bali is practically my second home, having spent almost 1,5 years there since 2010. it is always a pleasure going back, i really feels like coming home. since my last visit it already has been 2 years, so a surf and yoga trip was long overdure. through facebook and instagram i pretty much kept up to date with developments in bali, but even that couldn’t prepare me for what was waiting for me. there are traffic jams on end, in place where there barely used to be any traffic at all and tons of new restaurants, cafes and guest houses opened up. the big hotels thankfully still are far away from canggu, but even a starbucks made its way there. don’t get me wrong it is still beautiful there and the new eateries are mostly extremely awesome, however it is kind of alarming to see how much tourism is taking over.
of course the advantage is that you now have an even bigger offering in terms of food. in general i am not a big fan of indonesian food (too much fried and somehow herbs and spices seem to be missing) except some few dishes like nasi goreng, jagung (corn fritters) and tempeh manis. you find a plethora of yummy fresh and healthy food in bali, with a huge influence from australia – smoothie bowls and poached eggs in all different kinds of variations are on almost every menu. they seem to be standard by now, but also delicious ice cream, pizza, wraps and burgers are a main staple in a lot of restaurants/cafes. and something i had to have almost every day – a young, fresh coconut. they usually contain at least 1 litre coconut water, are exquisitely refreshing and apparently isotonic. with a splash of lime juice and ice cubes a perfect (low in calories!!) drink. of course you kind find fresh fruit and vegetable juices as well as smoothies everywhere, but they contain a lot of fructose, thus a lot of calories and sicne i had to try my way through all menus, one has to budget also in these terms 😉
my goal was to try all new (and old) eateries in canggu and i haven’t been disappointed anywhere. the food is throughout of very good quality, tastes gloriously and also the long-etsablished restaurants are just as good as in my memory (the dishes still taste like 2 years ago!). so here are my top picks:
i’ve been here by far the most frequently. on previous trips to bali i haven’t been a big fan of milk & madu, but now i just love it. you’ll get breakfast until 5 pm, after that you can choose from the dinner menu: pizza (a must try!!), tapas style (the polpette are a dream – creamy and the tomato sauce is perfectly seasoned) or also some main dishes. for breakfast there a several egg options (also griddle ones e.g. something similar to shakshuka), porridge, muesli, griddle cakes with baked mangoes (very yummy) and of course smoothie bowls (don’t remember an eatery were you couldn’t get them). i’ve never had anything i didn’t like, my favorite definitely is the breakfast burrito.
i think this is one of the few restaurants that is actually indonesion owned (but i’m not certain). anyways they do a mean nasi goreng. i’ve never eaten anything else her, but the pancakes look delicious. other than that you can get the usual breakfast options. i don’t drink coffee, but it is apparently pretty good at hungry bird (the barristas even compete in championships – successfully). they are open until 5 pm, closed on sundays.
this is one of the oldest ones and “over there” (i always stay in berawa) in batu bolong. the menu barely changed in the last years, the quality is consistently good. it was here (years ago, long before the hype swept over to the west) that i was introduced to smoothie bowls. betelnut is especially famous for its nalu bowl with pink dragonfruit (the picture shows a mango bowl). i think everyone else started offering nalu bowls afterwards. breakfast is until 11 or 11:30 am (not so sure about it), that’s why i barely ever make it there for the first meal of the day. but not to worry after that you get good burgers, wraps, salads and bowls. i regularly go there just for cake – a must try!! they’ve got a huge display of different kinds of cheesecakes eg snickers, caramel, blueberry, passion fruit, bounty and my favorite oreo. you should also try the betelcake (brownie base with a pink dragonfruit mousse).
technically not in canggu, but in batu belig, you still should find your way to watercress (same owner as milk & madu). i have to admit, i’ve never eaten anything besides the poacehd eggs with corn fritters there (to die for!), but when you have look at the other dishes your mouth starts to water.
a very small eatery in batu bolong, practically next to betelnut, which is specialized in rot canai. you can find these leafy breads almost everywhere in south-east asia and i just love them! in thailand i usually ate them as a street food in the sweet version with bananas and nutella, here i eat the classic roti and dunk it in curry. the curry is incredible and the roti nicely buttery. of course there are also different kinds with egg, onions,…
2 doors down you also have to make a stop here and get one of the famous croissants. vive la france in bali! this is often my snack after surfing before i’m off to yoga. the chocolatine is of course very good as well or the chocolate tarte – mhmm.
now we actually are in seminyark, but it is well worth the trip. although i’m pretty sure that everything is very tasty here, biku is most know for its english afternoon tea. yes, that’s right 🙂 you can choose from a huge variety of teas which you can savour with your classical or asian afternoon tea. i always have the masala chai and the classical one with finger sandwiches, quiche, strawberries & cream, scones and small sweet treats. this one for sure is better than the one i had in london.
a small cafe (only open until 4 pm!) which, just like a ton of others, sprung up on jalan pantai berawa. a stone’s throw from the beach, it is an ideal stop after a surf session. i’ve only been there once and had to have the poached eggs on english muffins with pulled pork – a revelation!
to counter the heat in bali you have to have some ice cream to cool down. there didn’t use to be a lot of choices, but now you kind find several ice cream shops. creamery stands out: once you’re able to decide which one of the scrumptous sundays you want to indulge in (black forest and death by chocolate!!), they freshly make the ice cream with liquid nitrogen right in front of your eyes. conveniently located in berawa, close to ruko cafe.
a rather big “new” beach club directly at the beach in berawa. it is nicely designed, there are plenty of sun beds and lounges and also the pool with a bar is very nice. the only shortcoming is the rather high minimum spend of 350k idr (about 25 euros) per person (for sun beds, for the lounges i think it is 500k, if you only want to hang out at the bar it doesn’t apply). this doesn’t sound too bad for european standards, but for bali it is a lot. especially since i usually only eat once a day and i wanted to try as many restaurants as possible, i had to eat at finns to make the minimum. since i don’t like to sunbathe directly on the sand (just too hot), i did go there a couple of times to get some tan. although the food is a bit overpriced at times (nasi goreng for 130k, usually about max. 30k), it is very good. the pizza and the nachos were very good. especially the ice cream (from creamery) was amazing – i can only recommend passion fruit and milk chocolate brownie. and also the sweet crepes filled with fruits and topped with caramal and passion fruit sauce with a scoop of mango sorbet is a must try.
surfing the kitchen - english 