8 amazing places to eat and drink in Bali right now

10.10.2024 - 18:38 / lonelyplanet.com

Oct 9, 2024 • 6 min read

A tapestry of flavors representing hundreds of ethnic groups across 17,000 islands, Indonesian cuisine is one the most diverse in the world.

Yet it remains relatively unknown outside its borders. What’s more, most foreigners who visit Bali, Indonesia’s most popular destination for tourism, rarely venture past staples like nasi goreng, fried rice and satay meat skewers drenched in peanut sauce, taking most of their meals at hotels or the many Western restaurants populating the island.

Adding to the conundrum, in Bali “street food” is generally not sold on the street but rather in warungs – small family-owned restaurants that can be hard to find. Recommendations from locals, expats or Baliphiles like me who’ve visited the island dozens of times are key to finding the best warungs, as well as and more-modern Indonesian restaurants. Here’s a list of mine.

As in many parts of Asia, there’s not much difference between what gets eaten for breakfast or lunch in Indonesia. My go-to lunch in Bali is bakso, a build-your-own soup featuring white meatballs made from chicken and tapioca flour; served with vermicelli, tofu, noodles, egg, mustard greens, wontons and crackers; and seasoned with soy sauce, chili sauce and sambal, homemade chili relish. My advice is to avoid the bakso handcarts you’ll see throughout the island for food-safety reasons. Instead, try Bakso Rudi in Canggu, the west-coast hipster haven of Bali, which serves 11 variations of soup for the equivalent of US$1–2 a bowl.

How to get it: Bakso Rudi is a casual spot, so you don’t need to book. It’s open daily from 11am until 9pm

Rated by Anthony Bourdain as “the best pig I have ever had. Absolutely the best,” babi guling, Bali’s legendary spit-roasted suckling pig, is slow-cooked after midnight for 5 or 6 hours and eaten for breakfast and lunch. You can try it at the place Bourdain made famous, Ibu Oka in Ubud – though the most popular babi guling specialists are found in Munggu on the western fringes of Canggu. Locals prefer Babi Guling Slingsing Bu Suci in Cepaka village, a warung that also sells blood lawar, a red salad made with green beans, coconut and pig’s blood. Expats flock to squeaky-clean Babi Guling Men Lari on the Tanah Lot Bypass; try their minced pork satay sticks and their super-crunchy pork skin chips.

How to get it: Ibu Oka doesn’t stay open for long. It opens at 11am (though the butchers are usually at work on site from 6am) and then closes at 6pm or earlier when the pork sells out. It’s walk-ins only, so arrive early to secure the best cuts. 

Before you fly out of Bali, stop at Kampoeng Kepiting, or ”Crab Village” in Indonesian. Hidden in a mangrove forest under a highway overpass near the large roundabout leading