Warung Bale Bali
Jln. Kunti 488
Seminyak

The most thing that I discovered in Bali and as far as the places that I have tried is that there is no MSG in the food. Why do they need to? The beautiful and aromatic spices gives the dishes here a big lift in flavour. So naturally, I was curious about the Chinese food and if there any MSG is used in its dishes.

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, we have done very little planning for this trip. I was very thankful that there was free Wifi in the room in which I did some research to find the nearest place around to have dinner. This Balinese/Chinese restaurant, Bale Bali, kept coming up in many forums so we decided why not give it a try since it was quite close to our apartment.

Bale Bali Warung

Most warungs in Bali do not have air-conditioning. To try and cool myself after a hot day at the beach, I ordered a Kelapa Muda – young coconut juice with brown sugar and ice. It was quite an acquired taste. I would have preferred it without the brown sugar.

kelapa muda

We decided to try the Gurame Asam Manis which is served with a sweet & sour sauce. The soft but firm flesh of the fish had a nice contrast with the slightly crunchy carrots, spring onions and red cut chillies! The fish was fresh but a little on the bland. It did not matter. We were glad to spice it up with more red hot chillies!

Gurame Asam Manis

We really like this next dish – Deep fried duck (bebek) saute with water spinach and oyster sauce. The dish was surprisingly light and had a nice nutty flavour.

Deep fried duck in oyster sauce

We made an effort to have dinner here again to try out other dishes. This time we decided to have Nasi Goreng in stead of plain rice. We did order the one with salted fish but we ended up only finding a small slice of salted fish. It was not as spicy as we liked it to be but still worked overall with all the lovely aromatics. However, I do not think this is an authentic version of the Nasi Goreng that the locals will eat.

Nasi goreng with salted fish

Maybe we are a little home sick and the next dish was very much like a dish that we cook at home. It is called Sapa tofu. This was served in a claypot with tofu, diced chicken, little prawns, mushrooms and cuttlefish. It is possible for Chinese food not to be cooked with MSG. The thing that I like about Bali is all dishes that we had tried thus far had no indication of MSG.

Seafood claypot

The final dish that Mister wanted to try was the Beef ribs in Balinese sauce. The meat was falling off the bone. It was very juicy and tender. The flavours were spot on and I love the spicy sauce that accompanied the dish.

Beef ribs grilled with Balinese sauce

It didn’t cost too much to have our meals here and the atmosphere was quite relaxed.  The patrons here are mostly Chinese locals so I guess this is one of the better places to have a decent Chinese meal or if you wanted something besides the usual local foods. Plus, they have a really cute resident dog.

What food would you crave for when you are away on holidays?