Warung Men Runtu

Round concrete tables spill out onto the street at Warung Men Runtu, an eatery specializing in buah rujak (tangy fruit with a sweet and spicy sauce). The place is a hit with locals, and for most of the day, the majority of seats are occupied.

Runtu offers twelve variations on rujak, adding ingredients like bulong boni (seaweed) and kuah pindang (salty broth made with shrimp paste and chilli) to the mix. Her best-selling rujak however is still the rujak gula Bali, a tropical plateful of under-ripe fruit served with a sticky dipping sauce of palm sugar, tamarind, peanuts, and chilies.

Another Runtu signature is tipat cantok, which is kind of like an Indonesian version of gnocchi. Rice dumplings are spiced up a generous dousing of spicy peanut dressing and sprinkling of bean sprouts. It’s delicious for the first few mouthfuls, but, fair warning — can become a bit too rich and cloying to commit to a full portion. We’d recommend sharing this as a side. An added plus: Dishes come in at a wonderfully cheap IDR11,000 (US$0.75) each.