Bali Adventures

As one of my friends that I've known for 2/3rds of my life was getting married in Bali, we (and a bunch of our friends) jetsetted to Bali to celebrate the amazing occasion. My friends and I were all risk adverse and hence, preferred to stay around the resort areas or be escorted by drivers. However, we still managed to duck out for some yummy feeds during our short stay.

One of these yummy escapades was to the famous suckling pork place in Ubud - Ibu Oka for Babi Guling. The "suckling" pig (ie. babi guling) was MASSIVE and much much bigger than the Chinese version of suckling pig. The crackling was thicker than the Chinese version and my plate of crackling and fat was quite tasty and super crunchy. However, some of my friends were a bit underwhelmed as their skin was a bit chewy. The meat portion was doused in a substantial amount of spices and was tasty enough but probably not suited to my chinese taste-buds.

 

 suckling pig skin

 

 Suckling pig meat

Fruit juices in Bali were a plentiful and a favourite of one of my friends (who absolutely loved the papaya juice). Coconuts were a must and we also had some super tasty starfruit juice. Unfortunately for this occasion, my pineapple juice was a bit unfavourable... a bit artificial-pineapple-smoothie tasting.

Close to Ubud, there are also rice paddy fields galore. Our driver, knowing our risk-adversedness, decided to drop us off at a super safe Kopi Luwak ('cat poo coffee') place - Bali Pulina. Here, not only are there rice paddy fields, they also grow a galore of expensive spices and herbs. They also offer a free tasting tea and coffee menu and their famous luwak coffee (for around AUD$5). Tastiness in an awesome environment. Why not? :)

from left to right: lemon tea, ginger tea, ginger coffee, ginseng coffee, chocolate coffee, pure cocoa, vanilla coffee, Bali coffee

Kopi Luwak

As though we hadn't had enough rice paddy field-ness for a day, we also had dinner at Bebek Tepi Sawah - a place for super awesome 'dirty duck' to be enjoyed whilst viewing rice paddy fields. We had their crispy duck and their grilled duck - both were super duper delicious that we had to order seconds! We also tried their smoked crispy chicken. This was super smokey in flavour but unfortunately, a bit too dry for my liking. Oh -and we'd ordered this 'soto ayam' soup which tasted like curry cup-a-soup noodle soups....

condiments

Toxic soup

Crispy duck

grilled duck

smoked chicken

Another highlight of this place was their satay skewers. Deliciously tender and tasty and came out sizzling hot. Was pretty awesome!

satay skewers

As my friends and I were staying in the Jimbaran area, and Jimbaran was known for it's seafood, we couldn't resist but to have a seafood feast on our last day. We went to Menega Cafe, a place with seafood sitting on piles of ice and live fish, lobster, clams and the lot in fish tanks for you to pick out your feed. We got a live grouper fish, some jumbo (massive super huge prawns - bigger than the size of my hand), some king prawns and some squid. Everything was cooked on an open barbeque and coconut shell fibre things which give it extra flavour and tastes. YUM!

kang kong

king prawns

Jumbo prawns

grilled grouper

bbq squid

So that was our short and sweet Bali food adventure - or atleast the food we dared to eat outside our resort/villa areas :)