Ubud Inn Review

The restaurant at the Ubud Inn is located at the southern end of Monkey Forest Rd. Not long after we first arrived in Ubud I came here and had an eggplant dish that was not memorable, except just to remember not to come here again. It is one of the closer places to my workplace so I decided to try it again after 6 months.

My first reading of the menu only came up with the same eggplant dish as being enticing, until I noticed the steak section of the menu (I am not usually a steak fan), and decided to go with the ginger fish, which was a tuna steak. The dish came out on a sizzling plate, great as I love to eat my food hot. The steak was a very good size, but instead of the rice I expected it to come with there were chips. Also going with the western theme there was a side of carrots and beans. A typical steak and chips! It was great, a subtle ginger flavour.

I had nearly finished my order when I realised they have a decent coffee machine making espressos. It was a real coffee (by Perth standards) but made very watery and made with UHT milk, so only tasted average.

So far I have had a 50% success rate here, I may come back one day and try something else on the menu. If you sit out the back overlooking their relaxing fountain and pond, listening to Balinese tunes, it is a very relaxing place to eat. If you have the energy, walking another 5 minutes up Monkey Forest Rd towards the markets, you will come across some better choices in the same price range.

LaRaMona Tapas Restaurant Review

LaRaMona Tapas is a relatively new tapas bar on situated on Jl. Dewi Sita in Ubud, Bali. We dropped in here one night for a drink just after it had opened, and promised ourselves that we would come back for a feed as the food looked so good.

We started with the eggplant bruschetta. Egyptian style roasted with matahari peanuts goats cheese feta. The taste was fantastic, though the peanuts a bit too crunchy.

The other dishes we had were the Mararrech Lamb Tagine, with contreau soaked prunes ras el hunout topped toasted almonds served with grilled homemade bread. Also In House Spiced Beef Patatas Bravas, with warm chimmichurri sauce. We also had a roasted eggplant side (which should have been free, see note below)

These were just a few of the fantastic meal choices, there really is a great range. The serves were bigger than we expected for tapas, but that is reflected in the price. Each dish was the price you would expect to pay for a meal in a similar standard restaurant in Ubud.

We were complaining (to each other) about a group near is smoking. I guess you have to put up with that in Bali with more lax rules about smoking in public places. However, we did not expect to see the waitress light up a cigarette not far from us. We had to ask for her to put it out, the smell of smoke was not what we wanted when trying to enjoy their food. It did spoil our night a little.

Another thing, when we checked their facebook page before we went, we noticed that they had daily specials, and that night it was a free side dish with every main. When we arrived we asked about specials but were told there were none. We also questioned them later online and still have not heard a reply.

Jaje Cafe Review, Ubud Bali

The Jaje coffee shop, pastry and bakery is located on the south end of Jl monkey forest. It is a small cute looking cafe with friendly staff in green hats waiting to serve you.

The menu was quite interesting. I was tempted with the garlic bread or bruschetta considering they are a bakery with probably nice bread, but surprise surprise I chose the lumpia (chicken spring rolls). Probably a bad choice as they were over cooked. The sweet chili sauce that came with them was pretty good though I prefer when they come with a Balinese peanut sauce.

For a main I went with Ayam Palelang (sp?), shredded chicken breast with a Balinese sauce (samal matah). Very nicely presented dish, though not enough chicken for me.

They serve Illy coffee, which is always good. I went with an iced coffee, which came with liquid sugar syrup to sweeten it myself.

There are nice desert choices on display of your want something more, or something to go with your coffee.

The prices are pretty standard for this part of town, about 40,000 ($4 for mains), not a bad option if you want to try somewhere new.

Alchemy Restaurant Review

Alchemy is a raw food vegan vegetarian restaurant in Penestanan Ubud. It is a popular place to go, though it has taken us 6 months to visit as the new age vibe of the place doesn’t really appeal.

Salad is the only thing on the lunch menu. There is a lot to choose from. You get to select greens, add four toppings and a dressing. You can pay for more. I went for zucchini posts, taco mix, raw pad Thai, Olives with a pesto dressing. It tasted quite good, which is saying something for a non salad eater like myself. I’ll still need to go elsewhere to buy something else to fill me up.

Bought a chipmonk drink for Casper, banana and chocolate with almond milk. I asked for regular milk for him as I wasn’t sure of the taste. They don’t do anything but almond milk. They have bamboo straws here too, but raw ones like their food.

The Frappachino also came with almond milk but you would not know it. Very nice

The main reason I came here was to check out the kids play area I had heard about. It was pretty good with a basket of Lego, a train set and a kitchen set, as good as you get anywhere else around Ubud.

I’ll come back here with Clare who will appreciate the salad, maybe for breakfast as I hear that is good too. No use bringing the kids, nothing suitable for them.

Laba Laba Restaurant Review

Warung Laba Laba is located along Jalan Hanuman in Ubud, toward Cocos supermarket. There is no msg used. Balinese dishes are their sspeciality. It was good to see separate sections for Indonesian food and Balinese food, as these are not the same and are often grouped together on menus. Watch the world go by, and sit at the front overlooking the busy Hanuman street. Very reasonable prices, 30 to 40,0000 Rp for mains.

Rob tried something from the Balinese section: Tuna Panggang Sambal Matah and his usual starter of Lumpia. They both tasted great. The sambal matah was not as spicy as I would like, but the menu did say to ask for more spicy of you like that, and I didn’t! So it’s my fault. The rice was light and fluffy, which is not always the case. The free glass of icy water was a nice touch too.

This place is worth a stop if you are walking past this way.

Bebek Tepi Sawah Review

Bebek Tepi Sawah Restaurant, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Our Experience

We were looking for a good place to try Bali’s famous smoked duck. We were a little put off by Bebek Bengil (the famous Dirty Duck Diner), the apparently first choice for smoked duck (bebek tutu) as it appeared to be geared toward satisfying the tourist crowds, and we wanted to avoid that.

Our choice was Bebek Tepi Sawah, and by it’s name was also a duck speciality place (though there was a large range of dishes available). The smoked duck dishes need a long time to be prepared so you normally need to give a day’s notice.

Bebek Tepi Sawah was a huge restaurant, which is not obvious from the street. We chose a table that was quite secluded among the rice paddies (if you need service you can call on the supplied phone!). The service was very professional.

We had one dish of the smoked duck, and sate ikan (fish satays), plus mushroom soup, and shared the lot. The food quality was great, the smoked duck a highlight. The slow cooked duck means the meat just falls off the bone.