Must Try Local Dishes in Flores

Part of the Flores travel guide — see every topic in All Flores Guides.

Flores food is drier, simpler and less spiced than Java's or Bali's, reflecting an island where rice is not universal and maize and cassava carry a large share of the diet. It is also, unusually for Indonesia, a pork-eating cuisine, because the island is Catholic. The two things Flores does exceptionally are coffee — grown in the highlands around Bajawa and Manggarai at 1,200–1,700 metres, and increasingly recognised internationally — and the palm spirit moke, which is drunk at every ceremony.

The staples

In the highlands, maize and cassava are as common as rice. Jagung bose is a Timorese and Flores dish of corn kernels slow-cooked with beans and coconut milk into a thick porridge. Ubi — cassava and sweet potato — is boiled, fried or made into chips. Se'i, smoked meat, comes from neighbouring Timor and is widely eaten. Ikan kuah asam, fish in a sour tamarind broth, is the coastal standard. And rumpu rampe, papaya leaf and flower stir-fried with anchovies, is a Flores speciality that is properly bitter.

Pork and ceremony

Because Flores is Catholic, pork is central rather than absent, and it appears at every significant occasion. Whole pigs are roasted or boiled at weddings, funerals, harvests and church feasts, and portions are distributed according to relationship in a system that is genuinely codified. Babi guling-style roast pork, pork in blood sauce and grilled pork skewers are all common. For a visitor the practical point is that a warung on Flores is likely to have pork on the menu, which is not true almost anywhere else in Indonesia.

Coffee

Flores arabica, grown around Bajawa and in Manggarai at 1,200–1,700 metres in volcanic soil, has become one of Indonesia's recognised single origins — typically heavier bodied and less earthy than Sumatran, with chocolate and floral notes. Much of it is smallholder-grown and processed by cooperatives. In Bajawa and Ruteng you can buy directly from farms, and at Wae Rebo the village grows, roasts and pounds its own and serves it constantly. It weighs nothing and is the best thing to carry off the island.

Moke and drinks

Moke is the local spirit, distilled from the sap of the lontar or aren palm, clear, strong and drunk at every ceremony and most social occasions — refusing the first glass is impolite. Quality varies enormously and, as with arak elsewhere in Indonesia, home distillation carries a methanol risk; drink what is offered in a village context and be cautious about buying unlabelled bottles. Tuak is the lightly fermented, much weaker palm sap. Bottled beer is available almost everywhere, which is not the Indonesian norm.

Must Try Local Dishes at a glance

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