Eating in Bali

Babi guling

Bali’s dish and the proof this island isn’t like the rest of the country: a whole pig stuffed with a spice paste (turmeric, galangal, ginger, shallot, chilli, the base they call basa gede) and spit-roasted over coals for hours until the skin turns to glass.

It’s served on a plate with rice, a piece of crisp skin, meat, a little Balinese blood sausage and vegetables.

And there’s a rule: it’s lunch food. Good places roast one or two pigs in the morning and when they run out, they close. Turning up at three in the afternoon is turning up late. It was originally a religious ceremony dish and has become everyday food.

The warung

In the warung, the neighbourhood place, is where the real food is. The system is pointing: there are trays of stews, vegetables, tempeh, egg, chicken, and they give you rice with whatever you choose on top. That’s nasi campur, “mixed rice”, and it’s the daily food here. It costs a couple of euros and it’s usually excellent. Two practical warnings: the food has been sitting there at room temperature since the morning, so choose places with turnover, where there are people, and go early. And if you don’t eat chilli, say so, because the default sambal is genuinely hot. Bali’s golden rule: where Balinese people are eating, the food is good.

Bebek betutu and satay lilit

Bebek betutu belongs to the ceremonies: a whole duck stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and bark, and cooked buried in embers or steamed for ten or twelve hours until it collapses. Many places need it ordered a day ahead, and it’s worth doing. And satay lilit is the Balinese skewer, different from the rest of Indonesia’s satay: instead of chunks of meat on a stick, it’s minced fish or chicken with grated coconut and spices, moulded around a lemongrass stalk and grilled. The lemongrass perfumes the meat from within and afterwards you can chew the stick. It’s one of the best things you’ll eat here.

The water, and your stomach

You can’t drink the tap water in Bali, and this isn’t over-caution: “Bali belly” happens to plenty of people and floors you for two days. Drink bottled or filtered water: many places have a dispenser and refilling your bottle is the right move, since the island has a serious plastic problem.

Ice in established places is usually industrial and safe. At a small roadside stall, better not. The rest is common sense: peeled fruit, hot food cooked to order, and warung with turnover.

What usually makes people ill isn’t the scruffy warung, it’s the lukewarm hotel buffet that’s been out for three hours.