Kakul 🤢

For the first time ever, I put my local cuisine aside – just the mentality and focused on finding the best restaurants in Bali, regardless of the cuisine. If you love simple street food, try to leave room for one of the fancy restaurants on your trip. Sources: 1

If you are looking for a really special meal at a restaurant in Ubud, Locavore is on the shortlist, but it is important to find a great restaurant in the area. I rarely go to restaurants that serve non-local food, and if that means ignoring the Japanese restaurants in Bangkok, so be it. If there is international food in Bali, you should prefer local food, even if it is not as good as international food. Sources: 1

If you are in the Tegallalang area, there are a number of great restaurants, such as the Bali Bazaar, Ubud Market and even a few other restaurants. If you want to go for a meal, follow the road to the end of the road and you will see a stunning sunset over the rice fields. Sources: 2

The Chandi is a beautiful restaurant and it is a great opportunity to warm up with a ceremonial plate bebek betutu. Another popular culinary tradition is kuah capung, which involves removing the wings and boiling the insect in water with spices and fresh turmeric leaf to add flavour. People in western Bali whip up what is called katak bumbu (kesuna cow) in a pan of crispy fried oil, usually in the middle of the night. Dragonfly cassava is drained and put into thick, round, soft doughnuts, mixed with garlic, chilli – less galangal and MSG – to make a soft paste, fried and then fried in oil until crisp. Sources: 1, 3

The seized dragonflies are crushed only with the body and not with the wings, crushed with a stone mortar and a pestle with a batu foot, until they are scraped by hand – the traditional paruta grater – to form a fine powder. Add to the pan, simmer briefly in water and stir in a piece of resistant coconut milk until the temperature boils over, creating this classic Balinese campung specialty. The frog is then mixed with rice flour and fried in oil, giving this amphibious culinary endeavor a sweet and sour aftertaste. Sources: 3

Served with a sweet and savoury peanut sauce and accompanied by spicy sambal, I would love to have that again on my next trip to Bali. This was one of my favorite foods I ate on our trip, and it will definitely be one of my favorite foods on any trip. Sources: 1

On our most recent trip, we spent a week in Bali, splitting our time between the popular tourist hotspots of Ubud and Seminyak, but stayed in Ubudi all the time. In both places I found the food much more expensive, tasteless and sometimes devious service charges were added to the bill. If you are travelling on a budget or living in Bali for a long time, remember that you will find it difficult to find authentic warung (simple Indonesian restaurants) or restaurants serving international dishes. I recommend trying some of these hidden gems for those of you who travel and travel on a budget. Sources: 1, 2

The QM hardly managed to serve a few healthy and different meals during the week, and most of us rushed to the canteen to wash down the cakes and samosas with tea. The food ration was excellent, although I did not enjoy the task of strictly observing the table manners demanded by the cadets. I had a lot of fun with the initiator rumor, but cooking was a problem – the simpletons, who were the vast majority, soon refused to touch the chicken curry. Take a knife and fork and take them, and they rush into their canteens with tea and cake. Sources: 0

Many restaurants in the Warungs of Indonesia serve only one dish, and the best is the chicken curry or even a chicken rice dish like the one in QM. Sources: 2

In the picture below are sweet potato chips with sweet potatoes, which are prepared with sweet potatoes and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper. You ask if you like a particular yam cut and if so, how much of it you want and what kind of taste. Sources: 1, 2

They are, however, absolutely delicious and can be cooked in the oven for a few minutes to soften the dough a little. Sources: 2

This addictive homemade sambal is baked with the hero of all sambaals I tried it in Indonesia: fried corn, herbs and potato balls. I also recommend mashed potatoes and balls of the delicious green sambal, which is sharp, salty and fragrant. Make sure the ribs are cooked until the fork is soft, marinated and cooked to make the spice mixture. You might expect the spices to be hot and spicy, but not as hot as you might expect, as they are made from a combination of garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, salt, pepper, chili powder, black pepper and cayenne. Sources: 1, 2

Food: Kakul