Before 7 a.m., a cart stops on a Jakarta street corner, and a vendor taps a spoon against a bowl. That sound means breakfast is here. In August 2026, that humble bowl was named the best porridge in the world.

Bubur ayam, Indonesia’s chicken rice porridge, now sits at number one on the TasteAtlas Top 100 Porridges list. It beat 99 other dishes, from Georgia to the Philippines. Here is what that means.

AT A GLANCE

• #1 of 100 porridges
• 4.3 / 5 TasteAtlas rating
• 4.2 score of the runner-up, elarji (Georgia)
• 2,498 valid ratings counted, out of 3,957 

What did TasteAtlas say about bubur ayam?

TasteAtlas, a food encyclopedia founded in 2015, ranked bubur ayam first in its “Top 100 Porridges in the World” list, updated on 15 August 2026. The dish scored 4.3 out of 5. Georgia’s elarji came second with 4.2. The list counted 2,498 valid ratings out of 3,957 submitted.

What is bubur ayam?

Bubur ayam is rice cooked in chicken broth until it turns thick and soft. The chicken is seasoned and cooked separately, then pulled into thin strips. A bowl usually comes with cakwe (fried dough), spring onions, fried shallots, and kerupuk crackers.

Then the details hit. The steam carries the smell of fried shallots, and the kerupuk goes soft after a minute in the hot porridge. The yellow broth is mild, not spicy, so many people add sambal themselves.

Indonesia also has a long-running fight over how to eat it. Some people stir everything together. Others eat it layer by layer. Neither side has backed down.

“One of the most common street food varieties in Indonesia.”  TasteAtlas

Is bubur ayam really the best porridge in the world?

Sort of, and that is the surprising part. TasteAtlas ranks food by audience ratings, not by expert tasting panels. Its system filters out bots and what it calls nationalist ratings. Only 2,498 of the 3,957 ratings made the cut.

The gap is also tiny. Bubur ayam leads elarji by just 0.1 points. And this is not its first win, because TasteAtlas also put bubur ayam first in 2025.

TasteAtlas itself says its rankings are not the final word on food. Still, a 4.3 from thousands of strangers is hard to ignore.

Why does this ranking matter for Indonesian food?

Bubur ayam is not alone. TasteAtlas’s 2025 list of 50 best porridges also included two Indonesian sweet porridges, bubur ketan hitam and bubur kacang hijau. Indonesia is now showing up in these lists with everyday food, not just festival dishes.

Indonesians noticed. Good News From Indonesia asked followers which other local dish deserves a place among the world’s best, and Yummy Indonesia asked people to share their favorite bubur spots

https://www.tasteatlas.com/bubur-ayam-barito

Where can you try the best bubur ayam in Jakarta?

According to IDN Times, TasteAtlas has pointed readers to Bubur Ayam Barito in South Jakarta, Bubur Ayam Cikini HR Sulaiman in Central Jakarta, and Bubur Ayam Mangga Besar I in West Jakarta. But the real answer is probably the cart near your house. Go early, taste it plain first, and then decide how you stir it.