Warung

Not to be confused with sari-sari stores in the Philippines.

A village warung in Garut, West Java, Indonesia.

A warung (old spelling: waroeng or warong) is a small, family-owned business, such as a retail stall or room, eatery, or café, in Indonesia. (and to a lesser extent, Malaysia, Singapore, and Suriname). A warung is an essential part of daily life in Indonesia, filling consumer needs while serving as a community social hub. While common in major cities, the warung is vital in rural Indonesia, where larger markets and convenience stores are scarce. Over time, the term warung has slightly shifted — especially among foreign visitors, expatriates, and people abroad — to refer more specifically to a modest Indonesian eatery or a place that sells Indonesian consumer goods (mainly sundries or foodstuffs). But for the majority of Indonesians, the meaning is still a small, neighborhood stalls, often a front room in a family's home. Digitized by app developers, many of these unique mom-and-pop shops became available online to consumers during the 2020s.

There are tourist establishments on the island of Bali and elsewhere that include the term warung in their business to indicate their Indonesian culture. Traditionally, a warung is a family-owned business operated by the family members, mainly women.

Traditional warungs are made from wooden, bamboo or thatched materials. More permanent warungs are made from bricks and concrete, some family-owned businesses are attached to their homes. Some smaller portable warungs are made from tin, zinc or some modern version might use fiberglass mold. Warung tenda is a portable tent warung, covered with canvas, fabric, tarp or plastic sheet tent for roofing.

Terminology

A 19th century image of a warung during the colonial era.

The term warung denotes a wide category of small businesses, most often a small retail shop or eatery. It is widely used in Java and most of Indonesia. In certain parts of Sumatra and Malay Peninsula, the word kedai is sometimes used as well. In Javanese culture areas, such as in Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surakarta, its counterpart term wedhangan or angkringan is more commonly found. On the other hand, the term toko is used for a larger and more established shop.

The term can be used to loosely refer to many other types of shops, including the wartel (abbreviated from warung telepon, a manned phone booth), and warnet (abbreviated from warung internet, an Internet café).

Types of warung

There are many kinds of warung — some take the form of a small shop that sells cold, bottled drinks, candy, cigarettes, snacks, krupuk and other daily necessities, while the larger ones are small restaurant establishments. A warung that sells food typically sells local food; pisang goreng and many kinds of gorengan, nasi goreng (fried rice), and mie goreng (fried noodles).

On the resort islands of Bali and Lombok, warung might refer to a tourist cabana cafe that sells locals' favourites as well as Asian or western food. Other than Indonesian dishes, the menu may include soups, steaks, french fries, sandwiches, or grilled fish.

Some types of warung are:

• Warung rokok or, commonly, warung is a very small street side shop, constructed from wood, bamboo or tin. Most of them measure not more than 2 x 1 meters (6.56 x 328 feet). They sell rokok (cigarettes), cold bottled drinks, snacks and candies, krupuk, soap, tooth paste and other daily necessities, essentially a miniaturized convenience store. This is the most common type of warung in residential areas, slums, side streets, and tucked between high-rise towers in business districts.
• Warkop or warung kopi is a small humble cafe or coffeeshop that sells coffee and snacks, such as roasted peanuts, rempeyek, krupuk, pisang goreng and bread. At a time in Indonesia, the Malaysian and Singaporean counterpart kopi tiam, gained popularity instead of humble local warung kopi. Traditionally, warung kopi served a social function as a gathering place for men of the village to socialize and trade news. Specialty cafes flourished, spurred by the surge of the locals interest in quality coffee. As a result, various cafes were growing, from humble warung kopi to fancy coffeeshops selling artisan and other premium specialty coffee.
• Warung nasi is a humble small restaurant that sells nasi (rice) with other Indonesian dishes. Instead of separate tables and chairs, a long communal bar and bench are usually provided for diners.
• Warteg or warung tegal is a more specific warung nasi, established by Javanese people from the town Tegal in Central Java. They sell favourite Javanese dishes and rice, the wide array of pre-cooked dishes are arranged in glass windowed cupboard. They are well known for selling modestly-priced meals, popular among working-class labourers in the cities.
• Warung padang is a small scaled Padang restaurant which typically provides a bar and bench in instead of tables and chairs for seating, and sometimes offering fewer menu choices. Larger, more established Padang eateries are referred to as rumah makan padang or Padang restaurant instead.
• Warung jamu specifically sells jamu traditional herbal medicine.
• Warnet or warung internet is an internet cafe.
• Wartel or warung telepon is a phone booth with an attendant.

Warung are typically named for the main dishes served. For example, warung bubur kacang ijo or warung burjo sells bubur kacang hijau, warung roti bakar sells grilled bread, warung pecel lele sells pecel lele or fried catfish with sambal, while warung indomie sells cooked instant noodles, although the brand might not always be Indomie.

Gallery

• 
  Warung rokok, cigarette-selling warung.
• 
  Warung kopi, humble coffee shop selling coffee, tea, and snacks.
• 
  Warung nasi, selling food in Bali.
• 
  Warung Tegal, selling Javanese food from Tegal.
• 
  Warung Padang selling Padang food.
• 
  A warung selling Javanese noodle.
• 
  Floating warung on boat on the bank of the Musi River, Palembang.

See also

• Toko
• Kopi tiam
• Sari-sari store
• Mamak stall

External links

• "What is a Warung?"