Fantastic dinner @ Aahh Bali Bed & Breakfast (Jimbaran), Bali

I'm on my final post on our trip to Bali! We were there for a few short days to attend a friend's wedding, and we had a pretty good time! Bali wasn't on our want-to-travel-to list, and I'd expected to dislike how touristy it is, but it is such a family-friendly destination, that even a pregnant mum in her 8th month of pregnancy could not help but enjoy the time with the hubby and 5-year-old kid. Part of what made the trip so memorable was the accommodation we stayed at. I've previously wrote about Aahh Bali B&B, what a great place it is owned by a fantastic couple, and how much we enjoyed the food. The food! Lydia used to be a chef at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore, and the promise of delicious cooking was what sealed the deal for us on deciding to stay here. And ate well, we did. We enjoyed a delicious spread for breakfast every morning, and Lydia's freshly-made pastries were amazing! The B&B's guests could also enjoy Lydia's cooking for dinner, and we had to give them advance notice so that Lydia could go to the market for the food (though you ought to do put in your request earlier, as dinner is pending on Bob and Lydia's schedule, and there are other guests to compete with). We chose our dishes using their online food menu, and sat down to a delicious meal after a full day out. The food was reasonably priced, with starters, soups, salads and desserts at US$4 each, and main courses at US$8 to $15. Each dish was prepared with care using top quality ingredients, and we thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them.

Appetisers

For the boy: Spring Rolls with Lime Chili Sauce - fresh out of the fryer and into our mouths. Crispy but not greasy, and a delicious way to sneak some veges into kids:

Hubby chose the Clam Chowder - deliciously creamy and full of umami goodness:

Mine was the Orange, Avocado and Tomato Salad in Honey Mustard Dressing. What a delicious combination of ingredients:

Mains

The kid enjoyed the Fish Cakes with Pineapple Salsa. Perfectly crispy with no greasiness, offset nicely by the sweet-sour fruity salsa:

Hubby really liked the look of Salmon en Croute Stuffed with Mushroom. And he was not disappointed:

The browned pastry kept the salmon and mushrooms in a nice parcel. It was a little dry, but I can't see how to improve that aspect without making everything soggy (and we all know how unappealing soggy floppy pastry is):

My choice of main course was Seafood Curry with White Rice. This curry was reminiscent of Thai-style tom yum, but not as strongly sour and spicy. It was delicious, with a slight acidic edge from the tamarind, and not too heavy because it wasn't coconut milk-based:

Dessert

A simple Vanilla Ice Cream for the boy, with his choice of sprinkles and topping. We actually didn't order dessert for the boy because he could share ours, but Lydia kindly offered to give him ice cream, and the boy said "Yes please!":

Hubby chose the Chocolate Brownie on Caramel Sauce. Served warm, the brownie was decadent, rich and moist, and the caramel sauce was not too sweet:

When I saw the Banana Fritters with Vanilla Ice Cream on the menu, I knew I had to order it. I have fond memories of eating pisang goreng as a child growing up in Malaysia. This was obviously a more sophisticated version, and the ice cream was a great accompaniment to this beloved street food item:

This dinner was a delicious way to cap off our final night in Bali. We had a great stay and have no hesitations to recommend Aahh Bali B&B as an accommodation. (Bob mentioned that there are plans in the works to open another B&B, also in Bali, and I don't know the fate of this current one, but I'm certain that these guys will maintain a high level of service, wherever they are.)

Aahh Bali Bed & Breakfast
Jl. Uluwatu II
Gg. Tanjung Mekar #9
Jimbaran-Kuta, Bali
Indonesia 80361
Tel. +62-878618-7312
(See their website for more ways to contact them.)

Exploring Bali: monkeys, kopi luwak, volcano and rice terraces

Our trip to Bali seems like a lifetime ago - baby was still in belly, and we were still a family of three. I still have photos to share from that trip, and here are some of the shots I took on our 1-day drive around Bali. A good way to get around Bali is to hire a driver for the whole day, which also works out much cheaper than using a taxi between destinations. Using a driver is not how we usually travel, but being 8 months pregnant, I was quite happy to sit back for once and get driven around. My friend Steph had been to Bali a couple of weeks prior to us, and she'd recommended the driver service she used, along with a list of sights she thought was worth seeing. I narrowed the list down to what we as a family with a 5-year-old boy were interested in, and emailed our preferences to the driver before our trip. It was a successful day - we covered a lot of ground in 8 hours, and the kid had a pretty good time seeing the monkeys, drinking hot chocolate in a coffee and cocoa farm, viewing an active volcano (from a distance), and seeing where rice (one of his favourite foods) comes from. Hubby and I personally thought the visit to the kopi luwak farm was the highlight of our Bali trip, as we learnt a lot about both coffee and cocoa, both of which we have special interest in.

Ubud Monkey Forest

First stop was the monkey forest (aka Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary). The monkeys were cute, but I was wary about going near them because the monkeys can get quite aggressive if you carry food and withhold food from the monkeys. There are stuff you can catch from monkeys, and I was quite keen not to get in contact with any. There were plenty of tourists who aren't concerned, as they held out food and monkeys climbed all over them. I was happy keeping my distance from the monkeys, and made sure the boy did not touch them.

An adult male monkey:

More monkeys:

Mummy monkey with her little ones:

The site of the temple:

The temple gates (but we didn't enter):

Cantik Agriculture

Next, we dropped by a coffee farm called Cantik Agriculture which also grows cacao, ginseng, ginger, lemongrass, cinnamon, vanilla, and chili among others. We found the tour to be highly educational, and the best part was coffee appreciation through sampling a wide variety of coffee and tea infusions.

Coffee cherries/berries on a tree:

A large cacao pod:

More cacao pods:

A luwak (civet) that eats the red coffee cherries, and poops them out to give us kopi luwak, the world's most expensive coffee. It was sad to see it caged, but we were told that the luwak chooses the best cherries to eat, so I hope that these nocturnal creatures get to go out and roam at night to feed:

Kopi luwak beans, washed and ready for roasting. In other baskets were other foodstuff also grown and processed on this farm:

Raw cocoa beans:

Here the coffee beans are being roasted in a big wok over an open fire, and then pounded to a fine powder ready for consumption:

Taking a closer look at the roasted coffee beans and the finished ground product:

Sampling the various teas, coffees and cocoa drinks available on the farm - at no cost. A good way to "try before you buy", and we could purchase the ones we like in the shop. We tried Bali coffee, Bali cocoa, ginseng coffee, lemongrass tea, coconut coffee, ginger tea, vanilla coffee, rosella tea and Bali coffee and cocoa. We liked and bought the lemongrass tea, coconut coffee and rosella tea:

For a small charge, we could also enjoy a cup of kopi luwak. It was milder and more aromatic than the Bali coffee:

The farm owner introduced to us the snakeskin fruit, a native to Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. We liked the sweet and crisp texture, and he kindly gave us a few to bring back with us - our boy ate most of them (the only fruit he willingly ate on our trip)!

Apparently there are "male" and "female" coffee beans, and here we are being shown the two types of cherries containing each. The male beans are found inside cherries with one chamber, and are called peaberries. Peaberries are not as abundant as the female beans, hence cost more:

Mount Batur

After the coffee farm, we hopped in the car again and got driven to Kintamani where we could view Mount Batur, one of two active volcanoes in Bali.

A panoramic shot of our view from the roadside in Kintamani. Click on image to view larger image:

Zooming in on the volcano peak:

Tegallalang Rice Terraces

Then we drove a bit more to see the Tegallalang Rice Terraces. It was beautiful, in a different way to the one we saw in Japan.

A panorama of the Tegllalang Rice Terraces. Click on image to view larger image:

Dava @ AYANA Resort and Spa, Bali

We were in Bali not too long ago to attend a friend's wedding. Bali was not on our travel radar, and if not for my friend's wedding, it would probably be many more years before we visited Bali. The wedding was held at the AYANA, a truly magnificent site for a wedding by the coast. It was a beautiful wedding, and we enjoyed a delicious reception dinner at Dava, the French restaurant inside the resort. The food we had rated as one of the best wedding food we've ever eaten, and this was partly due to the fact that we had the reception at an actual fine dining restaurant (inside a luxurious 5-star resort no less), and the kitchen also didn't have to handle a large number of wedding guests. We were served a 3-course meal of our choice, which we were asked to choose a few weeks prior to the event. Everything we experienced in Dava was top-notch - excellent service, beautiful decor, and delectable food.

The beautiful setting of the AYANA resort:

Dava is lotus-shaped, with a floating garden that surrounded the restaurant:

European-style mini-sized raisin bread loaf, served to each guest:

The amuse-bouche, a cold pumpkin cream with a smattering of caviar on top - just enough to whet the appetite for the courses to come:

Hubby's entree of Escargot au Gratin with mushrooms fricassee, lentils du puy, tomato fondue and parmigiano reggiano. This was not a looker, but it tasted really good! Who would have thought that snails and cheese make a good combination?

For my entree, I chose the Seafood Bisque with red claw crayfish, brioche, avocado relish and confit tomato. The soup was so good, full of umami seafood flavours, and the avocado relish and confit tomato on the brioche was lovely:

The boy enjoyed his main course - Pan-roasted Black Cod with prawn butter gratin, crab cannelloni, ricotta pudding and lemon basil emulsion. The black cod was cooked to perfection with a nice crust and moist flesh, and the crab cannelloni was divine!

For his main course, hubby got the Seared Scallops with Marcona almonds, potato fritters, eggplant caponata and romesco sauce. The presentation was lovely, the scallops were cooked just right, and everything on the plate was in perfect harmony with each other:

My main course of Lobster “au gratin” with zucchini carpaccio, wilted spinach and mushrooms, goat’s milk feta and preserved lemon mignonette. Interesting presentation, but this one didn't grab me as much as the other two main dishes I tried. Still, it was enjoyable, and great for those who appreciate lobster meat (which I frankly think is quite over-rated):

Hubby's dessert was Valrhona Chocolate Fondant with raspberry and white chocolate parfait, milk sorbet and bailey’s Irish cream pudding. It worked well enough, but I thought the Irish cream pudding was an unnecessary garnish:

I chose the Pumpkin Butternut Pumpkin Crème Brûlée with candied sunflower seeds, chocolate crèmeux and spiced honey ice cream. This was a beautiful dessert, and was actually a three-in-one dessert as each component would've stood well on their own:

We really enjoyed the wedding reception food at Dava. It's definitely a good choice for a special occasion or a romantic dinner.

Dava
AYANA Resort and Spa
Jl. Karang Mas Sejahtera
Jimbaran, Bali 80364
Indonesia
Tel. +62 361 702222

Seafood on the beach @ Teba Mega Cafe, Jimbaran (Bali)

When we were in Bali a few weeks ago for a wedding, one of the things I wanted us to do was enjoy a good seafood dinner and the sunset on Jimbaran Beach. The owner of the bed and breakfast we stayed at recommended Teba Mega Cafe, and we met a friend and her family for dinner there. It's a straightforward set-up: pick out your order by choosing the freshest-looking fish and seafood at the entrance facing the parking lot (prices are not displayed, so ask for the price which is based on weight), proceed to the beachside tables, order a drink and then wait for the food to come out.

Seafood in tanks and fish on ice:

The beachside entrance:

The view from our table:

A young coconut drink:

Our seafood feast. Rice, stirfried leafy greens and condiments were included with our dinner:

Grilled King Prawns - a popular item with the other little 2-year-old boy at the table:

Grilled Squid - popular with our not-so-little boy:

We also enjoyed two whole Grilled Red Snappers, deboned but with heads attached at my request:

We all enjoyed the food, the company and the setting very much. All the seafood and (non-alcoholic) drinks cost less than 400,000IDR to feed four adults and two kids. Teba Mega Cafe is highly recommended by me!

Teba Mega Cafe
Jalan Four Seasons Resort,
Muaya Beach
Jimbaran, Kuta
Bali, Indonesia
Tel. +62 (0361) 708 676

Aahh Bali Bed & Breakfast (Jimbaran), Bali

We are back from our mini-vacation in Bali, and I can now understand why Bali is favoured by so many tourists, especially Aussies. The people are friendly, everything is cheaper than home (though I've been told that Bali is getting more and more expensive with time), and it's very foreigner-friendly. My friend's wedding was to be held at the gorgeous Ayana, and we would have loved to stay there, but having spent most of our annual travel budget on our recent trip to France and Italy, we needed to be money-sensible. I looked around the area for nearby accommodations, and found Aahh Bali Bed & Breakfast, which looked like the perfect place for our family to stay for four nights. The house is run by a lovely couple - an American expat, Bob, and his gorgeous petite partner, Lydia - and they really did try their hardest to make sure that we were as comfortable as can be. They were kind enough to lend hubby a suit for the wedding, and our almost-5-years-old boy could fit into one of Lydia's black jacket (she's really quite petite!). It's no Ayana, but our room was large and spacious (our boy had his own bed in a separate area), the breakfasts were fantastic, and four nights at this B&B cost about the same as one night at the Ayana! Location-wise, the B&B is an easy taxi ride to the Jimbaran Bay area, and Bob was happy to organise transport to wherever we wanted to go that day. Using taxis and getting driven around is not how we usually travel, but I was quite happy to be relaxing on a trip for once, as it is not easy travelling when 7 months pregnant.

Our breakfast table, right outside our room door:

This B&B even has a small pool!

What really sealed the deal on this place for me is the fact that Lydia used to be a chef at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore. There are only great reviews of her food on tripadvisor. We also got to enjoy her cooking for dinner one night, and I will write about that soon. For now, here are photos of the various food items we enjoyed for breakfast over the four days that we were there. Lydia wakes up at 4am everyday to prepare fresh pastries for breakfast, and we enjoyed different types each day.

Freshly baked doughnuts with luscious chocolate icing and sprinkles:

Freshly baked muffins on another day:

Apple bread that was more cake-like than bread-like, and so delicious with the crumble topping:

There was also a flaky chocolate pastry on one of the mornings, but I wasn't feeling well that day and failed to take photos of breakfast (hubby and the kid loved it). In addition to the pastries, we were served fresh fruits, juice or coffee/tea, and we could choose from a menu various items that are cooked to order. Delicious!

Omelette with the lot:

Scrambled eggs with toast:

French toast with maple syrup:

Quiche with the lot (this one needs to be ordered the day before) - I really liked the pastry crust on this quiche:

Crepes with cinnamon (and maple syrup on the side, not pictured):

Waffle (with maple syrup on the side, not pictured):

I realised that I took a lot of photos of the food, but none of our room! There are lots of photos on their website if you're keen to take a look. We stayed in Room A (deluxe) which was perfect for our family. We know where we're staying when we come back to Bali in the future!

Aahh Bali Bed & Breakfast
Jl. Uluwatu II
Gg. Tanjung Mekar #9
Jimbaran-Kuta, Bali
Indonesia 80361
Tel. +62-878618-7312
(See their website for more ways to contact them.)