When flipping through holiday brochures, I always used to shunt Bali to the bottom of my list, due to the flight time from Dublin. A 20-hour, two-flight trip, transplants you to a paradise island six hours northwest of Australia and bang in the middle of Indonesia. This year, however, the allure of an unexplored tropical paradise was too much to resist, and so we made the journey.
Our first stop was Candidasa, a small, quiet town on the east coast of the island, away from the tourist hot spots of Seminyak and Kuta. We learned that Candidasa was once known for its stunning beaches, but after 30 years of development and a bizarre decision to harvest coral from the offshore barrier reef for building materials, the town can no longer boast white sands with waves crashing right at shore. The town's true charm was away from the water. There we found ourselves immersed in village life, colourful temples lined the streets and we were welcomed with a chorus of "Hello!" from local children.
Away from the coast and set among neon green rice fields, Ubud in central Bali gave us an altogether different perspective on Balinese life. We were invited by local food writer Janet De Neefe to join one of her cooking classes at her guest house Casa Luna. After moving to the island in the 1980s from her native Australia and marrying a local, she became fascinated by local traditions and cooking.
De Neefe guided us through ingredients key to Balinese cookery such as turmeric, galangal, tamarind and palm sugar, and demonstrated wonderfully foreign dishes such as roasted coconut and bean salad and a fiery Indonesian chicken curry. In doing so, she made light work of demystifying this wonderful island’s food culture.
The highlight of our stay was a handful of nights spent on Gili Meno, off Lombok. Two hours by fast boat from Bali, Gili Meno is the smallest of the three Gili islands and has everything desert island dreams are made of: white sands, coconut trees and crystal clear water.
After a few dodgy beachside meals, we discovered one of the local warungs, family run shacks which are common throughout Indonesia and offer different traditional dishes each day. We sat on small plastic chairs, as the locals giggled at our reactions to each component of nasi campur, rice served with an eclectic selection of extras such as deep-fried tempeh, curried jackfruit, tofu and spicy sambal paste.
It was fresh, spicy and aromatic, and some of our best meals were eaten here, proving the theory that if in doubt, always eat where the locals eat. These recipes are a true taste of Bali’s brilliant food scene.
