Ah, Bali food. Our relationship with Balinese cuisine got off to a rocky start, but a Balinese cooking class in Ubud, night markets in Sanur and simple restaurants called warungs conspired to change our minds and inform our palates. The result: an overview of the components of Balinese cooking, common Balinese dishes and where to find them when you visit Bali.

When we first arrived in Ubud, Bali we found a lot of restaurants geared towards foreign palates. Flavor and spice seemed in short supply, our stomachs often felt empty after eating. Menus usually consisted of uninspired combinations of fried rice, mixed rice, underwhelming curries and bland vegetable dishes. We were obviously making some bad choices, but we were also tapping a similarly unexceptional food vein on other parts of the island.

And just when we were about to give up on Balinese food, we discovered the real deal in a cooking course – dishes full of intensity, beautiful flavors and a philosophy and technique that made us want to run to the kitchen and fire up the pan. This was authentic Balinese cuisine, done well, flavorful and unique.

From there, we were inspired to go deep and eat well. This is what we found.

Bali Food: Ingredients and Philosophy

What's at the foundation of Balinese cuisine? To make the point during our Balinese cooking course, our instructor did something really simple but effective — he suggested we taste each of the basic components of Balinese cuisine in the raw, on its own that we'd just purchased at the fresh market in Ubud.

The point: know your ingredients.

Fragrant Seeds (Balinese 8-spice combination): white pepper, black pepper, coriander, cumin, clove, nutmeg, sesame seed, and candlenut.

Fragrant Roots: shallots, garlic, greater galangal (what most of us think of simply as “galangal”), lesser galangal (more pepper, almost radish-like), turmeric, ginger.

Chili peppers: Tiny green and red Balinese chili peppers take center stage. Larger red peppers that most of us also consider hot, the Balinese consider “sweet.” Sweet.

Palm sugar: Balinese have a sweet tooth. They also enjoy combining spicy with their sweet. To do this, they use raw palm sugar. This is no ordinary sugar — it tastes like molasses, almost smoky. Go to the local market and you'll find palm sugar in a range of hues, quality and flavor depths.

Fish Paste: Like their neighbors across Southeast Asia, the Balinese also appreciate the role of fermented fish in their cuisine. Sounds gross. To many, it smells gross. But fish paste is absolutely crucial and delightful when used in cooking.

Authentic Balinese Dishes from our Cooking Class

Authentic Balinese food is not easy to find. As some Balinese we spoke to tell it, Balinese specialties are time- and ingredient-intensive, and as such they are usually reserved for special occasions and are not often found in ordinary restaurants.

Basa Gede (or Bumbu Bali)

Balinese use either sambal, a chili-based sauce, or basa gede, a basic spice paste to give the best Balinese dishes their distinct flavor and kick. To make basa gede, put all the fragrant seeds and roots into a blender with a little fish paste. The result: a paste thinner than a Thai curry paste that can be used in myriad ways, as we'd find out in our cooking course.

Sayur Urab (Mixed Vegetables)

We learned the hard way that not all sayur urab is created equal. The first time we tried this at a restaurant, we called it “boiled salad” or more accurately, a tasteless pile of boiled vegetables. Done correctly, it’s actually a delicious and healthy dish of mixed vegetables combined with grated coconut and a lovely, crunchy sambal of crispy golden-fried shallots, galangal, chili peppers and garlic.

Tuna Sambal Matah (Seared Tuna with Raw Sambal)

Perhaps our favorite dish of the cooking course. Fresh tuna is covered with basa gede (Bumbu Bali) and seared in a hot pan. The “raw” sambal topping is composed of chopped shallots, lemongrass, chili peppers, and ginger all doused in lime juice. Yes, it tastes as fabulous as it sounds.

Tempe Manis (Tempe in Sweet and Spicy Sauce)

Tempe (or tempeh), boiled soybeans pressed and fermented, is a common ingredient in Balinese and Indonesian dishes. In tempe manis, the tempeh is cut into small pieces and fried until crispy. It's then tossed in a sweet palm sugar sauce turned with fried garlic and chili peppers. Great taste, a texture play.

Opor Ayam (Chicken Curry)

Chicken, carrots and potatoes in a spicy curry sauce of basa gede and coconut milk. Delicious and rich.

Bali Sate Lilit

A twist on what we know of as sate, or traditional Indonesian meat skewers. In sate lilit, a uniquely Balinese dish, minced or ground meat is blended with bumbu Bali and other spices. The minced meat mixture is then lumped and twisted around a wooden skewer or lemongrass stalk, and grilled.

Sambal Udang (Prawns in Spicy Sambal Sauce)

The final crown jewel dish in our Bali cooking class, and it was over the top. Large prawns flash cooked in a spicy sambal made of sautéed onions, green pepper, and red chili peppers topped with bumbu Bali spice paste and coconut milk. A touch of palm sugar and chopped kaffir lime leaves round out the dish.

Bali Cooking Class Details:

Bumi Bali Restaurant, Monkey Forest Road, Ubud. 250,000 IDR ($30) for market visit, apron, cookbook and cooking (plus eating) all the dishes above. Only one cooking station, but everyone participates by taking turns.

You can also book in advance this Balinese cooking class in a local village or this Balinese cooking class that takes place at an organic farm. Both include visits to local markets and free pickup from your hotel in Ubud.

Popular Dishes in Bali

Babi Guling

Suckling pig, spice-rubbed and spit-roasted. Yep, as fabulous as it sounds. Meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender.
Where we ate it: Ibu Oka in Ubud (near the main market). Ibu Oka is babi guling central. Go early as it closes when the pork is finished for the day.

Bebek Betutu

Spice-rubbed duck slow-cooked in banana leaves. Like almost any meat in a banana leaf, the best bebek betutu is beautifully tender and the spices pronounced.
Where we ate it: Warung Enak, Ubud. 65K IDR ($8). A bit higher end than most places we tried, but Warung Enak features an extensive menu with descriptions of where each dish originated (e.g., Java, Sumatra, Bali, etc.). In other words, it's an education. Great décor and service too. Recommended for a splurge.

Beef Rendang

Pieces of meat slow cooked in a mixture of coconut milk, spices, and roasted coconut paste. The coconut milk is evaporated to the point of a dry fry, leaving a rich, thick spice crust. Yum.
Where we ate it: Sari Bundo (Jalan Danau Poso) and Retro Restaurant (Danau Tamblingan 126) in Sanur.

Satay (in Indonesia, Sate)

Pieces of chicken, pork, beef, fish, tofu — just about anything — on skewers and grilled over hot coals. Usually served with a rich peanut-based dipping sauce. Although originally from the Indonesian islands of Java or Sumatra, satay can be found in restaurants and markets all over Bali. We recommend trying something a little offbeat like tuna sate for a special treat.

Gado Gado

A fresh salad combined with mixed cooked vegetables and tofu, served with peanut sauce on top. Although not originally from Bali, this Indonesian dish is served in many restaurants. Ideally, vegetables should be crispy and fresh, although some restaurants serve it as a mush of overcooked vegetables with peanut sauce. Because of the brown peanut sauce on top, this is not a particularly photogenic dish. You'll have to use your imagination on this one.

Nasi Campur (mixed rice)

A plate of rice surrounded by several side dishes. When restaurants serve nasi campur, they usually choose the sides for you. At warungs, the more local street food type places on Bali, nasi campur is up to you. You pick which sides you want – sate lilit, spicy tempeh, chopped vegetables, spice-rubbed meat, chicken, tofu. You get the idea.

We found this dish particularly uninspiring at tourist-oriented restaurants, so try to make your way to a local market or warung to get something spicy with a more authentic taste.

Where we ate it: Night market and Warung Sari (turn right into alley at Jl. Danau Tamblingan #146) in Sanur, Warung Lokal off of Hanoman Street in Ubud.

Nasi Goreng (Indonesian fried rice)

What country in Southeast Asia doesn’t have its own version of fried rice? The Indonesian style features more spice and tomato paste than your typical fried rice. But at the end of the day, it's still fried rice.

Mie Goreng (fried noodles)

After flavorful char keow in Malaysia and pad thai in Thailand, we could never really get into mie goreng on Bali. It always felt like mie goreng noodles came from a Ramen noodle soup packet, even if they hadn't. And more often than not, there just wasn't a lot flavor. Maybe we just had bad luck. But, if noodles are your thing, there's no shortage of mie goreng to keep you going on the island.

Cap Cay

Sounds like chop suey, doesn't it? While we're not certain of the history, that's probably not a coincidence. A Chinese-style Indonesian stir-fry or stew made with cabbage and other vegetables, depending on where it's served.

Bumbu Bali Fish

Translated as “fish in Balinese sauce”, this dish consists of chunks of fish cooked in coconut milk and bumbu Bali spice paste. Rich and spicy.

Where we ate it: Pantai Indah in Sanur. With a view of the beach (and supposedly the cheapest beer on the beach in Sanur) to boot, it’s difficult to beat for atmosphere.

Bakso

Bakso soup begins with broth and ends with Indonesian meatballs (usually made from ground beef and tapioca flour). Depending on the bakso stand, you'll find some noodles, tofu, and some herbs thrown in. Bakso stands usually offer a choice of condiments and hot sauce so you can make it just as you like it. Be careful with the local chili sauce; it’s incredibly potent. We learned this the hard way, with tears.

Nasi Jinggo 

Savory dishes composed of very finely chopped combinations of various ingredients (green beans, green papaya, shallots, pork meat and pork skin, eggs and coconut) and served on top of banana leaves. Time intensive, nasi jinggo  dishes tend to appear at ceremonies and celebrations, but if your timing is good, you can find them on the street (image below).

Balinese Desserts and Drinks

Bubur Sum-Sum (Rice Porridge with Palm Sugar Sauce)

Creamy porridge made from rice flour topped with a thick, molasses-like palm sugar sauce and grated coconut.

Bubur Injun (Black Rice Pudding)

Black sticky rice mixed and coconut milk. Our host family in Ubud would also occasionally serve it for breakfast.

Bantal

Sweet parcels of sticky rice, coconut, sugar and fruit (usually bananas, sometimes orange rind or even mango essence). Sri Rathi hotel in Ubud offered them for breakfast and all day long as a pick-me-up.

Luwak Coffee (Kopi Luwak)

Also called civet coffee or “poo coffee.” Why? Weasel-like animals called civets are let loose into coffee plantations at night to satisfy their predilection towards eating only high-quality coffee berries. The civets eat the coffee berry, but they only poop out the coffee beans. Their coffee-bean filled turds are collected and washed. The harvested coffee beans are then roasted over a fire.

The result? The most expensive coffee in the world. A cup of luwak coffee in London supposedly runs about 40 pounds ($65). On Bali, you can quaff a cup at a luwak plantation for about $4. A smooth cup of brew with surprisingly low acidity.

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For a relatively small island, Bali can pack in a lot of activities in just a week: volcano-climbing at dawn, scuba diving in coral reefs, cooking traditional Balinese cuisine, visiting Balinese Hindu temples, taking in a traditional Kecak performance, hanging with monkeys, enjoying a few Balinese massages, relaxing at the beach, and much more. If you only have one week to travel in Bali, here are our suggestions for putting together an itinerary filled with a bit of adventure, outdoor activities, culture, food, and relaxation.

Volcano Sunrise: Climbing Mt. Batur

To be perfectly honest, waking up at 3:30 AM was hellish, particularly since we went to sleep after midnight. But as we climbed in perfect darkness and the silhouettes of the surrounding cloud-swaddled volcanoes appeared, it was clear this was all worth it. Only 90 minutes later, we were enjoying a volcano sunrise.

After we'd admired the view, our local trekking guide took us to the edge of one of the craters, buried a bunch of eggs in the ground, and allowed the hot steam of the volcano to cook them. Volcano breakfast, no stove necessary.

Watch out for the hungry monkeys. They may look cute, but they snatched Audrey’s breakfast right from her hands.

How to do it: We spent the night in Kintamani and took a tour that included transport from our hotel, local trekking guides and breakfast for 250,000 IDR ($30). If you have low blood sugar, you may want to bring some snacks or Gatorade to help you get through the climb before breakfast.

Find a hotel in Kintamani | Read reviews of Kintamani hotels

Menjangan Island: Scuba Diving the Coral Reefs

Of our two days of diving in Bali, this was our favorite. Because Menjangan Island is a nature reserve, its coral reefs are relatively well-preserved. Visual artists can find inspiration in the shapes, patterns and colors of Mother Nature’s underwater designs. The visibility is fantastic and you don’t need to go very deep for a visually satisfying experience. Because this area is less susceptible to strong currents than other Bali dive sites, it makes for a relaxing dive experience where you can conserve a bit of your air and can stay down longer to enjoy the underwater journey.

Cost: With Sunrise Dive shop, 500,000 IDR ($60)/person includes transport from Lovina, two dives, all equipment and lunch. If you don’t dive, you can opt to snorkel for 300,000 IDR ($35).

Find a hotel in Lovina | Read reviews of hotels in Lovina

Special thanks goes to our friends Daniel and Juliet Jones for the underwater photos above.

Balinese Cooking Course

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of mediocre “Balinese” food served up in restaurants across the island, so much so that were almost about to give up on Balinese food. Then we took a cooking class in Ubud. We are so glad we did. Our understanding of and opinion of Balinese cuisine changed drastically.

Our cooking class began appropriately with a tour of the Ubud market. Deep in the fruit and vegetable stands (if you can make your way past the souvenir stalls, you’ll find local produce in the back), our instructor explained the various ingredients used in Balinese cuisine.

Then the real fun began. Together, we prepared seven dishes, including: Bumbu Bali (Balinese spice paste), Sayur Urab (mixed vegetables), Tuna Sambal Matah (shrimp with raw sambal), Sate Lilit, Opor Ayam (chicken curry), Tempe Manis (temple in sweet-spicy sauce), and Sambal Udang (shrimp with spicy sambal).

Cost: A Balinese cooking course with Bumi Bali restaurant in Ubud costs 250,000 IDR ($30/person) and includes a market visit, instructions on how to prepare seven dishes, a cookbook, an apron, transport from your hotel, and a lot of eating. Initially, we were concerned when we discovered the teaching facilities included only one cooking station. However, everyone in the class had the opportunity to participate in preparing multiple dishes and overall, the course provided an enjoyable, tasty and enlightening overview to Balinese cuisine. Recommended.

Note: For a deeper dive into Balinese cuisine and how it incorporates different roots, spices and chilies to create unique flavors and delicious sambals (sauces) read out Bali Food Guide.

Kecak Performance and Fire Dance

We have to admit that our expectations for this tourist staple were rather low. Everyone and his brother (and sister) seemed to be selling “Kecak Show” tickets across Ubud. While we can’t vouch for the quality of the other shows, we thoroughly enjoyed the performance at Pura Dalem (Mondays and Fridays, 7:30 PM).

Even if you read the show's plot description beforehand, you’ll likely be confused throughout the show. But that’s OK – the point is more to enjoy the chanting, dancing, and various beautifully-costumed characters that appear throughout the show.

The show concludes with a man who runs through and dances on piles of burning coconut husks. Talk about intense. After experiencing the pain of stepping on burning embers in Koh Samui, Thailand earlier this year, we have a real appreciation of this art.

Find accommodation in Ubud.

Relaxing in Ubud

Ubud has become a popular place for travelers to relax, take yoga, and just be. But, don't let the touristy areas turn you off to the place. Keep your eyes open as you walk down the streets of Ubud, Bali. Tucked in between all those trendy cafes and shops, you'll find wooden doorways — sometimes plain, sometimes intricately carved — built into brick and stone archway gates.

Take a peek and you'll find these doorways serve as portals to other worlds of green and tranquility. Walk inside and you'll find altars dotted with offerings or perhaps a carved Ganesh adorned with flowers (my favorite Ganesh statues are those where his feet come together in a yoga pose).

At first glance, you might find yourself wondering if you've stepped into a Balinese Hindu temple complex.

In fact, these peaceful garden sanctuaries are often just family courtyards. As the father of our homestay explained, they usually feature a temple for the gods (where daily offerings and prayers take place), a temple for the people (where birth, marriage, and death ceremonies take place) and a home where multiple generations of family live.

Spirit and life, side by side.

Find a hotel in Ubud | Read reviews of hotels in Ubud

Balinese Hindu Temples

Balinese Hinduism differs considerably from Hinduism practiced in India, and it plays an integral role in much of day-to-day life in Bali, including daily offerings and rather frequent festivals.

Our visit to the 8th century Besakih Temple at the foot of Mount Agung featured a long walk with a local guide to the top of the complex. Along the way, we asked all the questions about Balinese life and belief that we'd collected — about its various gods, ceremonies, pagodas, and caste system — and a beginner’s course in Balinese Hinduism had emerged.

Lunch at Senang Hati Foundation

Balinese Hindus believe in karma and rebirth, making it challenging for those born with disabilities. The prevailing perception is that if a person is born disabled, they must have done something in a previous life to deserve it. Families of disabled children will even go so far as to hide them from society.

The Senang Hati Foundation attempts to break down this cultural discrimination by providing a supportive community environment and skills and empowerment training to people with disabilities.

When we asked about whether companies on Bali were open to hiring disabled people, the women at the center told us, “Now companies hire disabled people because our people are better trained in English and professional skills. We may be physically disabled, but we have an advantage in our skills.”

G Adventures supports this organization by bringing its tour groups by for lunch to meet the people behind the organization and learn more about its activities.

Did we see all of Bali in a week? Absolutely not. But in this week, our aim was to get an introduction to the island and have some fun. And in that, we succeeded.

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Apparently, it’s easy to be a travel snob.

Independent travelers can look down on tour groups as not being “hard core” or “authentic” enough. Luxury travelers can look down on backpackers as cheapskates one notch above street riffraff. Holiday-makers looking to relax with a cocktail on the beach are not “real” travelers while those who are trying to live on $5 a day are “escapists.”

I could go on and on with the stereotypes and slurs that I’ve heard fly in all directions, but that’s not the point. One thing travel can teach you – if you allow it to – is that the world is made up of people whose goals and preferences differ. And those differences — they also apply to travel.

When we announced that we were joining a G Adventures tour of Bali, several friends and readers cocked their heads (literally and virtually), questioning what was going on. After all, we are independent travelers and Bali is a pretty easy place to travel.

The echoes of judgment reached their zenith (or nadir, depending on your perspective) when a follower on Twitter replied to our announcement with: “Why ANYONE needs a tour of Bali is beyond me.”

In truth we didn’t need a tour of Bali. I’d argue that with the exception of a few difficult-to-reach places where specialized transportation or technical expertise is required (e.g., Antarctica, Mount Everest, etc.), you really don’t need a tour anywhere.

So why take a tour?

We knew our reasons, but to understand some others we approached a few people on our tour and asked them.

Tours: A Few of the Reasons to Take Them

A few solo female travelers felt more comfortable – for safety and companionship reasons – traveling in a small group. Others saw the tour as a way to explore parts of the island that they might not otherwise discover on their own in a short time.

Others with busy work schedules commented: “I work a lot, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of time booking hotels and managing logistics.”

With logistics taken care of, they could focus on the substance of the trip.

Tours: The People

And who were the people with these reasons?

There was a young Canadian woman who received a G Adventures tour for her 21st birthday and used it to travel outside North America for the first time. There was also a well-traveled couple honeymooning from Britain, a Swiss event planning manager, a Peruvian-American New Yorker working at a bank, and two (yes, two) operating room nurses from opposite ends of the planet. This was just the beginning.

Some people came to Bali exclusively for the tour. Others, like us, incorporated it into a longer trip around the island.

In other words, there was a diverse group of nationalities, ages, professions, travel experience and reasons for joining the tour. And frankly, this is what made it interesting.

Our Reasons for Taking a Tour?

Our reasons were pretty straightforward. Bangladesh, and all the organizing we did to travel through the country independently for almost six weeks, had sapped much of our energy. So we came to Bali to relax, do some yoga and have some fun.

We wanted a vacation — to enjoy the island and sample what it had to offer — but we had little interest in all the logistics arrangements.

Some of you may be thinking: “Your tour was free so it’s easy to make a decision to take one when you don’t have to pay for it.”

Fair point, but for two things. We joined this particular tour because we wanted to. And in the end, we spent a fair bit of our own money on optional activities — again, because we wanted to.

Autonomy on the Tour?

While G Adventures provided the framework of the trip by arranging logistics (hotels, transport, temple visits), it was the tour participants who decided how to fill in the body of their trip.

For those who wanted to chill at the pool and get a massage, that was cool. For others who wanted to wake up at 3:30 AM and climb a volcano, good on you. Want to shop? All the more power to you. If you wanted to join the group for dinner, great. If not, have fun on your own. (Note: Optional activities are not included in the price of the tour so be sure to ask ahead about costs so you can accurately budget your trip).

Basically, the idea is do what you want to do. This is your vacation after all.

Small Group Tours or Independent Travel?

There can be a time for both. Whether or not you decide to take a tour anywhere should depend on your travel goals and your resources (i.e., time and money). Keep in mind that if you travel independently one day and take a tour the next, that’s OK too.

When it comes to travel, do what suits you and brings you satisfaction — so long as you do so respectfully. After all, travel is about exploring, adapting, learning, and understanding others.

Here’s to respecting our travel differences and enjoying the journey!

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