Just returned from three and a half fabulous weeks in Bali. May 21- 25. Stayed 25 nights at the Kumala Pantai. Went with about 40 friends and family from all over Australia which was just great;
Flew out from Adelaide via Pacific Blue. Unfortunately plane was delayed 2hours which was a slight pain. Flew out at about 11.30am and arrived mid afternoon in Denpasar. This was my 9th trip to Bali but I always love the smell and feeling that you get when you step off the plane.
Got through customs within half an hour and by about 3.30 we were checking in at the Kumala Pantai.
We ate at many different restaurants,
Lanai: - Really enjoyed the sushi and mojitos. Most meals were nice but average.
UN's - Has always been a favourite, with great meals. Desserts were delicious.
Mozzarella- Went to this restaurant twice, ordered cordon bleu and chicken drumsticks but was not impressed. Definitely would not order the drumsticks again but the cordon bleu is usually really nice there so maybe it was just an off night?
Beach Front? (Restaurant to the left of Kumala Pantai) - Meals were definitely not up to standard. We arrived at about 7:45, ordered our entrees and mains; were waiting for about half an hour when the waitress told us that they had run out of calamari. They had left us sitting there for half an hour and not told us anything until now. As we had had a long day this upset quite a few people and some of the group paid the bill then walked straight out. It was about twenty past nine when I got my entrée of spring rolls. The spring rolls would have been the worst I had the whole trip! Definitely will not be rushing back to this restaurant.
The Restaurant to the right of Kumala Pantai (Sorry, forgetting names!) Ordered salt and pepper calamari but was not impressed. Calamari was extremely salty, cold, simply not up to standard. Friend ordered fettuccine carbonara and this was not very good either. The sauce was so thick it was almost sickening to eat.
Echo Beach - Meals were nice here too; group ordered a mixture of meat dishes, pasta dishes and seafood dishes and had no complaints. It was raining this night which meant that everyone was trying to get crammed into the one space which made things a bit chaotic and very noisy.
Kori's - Ate at this restaurant years ago and was not overly impressed. But this year the food was the best! No complaints at all. Everything was served to a high standard and every dish tasted just delicious. Definitely going back.
Ku de Ta - Of course we had to try Ku de Ta after hearing such great reports about the meals. Although meals were extremely pricey and were not very large servings. For some people the portions of food would have been fine. But for most of us, we were still hungry after eating entrees and mains. Most of the food was nice but we had some meals that were not the best. Over-Rated.
Zanzibar - The meals at this restaurant was one of the best I had the whole trip. I ordered a chicken burger with lettuce, mozzarella, bacon and a small bit of mayonnaise and it was so yum. Hearing that it sounds pretty disgusting but no doubt it was delicious!
Rumours - Had the gnocchi and it was yum! Friends ordered lobster but were not impressed and refused to eat it. The pasta dishes were definitely very nice. Not sure if I would go back again.
Nirvana - Heard of this restaurant after talking to a couple one night at dinner so thought we would give it a try. Went with a group of about 15 and every single person LOVED their meal. Every meal was cooked to perfection with only one complaint; that they wanted more! After paying the bill, we booked in for 25 people for the next weekend! DEFINITELY recommend this restaurant. Was definitely one of our favourites and the staff were so friendly. Quickly made friends with the owner who was very nice and polite.
Yutz - Again another restaurant we go to each trip. Unfortunately food was not as good this year and we also had a few troubles with the staff. The chicken wings are the BEST at Yutz which is one of the main reasons we keep coming back. We went one night at about 8 oclock but they had run out of chicken wings. We decided we would go back again another night, so we rang up and booked a table and pre-ordered 12 servings of the chicken wings. Got to the restaurant and were told that they had run out of chicken wings. The staff were apologetic but that wasn't quite enough as we had made the effort to pre-order to guarantee we would get them.
Pearl Restaurant - Found this restaurant on our second to last night and it was my favourite for the whole trip. We walked through the gates and were greeted by the head chef and staff who showed us to our table. The head chef advised us on what some of the best meals were, he was also very friendly, coming up to us throughout the night to ask us about our meals and to just have a chat. There was only about 10 people in the restaurant, and 7 of them were us, which was a shame. I ordered a stuffed chicken meal, which I was unsure if I would like it or not. But when I had the first bite of the chicken, it was beautiful. I loved it. There was also a small jar on the plate filled with gnocchi. This was the best gnocchi I had ever tasted. It was beautifully cooked and I just wanted more. Every meal was presented beautifully. I'm usually not one to eat duck or other meats apart from chicken but I saw it on a friends plate and had to try it, it look so nice. And it tasted good too! After having mains I had to try the desserts. I am a fan of sushi and there was a sushi dessert which I was curious about trying so I ended up ordering it. - It came out and looked stunning. 5 Sushi rolls scattered round the plate with the nicest orange sauce and toffee stick to decorate. The rice was a sugary creamy taste and was to die for! Definitely going back next trip.
Biku Restaurant - Went here one afternoon for high tea. The peppermint ice tea was perfect! Exactly what I needed on a hot day. The high tea was nice as well, a change to what I'm used to.
Kumala Pantai- Ate here one night as we were too tired to go out. Unfortunately meals came pretty slow and were not the best. But nothing to really complain about. Average.
Restaurant to the right of Ocean Outrigger possibly Warung? - This was a small restaurant that wasn't up market and we didn't really expect much. Ordered Mie Goreng and this was by far the best Mie goreng I had the entire trip!
Tours:
Horse Riding - A group of ten of us went horse riding. We were all wanting to go to a company that treated the horses well and fed them properly; as we definitely were not getting on any horses that were too skinny! We arrived at about 9.30am to see 20 well looked after horses which was very reassuring. We were soon given a horse each and next we knew we were up on our horses, riding along the beach. We expected to get maybe 2 or 3 tour guides between the 10 of us but we ended up getting a guide each which was great. It was my first time on a horse and I was quite nervous, but the guide was talking to me telling me about the horse, its name, how old etc. Which definitely calmed me down a lot. We walked along the beach and then through villages, seeing people, houses and the environment. This was a tour enjoyed by all.
Canyon Tubing - In previous years we have done white water rafting numerous times so we were ready to try something different, so decided on giving canyon tubing a go. Was about an hour drive up to the river where we soon got our life jackets helmets etc. Then we were transported half way to the river by ATV's and a car. We then had to walk the rest of the way to the river. The river looked like it was flowing pretty fast which made me quite nervous. We were soon put in our individual rafts and were going down the river. The rafts would continually spin around. 10 Minutes after starting, I was bored. The river was slow there was no real adventure in it. It was just like going around the lazy river at waterbom park. We were also continually getting in and out of the rafts as some parts of the river were too dangerous to go down. This got annoying after the fourth or fifth time! Especially when we would be in the water for 2 minutes then would have to get out again. There was also a flying fox about half way of the river, which was fun. But overall I wouldn't do this again and wouldn't recommend it for people who want a bit of adventure. After getting out of the rafts we were taken back up to the start where we ate lunch. The food was delicious. Mie Goreng, Rice, Vegetables, Soup etc. The flavours from each food was beautiful and sooooo yum!
Waterbom - Again same as usual. Rides, Lazy River, Food. Same every year. But we always go back. Its always a great day (...)
Cooking Tour - The girls of our group decided to go on a cooking tour for something new. We started off going to a market and were given 5000 rupiah to buy numerous ingredients of the list. It was surprising how much things cost. 500 rupiah for a medium size bag of salt, 500 for 3 tomatoes etc. I really enjoyed going to the markets. We were then piled back into the bus for a 15 minute drive to a small village where we each were seated on a small bike type thing which was peddled by another person as we got to sit down and enjoy the view. (hard to explain!) We were then taken to a school, spent about 15 minutes with the kids having a talk and giving out small presents, books; pencils; lollies etc. After this we were taken to our final stop which we were showed how to make offering baskets; It was interesting to see how they were made but as it was about 12 o clock and so hot; having to watch every single person get a basket made got quite boring. We finally got to do some cooking! Well we thought we did. Unfortunately we were mostly showed how to cook, the most ‘cooking' I did was putting meat on a skewer to make a satay which sucked. I sorta expected a bit more than that. We were then sat at a table and had a BIG plate of food to share between two people. Which was definitely too much as three quarters of the food ended up being wasted. I wouldn't do this tour again or suggest it to people wanting to do a cooking tour. But if people wanted to learn more about the culture of Bali this would definitely be a great tour.
We ended up going to the Roc Bar after hearing lots of good stories about it. Drinks were fairly pricey but were definitely the best cocktails in Bali. The view was beautiful and we ended up taking lots of pictures which ended up looking quite nice. We left the Roc Bar at about 7:30 and were planning on taking the cable car back up the hill to save ourselves from the 200 stairs we would have to walk up! Unfortunately the line was huge. The carts were only having about 2 or 3 people put in each trip when they could have fit about 7 or 8. This would have made the line go A LOT quicker but unfortunately it was taking too long so we decided to walk up those horrible stairs.
We also went to the Bali Beach Shack which had the ‘Ladies' dancing. This was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Some of the guys dressed up as girls looked hilarious and were definitely not believable. But it was definitely very entertaining. They took quite a liking to my 13 year old brother who was constantly being liked by all the ‘ladies'; He just laughed it off and blushed. A LOT!
Shopping: Just the usual. Centro, Matahari, Galleria, Markets. Nothing new. Same old Same old as they say. (:
Soon enough, our trip was over and we were driving out to the airport. We were up in the air at about 1am and in Adelaide at 7am. This was definitely the quickest time I have gotten through customs, we must have been the first plane in as there were no line ups.
I hope you all enjoyed my JBR and if you have any questions feel free to ask :)
If you would like to see any photos please contact me and I'll send them your way :)