You have taken a city tour Jakarta with our local host, right? If you have, you must have grown familiar with the city. If you are, then you should take a chance to visit another capital city in Indonesia, Surabaya. Surabaya is the capital city of East Java, as one of the big cities in Indonesia, it also has many high buildings, apartments, malls and business areas. As years go by, the population keep growing, thus make the bad traffic put a test in your patience, quite like Jakarta, but still not as bad as Jakarta.

How to get there

There are many options to reach Surabaya.

1. By plane. You could ride a plane from Jakarta to Surabaya by riding a plane from Halim Perdana Kusumah or Soekarno-Hatta Airport, the ticket price is usually around IDR 450k-700k, but it can be higher if you book during peak season. It usually takes about 1 or 1 hour and a half.

2. By train. There are executive trains that you can take from Gambir Station in Jakarta. The train’s name are Sembrani and Argo Bromo Anggrek, the price range is not too different from ticket plane as a described above, but it should never higher than IDR 700k, but you have to sit about 9 hours long.

3. By bus. If you want cheaper price, you can go by bus to Surabaya for only around IDR 150k-300k, but it is a long journey. You have to ride the bus for approximately 17,5 hours long. So, make sure you won’t get tired or get bored along the way.

<< What to do in Surabaya : Lets eat, eat, and eat! >>

– What to do in Surabaya : Sate Klopo as your breakfast

Surabaya offers many choices of breakfast. You can found food stalls everywhere around the street, from nasi pecel, gado-gado, soto ayam, and many more. Most of it you can also find in Jakarta. But, you should not miss the chance to make Sate Klopo your breakfast choice, because it only exists in Surabaya, one and only restaurant in a street once named Ondomohen Street, thus the restaurant adopt the name, along with the name of its owner, Ibu Asih.

Sate Klopo came from the word ‘satay’ and ‘coconut (klopo)’ in Javanese dialect. The satay was made from cow’s meat, served with grated coconut on top of it. The meat is juicy and rich of flavors. By the time I get there in the morning, it already full of people and there is no empty seat, so ordered a take away, IDR 25k for one portion.

– What to do in Surabaya : Zangrandi Ice Cream as your afternoon treat

Surabaya is known for its extreme heat, especially in dry season, so enjoying an ice cream would be a perfect choice. Buy ice cream from the mini market maybe? Hold your thought! Go to Zangrandi instead. It is a classic ice cream store founded by Renato Zangrandi, an immigrant from Italy in 1930s. Zangrandi located in the center of the town, near Garden Palace Hotel Palace Surabaya.

For a hot day in Surabaya, I chose to order Avocadocano, a cup of ice cream with avocado flavor and served with freshly sliced of avocado fruit and a chocolate wafer stick. It is not too sweet and easily melts in your mouth. You can get one portion of ice cream variant for around IDR 35k-45k.

– What to do in Surabaya : Save the best for the last!

After you had enough strolling around Surabaya, it is the time to make a final stop before you take a rest at the end of the day. Eating Lontong Kupang would be a perfect choice while you stay in Surabaya. ‘Kupang’ is some kind of shellfish in a really small size, usually served with bigger kind of clam satay, ‘lontong’ or some kind of rice cake wrapped in banana leaf, and ‘petis’, a traditional seasoning that taste sweet and spicy.

Actually you find Lontong Kupang easily in Sidoarjo, a city near Surabaya, but it is quite near and you can grab a taxi there. You can choose Lontong Kupang foodstall in Sidoarjo malls or in the food corners in Seruni Street that also open at night. You can enjoy this menu and for prevention of allergy of eating this food too much, you can order coconut drink.

Okay, once your stomach full, time to go back where you stay and take a rest. Once you wake up the next day with new spirit and energy, you can try continuing the trip to other parts or East Java, like Malang, every town offers its own specialty, so don’t miss it! See you next time. 🙂