Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BALI AND LOMBOK'S TOP 5 PLACES TO STAY
Chic and serene:
Wapa di Ume
.
Stylish seaside resort:
Qunci Villas
.
Intimate getaway:
Lombok Lodge
.
Rainforest retreat:
Sarinbuana Eco Lodge
.
Boutique Bali escapism:
Santi Sari
.
FOOD AND DRINK
If you come to Bali or Lombok expecting the range and exuberance of the cooking else-
where in Southeast Asia, you'll be disappointed. Somehow the ingenuity and panache
don't seem to have reached this far, or maybe they've been elbowed out of the way by
Italian or Japanese food. However, there's an impressive array of food available. Iron-
ically, the most elusive cuisines on the islands are the native Balinese and Sasak.
At the inexpensive end of the scale, you can get a bowl of
bakso ayam
(chicken noodle soup)
for around Rp5000 from one of the
carts
(
kaki lima
) on the streets, at bus stations during
the day and at night markets after dark. Slightly smarter are
warung
or rumah makan (eat-
ing houses), ranging from a few tables and chairs in a kitchen to fully fledged
restaurants
.
There's usually a menu, but in the simplest places it's just rice or noodle dishes on offer. Most
places that call themselves restaurants cater for a broader range of tastes, offering Western,
Indonesian and Chinese food, while others specialize in a particular cuisine such as Mexic-
an, Japanese or Italian. The multinational fast-food chains have also arrived in the tourist and
city areas.
Vegetarians
get a good deal, with tofu (
tahu
) and
tempeh
, a fermented soybean cake, along-
side plenty of fresh vegetables.
Restaurant
etiquette
is pretty much the same as in the West, with waiter service the norm.
If you're eating with friends, don't count on everyone's meal arriving together; there may be
just one gas burner in the kitchen.
Prices
vary dramatically depending on the location rather than the quality of the meals.
In the humblest local rumah makan, a simple rice dish such as
nasi campur
is about
Rp10,000-20,000, while basic tourist restaurant prices start at around Rp25,000-35,000 for
their version of the same dish with the sky the limit in the plushest locations. If you choose
non-Indonesian food such as pizza, pasta and steak, prices start at around Rp50,000 in tour-
ist restaurants and again become stratospheric for imported steaks with all the trimmings in
swanky locations. Bear in mind that restaurants with more expensive food also have pricier
