Thursday 29 November 2007

Bali Gastronome

Canang (offerings) and pavillion, Kertha Gosa

In March this year, my best friend K and I saw Toute la Beauté du Monde, which was filmed almost entirely on location in Bali, at the French Film Festival. We both agreed that as films go it was a rather tepid, boring romance - but hot damn, Bali sure did look fantastic! The following day at work I checked online to see if Jetstar flights to Bali were as cheap as my tram stop billboard hinted they were, and before we knew it, K and I had booked a ten day trip to Bali for late August!

Surfer at Balangan beach

Although it was some months ago that we went, I'm posting about it now because only yesterday did I find the little notebook I'd taken with me on my travels, then mislaid upon my return to Melbourne. Sadly, the contents are mainly unfocused ramblings rather than succinct gastronomic notes... so please forgive the lack of research and detail. What follows is a potted summary of the sights and food highlights we enjoyed on the Island of the Gods.

Temple statue in Monkey Forest Sanctuary

We stayed in three places, all of which I found through a combination of research on the Lonley Planet Thorn Tree forum and Trip Advisor, and all three of which I would highly recommend.

First up was four nights at Ellie's, a wonderful little boutique hotel in a quiet residential area near Nusa Dua, away from all the resort ghettos. The rooms were chic and the prices extremely reasonable (our sea view room was only 450,000IDR (AUS$55) per night). Van, the personable British hotel manager, really helped to make our time at Ellie's special - he was like our personal concierge, helping us plan day trips, mixing wicked gin and tonics and telling us about all the best restaurants and white sand beaches that aren't in the Lonely Planet. Stay there!!

French toast at Ellie's

French toast and banana smoothies at Ellie's on our first morning.

Rooftop terrace at sunset at Ellie's

The rooftop terrace at Ellie's - site of much holiday reading and G&T drinking at sunset. If you do stay at Ellie's, you MUST get a massage on the rooftop terrace from Wayan, the local masseur. It was my first deep tissue massage, and the knots I've been carrying in my shoulders for the last decade were all worked out of me - Wayan is a true artist! :)

Selecting fish at Ayodya Cafe, JimbaranDinner on the beach!
Cooking fresh seafood at Cafe Ayodya, Jimbaran
Selecting seafood at Cafe Ayodya, JimbaranFresh fish at Jimbaran (we chose the snapper on the left)

One evening we went to Jimbaran, a town by the bay famous for seafood restaurants on the beach. We went to Cafe Ayodya, selected the seafood we wanted (the snapper on the left and some squid) and sat at a table on the sand under the stars. The fish was scaled, split and roasted over a bed of coconut shells with garlic, lime, oil, tomato, candlenut, chilli and palm sugar. It was delicious and the setting was great - even the Indonesian mariachi band that roamed the length of the beach serenading diners with Beatles songs was kinda fun!

Kids playing soccer on Seminyak beach
Soft shell crab tempura, Gado Gado restaurant in SeminyakBresaola with caper berries and vegetable mille-feuille

The only time we went to a really "posh" restaurant was in Seminyak. We'd strolled the beach at sunset watching kids playing football on the sand, then wandered over to Gado Gado, where we dined on dishes such as soft shell crab tempura, vegetarian millefeuille and bresaola with caper berries, washed down with a crisp Australian Sauvignon Blanc. The food was extremely good mod international fare, but K & I decided afterwards that we'd prefer to stick to more local cuisine - we could get enough of that sort of "posh" food in Australia.

Schoolchildren riding bicycles in colours of Indonesian flagBalinese men awaiting Indonesian Independence Day celebrations

Schoolchildren riding bicycles in colours of Indonesian flag and Balinese men awaiting Indonesian Independence Day celebrations.

Mie goreng for lunch at Wayan's warung, Balangan beachThe lovely Wayan and her warung, Balangan beach

At Balangan beach I got peckish after a morning of swimming and reading, so sat at a nearby warung run by a gorgeous little lady called Wayan wearing a Winnie the Pooh tee-shirt. The Mie Goreng she whipped up for me in her rudimentary kitchen cost a minuscule fraction of what the Gado Gado meal had cost us, but was simple and really tasty. Wayan laughed and gave me a hug when I told her that her noodles were "delicious" in Indonesian and in Balinese (a most important word to learn in any language!)... :)

Long Island Iced Teas at the Bulgari resort

The other sliver of opulence we treated ourselves to was drinks at the swanky new Bulgari resort. The fabulous Van at Ellie's had informed us that you didn't need to be a guest at the resort to go to the cocktail bar - so we just rocked up and were whisked in a little golf buggy from the impressive lobby past all the resort villas and down to the edge of the cliff to the even more impressive cocktail bar. We ordered long island iced teas, looked out over the infinity edge pool and briefly fantasised about being ludicrously rich.

Tourists at Geger beach (temple in background)Monkey eating plastic hair clip

Two tourists (not K & me!) seemingly oblivious to the charms of Geger beach, and a monkey at Uluwatu temple eating a plastic hair clip it had snatched from a tourist's hair - watch out for these vicious little buggers!

Pepes Ikan and Plecing Kangkung at Marina Warung

Our last night in the Nusa Dua area we dined at a great little local warung called Marina, where we dined on Pepes Ikan (spiced fish baked in banana leaves), Plecing Kankung (water spinach with sambal) and Sate Lilit (the Balinese version of sate which consists of spiced minced meat pressed on to skewers).

Banana pancake with palm sugar syrup and lime, and guava juice

Next we traveled to Amed, a series of remote fishing villages on the east coast. We stayed at Blue Moon Villas, which was very pleasant and comfortable. Above is a breakfast of banana pancake with palm sugar syrup and lime, accompanied by guava juice. K & I, in between devouring novels and lazing in the sun, went swimming each day in the lovely warm ocean and enjoyed snorkeling over the Japanese shipwreck at Banyuning, looking at all the brightly-coloured tropical fish.


Amazing tempura at Komang John Cafe (with cute curly lime in vodka tonic)Nasi campur at Komang John Cafe
Soto ayam at Komang John CafeSate Ayam (with delicious grilled vegetables) at Komang John Cafe

The food at Komang John Cafe, the restaurant adjoining Blue Moon, was consistently excellent. Starting top left up above and going clockwise, their vegetarian tempura was some of the freshed, tastiest veggie tempura I've ever tasted! We also enjoyed the Nasi Campur (literally "mixed rice" - rice served with a variety of meats, veggies and tempe), the Westernised Sate Ayam (chicken satay skewers) and Soto Ayam (chicken soup).

Effigy for cremation ceremony, AmedJukung fishing boats at Lehan

Effigy to be burned in a cremation ceremony, and jukung fishing boats lined up on the shore at the village of Lehan.

Balinese boys in Lipah fishing village
Pepes ikan and jukut urab at Warung MakanCoconut barracuda and jukut urab at Warung Makan

Probably our favourite meal in Bali. In the poor fishing village of Lipah, two little boys across the dirt road from us were having enormous fun running along with an old plastic bag as though it were a kite. We stopped at Warung Makan, a modest little warung where we ended up having some fantastically fresh fish, caught mere hours ago. K had the Pepes Ikan which arrived still wrapped in banana leaves accompanied by some Jukut Urab (a salad of mixed vegetables with grated coconut), and I had Jukut Urab with Coconut Barracuda. We both couldn't get over how good the food was at Warung Makan. Sublime!

Rice paddies on the Amed - Amlapura road

In between reading and lounging by the pool and on the beach, we took a day trip to the Tirta Ganga water palace and the Bale Kambang (Floating Pavilion) at Amlapura. From the Amed - Amlapura road once can see some of the prettiest rice terraces Bali has to offer. I like this shot of a family working the rice paddy together.

Bebek Betutu at Komang John Cafe - not on the menu!Rice cones and Wayan carving up the Bebek Betutu
Farewell dinner - Bebek Betutu

Bajing, one of the guys running Blue Moon, had remarked upon my interest in Balinese cuisine. He offered to prepare a traditional Balinese meal for us for our final night in Amed. We agreed, and so one day in advance one of the boys went down to the market to buy a duck which could undergo 24 hour preparation for the main dish, Bebek Betutu (a whole duck stuffed with herbs, ginger, lemongrass, chilli etc and roasted in banana leaves - a sample recipe is here). The delicate flavours and texture of the meat were wonderful - and look how cute the little leaf cones over the rice were! :)

View of the rice paddies from our room at Tegal Sari

Our third and final destination (following a quick visit to Kertha Gosa, the ancient Balinese Hall of Justice) was Ubud. I'd remembered Ubud (from the other time I'd visited Bali 11 years ago on an art and cultural trip in high school) as a tranquil hideaway in the hills. Well actually, it's a hell of a lot more touristy than the other places where we'd been, but K & I still had a great time staying at the wonderful wonderful Tegal Sari.

Tegal Sari has been voted #1 of 80 Ubud hotels in the Trip Advisor popularity index, and with good reason - prices are extremely reasonable given the quality of the rooms and the stunning aspect, set in the middle of lush rice paddies. The hotel is outside of the main centre of Ubud, but the complimentary hotel shuttle can drop you off and pick you up from wherever you want to go whenever you want - plus we rather liked a bit of a walk after so much lying around and reading... :)

Breakfast on our terrace at Tegal Sari

If you're thinking of staying at Tegal Sari, BOOK WELL IN ADVANCE - their rooms fill up quickly. We can highly recommend staying in one of the Wooden Rooms (incredibly, only 400,000IDR (AUS$48) per night) - ours was up on stilts, with a gorgeous carved wooden four poster bed. Having breakfast each morning on our private balcony overlooking the rice paddies was a real treat.

Monkeys in Pura Dalem Agung, Monkey Forest SanctuaryBaby monkey outside Monkey Forest Sanctuary

Monkeys in Pura Dalem Agung, Monkey Forest Sanctuary, Ubud.

Excellent Pad Thai at The Waroeng, Ubud

When we felt like a break from Indonesian/Balinese food, we had Thai food instead... this Pad Thai at The Waroeng, a little jazz cafe off the Ubud main drag, was particularly good.

Cremation ceremony procession, Ubud

A cremation ceremony procession heading down the Ubud main drag, sheets of plastic and umbrellas keeping the offerings (and people!) dry. An excellent description of what a Balinese cremation ceremony entails can be found here.

Balinese 'tapas' at Nomad, UbudBalinese 'tapas' at Nomad, Ubud

One night we went for Balinese 'tapas' at Nomad, a restaurant that has become something of an Ubud institution. It was good to taste a variety of dishes all at once (the tastes included Sate Lilit, Jukut Urab, Ayam Betutu and Tempe Kering), but we couldn't help feeling it was all rather bland and Westernised. We liked their lemongrass tea though. :)

Balinese woman setting out cadang sari offerings in rain

Balinese woman setting out canang sari offerings in the rain.

Padang food on display in UbudFinal lunch in Bali

My final lunch in Bali was at a Padang restaurant in Ubud. Padang restaurants specialise in Minangkabau cuisine from West Sumatra, noted for its strong flavours and spiciness, and being the birthplace of rendang. In a Padang restaurant all the dishes sit on display, but they're cooked to withstand refrigeratorless environments, and are served cold over warm rice. The serve I had was full of fiery goodness...

Sorry for such a long post! If you're thinking of a tropical holiday, please consider going to Bali. At no time during our trip did we feel unsafe - not that we'd want to go hang out in crowded souvenir markets or Kuta nightclubs, anyway - I urge you to support the Bali tourism industry (steering well clear of the bogan rat race, of course!) that so many of the friendly and peaceful Balinese are reliant on.

Oh, and the food's great, too! :)

Family

6 comments:

Vida said...

This is a dream holiday, what a visual feast!! Vida x

thanh7580 said...

Hey Claire, you finally found your notebook. It had to be somewhere in your house.

Bali looks so good. It's so lush and the colours are so vivid. The sunset looks brilliant. I love the first photo with the hut in the background out of focus, very arty indeed.

If I were to go to Bali, I want to visit all the little towns and stuff too rather than the nightclubs.

And I have to agree, the food looks great.

Ali-K said...

Such fresh sounding flavours! I think it's very appropriate that you lost your notebook...as we're now into summer all that G&T drinking and seafood eating is an inspiration for yummy summer eating.

Hungry Hamster said...

Amazing holiday you had!! The pictures are really beautiful! Hope my photography skills can get as good as yours someday.

Brilliant recommendation on the European! I tried it out and loved it! Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

Claire!
What a great way to start my morning! Your adventure in Bali looks a treat! Your photos capture the most beautiful scenes and literally take me there! Great work, and hopefully catch up soon for that coffee! x

Maxine said...

Excellent post!