bumbu bali nasi campur

Gedang mekuah - Rp 70,000

Gedang mekuah is a bowl of spicy green papaya and seafood soup. It was my appetiser when I went for lunch at this restaurant called Bumbu Bali.

Have you watched Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey TV series? There's an episode where he visited Bali and tried all the culinary delights of this little Indonesian island. He tried the babi guling, the kopi luwak and he also met with Bumbu Bali's owner.

I've always wanted to go to Bumbu Bali even before I watched Rick Stein's TV series, but after I watched the cooking show, I wanted to go even more. So, finally, I went.

Bumbu Bali is one of the more posh restaurants, located in the posh resort area of Nusa Dua / Tanjung Benoa. So, the price is also posh. But, the ambiance is so Balinese and the service was impeccable and gracious. I loved every minute of it.

The rice cooker

The reason why I wanted to go to this restaurant so much was for its signature dish, rijsttafel. It turns out they don't serve it at lunch time, only during dinner. So, I was pretty disappointed.

Corona (330mL) - Rp 55,000

Beer helps, especially in this tropical weather.

Thankfully, it turns out they had nasi campur. Their version was a bowl of white rice accompanied with multiple mini dishes, just like rijsttafel.

Brave your heart and start drooling!

Nasi campur (for two people) - Rp 195,000

There were 8 tiny little dishes in all.

Sate campur & be pasih mepanggang

First up is the sate campur & be pasih mepanggang. They were skewered and grilled minced seafood, chicken, beef and fish. The skewer used for the minced seafood was a stalk of lemongrass, really cool.

Sambel be tongkol

Sambel be tongkol is a spicy tuna salad, topped with fried shallots. It was spicy, but not so much so that you need to reach for your beer.

Ayam pelalah

Ayam is the Indonesian word for chicken. This dish was shredded chicken with chilli and lime.

By the way, you may have noticed the large chillies placed everywhere on the tray. They're just decoration, they're real fresh chillies, but they're just decoration. No obligation to eat them, whatsoever. Just to clarify, in case, you got freaked out by them.

Ketipat cantok

Ketipat, or ketupat as I would normally call it, is made by placing uncooked grains of rice into a woven palm leaf pouch, as it is boiled, the rice expands causing the rice to become packed and dense.

This particular dish, is a warm salad dish of ketupat, mixed with vegetables, and topped with more fried shallots. It's a very textural dish.

Siap base kalas

Siap base kalas was a chicken in spiced coconut milk dish. It's a typical Indonesian curry dish.

Be celeng base manis

Out of all the dishes, this one was my favourite. It's pork in sweet soy sauce. The pork was so tender and delicious.

This is just a vegetable dish, consisted of green beans, beansprouts and more fried shallots.

Plecing kangkung

No Balinese meal would be complete without the requisite plecing kangkung. It is water spinach that has been mixed with really spicy sambal belachan. The spicier, the better.

I would say plecing kangkung is like the island's unofficial official vegie dish, you can order it at almost any restaurant in Bali.

Kecap asin, saus kacang, acar

The condiments, from the bottom clockwise are soy sauce with chillies; peanut sauce; and pickles. The soy sauce and pickles were left virtually untouched. But, the peanut sauce we ate with the grilled, skewered proteins.

We polished all the dishes off. All into our big, big tummies.

Buah buahan

So much so that we almost couldn't eat the fresh tropical fruits presented to us so beautifully. 

Bumbu Bali
Jalan Pratama, Tanjung Benoa
Nusa Dua BALI
Open 7 days 11am-11pm