It's actually Di Area, which makes sense, but it's still funny either way you look at it.
I went over to Bali sitting on 103KG. In the good old days I'd come home maybe 5-6 kilos heavier. Not this time. If wasn't for a little medical intervention I reckon with the places we ate and the food I threw down my throat I would have topped the 110 kilo mark.
Below is a list of the places we ate and yes we eat local food, because most places despite their frontage make both western and local food:
Khin Koa Thai. Opposite The Dynasty. Turtle in their pond. I'd like a turtle in our pond but all we've got are gold fish, which by the way took my kids 3 months before they realised I'd put them in there. Khin Koa Thai was really good and the cost was very reasonable. Great dunnies.
Il Cielo. Next to Khin Koa Thai. Nice food. Pretty quick service given it was flat out. Very well priced. (0361)762027 www.ilcielo.com
Queens out the front of the Dynasty. Good. Great Indian. Great service. Great Norwegian singers.
Green Garden. Good food. Service was a little slow but they did come over and explain they were trying to get all our meals out at the same time. Good effort considering there were 19 of us. Funnily enough this was the most ordinary meal we had the whole time we were in Bali but I only say that because every meal we had was over the top. Green Garden was still a great feed and very, very well priced. Service was great and though I didn't have them, the kids said the satay was awesome.
Mykonos in Seminyak JL Laksmana, rate it. If I was 19 again and really drunk, this is the sort of place I would want to stagger into at 3 in the morning. We walked in at 6pm and the place was empty. By the time we left at 8ish it was standing room only. This place has a great menu and the best kebabs in Bali. (0361) 733253 www.mykonos-bali.com
Biku in Seminyak and just around the corner from Ku De Ta. Does high tea. Awesome food, well priced but pricey by Bali standards. Cheap beyond belief by Australian standards. The high tea is fantastic. I'm not a big tea drinker but the tea here is the best I've tasted since Thailand. Owned by an Australian lady but managed by a lovely Balinese lady. The cakes are some of the best I have eaten and I've done cake oh yes I've done cake.
Oceans 27 in front of the Discovery Mall +62 361 765027 www.oceans27.net
Great feed. Well priced and very kid friendly. They have tables and chairs set up in shallow pools. The kids loved this place. The food was great and really well priced. The girls had the Moon Cookies something or other cocktail here. They reckon it was the yummiest cocktail they have ever had. It also does the best Thai Green Curry in Bali. Funny thing about this place was that from the first time we ate there on about day 4 to the last meal we had there the night before we left, they changed the manager, the menu and their uniforms. I realise they love changing uniforms throughout the week but the menu in the space of 10 days? They took away the kids menu but after some negotiation they were happy to cook the popcorn chicken that the kids loved so much. The menu was cut back from about 5 pages to one. Food was still good and the service was great.
Bali Safari and Marine Park. Good food. I was a bit sceptical but this place was a nice surprise. Good food, reasonably priced, cheap in fact and great service.
Diarea Food Hall Ramayana Denpasar. Great, cheap and lots of variety. While the wife maxes out the credit card I bring the kids up here for crepe. We wander up one floor to the Time Zone place. I get 100000rph worth of coins and the kids go nuts. It's pretty much a little casino for kids minus the booze and people getting robbed as they leave. They win tickets on just about every machine and redeem them for prizes.
I also wander through the supermarket here and buy things I can't find in Perth like, miniture bottles of ketcup manis for the kids. They love anything that they think is made for kids. I buy toothbrushes because they're dirt cheap. Coco pops in the shape of monkeys because they're the shape of monkeys (They were for me but I told the wife they were for the kids) Batteries are really cheap in Bali even the lithium ones. Oh yeah. You can buy KFC flour. It claims to have all the secret herbs and spices and it's only 20 cents a packet. Imagine trying to sell that in Australia. I bought two packets.
Bali Bakery. Haven't had a bad meal here yet and we've eaten here heaps. Well priced and the best aircon of any restaurant in Bali. If you order the chilli chicken you get a chicken snitzel.....maybe my Indonesian isn't that good yet. Good snitzel but.
I also checked out Amsterdam Bakery opposite Ramayana. We didn't eat. It was just a toilet stop for the youngest while the wife went next door to the multi storey IT shop to try to recover some lost photos for someone back in Australia. Great aircon in the Amsterdam. The cakes on display looked good. This place looks really nice. Very quiet. It was also the most expensive toilet shop in the world. I feel a little guilty using peoples facilities without being a paying customer so I bought a strawberry fanta. Why haven't we got that here? It rocks. Anyway, 15000rph for a fanta. I know that's only two bucks but I can buy 2 litres of fanta here for 2 bucks.
Also had lunch at the Gria Santrian while we were doing a hotel visit there. Great, actually, the best salad I have ever eaten. The aoli was the best mayo I have ever eaten. It's right on the beach front and looking at the menu, very well priced for a hotel.
Also ate at two other places in Sanur. Bu Me, I think it's called. Directly opposite Hardi and to the right a bit. Friggen awesome chocolate cake. Also the Star Bistro down from that a little. Also very good and really cheap.
One little place that was a nice surprise was the Baker's Corner in the Pepito's Supermarket Jl Kediri Tuban. It's on the left as you head back to the airport. Pepito's are popping up everywhere and are pretty expensive, not like the old faithful Bintang Supermarket, but they are catering more to the expats. The Baker's Corner is literally in the corner of Pepito's and is a mini version of bread talk but you can sit down and have a brew also. Cheap and while I had a milkshake, my cousin assures me the coffee is good. For two milkshakes, a Danish, a muffin and a pizza that my daughter said was AWESOME! 70,400rph. Less than ten bucks.
We ate at Bubba Gumps a couple of times because the kids love it. This place is fun and the security here is some of the best in Bali. While I don't worry about it we are always aware of security when we are out and about. If the place is full of westerners we don't eat there unless the security is good. We always know where the exits are. We try to sit away from the roadside and will not eat somewhere where the security guards are looking at the customers rather than the people trying to walk through the front door. The separate rooms this place has is also a good idea but I'm sure they didn't think about that when they built it.
A bit of a disappointment was the large group of Aussies on the table next to us. We're a loud family and never knock anyone else for being loud but a couple of this mob, certainly not all of them, were loud and obnoxious. One of the blokes told the girl that if they didn't get discounted drinks they would leave. They didn't get discount and funnily enough, they didn't leave. The staff handled them very well.
Thai Express opposite Discovery Mall. Pretty good. Well priced and quick. Very quick in fact. A little lacking in character and the fact that it was always pretty quiet in there I think, is partly because of its colour scheme.
We ate at the Hard Rock once and again because the kids like it. OK the wife likes it and the kids and I tag along. The food is predictable but it's good and reasonably priced for what it is. Now, if you're drunk don't stay out with your 3 year old. Actually don't take your three year old out at all if you're drunk. Then don't start a volley ball game in the middle of the restaurant using a balloon. It'd be cute if you weren't a p!sswreck and it gets a little annoying when you keep hitting my daughter with the balloon......repeatedly. I had to weigh it up. Do I say anything and look like an ogre because you're having fun with your cute little girl or do I just grin and bear it. I was grinning when the balloon finally popped. Does it make me old that this grated on my nerves. Am I one of those people you mob hook into for making comments like this?
And finally, The Warung at Alila Ulawatu. FanFriggenTastic. Go for the set menu as mentioned in a previous post. Take the kids and hang them by their heals over the cliff if they play up and make sure you use the toilets in the gym. Whatever you do don't eat ala carte or get in a car with a guy named Agung especially if he starts driving down a limestone track.