Fried chicken is one of comfort and favorite food for Indonesian. Almost in every city has their own variant. If you ever come to Yogyakarta, you must be familiar with Ayam goreng Mbok Berek. There are many restaurants that used “Mbok Berek” as the name.

At our last visit at Yogyakarta, my brother asked us to eat at Mbok Berek. He said we should come at this place if we want legendary good food. I was really curious because I often heard the name, but never tried before.

We looked at map and find “Mbok Berek Garden”. It is located at Jalan Magelang No.KM. 9, Mulungan Kulon, Sleman, Yogyakarta. Before we arrived, at road street we saw Mbok Berek restaurant, but the map said we have not arrived yet. I got little confused, but we moved away.

Finally, we came at “Mbok Berek Garden”. I asked to staff about the restaurant across the street and he said the owner was family. I see, but we prefer come to this place because the good review at google.

At glance, this restaurant was really homey. There were swings outside where my kids immediately played. The building was dominated with wood and feels Javanese traditional house. Almost all furniture was teak wood and looked vintage, strong, and sturdy.

We went to the biggest table behind where we also saw fish pond with bridge. There are many antiques furniture and old photos, including the King of Yogyakarta Palace. I felt like we were hosted by royal family.

Obviously, we ordered the famous fried chicken, sayur lodeh (Javanese vegetables soup with coconut milk), fried tempe, orange juice, soursop juice, and teh poci (a hot teapot with rock sugar). When the food was coming, it looked and tasted delicious. Fried chicken was really light, tender, and crispy. No wonder it was legend.

Later, I found out that Ayam goreng Mbok Berek is a family business. It was started at 1830 by Ronodikromo dan Nyi Kiyem, a couple from Sleman who sold fried chicken. They sold around and brought his oldest son, Ronoprawiro who liked to scream. In Javanese screaming called berek-berek. Thus, Nyi Kiyem was famous as Mbok Berek (mother of screaming child).

Beside Ronoprawiro, they had 5 other children. Before they died, they said to their children and grandchildren for continuing their fried chicken business. They allowed their descendants to use brand “Mbok Berek”, but the recipe should stay in the family.

Therefore, we saw many restaurants using brand “Mbok Berek”. Some of their descendants used their own name to differentiate with others. Like “Ayam Goreng Mbok Berek Ny. Umi” which had patented at 1972, others had already franchised like Ny. Subekti and Ny. Astuti, but another only managed a restaurant like Ny. Soewarni.

The famous fragment of Mbok Berek is “Ayam Goreng Ny. Suharti” which had branches in some areas in Java, including Surabaya, my hometown. This is one of my favorite fried chicken brands since I was child. I just surprise at the fact that the root is the same with “Ayam goreng Mbok Berek”.