Bali: The Isle of Gods Day 2 (Part 2 of 2)

19th March 2010

After checking out of Tjampuhan Spa Hotel, we are on the hunt for Babi Guling, which is a local specialty, especially so in Ubud. Babi is Pig while Guling meant Roast so Babi Guling is… you guessed it, Roast Pig! The most famous restaurant that serves Babi Guling is a restaurant called Ibu Oka. Do note that there are two Ibu Okas restaurant with one being most frequented by tourists, which sit right on the Ubud centre itself and the other one located slightly out of town. Since we have Pak B to drive us, we headed to the one out of the cultural centre itself to avoid the many tourists that will flock to the restaurant as well as to avoid fighting for a meal in Ibu Oka for they only roasts one whole pig a day. The price is reasonably cheap but yet skewed towards the higher end for the locals. Pak B mentioned that local would usually not feast on the Babi Guling except during wedding as the price is way too steep for a meal at IDR25,000 (4 regular meals’ worth for the locals) for scrap meat or IDR40,000 (6-7 regular meals’ worth for the locals) for choice meat. The portion is generous at that price and it is truly an authentic Balinese feast. Highly recommended and two thumbs up for the Okas!

The Ibu Oka branch located outside Ubud Centre

Dining area at Ibu Oka (2nd Floor) 

Pork meat and crackling with spicy turmeric sauce.
While the sauce may be spicy, but it is not really HOT... just spicy.
The other variation comes with blood sausage, which I gave a pass.

One of the many Balinese salad. It is a mixture of coriander leaves,
long beans, some root veges and fried onion.
The taste may be exotic and I personally find it interesting
while my wife decided to skip it altogether.

After having our lunch, we took off from Ubud to Seminyak, which is situated on the western part of the island where we will be spending the next two nights at Astana Kunti. The actual ride took Pak B approximately 1.5hr but the irony is that we spent another 1.5Hr just to search for the villa! The reason why it took us so long to find the villa is due to it being in a new location and being a new development whereby even the name of the street is foreign to the locals as though it was non-existent! Best of all, there are no signboard whatsoever of the villa! To make things more complicated, yours truly forgotten to print the booking form which has the hotel’s contact in it… geez! Thank God that we managed to get Internet access in one of the local property office and from there requested the hotel to send someone to pick us up.

Bedding provided in the Astana Kunti villa

Common hut right outside our room overlooking the swimming pool.
It seems like no one is using it so we had our breakfast here.

Astana Kunti is located near to Murano Spa and IF you (Like me) have a booking with them, head to Murano Spa and you are within 3mins walking distant to Astana Kunti. I heard from the workers in the Spa that the reason why there are no signboards for Astana Kunti is due to them operating without a proper hotel license and thus having signboards would cause them to run into trouble with the authorities. Anyway, the room costs us US$125 net for 2 nights and that worked out to be US$62.50 per night. If you don’t drive, this may not be the ideal accommodation for you but if you do, it is very decent. The room in brief, comes with a king size bed, coffee table, sofa bed, kitchen, fridge and cable TV. It is perfect for young couple that is on a budget, just like yours truly.

The common swimming pool.
Access via the room's backdoor.
The only thing I have to complain is...
Why they use painting for the pool's flooring
instead of proper mosaics???

I have made a reservation for the evening, again to impress my soulmate at The Chandi located in the famous stretch of restaurant along Jalan Kayu Ara (Funny that the address of the restaurant is Jalan Laksamana). This is a fine dining bar restaurant and I have to admit that the price is on the higher end as it cost me IDR550,000+ dining for two. The service is excellent although some of the waiters struggle with the English language beyond order taking. Food is excellent especially the desserts.

Mini Beef Rendang Envelope (3/5)
Rendang is an indonesian signature dish whereby beef are
cooked in coconut curry and spices over a long period of time until
the sauce is reduced to a pasty consistency and the meat soft and tender
to the tongue. This dish is prepared by enveloping the rendang with
rice wrappers and baked. It is served with Creme Fraiche Cucumber Salad.

Amazing Crunchy Tofu Squares (3/5)
Tofu are deep fried served with sweet peanut sauce and cucumber.
The tofu are soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Fun to eat.

Agung's Queen PrawnBlack & Red Nasi Goreng (5/5 Must try!)
Black glutinous rice and japanese rice mixture is not only creative, it also
gave this dish a different texture and adds to the fun of eating it.
It comes with 2 huge prawns, swuid, scallop, egg a chavel and seaweed.
I believe the name of this dish refers to the marriage between the
black glutinous rice (Agung or King) and the Japanese rice (Queen).
Amazing dish! Kudos to the chef for this beautiful creation!

Lamb Shank Gule (1/5 Avoid this)
This dish almost ruin the night. It looked pretty but the taste and texture
lacks depth and the fact that the shank tasted old and stale left
wondering how did this dish made it to the menu?
The PR Manager, Jasmine came to our rescue by replacing this dish.
Kudos to the management for having such great service via Ms Jasmine.

Rack of Lamb with turmeric rice (5/5 Must try!)
This item is on promotion and was a replacement of the Lamb Shank Gule.
If I had it my way, all lamb should be prepared this way! The meat was tender
and juicy to the bite and the turmeric rice + radish salsa brings out the
flavour of the lamb. It is truly a heavenly combo!

Fabulously Classic Hot Chocolate Fondant (5/5 Must try!)
This is perhaps one of the best desserts I have tried. It looked deceivingly
simple but yet explodes with heavenly goodness! The ginger emulsion
and crystallized spices ensures that you will get surprise after surprises
of wonderful taste as you spoon down each mouthful with a
touch of them. Simply fabulous!

Creme Brulee with lime sauce (3/5)
The creme is soft and not too sweet, which
suits me perfectly. I would like it even more if
the creme is slightly more solid.

After the dinner, we strolled along Jalan Kayu Ara and popping into shops in between. I bought myself a Bali edition Quiksilver singlet and another Quiksilver t-shirt as it was on a discount. We ended the day by purchasing some groceries from the 24-hr 7-Eleven styled store for breakfast tomorrow.

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