Bali Food Guide: Balinese Dishes, Warungs, Cafes and What It Costs

Prices are for a local warung in the south or Ubud; tourist restaurants charge two to three times as much. Roughly IDR 16,000 = $1.

Betutu takes most of a day to cook, so many places sell it only if you order the day before. Lawar with raw blood (lawar merah) carries a real risk of food poisoning; the white version (lawar putih) is cooked.

A warung is a family-run eatery, from a roadside counter with a glass cabinet to a garden restaurant. At a nasi campur warung you point at what you want from the trays, and the price is set by how many dishes you take; ask “berapa?” (how much) before you sit down if no prices are shown. Lunch is the main meal and the best dishes sell out by 2pm.

• Ibu Oka, near Ubud Palace: the most famous babi guling in Bali since Anthony Bourdain filmed there. Go before 1pm.
• Warung Babi Guling Pak Malen, Sunset Road, Seminyak: the south’s favourite babi guling, faster and less crowded than Ibu Oka.
• Bebek Bengil (Dirty Duck Diner), Jalan Hanoman, Ubud: crispy fried duck with rice-paddy views, a tourist classic at IDR 150,000-200,000 a plate.
• Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Ibu Mangku, Kedewatan, north-west of Ubud: shredded spiced chicken rice, a local institution.
• Warung Mak Beng, near the beach in Sanur: one menu of fried fish, fish soup and rice since 1941.
• Warung Biah Biah, Ubud: small Balinese tapas plates at IDR 10,000-25,000 each.
• Made’s Warung, Kuta and Seminyak: the 1969 original tourist warung, pricier but with a full Balinese menu.

In Denpasar, the food stalls around Pasar Badung serve breakfast nasi campur and jaja (cakes) from dawn at local prices.

Night markets (pasar malam or pasar senggol) are where Balinese families eat after dark, and the cheapest good food on the island.

Gianyar Night Market, in the centre of Gianyar town 25 minutes east of Ubud, is the best on Bali. From about 5pm to 11pm a car park fills with stalls selling babi guling (Gianyar’s style is famous across the island), sate, martabak (stuffed pancakes), terang bulan (sweet thick pancakes) and fresh juices. A full meal costs IDR 30,000-60,000. Pair it with an afternoon at the Sukawati art market on the way.

Sindhu Night Market in Sanur, a short walk from Sindhu Beach, is the most tourist-friendly: a compact square of stalls open from about 5pm with sate, nasi goreng, grilled corn, soto and pancakes, and prices only slightly above local.

Kreneng Night Market (Pasar Malam Kreneng), in north Denpasar near the Kreneng bus terminal, runs from late afternoon until well after midnight and is almost entirely local. Look for sate babi, pork lawar, bakso (meatball soup), fried snacks and es campur. Bring small notes and expect no English menus.

The beach at Jimbaran is lined with seafood cafes that set tables on the sand at sunset and grill fish, prawns, squid, clams and lobster over coconut husks. It is a classic Bali evening, and also the island’s best-known food rip-off. Most cafes price seafood by weight, and the common tricks are a quoted price “per 100 grams” that you hear as per kilo, fish weighed with ice, water or the basket, a lobster swapped for a smaller one, and drivers who take a large commission for steering you to a particular cafe.

To avoid it, ask for the price per kilo in writing, watch the weighing, agree the total before cooking and pay with the receipt in hand. The set menus offered by the bigger cafes at the Muaya Beach end in the south, typically IDR 250,000-600,000 per person with a fish, prawns, squid, rice and kangkung, are often the safer deal. The cheapest option is the Kedonganan fish market at the north end of the bay: buy your fish at the market stalls in the morning or late afternoon, then take it to one of the warungs next door, which grill it and add rice and sambal for a small fee.

The cafe culture of Canggu and Seminyak is the reason many people stay longer. Expect smoothie bowls, sourdough, specialty coffee and long brunch menus at IDR 70,000-150,000 a dish. Crate Cafe on Jalan Canggu Padang Linjong is the big, cheap, always-busy breakfast barn; Milk and Madu in Berawa does family brunch and wood-fired pizza; Revolver, down an alley off Jalan Kayu Aya in Seminyak, is the coffee bar that started the scene; Sisterfields in Seminyak does Melbourne-style brunch. Most have fast Wi-Fi and laptops by 9am.

Ubud is one of the easiest places on earth to eat vegan. Zest, on Jalan Penestanan with a terrace over the valley, Alchemy with its raw-food bar, Sayuri Healing Food, Clear Cafe and Moksa, a farm-to-table restaurant in the rice fields of Penestanan, serve plant-based Indonesian and international menus at IDR 60,000-130,000 a main.

For a big night, Bali’s two most celebrated restaurants are both in Ubud. Locavore NXT, the successor to Locavore (which spent years on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list), cooks long tasting menus from Indonesian ingredients only. Mozaic, on Jalan Raya Sanggingan, has served French technique with Balinese produce since 2001. Expect IDR 1,500,000-3,500,000 ($95-220) per person with drinks and book weeks ahead. In Seminyak, Merah Putih does modern Indonesian in a dramatic dining hall and Mama San does pan-Asian street food dressed up.

Coffee. Bali grows arabica on the volcanic slopes of Kintamani below Mount Batur and robusta lower down. Order kopi Bali and you get thick black coffee with the grounds settling in the glass, sweetened unless you say “tanpa gula”, for IDR 8,000-20,000. Coffee plantations on the road to Ubud and Kintamani offer free tastings and push kopi luwak, beans passed through a civet. Most of it comes from caged civets in poor conditions; skip it. Specialty cafes pour single-origin Kintamani for IDR 35,000-55,000.

Restaurants and cafes in tourist areas add 10% regional tax and 5-11% service, shown as “++” on menus, so a bill comes to 15-21% more than the menu prices. Warungs include everything. Tipping is not expected where service is charged; round up or leave IDR 10,000-20,000 at a warung if you want.

Eat and pass food with your right hand; the left is for washing. Locals often eat with their fingers at warungs, and you can ask for a spoon and fork (sendok garpu), which is how Indonesians use cutlery. Pork is everywhere in Bali, unlike the rest of Indonesia, so ask “ada babi?” (is there pork?) if it matters. Never step on or move the small canang sari offerings left outside shops and restaurants, and do not start eating before your host does at a Balinese home or ceremony.

Bali belly is the name for travellers’ diarrhoea, and most visitors get a mild case. Drink bottled or filtered water (many cafes and hotels have free refill stations), and do not drink tap water. Ice in tourist areas is factory-made and usually safe. Eat busy stalls, food cooked to order and fruit you peel yourself, skip raw blood lawar and lukewarm buffets, and wash your hands. Oral rehydration salts (oralit) cost a few thousand rupiah at any pharmacy (apotek); see a doctor if you have a fever or blood, or if it lasts more than three days.

Vegetarian and vegan food is easy: tempeh, tofu, gado-gado, jukut urab and every cafe menu. Say “saya vegetarian, tanpa daging” (no meat) and “tanpa terasi” (no shrimp paste), which hides in most sambals. Halal food is less obvious than elsewhere in Indonesia because Bali is Hindu-majority. Look for “halal” signs, Javanese “warung Muslim” and Padang restaurants, which are halal by default. Gluten-free and dairy-free are widely labelled in Canggu and Ubud.

Cooking classes are one of the best things to do in Ubud. Paon Bali in Laplapan village east of Ubud, Casa Luna in Ubud and Bumbu Bali in Tanjung Benoa near Nusa Dua start with a morning market visit, teach base genep from scratch, then cook six to ten dishes for lunch. Expect IDR 400,000-1,000,000 ($25-60) per person with hotel pickup; book a day or two ahead.

Bali travel guide · Arts & Crafts · Beaches · Best Time · Costs · Culture · Itineraries · Nightlife · Shopping · Temples · Where to Stay