Bali Food Review

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I plan to do a food review of every country visited. If you have read my entry from my cooking class you will know that I am not a huge fan of the Balinese fare. However, I have really come to love their pancake / crepes with fruit inside as well as the noodle dish (I had that for dinner again last night). I found that the noodles at my hotel, Puri Garden, were my favorite.



Indian Delight

I did find a very good Indian restaurant close to my hotel called “Indian Delight”. I ventured there by myself one night because I was craving garlic nan and it did not disappoint, it was light and doughy and delicious. On Wednesday nights there is a buffet so I came back with Mike (staying at hotel from Vancouver), Eric and Amber (couple I met at hotel from home, literally they lived in lakeview at Racine and Wellington). The food was fantastic. Ubud is a small town once you are there for a bit and at the next table were the girls from my cooking class, we would not discover this until later because the cooking class was the next day.



Ibu Oka

Ibu Oka is a suckling pig restaurant that is pretty famous. It was reviewed by Anthony Bourdain on his show on the travel channel called “no reservations”. The day I went it was raining so the restaurant moved to “the house”. The house ended up being a compound of several houses with covered porches and it was packed. I had “The Special” and a jasmine tea. The special includes a mixture of meat: juicy pork, fried skin, blood sausage and something else I couldn’t tell what it was so I didn’t risk a taste, it was orange and crunchy. All of this is served over rice with a spicy green been salad. The pork was very very tender and delicious. Eric and I ventured to the restaurant together because Amber was not feeling well and we sat with an interesting man from Germany who lives in Bali 8 months of the year and comes to Ibu Oka enough that the staff knows what he wants when he walks in. After we ate he guided us back to see where the magic happens and the pigs are cooked. They cook 6 a day and when they are out they are out. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any cooking but it was interesting non the less. They cook them on open fire and only use wood from coffee trees.



Casa Luna

Casa Luna is an absolutely beautiful restaurant overlooking a deep valley and river that runs through town. I didn’t particualry like the food, this is where I learned there are two different kinds of chicken satay, the one I expected which is chicken breast that is skewered and served with peanut sauce and the one I got which was ground chicken mixed with coconut and spices and then smushed into satay shape and put on a skewer. This was the first place where I had a large Bin Tang, which I repeated frequently in the afternoons.



Snacks and Beer

Bin Tang is by far the most popular beer and it is quite good. One day the circle K was out of cold Bin Tangs so I went out on a limb and tried Bali Hai (also quite good). Except for wheat beer I don’t think there is one I don’t like. The highlight of my snacks were BBQ GO NUTZ, coated peanut delights…why we don’t have these at home is beyond me. It is like a peanut wrapped in a corn nut.



Feeling American

I am now at the Bali airport getting ready to fly to Singapore and I am feeling VERY American. I just had a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee, not because I wanted one but just because I could have one. My last official Balinese meal was a cheeseburger from McDonalds and I caught up on the bachelor scandal with Jake and Vienna.




Most interesting potato chip flavor in Bali is…. Soft Shell Crab Pringles

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