and Lele Bakar Saus Katjang! Which one do you choose to eat? What's the drink you had during your childhood that you missed having? Feel free to share on the comment section below. It'd be fun to read your comment!

Price:

Starts from IDR 5,000 (Food)

Open Hours:

9 AM - 9 PM (Weekdays)

9 AM - 11 PM (Saturday)

9 AM - 10 PM (Sunday)

Address:

Jl. Godean KM 9 Senuko, Sidoagung, Godean, Sleman, Jogja

Contact Number:

+62 857 2982 8282