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Photo: RRI/Istimewa

If you are a culinary lover, the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi, Indonesia should be your travel destination, because the city is rebranding itself as the city of Eating Good. Makassar Mayor Danny Pomanto recommends a 24-hour culinary tour if you come to Makassar.

Danny further explained, in the morning around 5am to 6am is the time to eat songkolo. This dish is made from rice mixed with dried fish and roasted coconut. From 6 to 8 am is the time to eat Yellow rice. Then 8am-10am forcoto Makassar beef soup. Then 10am-12pm it's time for pallubasa (offal soup).

From 12-15pm, there are various seafood dishes for lunch. At 15 -17 pm it's time for konro rib soup. Then for dinner there are various dishes, such as sup saudara (spicy beef soup) and Mi Titi noodle. For those who like to stay up late and want to eat coto, there is coto Bagadang.

From the various food specialties of Makassar, this time we introduce one of them, namely sup konro or pallu konro (rib soup). It originates from Bugis and Makassar traditions.  The word konro itself in Makassar language means ribs. This soup is usually made with beef ribs or beef. The colour of the soup is blackish brown, because it uses kluwek (black nut) as a seasoning. Besides kluwek, konro soup also uses other spices, such as coriander, a little nutmeg, turmeric, kencur (kaempferia galangal), cinnamon, tamarind, lemon leaves, cloves and salam leaves.

When eaten, konro soup is savoury, herb-rich and spicy.  This Makassar culinary speciality is usually eaten with burasa and sliced ketupat rice cake.

Nowadays, you can find a dry variation of konro called konro bakar, which is grilled beef ribs with konro's signature spices. Konro bakar is usually served with a separate soup. Konro is easily found in many restaurants in Makassar. The price is relatively affordable, around 30 thousand to 50 thousand rupiah or 1.95 to 3.25 US dollars per serving.