Stuff We Ate (Bali)

Bumbu Bali

http://www.balifoods.com/bumbu-bali-restaurant-foods-beverages-menu.php

Last night, we had a lovely meal at Bumbu Bali, probably the most famous restaurant on Bali, owned by Heinz von Holzen and his Indonesian wife. It's located near / in Benoa, which is on the northern tip of the Bukit Peninsula in the south of the Island. dWe had the ginormous rijsttafel meal, basically a tasting menu or thali meal of sorts with the following:

APPETIZERS:

- Sambel be Tongkol (Tuna Salad) -- chopped cooked tuna with lemongrass; honestly not too different in texture from a higher grade tuna from a can with some lemongrass flavoring, but it was enjoyable
- Sate Babi, Ayam, and Lilit (Pork, Chicken and Seafood Sate with Peanut Sauce) -- lovely, nuanced flavorings; my favorite was the very tender lilit / fish sate; served with peanut sauce, a soy sauce based dip, and lightly pickled / vinegared sliced cucumbers and carrots
- Lawar (Vegetable Salad) -- chopped green (long?) beans prepared in a style that reminded me of a dry south Indian curry; very good

SOUP:

Cram Cam (Clear Chicken Soup with Shallots) -- I found this to be a bit boring, oversalted broth with ground chicken. I could see myself enjoying this for breakfast, minus some of the salt, since it's so mild. It didn't really add anything to the dinner, for me, and filled up space I wanted for other purposes. :)

MAIN DISHES:

- Ayam Betutu (Roast Chicken in Banana Leaf) -- tender, gently flavored, tasty, but probably the most mundane / least interesting dish on the plate
- Tum Bebek (Minced Duck in Banana Leaf) -- very good, very tender and thoroughly infused with banana leaf flavor; Justin liked the sausage-like consistency and shape. (Actually it was a bit more loosely packed than your standard US sausage)
- Be Celeng Base Manis (Pork in Sweet Soy Sauce) -- reminded me a bit of Chinese red cooked pork
- Be Sampi Mebase Bali (Braised Beef in Coconut Milk) -- this might be my least favorite meat preparation in Balinese cuisine. Beef is inevitably tough and by US standards overcooked. It was no different, here.
- Kambing Mekuah (Lamb Stew in Coconut Milk) -- melted in our mouths, it was so tender; nice, gently gamey flavor
- Ikan Bakar (Grilled Fish Fillet) -- an unidentified white fish, very fresh; WONDERFUL flavor, sambal-covered and slightly sweet. Nicely (not over) cooked. My favorite dish.
- Pesan be Pasih (Diced Fish Grilled in Banana Leaf) -- my second favorite item on the plate. Wonderful preparation. Even Justin liked it, again noting the similarity to sausage. ;)
- Sayur (Selection of Daily Vegetables) -- There were two, both somewhat forgettable; I think one was a sautee of cabbage, carrots and other things.
- Nasi Kuning, Merah, Putih (Yellow, Red and Steamed Rice) -- We only received the red and white rices. Red rice was slightly hard, but it may always be that way. I think this was the first time I'd tried it.

DESSERT

- Kue Bali (Selection of Balinese Cakes) -- I wish I knew the names. Several were really good, rice flour based and flavored with coconut.
- Bubuh Injin (Black Rice Pudding) -- very nice, reminded me of Chinese red bean and glutinous rice desserts in flavor. It was like a warm cereal with some unsweetened coconut milk drizzled over top.
- Jaja Batun Bedil (Glutinous Rice Flour Dumplings in Palm Sugar Sauce) -- great!!! Just like Chinese glutinous rice flour dumplings / mochi, except smaller. Sauce was very sweet and had a distinct, interesting flavor that I assume was from the palm sugar
- Buah-Buahan (Seasonal Fruits) -- watermelon, a really delicious yellow colored melon with similar consistency as watermelon, but a different enough taste I suspect it was a different fruit altogether; passion fruit, mangosteen, jackfruit, snake fruit.

Despite the small portions of each item, we were unbelievably stuffed by the end of the meal and we couldn't finish a great deal of the food. What a pity to leave some of it behind!

The dining room was all open air (no A/C), warung style. Prices were quite a bit higher than at most warung, though. The overly abundant rijsttafel meal ran us 275,000 Rp (or about $30) per person. A steal for NYC; very expensive for Indonesia.


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Nyoman's Biergarten
Today, we drove around Benoa again and came across Nyoman's, a biergarten (sort of). It's notable for having less of a markup on beer than other places. I tried a delicious avocado "juice" for the first time, barely sweetened with a bit of chocolate syrup. FABULOUS. (See, e.g. http://www.yumsugar.com/Happy-Hour-Indonesian-Avocado-Shake-429378) I also had a seafood sate with skewers of fish, squid and shrimp, served with cucumber and carrot pickles and peanut sauce and of course white rice. It came served on charcoal that smoked throughout the meal. The sates were nicely flavored from grilling, but coated with far too much oil.

Justin had the ayam betutu, again, here covered with a great deal of sambal after cooking. Meat was very tender and moist, sambal of a manageable degree of heat. I asked the waitress whether she ate it this hot or hotter. She said "much hotter".

Nice meal, but we strongly suspect the wait staff lied at the end about their credit card machine being broken so we would pay in cash.

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Mayang Sari


Mayang Sari is a restaurant in our hotel (The Laguna) that specializes in Indonesian cuisine. I do hate to say this of it given that it's in a big, bad resort, but it's true: Mayang Sari is a legitimately good restaurant.