Inggil Restaurant: East Javanese Cuisine in Malang

Every city and region has its traditions, culture and food and as a traveler it is special when you get to see all of it without moving between many places. The Inggil restaurant in the center of Malang is one such place. This restaurant, which began operations in 1949 is completely modeled after East Java, has people from East Java as its employees, plays East Java traditional music and serves only East Javanese food.


The place appeals to you as soon as you enter it. It has an archaic touch with old telephones, an East Javanese artistic touch with pre-independence paper cuttings, posters from that era, memorabilia from East Java and finally everyone dressed up in typical East Javanese style. This place is more or less full every evening as the restaurant hosts a live musical performance based on East Javanese traditions. The songs can be a bit slow, but it is supposed to portray events from the daily life of East Javanese people.


The place is not real up market, but the ambience is definitely unique and the food is also very tasty. Even as a vegetarian, I found many options. And the best part is that the food is not expensive and in fact very affordable. We had 8 dishes and 2 juices and the cost came to about 80,000 rupiah (~8 USD). In case you wish to try out this place, it is on Jalan Gaja Mada and near the Tugu monument.