When in doubt, just order a plate of nasi goreng tek-tek. As a street food, nasi goreng tek-tek. A variant of Indonesian fried rice, it is named so because of the clanging “tek tek” sound its sellers make when hitting their skillet onto the pan to attract customers and when they are frying. 

As street food, its relatively cheap price point is one of the reasons for its persistent popularity, but more than that, its positioning as “everyone’s dish” is not just figurative but literal. Nasi goreng tek-tek is almost-exclusively sold by a single seller on a modest wooden cart which either sets up in a busy area that is comfortable for “hanging out” or goes around neighborhoods – from slums to upper-class ones. (So much so, that one grievance often uttered by those living in the increasingly common gated neighborhoods or “clusters” that do not allow carts to come inside, is the inability to buy from nasi goreng tek-tek sellers right on their doorstep).

To reiterate – it is a food for everyone. 

Just ask 40-year-old Ivan Wanara, who has been running a nasi goreng stall in Canggu, Bali since 2007.

“From construction workers to motorcycle taxi drivers, from those who drive [fancy cars] to Jakarta visitors [in Bali]. It is a simple dish and so cheap. It’s the food of the people,” said Ivan, who is originally from Pemalang, Central Java.

“For Indonesians, unless you eat rice, you’re still hungry [no matter what you eat],” he added. 

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