Bandung eats on a cool 768m plateau where Sundanese cooking stays raw, sour and fiery — lalapan, sambal dadak, tamarind soups. Add Dutch-era coffee houses, Peranakan noodle shops and warungs that never close, and three days barely covers it.
Bandung's tidiest colonial-era neighbourhood market, trading since the 1930s: Sundanese greens, oncom, peuyeum and fresh sambal ingredients from 06:00 to about 13:00. Inside, Kios Ibu Eha has fried nasi goreng and toast since 1947.
Point-and-pick Sundanese canteen open 24 hours on Jalan Balonggede: ayam goreng kampung, empal gepuk, tahu-tempe, jengkol and sayur asem, with sambal dadak pounded in a stone cobek at your table and rice by the scoop.
Wooden shopfront roasting Java arabica and robusta on Dutch machines from the 1930s, the green beans aged five to eight years in sacks before a slow rubberwood-fired roast. Counter sales only, 08:00–17:00, cash.
Tiled canteen frying batagor — mackerel-and-tofu dumplings — served under thick peanut sauce with kecap manis and a squeeze of lime. The steamed siomay platter adds cabbage, potato, bitter gourd and egg.
Morning-only alley stall on Gempol Kulon chopping rice cakes and fried tofu into sweet peanut-garlic sauce with beansprouts and kerupuk. Two doors down, Roti Gempol griddles thick toast with house srikaya, cheese or peanut.
Serving Bandung's signature noodle since 1965: flat egg noodles shaken in a basket through simmering beef-bone broth, then piled with kikil tendon, beansprouts, bakso, fried shallots, lime and celery.
The city's oleh-oleh benchmark since 1984: pisang bolen, whole banana and Edam cheese folded into flaky pastry, alongside brownies kukus, lapis legit and picnic roll. Boxes are sealed for travel.
Charcoal grills fire up at dusk along Jalan Maulana Yusuf: skewered chicken and goat basted in sweet soy, sate maranggi rubbed with coriander, plus sop kambing and gulai served on folding tables under the trees.
Opened in 1930 as Chang Chong Se: marble tables, pressed-tin ceiling and kopi tubruk poured from a battered urn. The standing order is thick toast spread with butter and the house-made srikaya coconut-egg jam.
Family-run since the 1970s and the reference point for Bandung's Chinese-Peranakan cooking: lomie under thick starchy gravy, kwetiau goreng, bakso tahu and chilled es kopyor under ceiling fans.
Pavement cart beside the Elizabeth bag shop, ladling green pandan rice-flour cendol with coconut milk, molten palm sugar and shaved ice. Queues form all afternoon; jackfruit and durian toppings cost extra.
After dark the old Chinese quarter turns into open-air kitchens: seafood woks flaring over gas jets, mie kangkung, bubur ayam Gang Aut, ronde ginger soup and cold Bintang from the corner shops until past midnight.