| About the Menu
The cuisine of Lara Djonggrang has been inspired by the royal
journeys through the regions during the times of the King
Hayam Wuruk, who held the reign of the Kingdom of Majapahit
at the beginning of the 14th century. Nagarakrtagama chronicled
the King's expeditions to cover Pajang (1353 AD), Lasem (1354
AD), Lodaya (1357 AD), 1359 AD (Lumajang), and 1360, 1361,
1363.
Each of these dramatic royal expeditions, that took up to
ten months at a time, had been composed by hundreds of troops
and palace maids following the king and the queen on horses,
elephants and horse-carriages.
Each expedition contains the following ceremonies:
1. Pre-expedition ceremony with the cuisine experienced in
the palatial compound;
2. Gastronomic experience while dining with the regime of
each district;
3. Ceremonies in the temples paying tribute to the ancestors,
the founder of the Kingdom of Majapahit, and thereafter followed
by dinners presented by the local villagers;
4. Ceremonial dining with the local villagers throughout the
return voyage back to the kingdom capital;
5. Blessing ceremony upon returning safe to the palace.
As the king traveled from one region to another, he was presented
by his simple people with the awe-inspiring, delectable, vast
varieties of dishes of the hinterlands.
As the royal expeditions continued to explore the coasts,
they were dazed by the exotic richness of the cuisine that
had developed in the coastal port cities that made the archipelago's
Silk Route. Through hundreds of years, the harbor cities of
the archipelago, such as Samudra Pasai, Pidie, Pantai Barat
Sumatera, Palembang, Sunda Kelapa, Banten, Cirebon, Semarang,
Demak, Tuban, Gresik, Sumbawa Besar, Pontianak, Banjarmasin,
Makasar, Selat Makasar, Ternate, Tidore, Perairan Maluku,
Barus had been visited by the silk merchants who traveled
back and forth between China and Europe. These cultural interactions
had their significant influences on the indigenous, distinctive
culinary resulted in these port cities.
Lara Djonggrang's menu, blended with the mystical, romantic
atmosphere where you are currently sitting in, we humbly present
to remind the nowadays world, to bring back to life, and to
pride ourselves with the unparalleled beauty of ancient Indonesia's
history. |