Finally I got a chance to check out what Churros La Fonda is all about. With virtually all the Balinese celebrating Galungan, including the travel guides so most of tourist activities will be reduced too, we figured yesterday that it would be the best time to visit Kuta, and so we did.

No thanks to the puzzling layout of Kuta's Beach Walk though, it requires some time to find out where everything is. How about some decent floor map Beach Walk?

For you who's curious, Churros La Fonda located on the 3rd floor near the Western escalator shaft, with a view facing Kuta Beach. And no, don't try to look for a stall because Churros La Fonda have an outlet from the back of... a Bajay!

Needless to say the stall itself attracts quite an attention from the people passing by, which ends up in them wanting to try the churros.

Another fun part of the shopping experience is that people are able to watch how their curros comes into form, because it's made fresh from the dough machine, into the electric fryer underneath.

After it's cooked, the curly brown sticks are then bathed in either one of the two kind of sugars; regular cane sugar, or cinnamon infused.

Another option at Churros La Fonda, is to order a cup of melted chocolate and dip your churros into it.

We found our churros more enjoyable with only cinnamon sugar though; as the chocolate tend to be overpowering, and it's unlike a melted chocolate butter, but more like a thick chocolate drink.

Doesn't it looks good? Well it tasted good too; the skin of churros is crumbly crispy with the good biscuit like texture, but inside it's still moist and soft, and warm, lovely. The cinnamon sugar itself gives churros a good vintage taste.

Churros are sold in tens, at Rp. 1,000 a piece. Ten pieces of it (as pictured above) satisfies one, but just enough for two to shares. The chocolate dip are sold in three sized cups starting at Rp. 15,000.

An issue we recognized during our visit yesterday, is the waiting period. As it's freshly fried for every orders, and the churros need a resting time to cool down afterward, waiting time could take a while. This condition has resulted in some customers canceled their request for they're couldn't wait. It happens usually with those looking like tourists from out of town, and they're already in the midway of going somewhere else.

And while the view is breath taking even at the dull mid-day, it's too hot to do anything out there fully clothed far from the waters. Therefore there should be more chairs for those willing to wait, indoor out of the heat.

Issues aside, from what we experienced though, the warm churros are worth the wait. (byms)

Churros La Fonda

Beachwalk Mall 3rd floor, Jalan Pantai Kuta, Bali 80361
P: 0878-6147-4548
http://twitter.com/ChurrosBali
https://www.facebook.com/ChurrosBali

While the #infographic is just for laughs, anyone in your contact fits those? Not me I hope :D

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/03/25/tech-industry-obnoxious-tweeters/

Among the best culinary event in Bali to go to, is the Denpasar Festival that held annually each December. What makes it a bit troublesome to visit it though, is the heavy rains that frequents December. I wish the city official could move it outside the rainy seasons, or perhaps make it twice a year; for the food festival section at least.

During this event, different food from different parts of Denpasar are showcased. While the theme of each year seems to differs a lot, like there was a Legendary Cuisine section back in Denpasar Festival 2009, in Denpasar Festival 2012 there was none. While lacking what I consider as the most important part for foodies to sample bests of Denpasar street food, there was still a lot of varieties to choose from.

While obviously there were a lot of pork, like the pork satay photographed above; and usual stalls that I've seen and been to before; giving my already 3+ years of living in this beautiful island, there were still surprises awaits. One of the example, is the Sate Lilit Salmon.

Sate Lilit Salmon

Marketing on Salmon's health benefits, Warung RA Salmon offers several set menus that proven to be a success; because early in the afternoon they're already running out of most of the items. What's left though is the rather unique Sate Lilit Salmon, which I found was more interesting to try than Salmon steaks, Salmon nuggets, or whatever western dishes version made with Salmon. This is Bali, and it's good to see that people in the food industries are still willing to innovate and experiments.

Though as experiments might go wrong, I still find the regular Sate Lilit Ikan favorable over this innovation. While I can still taste the salmon very well, its combination with Bali's base genep seasoning, a moderate amount of chilly  and sweet glazing requires some time to get used to. I guess salmon's strong taste are best nurtured instead of contested. Perhaps the experiment has a better result in the monochromatic tum, or pepes? I can only imagine they do.

Vegetarian Dishes

Another kind of dishes I'd always curious to try is vegetarian. Not for its health benefits or religious reasons, but to see how this specialty culinary has grown.

Having visited a Vegetarian food expo 10+ years ago in Jakarta, where I got a chance to taste many of it's 300 different dishes, I'm a bit disappointed that here in Bali, I didn't find any mushroom in the vegetarian dishes I have sampled. Even if you want to go purist; resorting on real vegetables instead on those meat-imitation ingredients, mushroom is a great ingredients to flavor your cooking.

There was this beef jerky look alike that was made from green beans, however taste wise they almost have no taste except for the grainy earthy over dehydrated beans sensation.

The Sate Lilit made from tahu was pleasing though, but it's no surprise since perkedel tahu is quite a common dish in my mother's cooking.

Visitors

While we were enjoying our meal, the rain suddenly pouring down, hence we need to stay where we are. The side effect of it though, is that we got to meet other Festival goers, like these sisters from Karangasem, who drove all the way just to visit Denpasar Festival. Having a chatty kid helps a lot too, as it's an effective ice breaker among strangers.

The Closure

Missing many of 2009's unique dishes, like Sup Bulu Babi Pulau Serangan (very putrid taste but unique nonetheless), or the Lawar Nyawan, which made using bee's nest, I still managed though, to find some of Denpasar's unique culinary like the Sate & Tongseng Alu (monitor lizard); however (again) they're marketed more as medicinal food instead of savory treats, where I assume they're made just to become bearable; hence making me reluctant to try them.

In the end, we did more of walking around, and due to the rain we couldn't do much of that either. We made it to stop at a dessert stall though, selling many of Bali's best desserts, including the simplistic yet flavorful Es Daluman.

See you in Denpasar Festival 2013. (byms)

Ever since Jl. Tukad Pakerisan was made one-way street for cars, the traffic jam is severely reduced.

However, around 5pm-7pm on working days, the heavy traffic resumes, hence I often prefers to take a detour into Jl. Tukad Batanghari for lighter traffic instead.

On one incidental occasion though, a thing happened which made me happily choose the traffic heavy Jl. Tukad Pakerisan.

Onde-Onde!

Sold in a decent aluminium showcase in a house's front yard, tens of this medium sized brown balls covered in sesame seeds tempting my eyes.

As I think "why not?" and pulled over, I then purchased some of this goodies at only 1K a piece. Went back inside my car, I begun to take a piece and bite right through it.

The result?

Never have I found onde-onde this good! Crisp on the outside, chewy dough underneath it, with crumbly creamy mashed green bean filling, and the nutty scent of roasted sesame seed lingering in between. And since I often get it hot, right out of the seller's frying wok, its delicious level doubled. While it's not the best ingredients I've ever tasted in an onde-onde, its freshness plays a great role.

Because my significant other the picky eater loves it too, therefore a visit once a week is a necessity.

What's too bad though, is that I often can't get off from the office early enough to catch the last balls of these goodies, or even if I could, sometimes the Javanese uncle who sells it feels like not opening his stall, or worse: the onde-onde are all there but...

"It's all for a special order, not for sale, sorry mas." said the man.

And seeing all those hot onde-onde resting on the frying mesh is a torture...

On some lucky days though, not only I'm able to bring home plenty of this delicious treats, but the uncle selling it often slip in an extra if you buy a lot, or when there's only one or two left on the display, and he's out of stock for the night. I know money-wise it costs only a parking ticket in Denpasar, but experience-wise those extras are worth way beyond its price: a happy customer.

While it's something that costs him perhaps only 500 rupiah for production cost, the extra has bought him a loyal, perhaps lifetime customer. And it's mind boggling how some businesses still focuses too much on one-time profit making, instead of nurturing a relationship which in turns creating brand loyalists. (byms)