Satay "Penyu", Kuta, Bali

If there was one unforgettable cuisine we had in Bali, it must have been the satay penyu. I clarified with a fellow customer and no, it's not turtle but tortoise that went into the making of this satay. Every day we drove pass this crowd at a carpark, and when we tried the satay, we knew then why there was always a crowd.

Under the trees and an overturned umbrella, a makcik and her gang of ladies would be busy fanning away.

One of the ladies would slice the ketupat.

The makcik would be busy grilling the satay.


That's the stash of marinated tortoise satay, waiting to be grilled.

Makcik dips the satays into a pot of gravy before grilling them, effectively sealing the gravy taste into the meat.



We bought a pack of 10 which cost INR15,000 or RM5.66. Worth every penny. The square darker piece was the liver, the only part which I did not take. The satay meat was tender, juicy, infused with spices, and the texture and taste was just like chicken, only better. We ate here twice, despite the long and disorganised queues.





4-bams and no less!

Rumah Makan Muara Kobe, Kuta, Bali

This restaurant serves Batak food, and is famous for its babi panggang (grilled pork), which we enjoyed with a relish.

We had to order the house speciality, of course. The babi panggang (INR18,000/serving or RM6.79) was excellent; smoky and with all the crisp burnt parts, served with "sambal khas ala batak".

Ayam panggang (grilled chicken) (INR13,000 or RM4.90) was pretty good too, still juicy inside whilst all smoky and crisp on the outside, eaten with a squeeze of lime. I think the topping was deep fried ginger shreds.

Lele panggang, otherwise known as grilled catfish (RM11,000 or RM4.15) served with "sambal khas muara kobe", hubby had this mostly on his own as I was not a fan of catfish. Hubby liked it.

This was a sweet, sour & spicy tomato & onion chutney which came with the dishes. Lovely!

This would be one of the sambals. Super spicy!

And another type of sambal eaten with dark thick soy sauce. Spicy and sweet.

I think this was pucuk manis cooked in santan, which also came with the dishes as a (weird) condiment, perhaps.

Markisa, or passion fruit juice (INR5,000 or RM1.89). Passion fruit is grown in Bali.

Jeruk, or mandarin oranges juice (INR5,000 or RM1.89). Our favourite, also grown in Bali.

Rumah Makan Muara Kobe

Masakan Khas Batak

Cab. Rm. Silindung P. Siantar Sumut,

Jl. Setia Budi No. 7, Kuta, Bali.

Tel: (0361) 751 220

Definitely a high 3-bams!

La-La Chong Seafood Restaurant, near Subang Airport

It was the eve of Uncle Kenny's wedding and the (most unstressed-out) groom took us out to eat at La-La Chong. We had family members back from the States, so a mad binge was to be expected.

Kenny ordered the Siong Tong Lala - lala in superior stock, which tasted very herbal. We all agreed that this was very good, the lala was fresh and the stock had a lot of body.

The Thai fried chicken was crunchy, a little on the dry side. It could have benefitted from some extra sweet, sour and spicy Thai gravy.

This was my favourite dish, deep fried honey squid. Kinda resembled cockroaches (lol!), but tasted deliciously crispy and sticky sweet - lovely!

Paku pakis fried with tuna bits. Ok this was a little weird for me since I am not a fan of canned tuna. Though I have always liked the crunchy paku pakis, I had to pick through the tuna bits. Taste-wise it's paku pakis with belacan, and imagine that with canned tuna mixed in.

The claypot tofu was good, with big chunks of mixed vegetables and assorted mushrooms.

Of course, the star of the dinner were the crabs. Done in 2 different styles, the first 2 kgs of crabs were done in kam heong style (fried with curry leaves and dried shrimps). This style wasn't exactly a favourite of mine, it had a weird aftertaste.

The next 2 kgs of crabs were cooked in the sweet & sour style which is what I usually order. The crabs were good, but I found the sauce to be a tad too tame. I like mine with more spicyness in it, and alot more eggy too.


As I was busy peeling crabs, a poor lil Starvin Marvin came and sat down beside me, looking at me with imploring eyes. No choice - have to share my food or my 2 kitties will never forgive me for not helping one of their own. That night, he ate crabs, bits of tuna and dried shrimps.


Poor lil Starvin Marvin reminded me with his paws when I became too engrossed with peeling crabs. Soft nudges which said...."Hey, I'm still here!"
I wanted to take Starvin Marvin home....but guess who disagreed!?

Uncle Kenny paid the bill, I heard it was in the vicinity of RM170++, for the 9 of us. Not bad for 4kgs of crabs!

La-La Chong Seafood Restaurant
Lot PT 6824, Terminal 3,
Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang
Tel: 03 - 7859 1906



I'll give this place a high 3-bam for the great seafood.

Babi Guling @ Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, Suwung Kauh, Denpasar Selatan, Bali

Babi guling is a traditional Balinese cuisine. We were told that we had to try it, at least once. It also seems to be rather popular, as we saw many babi guling restaurants scattered across Bali.

We took the bike to Sanur Beach on the second day of our island adventure. On the way there, we stopped by this babi guling shop for brunch.

The lady serving up 2 portions of babi guling for us.

We had the misconception that babi guling was going to be fire-grilled pork. We were mistaken. It's actually a dish of assorted pig parts; consisting of pork crackling, pork satay, meat, skin, innards, congealed blood and sausage, eaten with white rice. It takes a pretty adventurous person to give it a try. Well, we both tried, but only hubby could finish his plate. I was struggling with all the weird stuff. Everything was super spicy because of the sambal pecel that they used.

In the foreground, pork skin fat is sliced thinly and stirfried with vegetables. I didn't notice till I had a closeup look.

It came with this fiery soup which was very heavy on the chilli and pepper.

This meal for 2 (inclusive of rice) cost us INR26,000 or RM9.80.

Eerrrr, it's an acquired taste. So a 2-bam for me.

Depot Kuta, Pasar Senggol Food Centre, Bali (29/09/2008)

As we were biking around Kuta on the first day of our Bali food crawl, we stumbled upon this food court that was always very crowded with locals. My mantra being "eat where the locals eat", we decided to give it a try.

There were several shops here at this food centre, we chose Depot Kuta which sells Chinese food and seafood, just because the waitress seemed very friendly and there was quite a crowd at this shop. We ate at Kuta Depot twice (2 consecutive nights), and dish sizes were meant for 2 persons. Prices were unbelievably economical!

MEAL 1

We ordered dishes. Pork in soy (INR9,000 or RM3.40). So cheap!

Fried shrimps with chilli sauce (INR15,000 or RM5.66). So cheap and yummy!

Pork in sweet & sour sauce (INR9,000 or RM3.40). Cheap! And hubby liked the tomato-ishness of this dish.

Ais batu buah (INR5,000 or RM1.89). This dessert is basically a bowl full of tropical fruits topped with ice and syrup. Very refreshing after a heavy meal.

MEAL 1 in total (inclusive of drinks and rice) cost only INR48,000 or RM18.10 for 2 persons. Unbelievable!

MEAL 2

Fried eggs with crab meat (INR7,000 or RM2.64). The egg tasted like the telur biffsteak that they sell at Malay warungs, which was very good, but I was hardpressed to locate any crab meat.

Stirfried kangkung (INR6,000 or RM2.26).

Stirfried shrimps with butter (INR15,000 or RM5.66). So cheap and yummy!

Chicken (5 sticks) and mutton (5 sticks) satay (INR15,000 or RM5.66). The gravy that it came in tasted like steak sauce. Lovely!

MEAL 2 in total (inclusive of drinks and rice) cost INR66,000 or RM24.88 for 2 persons.

For really good and cheap food, Depot Kuta is definitely the place! A high 3-bam++.

Our first day in Bali (29/09/2008)

We went on a week-long sojourn to Bali in search of some post-marital bliss. We were starving by the time we touched-down, it was past lunch time, and we just could not pay RM5.00 for a cup of maggi mee on the Air Asia flight.....what a waste of $$ and stomach space!

So as soon as we checked into our hotel, we went hunting for a bike to rent, sealed the deal (INR 200,000 or RM75.40 for a week's rental) and took off on our joyride!

We went hunting for a petrol station to fill up the bike, and lo and behold, near the intersection of Jalan Kerobokan and Jalan Gunung Tangkuban Perahu was a market.....with food stalls.

We were famished, and didn't really care what we ordered at this Warung Dewa which served Chinese food. We just wanted to EAT!

Babi Cah Jamur turned out to be stir-fried mixed vegetables with pork slices.

Cah Kangkung, which is basically stir-fried kangkung.

Jeruk ais, this is actually freshly-squeezed mandarin orange juice. The fruit is called "jeruk" here. This turned out to be hubby's and my favourite drink throughout our stay in Bali. Apparently the locals grow these mandarin oranges in the Kintamani district of Bali. So in almost every restaurant or warung, this drink is available.

Our simple meal for 2, inclusive of rice and drinks cost only INR37,000 or RM13.95.

But, being carnivorous, hubby complained, saying there was not enough meat. So we walked around the small market and bought more food!

This man selling satay, we just had to try some.

He told us it was fish satay.
Fish satay grilled over the coals.

We bought 20 sticks, which cost INR10,000 or RM3.77. That's RM0.19 each stick folks! Cheap cheap cheap! The fish satay tastes alot like otak otak, very tender and lemongrassy and heavily spiced. Eaten with the very spicy sambal pecel, it was heavenly!

And then we needed dessert. This stall selling Pukis Irma, a type of pancake (INR7,000 or RM2.64 for a box of 6 assorted pancakes).

It looks grilled, but it tasted steamed. The stall owner was putting cheese filling into this bunch.
The finished products in assorted flavours (strawberry jam, pineapple jam, cheese, chocolate chips, etc).