ubud – Page 4 – Cooking Masterclass

Torro Sushi Ubud Review

We have had takeaway from Torro Sushi before, but today was the first time I had eaten in the restaurant. They are located along Jalan Goutama, my favourite eating street in Ubud, Bali.

The sushi was quite dry, the rice had a little crunch to it, not moist as I was expecting. The Terriaki chicken dish was small, though the chicken was not too fatty and sauce as sweet and tasty.

The food is reasonably priced, not cheap. I would pay about the same for sushi back home in Australia. The staff seemed friendly enough, but looked pretty bored with the restaurant empty except for us. I have seen the place busy in the evenings when I have passed at other times.

The whole experience was unfortunately ruined when the staff tried to overcharge me. I had noticed that they were struggling to get the right change, so when they handed me my change with no comment, I was not surprised to see that it was short. They seemed surprised -“Oh, you want the right change?”. Yes, or at least tell me you did not have any small notes, and try and work it out. Of course they found the right notes when they tried harder.

Warung Agung Trisna, Ubud review

The sign at the restaurant says Lawar Bali, but the menu and the sign on the street calls this restaurant Agung Trisna, the same as the bungalows behind it. This is one of many located along Monkey Forest Road that you need to look between the shops down narrow laneways to find. I don’t think this place would ever get busy, it would mostly service the people staying in their bungalows. But if you did happen across this place, you will find it a quiet break from the busy road out front.

It was such a hot day we all needed a drink, and our choices were appropriate for the conditions.

Clare had a fresh coconut, brought out with ice to cool it down and lemon to add a squeeze. It was very fresh and new, so the flesh inside was very soft and easy to scrape off. Along the same theme, Rob went with an iced coffee.

Casper had a watermelon juice, another good choice for this hot day. I don’t know if they were short of watermelon today, as it seemed like mostly water, but it was refreshing nonetheless.

There was an extensive menu as is often found in similar restaurants.

The Lemon Chicken.

Club sandwich

Cheese and tomato jaffle

This is one of the cheaper options if you are out shopping along Jalan Monkey Forest. It is nice and quiet, and also included some (old) magazines and books to read if your on your own.

China Moon Ubud Review

The China Moon Cafe is located on a busy corner, opposite Coco’s supermarket at the beginning of monkey forest road. Despite this, they have made a cosy corner that seems miles away from what lies outside.

There is a good range of interesting Indonesian and western dishes, in a menu full of pictures so you know what you are going to get. It includes a sightly Japanese style section as well as desserts, and some healthy drink options.

We decided to go with a starter of Fried Squid Balls (Cumi-Cumi Balls). These were very different flavour mix of salt, chili, cinnamon and light batter, with a slightly chewy texture, they were very enjoyable.

Rob’s Pepe’s Ikan was filled with flavoursome pieces of fish, with just the right amount of spice, with a nice chili sambal on the green beans.

Clare went for a dish called traffic sate, which is fish satay, with glass noodles. The skewered fish was slightly dry and missing a satay sauce which I was expecting, but the noodles were very tasty.

The Moon Cafe is a nice lunch stop if you can switch off from the traffic noise and tune into the funky tunes that are playing in the background.

Room 4 Dessert Ubud Review

Room 4 Dessert in Ubud is a fabulous transformed warehouse type set up, with cosy bench tables, and seats at the bar so you can watch the staff prepare the food in front of you. A great experience to see the effort that goes into the preparation of the dessert, which is only the half of it I am sure!

There is an amazing selection of desserts, although there are only nine to choose from, they all sound very appealing. Aside from the choice of any single dessert you like, for those who can’t decide, you can order a selection of any 3 choices, or even the whole menu if you are a large group to share it among, or if your feeling indulgent for the works. Our choice was to try 3 and share them between the two of us.

We tried the Chocobubbles, which is described as chocolate mousse with mum’s cookies! This was our absolute favourite with such diverse texture of smooth mousse around the crunchy cookies, and the flavour was amazing. Next was The Sugar Refinery which was different to the description on the menu. The palm sugar meringue was so spectacularly different, plated with all the other sweet textures, beside the tangy mangosteen ice. Last choice was Baba o rhiley, chosen somewhat by name (the author’s maiden name is Reilly!?), consisted of rum soaked brioche, snakefruit ice and cashew nutella, a slightly different and not too sweet dessert, with the lovely combination of nutella and rum brioche. MmmMm. The only problem with all of them, was there could have been more.

The menu changes 2-3 times per year, so you can keep coming back till you’ve tried them all, then there will probably be a whole new menu to select from!

You can get a local Indonesian dish for a main if you want but the dessert is what you come here for. There is a pretty groovy cocktail list as well.

Where? It is located along Jl. Raya Sanggingan (Next to Nuri’s)

DIAN restaurant review

Dian restaurant is located on Jalan Monkey Forest in Ubud. Plenty of room and tables, and reasonably quiet except for the building noise going on nearby (which is a given anywhere in Ubud).

Staff were very friendly and were happy for me to order a coffee and sit to do some work, with no pressure for ordering. The coffee was OK, not fantastic, but at least a cappuccino/expresso style.

In the end I ordered some lunch. I went for the sirloin streak with sprouts and onion, rice and an Asian style marinade.

The meal looked impressive brought out on a sizzling hot plate, the sauce tasted great, but the steak itself was nothing to get excited about. I’m glad I asked for medium, as it came out well done and still cooking! It also looked like someone has severed the middle of it before serving it to me! Not bad for the price I guess.

CarameL Patisserie & Cafe Ubud Review

We came to the CarameL Patisserie & Cafe after a meal at a restaurant elsewhere just for dessert. It is at the top end of Jalan Hanoman, and is a tiny but bright shop front, with an upstairs section which expands on the two bar stools down stairs. The display of desserts looks amazing, you can choose, and they deliver to your table.

We can never go past a good-looking chocolate dessert, so for us it was the Triple Chocolate Cake, consisting of layers of decadent cake, dark jelly, ganache and shiny icing. Mouthfuls of deliciousness were had!

The other choice was a Chocolate Dome, which was mousse, salted caramel and a biscuit base with a ganache covering. So amazingly light, but rich and smooth, having an absolutely stunning mouth-feel.

For drinks we chose sangria, which was the best I’ve ever tasted, because it had a super spicy, zesty flavour with a licorice/aniseed taste. Delicious sweet fruit bobbed around the ice, with some sort of frozen spicy gelato. Amazing! I would go there again just to drink this sangria.

The Spicy Tea was interesting at least, a lovely sup of hot tea, but not as spicy as claimed!

Other desserts that missed the opportunity to be devoured by us was a citrus or passion-fruit tart, cheesecake, macaroons, tirimasu, red velvet cake and traditional Balinese layered cake among other things. We will have to come back for some of those!

website: www.caramel-ubud.com

Topeng Cafe Review

Topeng Cafe is the small café at the Setia Darma House of Mask and Puppets just a few kms from Ubud in Bali.

After you have checked out the mask museum which is highly recommended, you can stop for a coffee, cold drink or snack in this peaceful café overlooking the museum gardens.

The coffee was decent. For some reason the barista used a hand-held milk frother instead of the one attached to the large coffee machine. Olive had a hot chocolate. There was also a selection of cold drinks and a few snack items you could buy.

Naughty Nuris Ubud Restaurant Review

Naughty Nuri’s is a long-term favourite hangout for anyone in the know in Ubud. It is the place to go for BBQ meat. If you drive past you will always see a crowded restaurant with smoke billowing from the barbecue out front.

The go to meal here is the pork ribs. They have a bucket out the front which they pull them from and slap them on the grill. There are no fancy servings here, just a pile of meat on a plate. Clare needed some veggies, so tried an Indonesian dish which was not to her liking.

The potato wedges were the best we have had in Bali.

The burgers are also poplar here, and once you see them you will know why.

Rob was just able to get his mouth around it. There was a nicely cooked hot dog for the kids, but don’t expect any extras. Just a sausage in a bun.

The smoke from the BBQ can be a problem. We were seated towards the back and away from the barbie, no smoke but was hot and stuffy.

You will need a drink, and the beer is apparently served very cold which is what you will need. We were not in the mood for a beer, and a large Bintang was Bali expensive at 44,000 rp ++, so we gave it a miss. Clare had an ice tea which was very sweet.

The prices are a bit high for what it was, nothing fancy, service without a smile, but the serve sizes were big, and the food tasty. You have to try it at least once. Olive ate up her dinner, which means it must have been good.

There is a copycat restaurant located a few door up, called Nuris, make sure you go to the right one.

Location: Jl. Raya Sangginan, Kedewatan, Ubud, Bali 80571, Indonesia
Phone: +62 361 977547

Review of Warung Garasi, Ubud

Warung Garasi is located down a hidden lane off the busy Monkey Forest Road in Ubud. It was built in the former garage of a Balinese family, and they have used that theme to deck out the restaurant in motor decorations.

The restaurant is cheap warung style, but the food quality does not reflect that. I have had a very good Thai style curry here before, but on this visit I went for a fried egg dish with tofu and sprouts covered with peanut sauce. It tasted like Bali!

Clare went for her usual and reliable choice of nasi campur, which is a great way to sample the dishes of a new restaurant.

Another way to compare restaurants to try another staple of menus, the lumpia (spring rolls). These were packed with tasty vegetables.Something on the menu that we had not seen before, and sounding like it was worth a try, was Balinese wine, red or white. We decided to try the white as the staff member said it was sweeter. It is not arak, as that was also on the menu. Very lemony taste, and for 15,000 rp was a great alternative to more expensive cocktails.

Frozen Yogi Ubud Review

The Frozen Yogi desert café is located opposite the soccer field in central Ubud, at the end of Jl Dewi Sita. You cannot miss it as it is bright and happy. The only thing on the menu is self-serve frozen yoghurt. It is clean and friendly, colorful and cute decor.

There is a huge variety of toppings to choose from, and over 40 toppings. Six flavours which change regularly. You can sample them if you are not sure which ones to choose. When we went there was chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, red velvet. You can choose all 6 if you want, but remember you pay by weight. We are very cautious when it comes to these things, and we still paid more than we expected. At $4 a tub it is quite expensive for Bali standards.

website: http://myfrozenyogi.com