There’s one great reason to visit Semarang, the capital city of Central Java and it is for its Loempia or loen pia. Perhaps many of you recognize this dish as spring rolls but Semarang Loempia has its own signature taste and sauce. This loempia was brought by Chinese immigrants which is why some stalls still sell it as “loen pia” instead of the modern Indonesian spelling lumpia. The size of it is also different from other places in Indonesia. They are bigger and price wise, more expensive. The Semarang lumpia is also available fried and “non-fried” which people call, lumpia basah or literally translated as wet lumpia. Semarang has so many Lumpia stalls that it’s almost difficult to find which one that’s good. But there’s one exact marker to find the right lumpia and authentic Semarang loempia, which is thick tauco, a mixture of soybeans sauce from soybeans. I tried some sampling with different loempia and one that I found delicious was simply the cheapest among the others that I tried. A piece of good loempia can cost from $1 up to 2.5$ depending on the fillings. In Indonesia, loempia aren’t filled with minced pork but it is filled with bamboo shoots and a mixture of chicken and shrimps. But in modern times, there are mozzarella loempia and even crab meat loempia. I haven’t tried them just because they are super duper expensive for a snack. I remember as a kid, my father used to bring me loempia when he traveled from Semarang. It is also sort of expected as a gift especially if you said you visited Semarang. I can say as much that there is no good loempia unless it is from Semarang. I think restaurants everywhere should serve this version rather than serving the other Loempia that are mostly filled with vermicelli and vegetables. Though, I know a few people who dislike bamboo shoots and would rather eat loempia with different fillings. This is also a must-eat if you ever visit this northern coastal part of Java.