WINING AND DINING

WINING AND DINING IN BALI

Bountiful trees laden with tropical fruits, clear balmy waters lapping on sandy shores, scenic vistas across rice fields towards volcanoes… these are the major ingredients for an incredibly unique dining experience, and these ingredients are perfectly combined in Bali.

And who would imagine that such a small island somewhere out in the Indian Ocean would have such an array of exotic foods on offer? To cater for the needs of the great variety of guests to the island, and to tempt these visitors to explore the island gastonomically as well as physically, Bali is the ultimate global village when it comes to wining and dining.

Whether you're interested in sampling the local fare, or developing an international flavour, there's bound to be a setting and choice of foods that will satisfy. High in the mountains, amongst the rice paddies, or by the sea - good quality restaurants and cafes await you in every possible location. With the right atmosphere and the right food, your appreciation and enjoyment of Bali will be complete.

The Balinese Bite

While in Bali, it is a must to sample the local cuisine, as well as some of the fascinating dishes from other parts of Indonesia. You will find Balinese dishes offered on many international menus, but it is also possible to "go Balinese" exclusively.

Bumbu Bali at Nusa Dua takes it's name from the traditional Balinese spice mix, and true to its name it offers an authentic taste of Bali. The restauranteurs, Heinz and Puji von Holzen, have recreated the atmosphere of a traditional Balinese home, and offer true Balinese hospitality.

At Bebek Bengil (The Dirty Duck Diner!) in Ubud, crispy skinned duck made with the original blend of herbs and spices is the house specialty, and provides a wonderful taste sensation. Here, traditional food is creatively presented in the more modern stylish setting, as it is at Batan Waru, another very popular Ubud choice. When you combine the traditional dishes with the delightful desserts on offer at both restaurants, your meal is perfectly complete.

Good Indonesian food from all over the archipelago can be found at Ayodya Rumah Makan in Sanur, a grand eating house designed to invoke an ancient Javanese Kingdom atmosphere. At Ayodya you will find the unique Indonesian Rijsttafel is offered, and each of the wide range of courses and condiments are served individually to each guest. Rijstaffel is also offered at La Indonesia Restaurant in Jimbaran, along with an assortment of delightful menu dishes, and all in a beautiful courtyard setting.

The Legong restaurant at Sanur is another possibility for Indonesian dining, as is Ketipat in Kuta (named after the small sticky rice bundles woven into coconut leaves), and both are sure to satisfy the traveller's hunger for local fare. Made's Warung has successfully combined traditional tastes with a modern selection, and both restaurants in Kuta and Seminyak do brisk business. Warung Batavia, also in Seminyak, has recreated the humble nasi-campur (mixed rice dish) and made it a very popular dining option.

Many hotels also offer good quality Balinese food at some of their dining outlets. The Padi restaurant at the Ritz Carlton, for example, has a traditional Balinese hot pot, as well as a family style Rijsttafel, and it's possible to try some Balinese specialties at the Sheraton Laguna's Poolside Terrace.The Bali Hyatt at Sanur serves Rajalaya style Rijsttafel in Café Wantilan's elegant traditional village pavillion.

For those wanting to extend their eating experiences beyond Indonesian shores, use the locality guide to some of Bali's best International restaurants and cafes which follows to help you to navigate your way.

Ecclectic Kuta

Kuta is the traditional starting point for travellers, and being the centre of tourist activity, is a great place to begin your feast.

Your first culinary stop could well be just across the ocean to Australian shores, although much of what is offered in terms of Australian food is fairly ordinary. You will, however, find a good Australian hamburger at Yannie's Restaurant on Legian Road, a lively place to visit with char-grilled food and good beer.

A small culinary step further takes you to the Hard Rock Café, newly opened at the hotel on the beachfront, with large American style meals and an energetic American atmosphere created by trendy décor and excellent live bands. Studebakers also has good American style food, with large salads as an inviting feature.

Go south of the border for a Mexican feast at TJ's, or north for a sumptuous Indian buffet (Wednesday nights) and a tasty vegetarian selection at Warung Kopi. You'll find more great vegetarian food at Aroma's, with a mouth watering selection of drinks, cakes and desserts to complement your main meal. A little further along Jalan Legian is the Kopi Pot, with a good range of salad choices.

On the other side of the equator, it's possible to pick up some great value Japanese at Tenkai, at the Bali Padma. You'll find the unique Teppanyaki and Shabu-shabu there, as well as the usual selection of Japanese foods.

Heading further north gastronomically for some good Meditteranean food in a smart contemporary setting is the Macaroni Club. Fine international menus can be found at Un's and Poppies, one of the landmark Kuta restaurants, and both with lovely garden settings.

For more casual dining try the Café Etnik, conveniently located in the heart of Kuta, Bali's Cyber Café or the tasty Bali Bakery. A selection of European, Indonesian, Chinese and Balinese foods awaits you at Kubu Melasti Café, and there's more good international food at the Kori restaurant. And, of course, Kuta has a wide range of the ever popular international fast foods as well, with Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, MacDonald's, Arby's, Wendy's and California Fried Chicken all represented.

Stylish Seminyak, Legian and Koroboakan

Try great Japanese food at the northern end of the Kuta strip in Ryoshi's cozy cushioned atmosphere. For good quality sushi, visit any of Ryoshi's restaurants, now located in Seminyak and Legian, as well as Sanur and Ubud. Goa 2001 has good sushi, too, as well as a large selection of seafood, Thai and Indonesian dishes. More Mexican here, too, at Poco Loco's, a large lively restaurant that's always full and consistently offers good food in large servings (also at Nusa Dua).

Meditteranean offerings in this locality include the stylish Panterai, with wonderful Greek food. Italian favourites with flavoursome food are Café Luna, a trendy roadside restaurant, and La Teras, which sits high above the road in a lovely rooftop setting. Legian Pizza Ceria is another good Italian restaurant, with the obligitary tasty crusty pizza. La Luciola at Koroboakan has a spacious open outlook at the ideal beachside setting. Good food and a simultaneously smart and relaxed atmosphere have worked together to make it the sort of place where bookings are a must.

Tasteful fine dining with European and international dishes is a pleasure at the Legian, also on the beach, while a rice field outlook with excellent French food makes Warisan another popular choice.

There are a few good Thai food choices in this locality, including the original Khin Khao Thai and Gado Gado.

For something different, cook your own food choices on hot stone plates at The Pepper Tree, or take in the cool jungle atmosphere at the Rum Jungle restaurant.

Enjoy casual, relaxed eating at Benny's or Zanzibar, both on Jalan Double Six, or at the busy Krakatoa Café and French style Mocha Cafe… all great places for breakfast and lunch. It's even possible to enjoy a tree-house atmosphere at Crusoe's, which serves international cuisine.

Try Tuban

Many of the hotels in the Tuban area have opened good value-for-money restaurants, many with particularly good Asian food.

The Golden Lotus, at the Bali Dynasty Hotel, has Dim Sum for lunch, for example, while the Melati restaurant at the Kartika Plaza Hotel has good Indonesian food. Kartika Plaza also has the pool-side Segara Terrace for great Italian food. At the Holiday Inn O'Brien's has good steaks, and the Lotus Tavern offers a good mix of Indonesian and Italian dishes.

Both Chi Chi's and Amigos can offer lively Mexican food in a lively atmosphere, Amigo's with a creative Californian flavour. You'll also come across some good Thai food at Khin Khao, with the option of a Thai BBQ cooked and served at the table, and the Mandarin has tasty Chinese. Seafood favourites are the Kuta Seafood Market and Singapore Seafoods, both of which offer fresh seafood from live tanks.

All Stars Surf Café, with surfing videos, competitions, and a conglomeration of general surfing paraphernalia, offers good Californian food with a difference, and Palm Cove covers gourmet pizzas. A range of fast food outlets are also scattered throughout this locality, as in Kuta.

The Nusa Dua Niche

Nusa Dua's Hotels, which are mostly of the five star variety, offer excellent food and service. Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of regular Balinese life, the main hotel compound, including the Galleria Shopping Complex, is seen by many as a peaceful dining alternative.

The Nusa Dua Beach, Grand Hyatt, Sheraton, and Hilton hotels have particularly good restaurant outlets.

The Grand Hyatt's Pasar Malam displays a particularly wide range of tasty foods in an enjoyable "night market" setting. On the beach, the Salsa Verde has a bright and flamboyant décor and food choice, with gourmet pizzas being the specialty, and "inland" the Watercourt Café, with its lotus ponds and lush gardens, offers a brasserie style menu. The Japanese Inagiku is designed as a traditional Japanese country house, and is renowned for its tempura, and Mei Yan Café, with its distinctive Chinese flavour, has an international selection.

The Sheraton Nusa Indah has an elegant Japanese restaurant, Hannabe, with private Teppanyaki, Sashimi and Tatami rooms. There is also a French Bistro style restaurant, Le Bistro, and the more casual Ikan seafood grill and Capsicum Café. The island's most authentic fine dining option is at the Sheraton Laguna's Mayang Sari, with international food selections also available at Café Lagoon. Italian-Californian cooking at La Cascata at the Grand Mirage is a novelty, and Genji at the Bali Hilton is good.

Outside of the main hotel compound, the Nikko has wonderful food in a spectacular cliffside setting. Brasserie des Celebrites has continental and Asian foods in a bright Balinese environment, while Tao-Li Chinese restaurant serves traditional Cantonese, and Benkay has authentic Japanese. You can't go past the Jala Jala seafood restaurant for elevated beachside eating, and against the backdrop of the emormous cliff faced statue, the buffet dinners and entertainment offered at the Kupu-Kupu restaurant are wonderful. You'll also come across award-winning food at the Grand Mirage's Cascata, and the Amanusa has Asian and Continental foods with views over the golf course to the ocean at the Terrace, with excellent Italian food in an inspiring setting at The Restaurant.

In the Bualu village itself, just outside of the Nusa Dua complex, are Ulam's two fresh seafood restaurants and the other Poco Loco Mexican restaurant. Pantai Mina Brasserie is another worthwhile Nusa Dua restaurant.

A stroll through the Galleria shopping complex will take you past a number of good restaurant outlets, all gently beckoning with welcoming smiles and colourful menus. On the Rocks is a popular option, which gives guests the opportunity enjoy tender Australian steaks and to cook their fresh food selection at the table on hot lava stones. Also worth trying are Ole Ole, with authentic Spanish food, and Pica Pica, with a beaut Brazilian BBQ. For Japanese, there's the Matsuri Japanese Restaurant, and Ema has both Chinese and Thai foods. If you're after an international choice, sample the dishes at Rayunan restaurant or Putri Duyung.

Journey from Jimbaran to the Bukit

One of the simplest, most inexpensive and yet most tasty and exotic of Bali's eating out choices has to be Jimbaran's fish cafes. An extension of the life of this sleepy fishing village, the fish cafes started as a few alung-alung huts on the beach and have expanded to become a thriving industry. Now focused around the beach area near the central Jimbaran markets and stretching all the way up to the airport, there are so many choices that it is impossible to single any out. The flavour produced when the fresh seafoods smothered in mouthwatering spice mixes are BBQd over coconut husks is fantastic. Choose your own prawns, lobster, squid or fish, sit back in the sand, and watch the sun go down over the water while the food is prepared. The only drawbacks can be the smoke when the wind is off-shore and the rain in the rainy season.

Some of the best hotels are in Jimbaran, offering some of the best food in Bali. The Four Seasons Resort offers casual beachside dining at its best at PJ's café, with great Meditteranean and seafood choices, and they also have a restaurant offering a cosmopolitan menu in open air dining pavilions, Taman Wantilan. Enjoy a light afternoon tea or snack at the Terrace Bar and Lounge, or delicious and healthy "spa cuisine" at the Pool Terrace Café. Warung Mie is a more recent addition to the Four Seasons restaurant selection, offering traditional noodles from Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

Casual Meditteranean with broad cliffside ocean views is a real treat at the Ritz-Carlton's Sani Sani restaurant, and eating at Kisit Bar and Grill is an exotic warung-inspired dining experience. At Kisit you are able to feast on grilled seafood at tables in the sand, all perched in a niche in the cliff.

The Intercontinental is renowned for its excellent food and tasteful settings. A large stone house flanked by vines sets the atmosphere at the Singaraja restaurant, which has a fine dining section upstairs and a seafood BBQ display downstairs. The Japanese food at Ko restaurant also has an excellent reputation. Choose from an inviting Mediterranean selection by the pool at Jimbaran Gardens, or try a light meal at the Padi Prada Bar. It's even possible to enjoy satays and light grills as you watch the sun goes down at the Sunset Bar.

Travelling further up the hill to the Bukit, a well established range of restaurant choices is at the Bali Cliff Hotel. The Cliff seafood restaurant is good, and the Coffee Shop regularly draws crowds to its Sunday Brunch and Cave Night (Wednesday and Sunday), with a fireside Kecak dance on the beach and buffet. The latest clifftop dining experience with top-quality food and a brilliant outlook is now available at the Balangan restaurant, on the road to Uluwatu.

Sanur Secrets

Sanur is the original tourist area of Bali, and has remained a relatively quiet and laid back alternative to some of the more developed regions. Tucked away from mainstream traffic, many of the popular eateries on Jalan Danau Tamblingan provide a great casual eating atmosphere.

Best known of these would have to be Café Batu Jimbar, the now institutionalised healthy eatery of Sanur. Here it's possible to fill up on large leafy salads and a good range of vegetarian dishes in the cool and comfortable garden. You'll also find Ryoshi's in this location, for more of that fine Japanese food. Spend some time at La Taverna Italian restaurant for Italian on the beach.

The main road is also the location for a number of other relaxed eateries. The Lotus Pond and Bucu are both tried and true choices. Elsewhere, on Jalan Cemara, the Trattoria Da Marco deserves a visit to appreciate the authentic Italian flavour. Also try Mings for fresh seafood, and Kampung Sanur Restaurant and Bar for a good mix of eastern and western dishes in an easy ambience, or the comfortable and casual Kafe Wayang. Other good options in Sanur are the Canangsari restaurant, or, for some zesty Italian, Pasta and Pasta. A bolder Sanur choice would be LA's Bistro, which also has a discoteque.

Sanur's hotels, which on the whole also maintain the relaxed atmosphere of the area, broaden the local choices significantly. The Bali Hyatt has great pizza, pasta and salads at the open air trattoria on the beach, Pizza Ria Terrace, and a fisherman's beach hut houses the Omang Omang Grill, which serves seafood and grilled food. The Cupak Bistro and Café Wantilan both provide a variety of foods in lovely Indonesian settings, while an upmarket Chinese restaurant across the road serving Cantonese and Szechuan called Telaga Naga. Cantonese and Dim Sum are specialties at the Sanur Harum at the Radisson, which also has a good coffee shop. You can also relax by the pool for flavoursome Meditteranean dishes at the Parkroyal's Mertasari Grill.

Downtown Denpasar

Not being a major tourist centre, Denpasar itself offers more local food eateries than international restaurants, so this is could be the place to try some of the local fare.

The best place to explore Denpasar's offerings is in Jalan Teuku Umar. Along this road are a variety of places to eat, so it's possible to start with a nasi campur and move on to a Chinese feast and finish with an ice cream.

The best known restaurant on this road is the Rasa Sayang, which will impress with its Cantonese spread. Another good airconditioned oasis from shopping expeditions is Kiki News Café, with both steaks and local foods served in a bright atmosphere. And Hero supermarket has a refreshing coffee shop with lots of light treats, Excelso.

A number of different eateries are thrown together in one place at the Gula-lunak courtyard, which makes it an ideal spot for taste testing.

Up to Ubud

Ubud will always be a favourite destination for visitors wanting to relax and wind down in a beautiful rural environment. And the growing choice of excellent cafes and restaurants continues to make it the ideal destination for day visitors or those coming for a longer stay. Most eating places have exotic outlooks onto vine strewn river canyons or across vast stretches of lazy rice paddies, and, again, the mix of local and international foods available is outstanding.

Casa Luna epitomizes the feel of Ubud, with layers of terraced floors looking out over the river below, and a tempting array of fresh and healthy menu items, including good cakes and breads from their own Honeymoon Bakery. Also on the main stretch of road are two upmarket "warungs" (local eating houses): Murni's Warung, with an equally tempting taste and feel, and the classy Ary's Warung.

In the casual café vein are Mumbul's, which specialises in multiple flavours of ice cream, and Tutmak, which is well known for its excellent coffee. The Jazz Café is, obviously, a great place to enjoy some good music, or try the Mai Mai bar and restaurant for a more lively night out. The Bridge Café has the advantage of a quiet just-out-of-town location, while the Lotus Café has created a water garden oasis at its central location. Further out of town is the lovely Kampung restaurant and café, or the trendy French-flavoured Blue Yogi.

As well as the casual cafes, there are plenty of classy restaurants here in Ubud, mostly in the boutique hotels. Hotels in Ubud with enticing fine dining restaurants include the Chedi, Amandari, and the Four Seasons. The Amandari has a beautiful riverside setting, and its main restaurant overlooks the Ayung with a vista to the volcanic mountains. The Four Seasons makes the most of its spectacular environment, and you can take in the peaceful ricefield and rugged rive edge along with the South East Asian food selection at the Ayung Terrace. The Riverside Café also has some different wok selections and chargrilled foods, salads, and wood-fired pizzas, while the Jati Bar has light snacks and afternoon teas.

Also, use Ubud as a base for venturing further afield to Candidasa, where food at the Serai and Amankila Hotels is outstanding. Al fresco dining at the Amankila Beach Club is definitely worth the trip.

Right out of town, and across the Lombok Straits, is the fabulous island of Lombok. Dine in a magical setting under the stars or next to the beautiful cascading elevated feature swimming pool at the Novotel on the south side of Lombok. Or try international and Indonesian foods at the Sheraton Senggigi's Kebun Anggrek, relax by the pool at the Bawang Putih Grill, and treat yurself to a selection of Indonesian and Thai foods at the Spice Market. Should you have the opportunity to explore this holiday haven, stop off at the fun Salsa pub and restaurant in Senggigi, which offers a choice of international foods.

Once you've visited some of these terrific locations and sampled the fantastic flavours from around this magical island, you'll want to come back for more, time and time again. An appetite for the best is always well catered for here. Selamat makan, enjoy!