Balinese Food Guide: What to Eat in Bali and Where

Balinese food is built on one thing: a fresh spice paste, pounded and used in almost everything. The dishes to try first are babi guling (roast suckling pig), nasi campur (a plate of rice with several small sides), sate lilit (minced satay), lawar (a chopped salad of coconut and vegetables) and bebek betutu (slow-cooked duck). Several of them contain pork, so read the notes on each if you eat halal or vegetarian.

What makes Balinese cuisine different?

The base is a spice paste called basa gede, sometimes called basa rajang. According to Wikipedia's entry on Balinese cuisine, it combines garlic, red chilli, shallots, nutmeg, ginger, turmeric, palm sugar, cumin, shrimp paste and salam leaves.

One practical point follows. The paste contains shrimp paste, so even a vegetable dish may not be strictly vegetarian. If that matters to you, ask before you order.

What is babi guling and where should you eat it?

Babi guling is a whole suckling pig, its belly filled with spices and vegetables such as cassava leaves, then roasted on a spit that is turned until the skin goes brown and crisp. Wikipedia notes it started as ceremonial food and is now sold in warungs, restaurants and some hotels.

A serving usually comes with steamed rice, lawar and a bowl of soup. Some stalls add pork sausage (urutan) and pork satay. Popular stalls close when the day's pigs run out, often by mid-afternoon, so go early.

• Halal and vegetarian: it is pork. There is no halal version, and it is not suitable for vegetarians.
• Gianyar: Wikipedia says some of the island's best babi guling is found around Gianyar.

What is nasi campur in Bali?

Nasi campur is rice served with small portions of several dishes on one plate. A Balinese plate often carries sate lilit and lawar, and sometimes a piece of ayam betutu.

It is the easiest way to taste several dishes for one price, and the best order for a first meal. At many warungs you point at what you want, so you can ask for chicken or fish instead of pork, and for lawar without blood.

• Halal and vegetarian: depends entirely on the stall. Ask what is in each item before you point.

What is sate lilit?

Sate lilit is a Balinese satay made from minced meat or fish mixed with grated coconut, thick coconut milk, lime juice, shallots and pepper. The mixture is wrapped around a wide, flat bamboo stick, a sugar cane stick or a lemongrass stalk, then grilled over charcoal. Lilit is Balinese for "to wrap".

You will see it made from fish, chicken, beef or pork. Ask which one you are getting.

• Halal and vegetarian: choose fish or chicken if you avoid pork. Not vegetarian.
• Where: warungs and restaurants across the island, usually as part of nasi campur or as a starter.

What is lawar?

Lawar is a chopped mix of vegetables, grated coconut, herbs and spices, often with minced meat. Wikipedia lists green beans, kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, palm sugar and fried shallots among the ingredients, all cooked in coconut oil.

It is named after what is mixed in: chicken lawar, pork lawar, jackfruit lawar. Red lawar (lawar merah) has blood added. White lawar (lawar putih) does not. Lawar spoils quickly, and Wikipedia says it is usually good for about half a day, so it is best eaten in the morning or at lunch from busy stalls where it turns over fast.

• Halal and vegetarian: the jackfruit version has no meat, but it still uses the spice paste, so it may contain shrimp paste. If you do not eat blood, ask for lawar putih.

What is bebek betutu?

Bebek betutu is duck, or sometimes chicken, stuffed with the betutu spice mix, wrapped in banana leaves and coconut husk and cooked in a pit of embers. Wikipedia notes that the cooking method varies by region: in Klungkung and Karangasem the bird is stuffed with spices, in Gianyar it is wrapped in plantain leaf, and in Gilimanuk it tends to be hotter.

It is a dish for a proper sit-down meal, not a snack, so expect to eat it with rice and a side of vegetables.

• Halal and vegetarian: no pork, but whether a restaurant is halal-certified is for you to ask. Not vegetarian.

How spicy is Balinese food?

It can be very spicy, but the heat is usually served on the side so you can control it. Wikipedia notes that betutu can come with an extra-spicy sauce of raw sliced onion, red chilli and coconut oil, and that the Gilimanuk style is the hot one. City Nomads describes sambal matah as a Balinese raw sambal, and it is served with babi guling at some warungs.

If you are unsure, ask for sambal separately and add it a little at a time. Lawar also contains chilli in the mix, so a mild plate is harder to get than a mild satay.

In what order should you try them?

Start with nasi campur, because it gives you small portions of several flavours. Go for sate lilit next, then lawar. Babi guling is better as a lunch with a proper appetite, and bebek betutu is best as a sit-down dinner.

We do not quote food prices here. Reviews of the same warung give very different figures, and menus change, so check the board or ask before you order. Eat at busy places where the dishes turn over quickly, particularly for lawar.

What about Jimbaran seafood and Bali street food?

Jimbaran Bay is the classic seafood dinner. Lonely Planet describes a 4 km bay lined with restaurants in three groups, where the fish is sold by weight and the price includes rice and vegetables. Platters and set menus are also available. Agree the weight before it goes on the grill. Lonely Planet adds that tables are set out on the sand, grills smoke as evening falls and musicians wander between tables, so it is a loud, smoky, social dinner rather than a quiet one. We list a candlelit Jimbaran beach dinner on our places pages if you want the details.

For everyday eating, warungs are where locals eat. Sate lilit, lawar and nasi campur are all warung food rather than restaurant food, and Wikipedia describes lawar as commonly found in them. You can also eat your way around the markets, and our Bali markets guide lists where to go.

How do you eat well on a day trip?

Build the meals around your route. If you are heading to Ubud, plan a late breakfast of nasi campur or a babi guling lunch before the pig runs out. We run an Ubud Tour from $60 per car and a Kintamani Tour from $70 per car, and if you want a lunch stop on either, tell us when you book. In the south, the Uluwatu Sunset Tour, from $35 per person, covers the southern tip of the Bukit peninsula, and Jimbaran Bay sits on the same peninsula, so ask us if you want the evening to end there with dinner.

For a wider plan of the island, start with our Bali travel guide and decide which areas you will base yourself in.

Tell us on our contact page what you eat and what you avoid, and we will plan the stops around your meals.