Best Eats in Bali

Last Updated on May 31, 2024 by Leslie Stroud <!– %AUTHOR_NAME% –>

1. Gelato is really big here.  A lot of it is kind of watery, but we loved Massimo’s in Sanur.  We also liked Gelato Secrets, which has multiple locations.  Favorite flavors: Black Forest and Snickers.

2. Massimo’s in Sanur is some of the best food we found!  They had a HUGE gluten-free menu, which was huge for us.  However, their pizza is also really good.  They do other Italian dishes and the steak with polenta fries was so yummy.

3. If going Indonesian, I love Nasi Goreng.  You can find this dish anywhere- they have it constantly available.  It is basically fried rice with an egg on top.  Mie Goreng is just as popular and is the same thing with noodles instead of rice.

4. Go to a street market!  We did an Air BnB experience with a host that will take you to a night market.  It was one of my favorite things by far.  I’m quite adventurous and I always want to see the real-life of a place, not just the tourist view.  This was perfect for that.  We were the only white people there.  Tons of families go every night to the night market for dinner and it has lots of delicious food.  The host ordered for us and brought us a huge sampling of dishes.  Wow, it was SO good.  And we didn’t get sick at all!

5. Indian food is quite popular.  We love Indian and got to know it much better here.  The tandoori meats and veggies are yummy.  Our favorite was a restaurant called Ganesha in Sanur that had a chili paneer dish.  Oh my.  One of our favorite dishes EVER.  We also loved the samosas.

6. Ice cream is plentiful!  Every restaurant always has ice cream, so if that’s your thing, you’ll love it.

7. Bak Bao Ayam.  This is a steamed bun with chicken (Ayam is chicken) that Chris loved.  We found it at the grocery store.

What NOT to order: Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, milkshakes.  Club sandwiches are hit and miss- sometimes good and sometimes terrible.  Chris got one club sandwich where the mayo was way over the top and mixed with sugar.  Yuck.  The milkshakes are super watery and not very flavorful.

Other notes:

• There is also a LOT of Chinese, which we avoided for gluten reasons.  Pretty much the only “fast food” is Chinese!

• Restaurants take FOREVER.  We never had a sit-down meal take less than two hours.  It was miserable with kids.  Even takeout takes an hour or more many times.  So just be prepared to spend some time :). Or cook at home like we did a lot!

• Food costs vary a LOT.  You can get dinner for a couple of dollars or over $100.  Trip Advisor can be a great resource for finding places to eat.  Yelp doesn’t really exist there.

• You can still find big chains in Denpasar- KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut.  If that’s your thing, go check out the different menu items.