Where to eat in Medan

Where to eat in Medan

1. Eat

   Bolu Meranti

   The home-made roll cakes with variety of tastes, such as cheese, blueberry, mocha. The most famous roll cakes in town.

2. Eat

   Cahaya Baru Indian Restaurant

   The North and south Indian restaurant is one of Medan's best kept secrets, which has been featured in Kompas newspaper as the only restaurant in Medan which serves a wide range of authentic North-Indian cuisine. It offers delicious vegetarian and curry dishes.

   Main dish Rp 20-70k, drink 10-50, lassi 30-35, beers 40-50, nasi kandar 15-35, martabak 25-50, add 10% service tax

3. Eat

   Jalan Selat Panjang/ Sumatra/ Semarang

   This is where some of the oldest Chinese eateries in Medan serve their renowned cuisines, such as mie pangsit tiong-sim (noodle served with stuffed dumplings), kwetiau goreng (wok-fried Chinese rice-fettuccine), popia (Chinese-style vegetable-stuffed spring roll) and many more. If you want to eat halal, of course you should beware of the pork content in the dishes, but you could always ask for a no-pork version of the dish and a different wok to cook your food in.

4. Eat

   Kedai Kopi Apek

   Historic coffee house with excellent Lintong Coffee served up by Apek. This place was set up by Apek's father in 1922. Serves kopi susu and roti bakar srikaya (kaya toast). Contains stalls with Indian roti cane bread with goat curry, martabak and soto soup. Outside are nasi gurih, bakmi and kwetiau noodles. Piece of Medan history.

5. Eat

   Koki Sunda

   As the name implies, serves tasty Sundanese food and beverages such as Nasi Liwet and Es Delima. It's at the heart of the city at the corner of S.Parman and Hasanuddin so it's hard to miss if you travel around the city. Its reasonably priced and wide array selection of delicious food is well known to the locals and visitors. Koki Sunda now opens in Tanjung Morawa and Pekan Baru.

6. Eat

   Lontong Kak Lin

   Serving tasty and cheap lontong sayur (rice cakes in hot vegetables curry), this humble eatery is not much to look at for the uninitiated. There are queues to buy breakfast and lunch here.

7. Eat

   Medan Home Dairy

   They have European-style "best natural yogurt in Indonesia". Located at TASBI Complex. They are producing many kinds of goat and cow milk cheeses, as well. For the goat milk products they are using fresh, pasteurized (twice) organic goat milk.

8. Eat

   Mie Aceh Titi Bobrok

   Has been dubbed by an Indonesian lifestyle magazine as the most popular local dish in Medan. A simple dish of noodle served with chili sauce and crab, rumour has it that the secret ingredient which make the Aceh-style noodle irresistible is a dash of Acehnese marijuana, which is the commonest drug that could be imported illegally from the region. But that, of course, only heightened the mystery and the notoriety of the delicious mie Aceh.

9. Eat

   Mie Ayam Jamur Juara

   Small street food stall. Likely one of the cheapest places but still good.

   Main dish Rp 10-13k, drink 6-10k. Example: nasi ayam penyet 10k

10. Eat

    OnDo Grill Batak

    A unique Batak restaurant where you can find the gems of Batak dishes, without all the germs. Cafe-like ambience with non-stop jazz music. Serves a reasonably-tasting saksang (a pork dish cooked in pork blood), babi panggang karo (Batak/Karo-style chopped roast-pork) and arsik (Batak-style fish dish). Don't forget to taste the hot pora-pora (a dish of sauteed papaya and cassava leaves cooked in coconut gravy and rawit chili).

11. Eat

    Pagaruyung Alley

    Located in Medan's "Little India" or Kampung Keling as it's called by locals. They offer, of course, Indian and Indonesian cuisine. Business begins when the sun sets and goes until 202:00 Well known for satay (chicken, lamb, mutton, liver, intestine, etc.), fried rice and martabak telur (egg pancake topped with diced potatoes, and onions, often served with curry). Also excellent Minang style "pick and mix" rice and fruit juices.

12. Eat

    Restoran Garuda

    Well known for its rendang (Padang-style beef dish cooked slowly in coconut gravy and chili) and ayam pop (Padang-style chicken dish cooked in coconut gravy), it has many branches including RM Berjaya.

13. Eat

    Rumah Makan Islam Marikena

    Serves traditional Halal Batak-Karo dishes, like arsik, a traditional goldfish/carp dish, and ayam cipera, a type of Karo soup made with corn, chicken, and other spices and left to stew in water.

    10:00–21:00

14. Eat

    Taipan Restaurant

    Serves mainly Chinese style menu. Dim sum is served usually for breakfast and lunch only. Try their coconut Thai dessert or specialty tofu dish.

15. Eat

    Tip Top Restaurant

    Used to be the restaurant in Medan, this unique restaurant can trace its history back to the Dutch colonisation. The food has a nostalgic taste clinging on every bite, such as the ox-tongue sandwich and the bitter-ballen, but the best experience you could have here is watching the buzz of Kesawan Square from your rattan chair on the verandah. Also famous for its cake.

16. Eat

    Zuki Bakery

    Bika Ambon, spekoek, prunes, roll cake (Bolu Gulung), breads. They bake items fresh every day and also make their on syrups, including marquisa syrup, terong belanda syrup and kietnah syrup.

17. Eat

    Bollywood Food Centre

    This is nice place for real, homely Indian food.

18. Eat

    Gut German Kitchen

    A German restaurant in town.

    11:00–21:00

19. Eat

    Sadar jiwo noodlebar

    Indonesian and Japanese noodles. AC.

    Main dish 18-48k, entry 20-28k, drink 5-18k

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Medan (CC BY-SA 4.0).