Don’t say you are a traveler if you haven’t try the street food on your destination. Those who lives in Jakarta, specifically in Blok M area surely already taste Gultik Blok M. Gultik stand for Gulai Tikungan.

“Gulai” is a type of food containing rich, spicy and succulent curry-like sauce commonly found in Indonesia and Malaysia. The main ingredients might be poultry, beef, mutton, various kinds of offal, fish and seafood, and also vegetables such as cassava leaves and unripe jackfruit. While “Tikungan” means junction. Gulai Tikungan does not refer to a one street food vendor but a group of street vendor who sells gulai in a junction of Jl. Mahakam and Jl. Bulungan in Blok M area.

Gulai Tikungan Blok M - courtesy of manual

There are about 15 vendor who sells gulai in these area. Some of them in fact had already there for more than 10 years. Started in 1980s, lot of the vendor gathered here and made this area a culinary destination. Most of the vendor can sell up to 100 gulai on weekday and more than 200 gulai on the weekend. Gultik Blok M always full of customers who want to eat the gulai or just want to take away the menu to eat later. The gulai use beef for the meat and other part of cattle’s part such as tendons, fat, and offal.

Gulai Tikungan Blok M - courtesy of bilaset

The seller always make a sure the large pot containing the gulai is always in warm. Once they open the pot’s lid, the steam which full of spices fragrant blows and stimulate your hunger. The gulai sauce then poured to the rice served in a plate. You can add soy sauce, fried onions and crackers as you wish to add more flavor to gulai. Those who like hot taste, you can ask for hot or chili sauce to the seller. The simple yet tempting food, the savory gulai combined with sweet taste from soy sauce and hot from chili sauce, will definitely make you addicted to Gultik.

Anyway, if you are used to a big size portion of served food, then you need to order more than 1 gulai. The relatively cheap price for a serving of Gultik, which is about IDR 8,000 to IDR 10,000, will not make you broke if you order more than 1 plate of Gultik.

Gulai Tikungan Blok M - courtesy of foody

How to Get There

Located right behind Plaza Blok M, you will easily find Gulai Tikungan once you arrive at Blok M. It is also easy to go to Blok M, since it has its own Terminal. You can use TransJakarta Corridor 1 (Jakarta Kota – Blok M), Kopaja (S605, S605A, S608, S609, S616, S63, S66, S620, T57), Mayasari Bakti (AC05. AC34, AC49, AC121, R57), Metromini (S69, S70, S71, S72, S74, S75, S76, S77, S79, S610, S611 S619), or you can use Grab/Uber/GoJek/taxi. Gultik Blok M usually open from 12.00 PM to 11.00 PM. (source : kompas)