BALINESE CULINARY: Spicy and Full Taste Of Seasoning

Actual Balinese food is common on the island, but it has made few inroads in the rest of the country due to its emphasis on pork, which is anathema to the largely Muslim population in the rest of the country. Notable dishes include:

• Babi Guling — Roast suckling pig, a large ceremonial dish that must usually be ordered several days in advance, but also often available at night market stalls and restaurants. It is served with rice. One of Bali's most well known babi guling outlets is Ibu Oka's in Ubud.
• Bebek Betutu — Literally "darkened duck", topped with a herb paste and roasted in banana leaves. The same method can also be used for chicken, resulting in ayam betutu.
• Lawar — Covers a range of Balinese salads, usually involving thinly chopped vegetables, minced meat, coconut and spices. Traditionally, blood is mixed into this dish, but it's often omitted for tourists' delicate constitutions. Green beans and chicken are a particularly common combination.
• Sate Lilit — Minced seafood satay, served wrapped around a twig of lemongrass.
• Urutan — Balinese spicy sausage, made from pork.

• * Grilled Chicken with Sliced Shallot Chilie and Lime (Ayam Panggang bumbu bawang mentah)
• * Grilled Chicken with Red Chili and Shrimp Paste Sauce (Ayam Panggang bumbu merah)
• * Steam Chicken Cooked with Balinese Herb and Spicy (Ayam Tutu - Ala Kak Man Restaurant)
• * Steam Duck Cooked with Balinese Herb and Spicy (Bebek Tutu - Ala Kak Man Restaurant)
• * Minced Chicken with Shredded Rind combine with Spicy Sauce (Lawar Ayam, Klungah, Buah Kacang)
• * Sliced Chicken mixed with Herbs and Spices Steam in Banana Leaf (Tum Ayam / Ketopot)
• * Grilled Snapper (Ikan Bakar Bumbu Terasi)
• * Special Balinese Salted Dry Fish (Sudang Lepet)
• * Sliced Fish mixed with Herbs and Spices Wrap in Banana Leaf (Pepes Ikan Laut)
• * Special Mixed Vegetables from Klungkung (Serombotan ala Klungkung)
• * Water Convolvus with Shrimp Paste and Lime (Pelecing Kangkung)
• * Fern Tip Vegetables with Shrimp Paste and Lime (Pelecing Paku)

Vegetarian

There are plenty of options for vegetarians in Bali - from indigenous Indonesian fare to international cuisine. A word of caution: the Indonesian spice paste "Sambal" is a hot paste of ground red chillies, spices and shrimp paste. Always check to see if the Sambal being served to you contains shrimp paste. You can even get Sambal without the shrimp paste at a few places. Additionally, kerupuk crackers with a spongy appearance, including those always served with nasi goreng, contain shrimp or fish. (Those that resemble potato chips, on the other hand, are usually fine.)

Budget

A meal in a tourist-oriented restaurant will be around Rp. 20-40k per person. In a local restoran the same meal might be about Rp. 15k or less. On the road,and even in Kuta, simple warungs sell "nasi bungkus", a pyramid shaped parcel of about 400gm of rice with several tasty extras for as little as Rp. 3-5k. One very reliable option is nasi campur ( rice with several options, chosen by the purchaser) for about Rp. 10k or so. Note that rice is often served at ambient temperature.

Drink

Not being Muslim, the Balinese have nothing against a drink and alcohol is widely available.

Indonesia's most popular beer Bintang is ubiquitous, but local brand Bali Hai is nearly as popular. Bintang is a fairly highly regarded classic light Asian beer, but Bal Hai is a rather bland lager. Also available is the Bali-brewed microbrew Storm, available in several different flavors. Beer is, however, relatively expensive, though still cheap by Western standards: at Rp. 10,000 and up, a small bottle costs at least the same as a full meal in a “local” eatery. In tourist centres, happy hours are widely available before and after sunset, with regular bottles of beer going for Rp. 7,000 and the giant sizes for around Rp. 12,000.

Bali produces its own wines, with Hatten being the most popular brand, available in white, red, rose (most popular) and sparkling varieties. Quality can be inconsistent, but the red is usually OK and cheaper than imported wines, which can easily top Rp. 100,000 per bottle. Wine aficionados are better off bringing their own bottle in from Singapore or other countries from which they fly into Indonesia. Imported wines are readily available in Bali, but are very expensive relative to everything else. Nicer restaurants will let you bring your own bottle; some will charge a (very modest) corkage fee. Smaller establishments likely won't mind, but neither will they have a corkscrew!

Bali's traditional drinks are arak, a clear distilled spirit that packs a 40° punch, and brem, a fermented rice wine sold in gift shops in attractive clay bottles that are much nicer than the taste of the stuff inside.

Tap water on Bali is not drinkable, but bottled water is universally available and extremely inexpensive (Rp. 3000 or so per 1.5L bottle) and restaurants usually use purified water for cooking. "Filtered" water shops are also common, providing on-site treatment of the mains water to a potable standard. These shops are much cheaper than retail outlets, selling water for about Rp 5000 per 11-liter reusable container, and avoid the waste created by plastic bottles.

Very cheap (Rp. 10,000) are fresh juices or their mixes (it can be watermelon, melon, papaya, orange, lime, banana or any other possible juice). In Bali, avocado (alpukat) is used as a dessert fruit. Blended with sugar and ice — and sometimes chocolate — this is a beverage you can rarely get in any other locales!

If you do not consume alcohol, Bali's fresh juices and creative combinations of fruits will please you to no end. Almost all restaurant menus have a section devoted to various non alcoholic fruit based beverages.