Monday 23 November 2015

Holiday Special: Day 7and 8 in Bali, Indonesia! (April 2015)

Balinese cuisine and beautiful Ubud! For those who have followed this is the final installment in my Bali holiday travels posts! There are four other installments before this one of my various days in Bali earlier this year when I went on holiday with my boyfriend. Our one week holiday on the gorgeous Island was split between staying mostly in the busy tourist packed Kuta area and then the quiet more culturally rich center of the Island Ubud.

Ubud is much further inland but still has plenty for tourist to visit, experience and enjoy. Bali is a huge Island and I really do wish we had a few more days to explore and visit more! There is so much rich tradition, history and places to visit, let along delicious amazing local food which we manged to try a bit of while in Ubud!

Continue below for our last two days in Bali!
Day 7and 8 in Bali, Indonesia! Balinese cuisine at Ibu Oka and Bebek Bengil! (April 2015)
A simple and light breakfast at our villa compound! I had yummy thin pancakes filled with bananas and drizzled with honey! I wish I had more but we kept our late brekkies light so we could have a good lunch a few hours later!
My boyfriend on the other hand went for an omelette with mixed vegetables!
Oh and this mostly eaten iguana body was laying around nearby on the floor! I picked it up and brought it to the grass! We had a feeling that it may have been attacked by the stray cats around!
After our light breakfast I decided to take a dip in the lap pool that separates two double storey buildings facing each other with the various villa style rooms of which we stayed in one. The water was so nice and cold although the weather in Bali was hot as crap!
My boyfriend captured a hand stand I took in the pool! Ever since I was young I love performing hand stands and somersaults under water! I did manged to convince him to join me but he wasn't in for long because of how cold it was!
Of course, my boyfriend always manages to capture the most derpie shots of my face when it's doing a thing I don't even realize!!
For pre-lunch, we headed over to one of the 3 outlets of the famous Ibu Oka which sells Balinese roast pork! We had eaten at another smaller outlet in town but they were sold out of the famed skin! So I wanted to make the effort to try the skin!
This outlet of Ibu Oka is much further in than their two other outlets by the main roads, it's a fancier outlet though, being open air and all seated customers looking out into this view of a bamboo jungle!
This outlet is the most formal looking and largest of the 3 in the Ubud area! It has a lot of seating and is known for being very busy at certain times of the day.
Teh botol and roasted pork skins! That's all we had! I just couldn't not have the pork skin! The skins were slightly hard but super delicious!
After enjoying a portion of pork skins each, we took a slow walk to find our lunch spot! All over Bali, there are temples or temple looking pieces ranging from under 5 feet to entire compounds like this! Buddhism and Hinduism are the primary religions of the Balinese.
The streets along Ubud, there is virtually no side walk with only enough space to walk single file! The main streets are lined with tons of small boutiques, bakeries, restaurants, cafes and local businesses!
While walking through the main streets in Ubud, there are plenty of signage indicating where there are accommodations, restaurants and businesses which are often off on side roads or hidden behind corners and turns!
Further down on the street I spotted a restaurant also selling the Balinese duck dish which I was looking for, as well as a shop that conducts cooking classes of the local dishes which is very popular with tourists!
Finally we found it! The very popular and famous Bebek Bengil or 'Dirty Duck Diner' which is known for the balinese duck dishes! I'd read and heard plenty of good about them so that's where we headed for lunch!
Not to be fooled by the volcanic rock facade at the entrance of this restaurant compound, inside houses a huge space of various traditional seating areas separated by pathways as well as main dining spaces like a typical eatery. All in the view of their ponds, greenery and green rice fields to the back of the space!
The compound is many separate dining spaces! From individual gazebos for groups to two primary dining areas!
We were lead to this very cozy and private traditional style seating where we had this large table to ourselves!
The menu at Bebek Bengil aka the Dirty Duck Diner! They have a large menu with lots of western dishes aside from the local dishes they're popular for! Everything on the menu is super duper affordable to cheap just like most casual eateries in Bali! A meal for two consisting of a starter or dessert with two mains plus drinks tends to cost the same as what one person would pay for a main and a drink back in Singapore!
The poultry section at Bebek Bengil! We both had problems deciding which dish to order! It took a short while but we definitely knew we were both going to order local dishes!
The chicken, beef and pork section of the menu at Bebek Bengil! Discussing with my boyfriend I really felt and still think that this restaurant should just stick to local cuisine, as not only that's what they're famous for and they're the type of eatery mostly frequented by tourists but businesses always tend to be more organized and have less waste with a more streamlined menu!
Our drinks! My boyfriend ordered an ice coffee drink that came with a big heap of whipped cream and I ordered two drinks (as I'm always a thirsty person) and got a local sweet tea and a strawberry lassi drink both which were so yummy!
Our delicious lunch at Bebek Bengil aka the Dirty Duck Diner in Bali! My boyfriend had the bebek pelalah which is grilled duck with a balinese sauce served with pressed rice whereas I ordered the classic Bebek Goreng which is deep fried duck! The dishes are served with long beans, two 'fresh' sambals which were oily by so delicious and a cooked sambal!
The deep fried duck was so damn delicious. The meat was falling off the bone and the exterior so crunchy and crisp to the point where maybe critics of western food will call it dry. I really enjoy when the little bones are so crisp that they can be eaten! My boyfriend's duck was much more moist and the sauce very tasty and nowhere as spicy as the bright red color.
After our delicious, authentic and super filling meal at Bebek Bengil, I decided to walk further into the compound to see where the green paddy rice fields were and discovered they were all the way inside at the back! Look at how lush and green the fields are!
Another angle of the lush paddy fields! That building in the background is another part of the restaurant that was closed off at lunchtime!
One of the gazebos sitting just before the paddy fields start! I started grumbling to my boyfriend about why they hadn't led us to a seat here but I didn't regret it because it was likely there may have been more bugs in this area due to the rice fields.
To the right of the gazebo I showed above behind the fields was another large common dining space! I wished we had at least sat there so we could look out into the fields! Then again we had great privacy where we were seated.
Later in the night we managed to arrange a ride from our accommodation all the way to this little joint called Naughty Nuri's Warung which is known throughout Bali for their BBQ pork ribs! It was situated down a long dark main street that lead out of the town center!
The very grimy, messy, used looking BBQ pit in front of the eatery which is basically on part of the side walk! The chef grills up or finishes orders on this and it was completely full of orders when we arrived!
The very straightforward menu at Naughty Nuri's Warung! They also had a small range of local asian dishes that included fried rice but a quick look around and it's obvious that everybody there had ordered at least one serving of their famous BBQ pork ribs!
A portion of Naughty Nuri's Warung's BBQ spare pork ribs! Super delicious and well coated with marinade! I loved the lime wedge that it came with! The meat was super juicy, chewy, tender and tasty but it didn't have that fall off the bone texture like traditional American BBQ meats have.
The super moist, soft, tasty meat of the ribs at Naughty Nuri's Warung! These were really delicious but they don't come with any sides so you'll need to order those separately!
We also ordered a steak at Naughty Nuri's and to our huge surprised it was awesome! We both thought the steak might be dry or that the cut wouldn't be that great but the steak was super juicy, fatty and had the best char on it!
After our meaty dinner at Naughty Nuri's we took a long walk that was just over 20 minutes back into the town center. On the way which consisted of many long sections of badly or unlit sidewalk we past this bench which was HELLA CREEPY. Had to take a shot of it.
On returning to our accommodations for our last night in Bali we spotted the resident cat sleeping with her three kittens at the common dining space!
Late morning of day 8 we headed off to the airport! We were however so early so we decided to eat brunch at one of the cafes outside the entrance of the airport because after going through the entrance we'd need to check in before having access to the cafes/shops inside and we were so early we couldn't check in yet!
We decided to grab a bite at a western cafe as the asian ones were so horrendously generic. For myself I had an eight inch pizza covered in peppers, ham, olives and onions! I was so hungry and wolfed this down in less than 15 minutes! It was so nice and hot and crisp on the bottom!
My boyfriend had a hot dog covered in salsa, it came with fries and a side of salad that I helped him eat!
My boyfriend about to start eating his hot dog! After we checked in, I had a bowl of wanton soup at a chinese place after a quick walk through duty free. On arrival in Singapore several hours later we were both so damn ravenous we ate at a casual thai restaurant at the airport before heading home!

That's all folks! This is the last edition to my travel posts from my most recent holiday back at the end of April earlier this year! It was such a great trip and I was so glad I did so much research of prices, places and activities as this day and age everything can be searched online! We managed to visit or eat at places I had on a list that I brought along and the only thing I wish we did more of was cheap massages and spa treatments!

I really can't get enough of beach holidays and there's just something about the sun, sand and touristy city/town that draws me in. Also I'm super lucky and love that my boyfriend and I make great travel partners. It also helps that we usually do whatever I want but I always of course consult him as he's not the pickiest person and we usually enjoy the same sort of activities!


For those who missed out! Check out my (day one and two) where we visited Kuta beach, (day 3 and 4 here) we snorkeled and had seafood on Jimbaran beach,  (day 5 here) when we moved to a villa compound in Ubud and ate Babi Guling and (day 6 here) where we indulged in a fancy Sunday Brunch and visited a bar overlooking the ocean!

Have you ever visited Bali before or plan to in the future?
Do you also enjoy the local food when on holiday?
Let me know!

Feel free to comment!
Thank you!

4 comments:

  1. OMG Sharlynn!! Why are you torturing me with those crispy pork skin!!!! *___*
    I love them so much and they're only to be found in Bali huhuhu.
    I always enjoy reading your travel posts! You and Lingga are such a foodie :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Sharlynn,

    I can't help to notice the crispy pork skin that you had! It looks and sounds sinfully but it must be super awesome :p

    Wish that I can have a nice and relaxing holidays in Bali too. Will check out the places that you recommended :D

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm beginning to wonder if Bali is your second home, Sharlynn. You seemed to travel there very often. Lol! I'm certainly impressed with your hand stand! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ohh wow! You surely had an amazing time in a wonderful place!! Those temples, cafes & restaurants add to the cultural beauty of the island! Always love your travel posts, the food looks so delicious!!

    http://www.rakhshanda-chamberofbeauty.com/

    ReplyDelete

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