Semawis festival

On a recent weekend getaway, I realized that Semarang, the capital of Central Java, was more than just a port city known for its scorching heat and loenpia (spring rolls).

The 467-year-old city actually has a lot to offer to visitors. From cool hotels to street food festivals, I found out that the city has some hidden gems that will continue to shine for years to come.

The pork and the pong

Our first culinary stop in Semarang was actually two restaurants that stand side-by-side on Jl. Gajah Mada. The first one sells tahu pong (fried tofu) served with gimbal (fried prawn crackers) in a shrimp-paste broth.

As sinfully delicious as it was, my wife and I decided to share a plate, just to make sure we had room for the equally tantalizing mie titee next door.

An original dish from Semarang, mie titee is a pork noodle broth served with water spinach and bean sprouts. The one on Jl. Gajah Mada is the most famous, so expect to share your table with other people during lunch hour.

Old Town, newfound

Treat yourself to a throwback trip to the glory days of Dutch colonials in Kota Lama (Old Town), a block of around 50 buildings that were mostly built in support of the day-to-day operations of the bustling trade area back in the 18th-19th century.

Thanks to a number of restoration and preservation initiatives by local communities and the private sector, many buildings in Kota Lama are still in good condition, including the post office, an office of the Association of Indonesian Batik Cooperatives and a house owned by Tasripin, the richest man in Semarang in the 18th century, which has been turned into a contemporary art gallery called Galeri Semarang.

At the center of Kota Lama is the famous Blenduk Church, named after its roof that is in the shape of a blenduk (dome). Built in 1753 in a neo-classical architectural style, the church was renovated in 1894 and has stood the test of time until now.

The best time to visit Kota Lama is in the morning between 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., or an hour before sunset. Don'€™t forget to take a selfie or two with these gorgeous buildings in the background, just to make your friends in Jakarta envious.

A hidden Candi

No, I'€™m not talking about Buddhist or Hindu temples here. The last time I came to Semarang, I stayed at a hotel located in the center of the city. So central that once I got out of the lobby, I was greeted with such bustling roads and busy hordes of cars and public transportation that I decided to go back to my room and wait until the sun went down.

This time around, I picked a secluded hotel in the leafy Candi residential area called Grand Candi, a laid-back hotel that is only minutes from the city'€™s main attractions.

The hotel, whose first floor also functions as an art gallery, also has a small yet fulfilling perk that I found early in the morning. About 200 meters to the left of Grand Candi was a small nasi pecel (vegetable salad with groundnut) stall that serves from 6 a.m.

Warm rice, fresh vegetables, spicy peanut sauce and fried tofu, tempeh and empal (fried beef) are surely the best way to start your day in Semarang.

Gang Kampung

Like any other coastal city in Java, the food in Semarang is a combination of centuries-old Javanese staple dishes and a taste of cuisine brought by foreign influences, in this case traders from China.

The result is a mix of mouthwatering local food such as tahu pong and tahu gimbal as well as an array of Chinese-influenced delicacies, such as loenpia and mie titee.

Knowing that we had to catch an early plane the next day, our taxi driver took us to Gang Kampung, basically a 500-m street packed with street hawkers and restaurants selling everything from dishes of chicken and duck to pork and snake (I kid you not).

Confused about where to start, the driver stopped the car at the entrance of a long alley filled with colorful stalls. '€œStart here, you will not be disappointed,'€ he said.

The alley was the location of a weekend food festival called Kampung Semawis, established in 2005. The vendors were those who also ran food stalls in Gang Kampung plus several others from neighboring blocks.

The result was the best street food debauchery we had in recent memory. We started off with a small bowl of simple yet flavorful soto ayam (chicken soup) and continued with five skewers of pork satay. And that was only halfway to the other end of Kampung Semawis.

We took a break from the masses of food to watch a '€œkaraoke battle'€ between elders, one of the many attractions in the street festival, and continued to a couple of stalls before heading back to the
hotel. Semarang, I will be back for more!

'€” Photos by Hera Diani

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