Indonesian Street Food: Pisang Epe

Any trip to Makassar in South Sulawesi (Indonesia) would not be complete without trying the local specialty dessert, pisang epe. Pisang epe is made from lady finger bananas that have been grilled, then flattened in a press and covered with a delicious palm sugar syrup.

In addition to the “original” flavor, it also comes in such variations as cheese (keju), chocolate (coklat), durian (durian or duren) and coconut (kelapa). The cheese flavor is literally covered with grated cheese!

Pisang epe is sold along Pantai Losari (Losari Beach) and the surrounding streets by pedagang kaki lima or five-legged traders. They get this name from the fact that their mobile cart has three “legs” and the trader themselves two.

One serving consists of three bananas and costs just 6000 rupiah for the original or up to 8000 rupiah for other flavors.

Place your order, take a seat on the surrounding plastic chairs and enjoy this sumptuous Makassan speciality.

Bananas being grilled over coals.

A five-legged trader making pisang epe for peckish patrons.

The delicious pisang epe is served! Eat them from a plate at the seating by the stall or get them packed (bungkus) like these ones. Unless you plan to take them back home though, pisang epe is not your take-out kind of food. You don’t get cutlery when you take them away and it’s sticky to eat with your fingers. That said, we still ate them while walking, attracting a lot of interesting stares!