“Hot sausage and mustard, cold jelly and custard, pease pudding and saveloys”, these were the dishes fantasised over by the workhouse boys in the Musical Oliver! Wow, that Victorian English fare doesn’t hold much magic for us nowadays. (And by the way, don’t know what a “Saveloy” is? Actually it’s a highly seasoned red sausage that is sold in British Fish & Chip Shops!).
No, things have changed and the emphasis now is on organic, sustainable, vegetarian, minimalist, low-fat, low-cal, low-carb, delights! Well maybe not for everyone but certainly for the fashionable Seminyak to Canggu crowd!
The great thing here in Bali is that you can have everything you ever desired, and many more you’ve never even heard of. This is now a food paradise, a gourmet’s dream, a nibbler’s fantasy. You can start with an all organic granola, fresh yoghurt, tropical fruit breakfast, lunch on sushi and sashimi and finish with a US grain-fed, top of the range steak all in one day.
Now I’m not recommending you spend all day everyday eating but I am encouraging you to look though this issue, and really see what’s on offer here, it is really impressive in variety, in quality – and in price. You can go very expensive, but even the very top of the range (6 star hotels mostly) are not as expensive as similar offerings in New York, London or Paris! So don’t stint and don’t hesitate, book and enjoy.
For those of you who can’t make up your minds what to select why not visit our Best Restaurant Bar & Café Award website (best.nowbali.co.id) and see who is winning the popular vote to be best restaurant in Bali. So far over 36,000 people have voted so maybe they are correct?
But one thing you must do when you are here is eat Indonesian food. Don’t be scared that it’s too spicy or too exotic, there are some dishes best left to local taste, but overall you are safe and you will be amazed by the flavours if you haven’t tried it before.
So to go back to Oliver! Lionel Bart’s amazing musical, the chorus finishes: Magical Food, Wonderful Food, Marvelous Food, Heavenly Food, Beautiful Food! And that’s how we feel.
It’s all here so Bon Appetite! (or Selamat Makan in Bahasa Indonesia).
Alistair G. Speirs, OBE
