BALI – BUMBU BALI

Staying at the St. Regis Bali was my first time at a luxury hotel. Our villa was triple the size of my condo in Toronto and the private hot tub of our pool suite made me question if we ever needed to leave. To be honest, The Hubby and I didn’t really take advantage of the personal butler service, because we didn’t even know what to ask for, but we did find the concierge incredibly helpful and useful. Before heading out on our first day to visit Ubud, we sat with the concierge desk who helped us find and book a cooking class for the next day and suggested restaurants for dinner. We were looking for traditional Indonesian cuisine close to the resort. The concierge recommended Bumbu Bali, a popular, well rated restaurant with a shuttle service. I had come across the restaurant in my own research as well so we made a reservation.

My first day in Bali was spent exploring Ubud and meeting the local monkeys. The Hubby and I returned to our suite pretty exhausted, and sweaty, so sweaty. A quick shower and some downtime was perfect before we headed back out to dinner.

Bumbu Bali was an open air restaurant with several wooden tables set under the night sky and others under canopies. I loved being able to enjoy the fresh tropical air with my meal. While the setting was lovely and romantic with soft lighting and lots of greenery, service and food was underwhelming. Also guests at the table next to us were loud, cracking inappropriate massage jokes with the servers and distracting. In fact, we had time getting attention from servers, because they were busy managing that table.

Being our first night in Bali, we were still learning about Indonesian cuisine. Thus the safest bet for dinner seemed to be Bumbu Bali’s set dinner, 550,000 IDR ($55 CAD) for two people. The set included a soup, 10 traditional dishes and a platter of desserts. Based on the many platters being served to tables around us, other diners had the same idea.

Dinner included pork, chicken and seafood satay skewers, beef rendang, lamb stew, grilled fish, two vegetable dishes, shredded chicken with chili and tomato, tuna salad and nasi. I found the flavours muted or overpowered by heat. Dessert included a selection of Balinese cakes, black rice pudding, a glutinous rice flour dumpling and seasonal fruit. I have to admit, I was being spoiled by the St. Regis’s daily fruit plate and Bumbu Bali’s didn’t quite compare in sweetness or selection. Unfortunately, Of the 10 dishes, I only enjoyed about half of them and even then none were spectacular. I was also surprised at the level of spice, taste buds disintegrating spice. Watching the kitchen, none of the dishes were prepared to order, simpled ladled out of pre-prepared pots. This may be how dinner is served, I’m unsure. That night, the Hubby and I were mildly disappointed with dinner but after our experience the next day with Paon Cooking Class, we were super disappointed.