Saturday 28 May 2011

Dirty Duck Diner

For quack quack lover.....here is sometime you will like.

One of the Bali must visit restaurant will be Dirty Duck Diner that serve bebek bengil.

Bebek mean duck and Bengil mean crispy...If my interpretation don't fail me ya...hehe

Bebek bengil take a long time to cook thus pre-order for group basis is needed or arrive early to the restaurant. The restaurant is usually full house no matter when you go.

Located in the middle of paddy field and lot of water features and flora around, the restaurant does have 100% Balinese feel.

Back to the duck....The duck was first boil with local herbs for hours before it was taken out for cooling. Before serving the duck will be deep fried to perfection.

Verdict: Crispy. Tender meat. Meat seperated from bone easily and is very juicy. Herb taste maintained. Portion is good for sharing if you cant eat much.

Other food we order : spicy snapper fish and Gado-gado. Their Gado-gado is super nice....

Friday 20 May 2011

Babi Guling Ibu Oka

Ok....OK......bawa bertenang.....

post ini tidak halal dan tak akan halal sebab saya nak introduce makanan Bali paling famous, paling sedap.....dan paling tak halal....

Tuan tuan dan puan puan.....Babi Guling Ibu Oka

Ok, change back to English because is so inappropriate to use Malay Language in this post!!!

I don't think I need to introduce much about this Babi Guling. In Malaysia we have our very own roasted pig with rough skin just like pimple skin but Bali babi guling skin was crunchy yet smooth.

Coming from the family where produce roasted pig, I know the reason why their skin is not rough like those in Malaysia. The roasted pig in Malaysia was marinated with lot of salt and half way through the baking, the skin will be poke to allow the oil to come out thus leading to all poking area to be expand and become rough....

While that thus not happen in Babi Guling in Bali, one can expect the skin to be crunchy yet chewy and below the skin was thick layer of fat!!! YES FAT!!! A lot of FAT!!! But taste heavenly...

We order Babi Guling Rice that come with rice and babi guling of course. However we are given liver sausage, babi guling skin and meat, vegetables and fried intestine...Well, sound porky right?

Verdict: The meat was juicy but was way too chewy. The reason why it was so chewy is because the seller do not cut the meat against the meat line but was inline with it. Thus it take really a lot of hardwork to chew the meat into smaller pieces. Skin was nice but was fattening while the liver sausage taste horrible. For chinese, we normally add in liquor into liver sausage to put aside the porky smell of liver, but Ibu Oka didn't do that and it end up taste weird.....

Well, in conclusion although the it get bad comment from me, I still believe it was a must try delicacy in Bali.

Thursday 12 May 2011

Dewata Cafe, Seafood at Jimbaran Beach

Everyone who is went to Bali or currently planning for Bali would have heard about the expensive Jimbaran Beach Seafood.

Well, we are the victims...Hehe....

But what the point of going to Bali but not enjoying the seaside seafood dinner. Romantic for couple, nice avenue for chit chat for friend gathering trip and also family bonding place if you are having family trip.

There is hundred of restaurant and cafe serving the same Balinese grill seafood in Jimbaran Beach and is up to you to choose your own place. Our driver, Mr Bagus drop us at Dewata Cafe and we was greet with a group of staff who warmly usher us to the beach side. Well, they want our money, no wonder the treatment is so good.

We opt for Package A (initially cost 1.3 million but after negotiationg and make some changes in menu, we get it at price of 1.1 million rupiah)....Ok, the 'million' sound horrible but when convert to RM it was about RM500.

This menu fit for 5 person but since we have 7 person so we already prepared to have a light meal and have another drinking session in hotel later on.

Well, as normal, we as Malaysia Chinese always get discriminated. We waited for about 1 hour and a half but our food wasn't serve yet compare to the 'ah mo' that come so much later than us. But well, Ah mo is so easy to 'chop' compare to we the stingy young malaysian chinese....Well, is OK

7.30pm when the sun already set and hundred of plane had touch down and depart (yes, we can see all plane in and out of Denpasar Airport since Jimbaran Beach is just beside the Airport), our food was finally served.
7 virgin coconut (Haha, define virgin please, this look old to me)

Here come the started, fish soup and salad. The fish soup taste like ajinamoto and pepper soup and the fish is kinda hard. We hadly can identify whether it was fish or chicken.

The salad is too small portion for 7, not to mention that the taste was just 'below restaurant' standard. There is steam potato as well....Sadly forgot to capture the photo. Anyway, this 3 wasn't our main attraction.

The come the greenish kangkung which is obviously overcook. But fine.......fine...we wait and waited for the arrival of our main dish...

Clap clap....tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Presenting the main course:
1.2kg of lobster (i doubt the size)
1.2kg of fish (again the fish taste like chicken...Hard testure)
Clam (OMG, super good. The sauce was awesome)
Fried Calamari (Good. It wasnt crunchy but the testure was nice and not very chewy)
Squid Sate (This is really chewy. Basically it test your gum and teeth stregth)
Grill prawn (Quite generous serving of prawn. It taste good with a bit of hangus taste)
1.2kg crab. (The crab is too small for 1.2kg lo but fresh. Taste really sweet)

Conclusion, the seafood is fresh and as tourist, a life time experience for once is worth it. The total bill come out to be 1.5million rupiah about RM 545 ringgit for 5 person. Is pricy but worth the price we pay, maybe not for now, but for the 2 hours we spend that day. Total satisfaction. If it was Malaysia, sorry I don't think I gonna pay that for a seafood dinner except there is same concept and better venue.

Sunday 8 May 2011

Tahu Tipat - Balinese Local Delicacy

After an adventurous para sailing and banana boat, we decide to have some snack before our spa session and our Driver decided to bring us to Tahu Tipat located at the roadside leading to Nusa Dua beach.

Tahu Tipat mean Tofu with ketupat serve with peanut sauce. In Bali, peanut sauce is serve in almost everything such as Satay, Gado Gado (Bali style of salad) and also Tahu Tipat. However, their peanut sauce is sweet and not spicy like what we have here in Malaysia. To sum up, the peanut sauce taste like those 'sweet sauce' in dim sum shop with a little bit of peanut inside.

When we are at the Tahu Tipat shop, we have problem communicating with them. They don't speak English nor Malay so our Driver talk to them personally while the rest, we communicate using sign language!

There is various kuih muih at the stall also which cost about Rp 1,000 each. I personally like the stuffed tofu. The tofu is stuff with vermicelli with some spice. It taste very good. In here, all trading is based on 'TRUST'. We just eat and eat the kuih and by the end of the day, we just tell them how many kuih we have eaten they will charge accordingly. When we are busy eating, one local lady stop by to buy the kuih. What she do is she select the kuih using her BARE HAND and put into a small plastic bag which make us wonder, the kuih we eat might have been touched by hundred of people and is now inside out stomach....hehe....thank god we survive the day without any stomachache.


So here come the Tahu Tipat. It cost Rp 10,000 each which was about RM 3.50 in Malaysia. All Tofu is freshly fried before it was cut into smaller pieces together with the Ketupat. Then the Tahu Tipat will be serve with peanut gravy and chilli padi. It also come with crackers.


Frankly it taste very good. Whats more if we are sitting at low bench beside the roadside serounded with big tree and bird chirping all the way.

Whats more, if you feel hot and heaty, opt for Es Cendol. Es Cendol is actually Bali version of Ice Cendol in Malaysia. The first few sip seem weird but after a while, you will like it.

So next time you are in Bali, forget about the expensive gala dinner or lunch....Opt for local delicacy like this....Cheap and nice.

Saturday 7 May 2011

Nasi Pedas Andika, Kuta

Bali have a lot of similarity with Malaysia even their breakfast is as heavy as Malaysian food. If we have Nasi Lemak in Malaysia, Bali have its Nasi Pedas. Nasi Pedas Andika in Kuta is one of the famous brand for Nasi Padang in Kuta that only local patronage will come and dine. The place is small and hot as the sun directly shine toward the place we sit.

Food is pretty easy. The waiter scoop rice into the basket and we choose the ingredient we want. As normal, Nasi campur ingredient in Bali cannot run very far. They have:

Serunding ayam
Tempe goreng
Telur Rebus Goreng
Tempe Tofu masak lemak
Vegetable - Sayur Nangka i think(taste aromatic....macam jasmine)
Sambal pedas sepedas pedasnya....Memang pedas gila...
and mee goreng if I not wrong...dunno why they eat mee goreng with Nasi in Bali


Well, the weather at the morning is already burning hot and we are all sweating. I pretend to be cool as Malaysian can eat spicy food...Well, once i touch the sambal, I just stood up, walk toward the freezer, take the Teh Botol and start drinking. No joke, is really pedas....No wonder it is call Nasi Pedas.

If you still scare of heaty body later, can always opt for Panda Herbal Tea.....maybe it helps....


My Nasi Pedas with egg, vege, tempe, sambal cost me Rp 17,000....that would be around RM 6.

Friday 6 May 2011

Warung Made's Kuta

We had just come back from Bali not long ago and we are all set to blog about the food we eat in Bali.

The first meal we have is at local warung with nasi campur with ayam bakar. It taste extremely good and goes well with Indonesia famous Teh Botol. Sadly we didnt capture the name of the warung as our driver just drop us there and we are too hungry to snap the photo of the warung. The food here cost about Rp 16,000 to Rp 30,000 depending on the food you choose which is quite cheap. My ayam betutu nasi campur with egg and vegetable cost me Rp16,800 while Yen Thoong Nasi Campur Ayam Betutu with vege, egg, sate lilit and other side dishes cost Rp24,000.



Anyway, lets jump to the dinner then. Our first night dinner is at Warung Made's. Warung Made is kinda famous in Bali with lots of blogger blogging about it. There is 2 Warung Made, one in Kuta and another one nearby Seminyak. You might be wondering, what so famous about this Warung that it become famous. Frankly, my answer is that I personally don't understand why it is so famous until the driver know where the place is without me need to elaborate more.

The good things about Warung Made is it serve all kind of food ranging from authentic Indonesia food to grill, western and even seafood. As we are in Bali, we tend to order all Indonesia food.

Here is our main course for the night.

This is the nasi Campur Biasa (Rp35,000)and Nasi Campur Special(Rp60,000). Nasi Campur Special come with sate lilit while the biasa don't. The nasi campur come with tempe goreng, tempe tofu, serunding ayam, telur, sayur bayam, sayur nangka (famous in Bali) and sambal. To me the nasi campur is just 'so so' as compare to the one we have for lunch.


Our vegetarian queen order her first meal in Bali as Nasi Campur Vegetarian (Rp35,000). Well, to me it look like my Nasi Campur Biasa except it does not have the shredded chicken


Oi Mei order Nasi Goreng Udang. Look at the rice, we can know it was still kinda wet and lack of 'wok hei'...Wok Hei is important in Chinese Dai Chou but not in Bali I guess. The Nasi Goreng Udang is Ok judging from the taste but it was a bit pricy (Rp45,000)


Bored of rice, Choi Ling opt for Fried Noodles (Rp30,000). It turn out to be disappointing judging from it presentation. I guess the taste also wasn't as nice as any local Malaysian fried noodles.


Fook Weng wanted something Balinese yet stomach filling food thus he order 1/2 Nasi Goreng 1/2 Gado Gado that cost Rp40,000. Gado Gado is Balinese fresh salad serve with peanut sauce. He commented the food here is just 'so so' which I believe his meal got nothing to shout about.


Last but not least, Nicholas order his Nasi Goreng special (Rp50,000). I kinda steal one of his sate ayam to judge between Malaysia sate and Bali Sate. I was actually hoping for sate lilit rather than normal ayam sate though. However the best things about sate ayam here is the gravy. The gravy here is peanut sauce but not spicy. Is sweet peanut sauce like what they use to serve for Gado Gado as well. The nasi goreng is nothing to shout about as all the nasi goreng here taste the same.


Here is our drink. We order Honey melon, Ice lemon tea, papaya lemon juice, pineapple banana juice, pineapple lemon juice, and pure carrot juice.


Overall, i believe Warung Made's is a bit over-rated by most blogger or foodies. There is so many local warung out there in Bali that serve cheaper price and more delicious food.