Ish Meets World

Whenever I’m travelling, I always find myself planning where to eat almost as meticulously as where to go. In a recent trip to Bali, Indonesia, I found myself facing the same predicament. When choices are overflowing and you have restaurants everywhere you turn your head, how do you decide where to eat? My basic rule of thumb is to go local. If it’s possible to find out where locals eat, go there. Here in Bali, it wasn’t a restaurant that stood out. It was a dish. Every local I spoke to urged me to try BABI GULING or roasted suckling pig. The famous Babi Guling from Bali, Indonesia The island was littered with warungs or eateries that sold their own version. While in the Nusa Dua area, the locals pointed us to WARUNG BABI GULING DOBIL. Watch the video below: This place is obviously extremely popular. It was not even noon and the place was packed. There was also a long line of Grab Food drivers that were taking orders for those who didn’t want to brave the queue. I realized that it was ...

Let me start by saying that I have been to Bali several times in the past. While I enjoyed those trips, it was not because of the beaches. I stayed in the Kuta and Sanur areas and they had dark, rocky and coarse sand. The beaches were not exactly idyllic and far from the tropical paradise that I was looking for. Needless to say, I used to enjoy the hotel pool, nightlife and restaurants more than the actual beaches. This time around, I wanted to see if my opinion of Bali’s beaches could change. Nusa Dua In an effort to get closer to a more beautiful coastline, we decided to stay in the southern peninsula of Bali. The Nusa Dua and Uluwatu areas are famous for the beaches so we decided to stay there. Read my review of the Bali Tropic Resort and Spa where we stayed for the first half of our week in Bali. Pandawa Beach The far end of Pandawa beach looked great in photos but the sand was coarse and it was difficult to walk. Our first stop was at  Pandawa Beach . The entrance to this bea...

I’ve been to Bali a couple of times before but I was always busy with events. This time, I was coming for a week-long eat, pray, love session with one of my best friends. We took a while to decide which area to stay in. I had tried Kuta before and I found it to be no different from any small resort town…full of touristy shops and restaurants. The beach was pretty bad too. The Sanur hotel I tried before was wonderful. However, the beach was not that impressive and it was far from everything else. In the end, we decided to split our trip between the Nusa Dua area and Seminyak. Nusa Dua is supposed to provide a quiet, idyllic and relaxing place to enjoy the sun and sand. Most hotels here have their own beachfront so we should not need to go out much. The resorts are also built to be self-sustaining properties where guests can get different forms of entertainment all within the property. Photo courtesy of Booking.com The photo above caught my attention as I was browsing through Booking...

Days into a Bali vacation, I was desperate for some local Indonesian food after having been stuck eating Western or fusion food in Seminyak. Since we were on a day trip to Ubud, we asked our driver to take us to a place where we can eat some local specialties. This is how we ended up at Bebek Joni.  Many of the other places where you can get local food are either just street stalls or street-side warungs. Bebek Joni sets itself apart by stepping up the ambience game. The tables are large and the dining area is spacious. There are high ceilings and an upscale yet rustic vibe. The best part is the fact that one entire side of the restaurant opens up to views of endless rice paddies. Our selection of house specialties at BEBEK JONI in Ubud, Bali. We tried “bebek” or duck done two ways. The first one is the Traditional Smoked Duck. That’s what the English menu says but I believe this is actually duck in Balinese betutu sauce. The brownish yellow sauce is a heady mix of spices that are ...