Balinese Food Guide ( for a hardcore non-vegetarian)
Everyone travels with a purpose. When Anna (for the first-timers, my father-in-law) travels, he travels for food! He has one motto when he travels in the country or abroad: Never eat anything which he could get in Mumbai. He searches extensively for good restaurants, food stalls, even markets, where he can get authentic local cuisine. I have heard him asking our drivers and guides, “Take me where you eat your favourite meal”. This has never failed!
On our latest family trip to Bali, we had an indelible food experience. If you are an earnest non-vegetarian and into higher meats, Bali is the place for you. And if you want to have a local food extravaganza, do not give a miss to their warungs.
We had some of the best meals in ‘warungs’ which are a staple in Indonesian food culture. A warung is a small traditional restaurant or kiosk. They are humble, family-owned and recognizable by the line-ups of people hoping to get their favourite dish.
We stayed in Seminyak, a busy touristy area on the south-west coast of Bali. Although the area abounds with high-end Asian and western-style restaurants, sleek bars and busy beaches, we set out to find a warung which would serve simple but scrumptious local food.
First thing we wanted to eat in Bali was Sate. Sates (or satays) are traditional meat skewers. These old-style Indonesian barbecues became our favourite, the moment we took a bite of them in Sate Babi Bawah Pohon (pork sate under the tree). Anna chose this warung after surfing the internet for hours, reading hundreds of reviews and watching Mark Wein’s Bali special episode to find the best satays in Seminyak-Kuta area. It paid off and how!

The pork and chicken skewers marinated in sweet and spicy sauce are Balinese specialities. Anna had earlier tried sates in Malaysia and Singapore, but as they contained more amount of honey than that of the local spice, he thought they were incomplete and catered towards the palate of tourists. “I didn’t want to taste ‘touristy’ sates”, he declared. Hence, he chose Sate Babi Bawah Pohon, a local as well as tourist favourite and it did not disappoint him. The Pork Sates (Sate Babi) were crunchy and chewy at the same time. The chicken skewers ( Sate Ayam) were barbecued just fine and were juicy and smoky. The skewers are served with hot and super-spicy sambal oelek and salted green chillies for that extra kick. Sambal is indispensable in Balinese dishes. This hot Indonesian relish is a paste of local red chillies and some interesting secondary ingredients, which make different types of sambal. Here, we tried two kinds: Sambal Oelek and Sambal Matah. Sambal Oelek mainly contains fresh red hot chillies along with fermented fish or shrimp paste called Terasi, Asian shallots/ onions, garlic, ginger, candlenuts, kaffir lime, coconut oil (typically), sugar and salt.
The Sambal Matah is, however, Anna’s favourite. It contains a wider range of secondary ingredients as compared to Sambal Oelek which enhances its zest and savouriness. It contains much more Asian shallots, tomatoes and even lemongrass! We had our best Balinese fish and chicken dishes with Sambal Matah. It was pretty interesting to notice how each Sambal Matah was different across the variety of warungs on the island. “Since Indonesian dishes are unimaginable without sambal, it is important what ingredients are added in the sambal and how fresh they are. Although it is easy to make, if the lemongrass is a week old, it loses its zest; if shrimps are stale, it smells odd; if you add too much or too little candlenut, it spoils sambal’s texture. Balinese cuisine is very simple. It is easy to cook and requires a handful of ingredients. Sambal makes it unique and exquisite. Without sambal, the meat and salads may taste insipid”, Anna remarked during our flight back home.

Indonesian or Balinese desserts are quirky (yes!). Es Campur is a mixed shaved ice dessert, which would beat all-time favourite ice-creams. The one we tried had coconut cream, condensed milk, berries, tapioca balls and grass jelly. Tapioca balls are made from starch extracts of cassava roots. They are also called as ‘Boba’. They vary in colour and texture depending on the amount of sugar and added flavours. Grass jelly is fascinating. It is black and gives Es Campur a slightly bitter taste. They are harder in consistency than our regular jellies but still melt in the mouth with all that sugary ice shavings. We just fell in love with Sate Babi Bawah Pohon after having their fruit salad with some fresh fish stock: Rujak Kuah Pindang. ‘Kuah Pindang’ means fish stock in the local language and it is the basic ingredient of this ‘Rujak’ which means fruit or vegetable salad. This eclectic Balinese dish is sweet, salty, sour and spicy due to the perfect combination of brown sugar, fish/shrimp stock, Bird eye’s chillies and fruits. In fruits, it typically contains mango or Kedondong (Arma fruit) which gives it that modest sourness. We devoured our meal, gulping some good old Kelapa (Tender coconut) water. These were some of the biggest coconuts we had ever had.
The most read or heard word in Balinese cuisine is ‘Nasi’. ‘Nasi’ means cooked rice. The Balinese cannot think of a meal without rice. All main dishes are served with steamed white rice. Sates are often eaten with rice making them ‘Nasi Sate Babi’ or ‘Nasi Sate Ayam’.
Balinese dishes are typically eaten with this rice mixed with sambal and a wide range of main dishes. We tried several eateries to try as many as possible. Anna watched a lot of videos on YouTube before shortlisting the places he wanted to visit. Among those YouTube videos, he found Made’s Warung. Our first impression of Made’s was: This is not a ‘warung’? Fancy lighting, marble tables, elegant décor and a little pricy food. As it was Sunday night, we chose to have their Set Menu. It included six main dishes, a soup, a mound of steamed rice, Sambal and a fruit salad.

We started with Soto Madura. It literally translates into ‘spicy beef soup’. This clear soup of Javan origin tastes best with some Sambal, fried shallots, fried garlic and a dash of lemon. Unlike other clear soups, it is eaten with rice. But we preferred having it as our meal starter. Lumpia Udang is a deep-fried, thin crepe pastry filled with ground steamed shrimp. Its taste leaned towards bland but they go perfectly with Sambal Oelek. Rendangs are famous across Indonesia and Malaysia. We got to have the traditional Beef Rendang, which is a spicy red meat gravy. It is on a drier side to be called a curry, as Malaysians prefer it. It is savoury and made rich with the customary hot spices and coconut milk. We could again have our favourite Sate Ayam(s) as a part of the menu. Although they were sweeter than the ones we had earlier, they tasted great with Sambal. The next chicken dish was Ayam Goreng Bumbu. Fried chicken has its charm and Indonesia did not disappoint us! ‘Goreng’ means fried and ‘bumbu’ means spice or seasoning mixture. This delectable spiced fried chicken was served with some fried garlic and vegetables. Tempe Goreng Tebal was more of a snack. It is fermented and fried Soybean made into small slabs. When Anna saw them, he mumbled, “soybean chikki!” It had a nutty texture and taste. They balanced out the spicy flavours of the other mains. Our most favourite dish among the platter has to be Gado Gado. It is a salad made of vegetables, tempe that is soybean, hard-boiled eggs, steamed chicken, fried tofu and lontong — compact rice cakes mixed with creamy peanut paste. The nutty flavour of this ‘bhel’ stayed with us for the entire trip. We had Gado Gado on each day either as our snack or a side dish at lunch or even our dinner. It is one of the five national dishes of Indonesia and with its distinct flavour and compelling taste it deserves the status.
Masakan Padang is a popular Southeast Asian cuisine. Although it is native to Padang the capital city of West Sumatra, it is served in small restaurants throughout the island. We had a wonderful food-experience in one of such restaurants in Ubud.

A typical Masakan Padang has a fixed menu and all the food items of the day’s menu are served with rice and unlimited sambal. In this restaurant, we had Gurame Goreng (deep-fried freshwater fish), a traditional chicken curry, Ayam Goreng (fried chicken), Udang Goreng (fried shrimp), Kangkung (Water spinach) salad and boiled potato patties. When we travel, we look for new, unusual and exotic experiences. After researching explicitly and planning way ahead of what to eat and where to eat, we landed in this restaurant just because we casually enquired our driver Gita Putu about a simple local restaurant, where we could have our lunch. It gave us an authentic taste of what people eat every day. So, listen carefully to your driver, hotel staff or any random small shop owner. They would surely surprise you! Anna thought he had the best sambal of the whole trip in this little place. It was different than Sambal Oelek or Matah. It had green chillies in it. It was Sambal Ijo Padang, also called as Indonesian Green Sambal. This sambal was a lot less spicy than other sambals we had, so it brought out the taste of the other ingredients. We scoured plenty of warungs and restaurants for it again but couldn’t get it.
Pasar Gianyar was Anna’s Trip Advisor find. This local night market is a must-visit after spending a day or two in Ubud. Around Sunset, an array of food stalls emerges along the sidewalk of the main market street.

It was difficult for us to choose what to eat around this place, however, Anna had a clear motive: Babi Guling. Although the whole pig roast is eaten all around the world, this is one of Bali’s most famed and sought after dishes. The pig is stuffed and infused with a spicy concoction and spit-roasted.

Anna was most excited to have the crispy and crunchy pork skin along with its smoky meat and a generous dollop of sambal. Unfortunately, the stall where he had it, served it cold causing it to lose its crunchiness and flavour. To get over this disappointment we bought some Pisang Goreng -banana fritters to munch on while thinking of what more to eat. Amma settled on family favourite Gado Gado, which was packed ‘sing-chana’ style in paper and tasted just fine. I tried another Balinese staple — Nasi Campur.

This mixed rice comes with a variety of side dishes depending on which part of South East Asia you are having it in. As far as Bali is concerned, the white rice is served with, fried of curried chicken or duck, hard-boiled eggs, fried tofu, Tempe, water spinach, vegetables, bean curd, sprouts, fried peanuts and Sambal Matah. It was a treat!
As we hogged on chicken and pork for the first four days of our stay, we wanted to save the seafood for the best warung around the beaches. Jimbaran Beach is famous for its seafood platters. But Anna vetoed them as they might alter the flavours and ingredients for the sake of their tourists and western customers. Anna surfed the net for the seafood specialist warungs around Jimbaran, which had good reviews from Indonesian bloggers and travelers. He discovered — Mami Ikan Bakar. ‘Ikan’ means whole fish & ‘Bakar’ means grilled. It is a warung run by two sweet and courteous ladies. They explained what all they had and showed us the variety of fishes and shrimps to choose from. We selected a big snapper, two portions of large shrimps and two portions of mussels. The fish and the shrimps were marinated in their signature spicy sauce and grilled on a coal grill to perfection. They sprinkled the mussels with the sauce and some additional spice and kept them on the grill with their shells to sizzle. The main dishes were served with white steamed rice, Sambal Matah, Sambal Oelek, water spinach salad, cucumber, fried garlic slices and sweet soy sauce.

“First, all the seafood was very fresh, so half the battle was won, second, the food was uncluttered, meaning no overpowering spices, etc. It was definitely one of the best meals of the trip,” Anna said when we left the island.
Over the next few days, we tried different dishes while traveling around the island.

On our way to Jatiluwih Rice Terraces we stopped by this little restaurant for lunch. We ordered a couple of Gado Gado(s), Soto Ayam and Sate. Soto Ayam is a spicy turmeric-infused chicken soup with rice noodles, lontong and local veggies. It is a perfect one-bowl meal.
At the end of one of our long sightseeing days, we decided to have a takeaway for dinner. We asked Gita Putu to take us to his usual place. He drove us off our hotel route to a food stall in Jimbaran- Serembotan. We picked up Gado Gado, spiced blood sausages, chicken paste and tuna paste all wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. As we unpacked the takeaway and took bites, we understood why Gita Putu regularly buys his dinner from there. It was simple, homely and delightful.
The Balinese love their spices and Ayam Betutu — their spiced chicken is a must-try. After exploring a local mall to buy some local ingredients to take back home, we marched in the warung just next to it. Warung Ayam Betutu Khas Gilimanuk Cabang Merdeka. We ordered the fried version of Ayam Betutu with some rice, sambal, water spinach and fried peanuts. This rich and piquant dish also comes in bebek (duck) version.
Anna and Rohan again tried the same dish in Warung Ronggeng 88 in Kuta on the last day of the trip. They also had some fried Tuna and sweet version of Ayam Goreng. When I asked Anna more about it, he said, “this was a pure family-run place, again Sumatran style but the vegetarian dishes were as good as the fried Tuna. 2 pieces of fried fish, 2 pieces of fried chicken, rice, vegetables and sambal for two 2 persons cost INR 270 only!”
We could not eat all the major Balinese dishes. Anna could not have Lawar — a spiced mixture of vegetables, minced meat, coconut and other condiments. We could not try more of Balinese desserts such as Laklak and Kolak. But we were all ecstatic that we could enjoy each meal and had fun with the local food. This was my second trip with Anna, where I got to see his process. It is amusing how he enjoys his researching, reading, planning and waiting for the specific dish he wants to try. It takes passion, patience and effort. And, it is all worth it! Bali, you are worth it!

