Memorable Meals: Bali

Even our Green School Host admitted after living in Indonesia for over 10 years, she wasn't a big fan of Indonesian food and that there was only so much nasi goreng she could handle. However many restaurants in Ubud managed to utilize the unique local ingredients to provide meals that were familiar to the large tourist population of the island with slight tropical twists.

Our best meals in Bali were eaten in the cultural town of Ubud, which included some traditional and some modern foods. On the modern side was the smoked marlin salad. This melt in your mouth smoked marlin salad was incredible. The ham-like texture and smokey flavor of the marlin mixed well with the fresh salad greens and tomatoes tossed in a light mayo-ey dressing topped with a tangy parmesan cheese cracker made of shredded pieces of parmesan cheese shaped into a flat cracker and fried. The tangy sharp flavors of the parmesan cheese cracker, as well as the cracker-like consistency blended beautifully with the fresh dressed greens and tomato, while allowing the flavor of the smoked marlin to be the star of the salad. An instant hit and immediate contender for best salad of the trip.

Another close contender would be the Balinese-style papaya salad we had at the same meal. Unlike the tart and crunchy Thai-style papaya salads, this salad was sweet with a tomato-tamarind saiuce. Large slices of tart apple added to the refreshing flavors of this salad and complimented the tart sauce and papaya.

We enjoyed several local traditional dishes during our time in Ubud also. Including a green bean and coconut lewar

A slightly sweet beef rendangand a curried pork filled martabakWe ordered a plate of fragrant rice to round out our tapas styled meal of Indonesian favorites.

Our Indonesian meals we had in Bali didn't bowl us over, possibly due to the fact we've been eating similar Malaysian dishes for over a month now, but we did really enjoy these dishes.