Food Paradise Made in Bali

Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for —Victor Frankl

 The path to food happiness is a simple one. Food has the power to evoke some of our most profound and nostalgic memories. We have the capacity to store the past in our meals in the smell of our grandmother’s freshly baked olive and walnut bread to the taste of freshly cut figs drizzled in warm honey sampled on a romantic Greek island holiday.

On the Indonesian island paradise of Bali I recently discovered an abundance of restaurants committed to elevating pedestrian comfort fare to the sophisticated palate. Psychological research on comfort food explains that related dishes positively pique emotions, relieve negative psychological affects and increase positive feelings.

One lauded comfort food restaurant is Mamasan Kitchen Bar Lounge in Kerobokan. A super chic restaurant minus the hefty price tag, Mamasan’s Asian menus include Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Malay, Singaporean, Thai, Cambodian and Malay cuisines. We began our dinner with Kachoori with yellow dahl,coriander & mustard seeds served with mint & tamarind chutney. Crispy and fluffy these mini samosa-like creations were filled with a soft and deeply fragrant dahl filling. I bit through the flaky pastry casing to experience a warm, melt-in-your-mouth sensation and my nose tickled from the spices.

For main course we ordered the crispy pork hock on the bone with nahm jihm jauw and nam pla prik and Sichuan slow braised beef short ribs cooked with chili bean paste served with a hot and sour salad with a side of steamed jasmine rice. Massive, smoky-glazed and juicy, the pork hock was was an impressive dish. The contrasting flavour of the pineapple-glazed pork hock with the crispy pork skin made for a stunning food experience. Feeling like Neanderthals we tore strips off the hock and gnawed every last morsel of meat from the pork bone. The beef short ribs were also delicious. More subtle in flavour with a bit of bite from the chilli, we relished the warmth the dish provided to our bellies.We ended our meal with a caffé latte sitting in buttery, camel-coloured arm chairs and enjoyed watching the vibrant throng of international tourists gorging on the sublime food at Mamasan.


Next on our list was the highly recommended Sarong. Sarong and Mamasan have the same owners so our expectations for an unforgettable meal were high. Sarong is a more formal restaurant than its counterpart and is situated in Seminyak about 15 minutes down the road. Like Mamasan it has been inspired by Asian street food and is housed in a more elegant setting with the option to sit in a tropical Balinese garden, next to a splashing fountain or, in a more formal dining area lit up by antique chandeliers and gilded gold mirrors.

For starters we opted for crispy pork belly with baby mandarin ginger chili and black vinegar caramel and grilled scallops with sweet crispy duck Thai basil young coconut and peanut nam jihm. The combination of the crunchy pork belly with the sweetness of the black vinegar caramel fizzed in our mouths and was out-of-this-world. The scallops were delectable and contrasted perfectly against the tartness of the sauce and the gamey duck flavours.

For main course we had the black bean crusted grilled barramundi with garlic green chili lime and fresh coriander and the lamb shank twice cooked in western Sumatran spices with sambal dabu dabu. Both dishes were so heavenly we had to pinch ourselves that we were truly having such a celestial food experiences. Palates exploding with heady Sumatran spices on melt off the bone lamb shank and deliciously sooty black bean chargrilled barramundi with a cloud of fluffy coconut rice and vinegared cucumber salad took us to another world. 

Chef Will Meyrick did not disappoint, we ended our meal elated and on cloud 9.  It’s not surprising that the Singapore World Gourmet Summit placed Sarong in the top five best Asian Restaurants in 2011. It has definitely earnt it’s place in my foodie heaven.

PassionRating★★★★★
Food:★★★★★
Service:★★★★★
Ambiance:★★★★★
Overall:★★★★★