Rollan’s dad left on Sunday so for his last dinner, we had Masakan padang – basically a type of meal where they bring out about a dozen small little dishes for everyone to share. Your bill is based on the amount of food that you ate and the uneaten portions get put back into the window and spooned out for the next customers. Food safe? I think not. Anyways, this place wasn’t very good so I’m hoping I get to try better padang soon!
We ate about half the dishes here – yup, someone else gets to eat our leftovers
After a quick stop at the airport to drop off Rollan’s dad, we headed to Seminyak for some dessert. We ended up at Trattoria, which is an Italian restaurant. I had their crème brulee and Rollan had cream puffs – nothing too special and it was overpriced for the quality of food. We left feeling unsatisfied so we drove to Hu’u Bar – one of the coolest places I have ever been in. You don’t realize how cool Hu’u Bar is going to be as you drive up because the neighbourhood isn’t the most aesthically pleasing. In fact, it’s quite dingy with garbage everywhere. I got off the bike feeling a little apprehensive and sketched out but that instantly transformed into a feeling of awe as I walked into the entrance. Suddenly, you’re in an intimate bar area and if you keep walking beyond that, you end up in a gorgeous, elegant garden that was lit up with hundreds of candles. Near the entrance to the garden was a pretty decent sized infinity pool that was flanked by two white tents. There were about 25 tables plus a cabana for sitting/drinking/conversing purposes. On one side of the garden was a roofed, open area that had couches and a large bar. Encasing the entire garden was a wall of foliage that made it seem like you just stumbled upon a secret garden in the middle of nowhere. We sat on one of the couches lining the perimeter and just overlooked it all. A perfect place for a wedding, a really cool party, an intimate gathering or simply drinks. Great ambience – Hu’u Bar has jumped to the top of my coolest Baliense experiences!
On Monday, we headed to Sanur to check out this warung that everybody has been raving about. Because this place usually runs out of food by 11:30am, we decided to head out early. It was a good plan until we got stuck in the middle of a protest on the highway! What was supposed to be a 20 min ride turned into 1 hr! Of course by the time we got to this warung, all the food was gone. Our stomachs rumbling, we headed to warung Mak Beng. The speciality at this place was a fried fish patty and fish soup. Both were delicious but spicy as heck! I’m not sure I have many taste buds left after this fish and the Gilimanuk chicken.
Because the beaches at Sanur were wack (dirty, disgusting), we headed back to Dreamland to play in the waves. However, instead of driving straight to the parking lot and walking past the garbage pool to the beach, we parked at Klapa – the compound/pool/restaurant/club overlooking the beach. I decided that I’m not a fan of this place. First of, you have to pay a cover charge to even get into the building. Then, the food sucked and was overpriced. Plus, the building itself looked rundown and old. The only bright spot was that the staff was super friendly – one of them even gave us a private tour of the clubs and karoke bar!
One of the beaches.. where are his pants??
Walking up to Klapa
Cheesy entranceway
The Ice Bar – they keep the temperature @ a comfortable 16 degree C
The saddest beef nachos I have ever had
After playing in the water and getting battered and hammered by 10 foot waves, we dragged our exhausted selves to the Bali Deli for dinner. In essence, this place is a sandwich shop but the setup for their restaurant was money – cabanas with comfy pillows and top notch service. The Balienese really know how to do it right.
Priscilla Chan 