MINAMI

When a new restaurant opens in quiet Sanur, there's always a buzz as this sleepy part of Bali is filled with restaurants yet very few are worth going to.  Minami in Ubud is where people go for refined Japanese cuisine.  I had never had a chance to visit the Ubud outpost so when I heard that a tiny branch had opened at the newly-renovated Segara village hotel in Sanur, I knew I had to try it.

Minami is an all-white open-air restaurant right on Sanur beach just by the souvenir market.  The menu is limited and not traditionally Japanese but the options are quite creative.  We started off with a few sushi rolls - ebi (prawn) sushi, salmon roll and California roll.  I chose the set lunch which gave me a choice of three items from the selection of Japanese tapas.  I had the fried tofu, tori karaage (fried chicken) and stewed pork belly which came with fried rice and miso soup.  My son had the prawn tempura which was hot and crispy and came with the more Japanese-style salt dip instead of the usual tempura sauce.  The food was good and well-presented but the service was dismal.  We were the only ones there when we arrived around 12:30 and later, two more groups arrived but for some reason, the food came out from the kitchen in spurts and in a haphazard order.  We got the set lunch first, then one sushi roll followed by another and finally the tempura which was almost an hour later then our first course.  Minami has quite a way to go to improve their service before I'll go back there for another meal.

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Minami

Segara Village Hotel

Jalan Segara Ayu

Sanur

*Open daily for lunch and dinner

*Main Minami at Jalan Sangginan, Ubud (Telephone: +62361 970013)

KAYUMANIS

A few people had mentioned Kayumanis as a good place for dinner in sleepy Sanur and we never got around to trying it because I didn't know exactly where it was then a couple of months ago, while dropping off some dry cleaning, we cut through a tiny side street and there it was.  We stopped by for dinner on a Saturday evening but they were already fully-booked so I made a dinner reservation for the following week.

We arrived early for our eight o'clock booking and were surprised to see that even on a Monday, there were no free tables.  Kayumanis is an open-air restaurant with an open kitchen situated right by the entrance.  The guest house has five rooms for rent through the garden and towards the back while the front area is taken up by the cafe.

The small menu has both Western and Asian dishes along with juices and beer but no wines.  (We found out later on that they have allow you to bring your own bottle of wine ( B.Y.O.B.) and waive the corkage charge.  As soon as we ordered, they brought us warm bread with a cheese spread.  We were quite hungry and finished this quickly and had to ask for some more which they brought along with some amuses bouches - a bite of tuna on a slice of eggplant topped with the traditional Balinese sambal metah (chopped shallots, cilantro and chili).  To start, A chose the Caesar Salad (35,000 IDR, around US$4) while I had the Vietnamese summer rolls (40,000 IDR, around US$4.50).  The Caesar salad was good but wasn't actually a Caesar salad - it was more of a mixed salad with shredded chicken and oddly, cilantro and nuts.  My Vietnamese rice paper rolls were fresh and filled with julienned vegetables, glass noodles and prawns and came with a spicy sweet chili sauce.  For our main course, we both had the beef Stroganoff (85,000 IDR, around US$10) - a generous portion of beef fillet in a mushroom and tomato sauce with a scoop of chunky mashed potatoes.  The meat was tender and the sauce delicious (I wish they had served it with pasta or rice instead of mashed potatoes which would have been good to sop up the sauce).  Dessert was an apple spring roll for A an a coconut delight for me, a halved young coconut filled with coconut ice cream.  All in all, a good simple meal at very reasonable prices and with the B.Y.O.B. policy (a first I've heard of in Bali) it's a great little place to have a meal with a good bottle of wine.

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Kayumanis Cafe and Home Stay

Jalan Tandakan 6,

Shindu, Sanur

Bali

Telephone: +62 361 289 410

GONTA RAMEN

On a breezy Wednesday evening, after a long afternoon at the beach, A and I decided to get a quick dinner somewhere nearby on Sanur's main street, Jalan Danau Tamblingan.  Since the summer season has officially begun and the yearly tourists have arrived on the island, most of the restaurants were packed, including our local cafe and last resort dinner destination Cafe Batujimbar, so we drove up and down the street looking for a place that wasn't packed.  Finally, we parked at Hardy's and ended up at the ramen house that used to be inside Hardy's and has recently moved across the street.

Gonta Ramen is a tiny noodle counter with a few benches and tables squeezed into a cozy space lined with bookshelves filled with Japanese comics and reading material.  There is a small counter at the far end where the open kitchen is and where solo diners usually sit.  The menu is limited and only has ramen in several forms (different types of broth and types of noodles) and a few simple dishes.  We had been to Gonta a few times before and also once to their newer, bigger open-air restaurant further up the road on Jalan Danau Poso.  As before we had the shoyu ramen set which comes with a side order of gyoza (pan-fried dumplings), a bargain at 72000 IDR (about US$8.50).  The food came quickly - a large steaming bowl of tasty broth filled with noodles, a hard-boiled egg, greens and slices of roast pork.  The accompanying four pieces of gyoza were crisp on the outside and filled with the usual ground pork and vegetables.  It was a delicious, simple and filling dinner and a Bali bargain.

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Gonta Ramen

(noodle counter)

Across the street from Hardy's supermarket

Jalan Danau Tamblingan

Sanur, Denpasar

Bali

Warung Mr. Ramen Gonta 

(open-air restaurant)

Jalan Danau Poso 2A

Sanur, Denpasar

Bali

Fast Food

It's the middle of the summer holidays and the kids are bored - what to do?  We've been to the beach almost every day, to the new play area Cubby House in Seminyak, to Ubud on day trips and to the Bali Galleria's Time Zone, eaten lots of ice cream and tried several fast food places.  Here they are.

MM JUICE

I first tried this fast food restaurant at the food court of the Carrefour on Sunset road.  After a morning spent grocery shopping, my son and I spotted the juice sign and decided to have a fresh mango juice which was wonderful.  We were all set to get some takeaway pizza from the PepeNero stand when we noticed that all of the tables in front of MM Juice were full so we sat down and shared a Nasi Goreng special - fried rice with sausage and chicken and topped with a fried egg and served with some achar and melinjo crackers.  It was a surprising find - the food was freshly cooked and delicious and the service quick.

They have another branch at the Bali Galleria which is more like a restaurant with brightly-colored wooden tables in an air-conditioned space.  We had lunch there a few days ago and this time, I ordered the stir-fried beef kway teow (flat rice noodles) which was a large portion of flavorful fried noodles with chunks of beef and egg - a satisfying lunch for such a reasonable price.  Fast and cheap food.

WARUNG BUNANA

Another little spot I've been meaning to try is the stand just at the end of Jalan Danau Poso which we pass often on our way home.  There is a large sign advertising Roti Canai (flat bread) & Teh Tarik (milky tea).  They also have a few other branches around - one of which is in Seminyak.  I finally stopped by the other day and ordered one portion of plain roti which was rolled out, slapped around and cooked to order right in front of me.   I took it home and opened the brown paper package of hot flaky bread which came with the standard curry dip.  Perfect as an afternoon snack and again, another cheap and cheerful place.

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MM Juice

Carrefour Food court on Sunset Road

Bali Galleria Food court area, ground floor

Warung Bunana

At the Sanur bypass just at the end of Jl. Danau Poso

On the Kerobokan road, Seminyak

PUTIH PINO

In an easy-to-miss side street just off Sanur's Jalan Danau Tamblingan is a tiny sweet-looking cafe called Putih Pino.  A friend brought me here for a coffee and cake one afternoon in December and I have been back several times since to have a coffee, with beautiful latte art, and a slice of whatever cheesecake they have for the day.  The  place has a colonial-theme all-white interior with antique tiles and a small open kitchen just like someones home.  Their menu is limited with a few breakfast choices, some sandwiches, a few simple Asian-style main courses plus their cakes and desserts in the display case which change often.  There are also fresh mixed juices and good coffee.  Stop by for a quick coffee and cake at one of Sanur's little secrets.

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Putih Pino

Jalan Karang Sari

Just off Jalan Danau Tamblingan near the Bali Hyatt

Sanur, Bali, Indonesia

Telephone: +62 361 287889

*Open daily for breakfast, lunch and tea.

CHARMING

Clockwise from top left: Tables on the terrace, honey pork ribs, spicy red prawn curry.

We had heard about CharMING and it's sister restaurant MING, Le Resto a few doors away at the southern end of Jalan Danau Tamblingan in Sanur from several people and had put it on our go-to list.  We were going for a quick meal early on a Friday night and tried to get a table at Massimo's for a pizza but the place was packed and since we didn't feel like waiting half an hour for dinner, we walked a little way more and decided to try the more casual CharMING.

The restaurant is indeed charming with a few tables in the front terrace underneath a fairy-lit trellis then to more tables in the main open-air pavilion.  Servers were friendly and brought us the menus and a small plate of warm cashews and a basket of bread as soon as we sat down.  We had a look at the menu and chose the goat's cheese salad to share as a starter then the honey-pork ribs for A and the spicy red prawn curry for me.  While we were waiting for the salad, people kept walking in and by the time we started to eat, the place was almost full.

Our main courses arrived soon after at around the time that the acoustic quartet arrived for the evening performance.  While we ate, the musicians started their round and ended up near our table as we were finishing our food so we had our dessert (a delicious tarte tatin with two scoops of vanilla ice cream) while we were serenaded with some Robbie Williams' songs (their choice, not ours).  Towards the end of our meal, the owner walked over to say hello and we realized another reason for the restaurant's name as he was indeed very charming.  Perfect for a quiet dinner in quiet Sanur.

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• CharMING
• Jl Danau Tamblingan 97
• Sanur, Bali 80228, Indonesia
• Tel: +62 361 288029

THE PORCH CAFE

A few months back, a friend invited me to lunch at The Porch.   It's a tiny wooden Manado-style house, with a porch and a shaded terrace which serves as the restaurant for the guests of Flashback's Bungalows.  There is an outdoor kitchen with a proper Australian-style grill and a few more tables on the wooden porch encircling the house.

On that day, a large procession walked by and we had the opportunity to experience a beautiful Balinese ceremony before sitting down to lunch.  I had a Thai chicken salad - grilled chicken on romaine lettuce with mangoes in a spicy chili-lime dressing. 

Since then, I've been to The Porch countless times for breakfast and have had most of the items on the menu - pancakes with maple syrup and cinnamon butter, ciabatta toast with jam, poached eggs and crispy bacon, the full breakfast of eggs, bacon, tomato, mushrooms and toast and my favorite, the hash stack - ciabatta toast topped with a hash brown, poached egg, bacon, mushrooms, avocados and caesar dressing.  With a pot of their French press coffee it's the best way to start the day.

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The Porch

Jl. Danau Tamblingan, 110

Sanur, Bali

Telephone: +62 361 281 682

CAFE BATUJIMBAR

Sanur, on the eastern side of southern tip of Bali, is mostly residential.  It is also where the first hotels on the island opened up many years ago.  Today, Sanur still retains a more relaxed appeal with much less tourists (although lots of expats live around here) than overpopulated Kuta or hip and happening Seminyak.

There is one two-lane road that runs parallel to the bypass in Sanur called Jalan Danau Tamblingan and it's where most of Sanur's hotels and restaurants are.  Right smack in the middle of this road is the Sanur institution, Cafe Batujimbar.  Popular with expats and locals, Cafe Batujimbar is a well-located, bright, open-air cafe which serves sandwiches, salads and some Indonesian specialties along with cakes and coffees.  They open early which is why its' a popular hangout for the Sanur mums who stop by for a coffee after doing the school run at the nearby Bali International School.

We did just that after the early morning drop-off and had a quick breakfast before heading back to Uluwatu which is a 45-minute drive from Sanur. We sat at one of the shaded outdoor tables and had double espressos and toasted country bread with butter and homemade jam. The espresso was thick and with lots of crema and the milk served alongside was hot and foamy - perfect cup to jumpstart the morning. (It seems that they get their coffee beans from Kopi Bali which is probably why it's good.) We also shared a carrot-apple-ginger juice (25,000 Rupiah, around US$3) which was good although a tad pricey for Bali.  There were lots of other tempting things on the menu so we will definitely be stopping by again for some breakfast or lunch one of these days.

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Cafe Batujimbar

No. 75A Jalan Danau Tamblingan , Sanur  

BALI ,Indonesia  80228

Telephone: +62 361 28 7374

KOPI BALI

First days are tough.  Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, starting out somewhere new will always be challenging.  After a Sunday night fraught with tears, we took our apprehensive eight-year old to his new school and stayed around until he felt that he was fine before we left.  With a sigh of relief after the tense morning, we decided to stop by Kopi Bali cafe right on the bypass in Sanur to have a quick breakfast and a cup of their famous coffee.

A Bali institiution, Kopi Bali is owned by the Butterfly Globe Brand which has been roasting and exporting coffee from their shop in Denpasar since 1935.  Here, coffee beans from Bali, Java and Toraja are roasted, packaged then distributed locally and exported to other countries as well.  The cafe is a showcase of their products and serves their coffee in many different ways.  Along with the standard espresso, cappuccino, mocha and macchiato, there are also iced coffees and even the chance to taste Kopi Luwak or civet coffee (200,000 Rupiah per pot of two espressos, around US$20).  The beans are actually coffee cherries eaten by the rare civet animal, which are then passed through the digestive tract (yes, it means exactly that!), processed and medium-roasted into a distinct coffee beverage.  Distinct to Bali, Java and Sumatra, only 300 kilos of these rare coffee beans are roasted yearly. I haven't tried this since I'm not sure I can get my head around tasting it.  At least not yet.

The place is modern and bright and filled with comfortable chairs and tables plus loads of magazines to flick through while waiting (here in Indonesia, magazines are very expensive so this is a good place to get some light reading done).  We ordered the set breakfast - orange juice, a coffee (cappuccino for me, espresso for A) and some toast.  The juice was fine although we couldn't quite make up our minds if it was fresh or not, the toast nothing great but the coffee more than made up for the lacklustre breakfast.  My cappuccino was perfect - the coffee flavor coming through and the milk perfectly foamy and even decorated with "coffee art" of a leaf stenciled onto the milk (see photo above).  Kopi Bali serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and coffee all day-long which is what makes this place worth the stop.  Maybe next time I'll stop by for at midday and see if their lunch offering is better.

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Kopi Bali

Graha Niaga Sanur Arcade

Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai 405 E
Sanur, Bali, Indonesia
Tel. +62 361 270990