What To Eat When You Are In Bali

Beef Rendang

Heading to Bali?

Food is a major part of my travels and since I stayed in Bali for four months, I was able to try a wide variety of food. I don’t consider myself a foodie, I just like to eat. A lot. A food snob, I am not either. Street food, cheap eats, with an occasional splurge at a nice restaurant is how I like to roll.

Scroll down for my Bali food guide 

 

TRIP PLANNING STARTS HERE

HELPFUL GENERAL TRAVEL TIPS

  • Flights: Find a cheap flight using Skyscanner or Momondo. I like these two booking sites because they both search all websites and airlines around the globe including budget airlines.
  • Accommodations: I use Booking.com or Tripadvisor to find the best rates on hotels. Hotels.com offers a free night after booking 10 nights
  • Get up to $40 off your first Air Bnb stay by using this code!
  • Travel Insurance: Having gotten sick on my travels in the past, I never travel without being insured. You never know when something may happen. For my round the world trip and extended long-term travel, I use World Nomads. For other trips, I have used Roam Right and they cover activities like extreme sports.

 

DON’T FORGET TO SAVE THIS TO PINTEREST

Bali food: What To Eat In Bali | rtwgirl

Bali food recommendation #1 – Nasi campur

Nasi campur (pronounced na zee cham poor) is a mixed rice dish with everything but it varies depending on where you are. This particular dish seen had chicken, vegetables, tempeh, krupuk (shrimp chip), hard and a boiled egg plus spicy sambal (chili based hot sauce).

Nasi Campur | rtwgirl

Photo credit: Herman Saksono

 

Air Bnb

Bali food recommendation #2 – Mie goreng

Mie goreng or fried noodles is a staple dish. You can order it vegetarian if you like without chicken. Depending on the place there is often a fried egg on top.

Mie Goreng with Fried Egg | rtwgirl

Photo credit: avlxyz

Bali food recommendation #3 – Beef rendang

Beef rendang is one of my favourite dishes. Rendang is originally from the island of Sumatra but I ate it all the time in Bali. The dish has a lot of different spices and is caramelized in a coconut curry sauce. It’s so good! The last place I had good beef rendang was a restaurant called Biku in Pettitenget near the W Hotel and Spa and Potato Head Beach Bar.

Bali food recommendation #4 – Nasi Bungkus

Below is nasi bungkus which means wrapped rice. It’s a banana leaf filled with food inside that I would buy from a street vendor near the beach regularly. They are then wrapped with either newspaper or brown craft paper. Most Balinese eat with their hands but the vendors would often give us a plastic spoon or fork to eat it with. It can be filled with anything really. Inside my favourite was noodles, yellow rice (harder to find, usually white), omelet and sambal. Pretty simple and oh so yummy. This cost me $0.50.

Bali food: Nasi Bungkus | rtwgirl

Photo courtesy of Rahmawati

Bali food recommendation #5 – Bakso 

This is bakso or Indonesian meatballs which are similar to Chinese beef balls. It is usually served with soup and clear vermicelli noodles and some veggies. I got this from a street cart on the way to a wedding up north with my Balinese friends. It cost less than a dollar as well.

Bali food recommendation #6 – Satay

And of course, the very well-known satay, which originated in Java, is seasoned skewered grilled meat on sticks with an accompanying sauce, usually peanut in Indonesia. Who doesn’t love barbecued meat? I love meat on sticks!

Bali food recommendation #7 – Babi Guling

Pictured below was food that I ate at my friend’s wedding in her village in the north of Bali. It was a very simple affair. The food seen here is some babi guling (roast suckling pig), beans, water spinach, a hard-boiled egg, krupuk (shrimp chip).

The best place for babi guling is at Ibu Oka in Ubud. There are loads of different places you can try it but this is supposed to the best.

Restaurants and eateries I recommend:

Warung Yogya – a place that I frequented a lot. It is in Legian near Jalan Padma Utara. It is probably my favourite warung, or family-owned cafe, to eat at. Almost everything is under $2 US and it is one of the cleanest warungs I have seen. The bathroom is even clean!! It is also filled with locals as well as travellers, a very good sign.

Biku – this restaurant in Petitenget was a discovery late in my stay in Bali. It’s across the road from Potato Head Beach Club. It’s a tea house that serves both Western and Indonesian food and I’m a huge fan. Went here several times in my last few weeks.

Bumbu Bali – Bumbu is a cooking school and restaurant in Ubud. A local driver brought me here for lunch. The food was spectacular and had I spent more time in Ubud, I’d eat here over and over. I’d also love to take a cooking class here.

What are your Bali food favourites? Share in the comments! 

First Time Basics Bali Ebook

Related Posts