Epicurina - Bali Food Adventure Blog

Ayam Taliwang RM As Sidiq, Bedugul, Bali, Indonesia

As we are hungry and it's already 2 p.m., we have no other choice but to visit this restaurant RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq specializing in Ayam Taliwang dish from the Lombok island. At the time of our research, it was the most mentioned eating place on the blogs about traveling to Bedugul. The other popular choice was Strawberry House, but it was located quite far from the travel destination, and it focuses on strawberry dishes while our hungry Indonesian stomach long for something more familiar and heavier, hence we picked the Ayam Taliwang instead.

Located right across the parking space for Pura Ulun Danu at Danau Beratan, RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq is housed in a decent old building with various choices of all-Indonesian dishes. Prices are affordable, those who are under tight budget can still get a decent meal for about 20K IDR (around $2). If you are aiming for their specialty however, both Ayam Bakar Taliwang and Ayam Bumbu Taliwang costs almost 30K IDR alone. It's a whole chicken dish but please hold yourself from drooling as chicken used are young ones which is quite petite. It's closer to quail instead of a respectable sized chicken.

Lucky I ordered the Nasi Campur which consisted of rice, a piece of grilled chicken, tahu, mixed vegetable, and sambal. The portion is hearty while the taste was all right; a good hit for a 19K dish.

Scoville's Gado-Gado

My mother in law, who is the reason we're in Bedugul in the first place, is a decent lady in her late 60s. Her upbringing and cultural background dictates, that she should be humble at all times, and she doesn't eat anything unfamiliar, especially when not cooked in Minang custom; which poses a problem since the dishes served at RM Ayam Taliwang As Sidiq was mostly unfamiliar to her. Except for the Gado-Gado which is a Betawi dish, and so she ordered one.

Coming from a Minang background, she's also accustomed to the high level of chillies and oil for all that she can remember, hence instructed the waiter to have her Gado-Gado "pedas".

However, this is Bali, the land where its dishes uses Lombok type of chilli, which far more superior than regular red chillies she's accustomed with. It's more like the fondness of Jawa Barat people in using Cabai Rawit (bird-eye chilli) in their dishes instead of Cabai Merah like Minang culture does, tripled.

As comparison, when the hottest food with Cabai Merah burns your lips and tongue, the hotness of Cabai Lombok is similar with having firecrackers lit inside your mouth. And as the waiter walked away I was just realized those facts, but was too hungry to think straight hence just hoping that "pedas" here doesn't really pedas as I thought it will be.

...

We ended up ordering another plate of Gado-Gado for her, and this time not pedas at all. Anyway she's still suffers from stomach ache for two following days afterward, due to the novel attempt to finish half of the dish before giving up.

A Tame Taliwang

Surprisingly enough, the Ayam Taliwang that the waiter said is the pedas choice, and we anticipated with high curiosity, turned out to be not pedas at all. Yes it's spicy and tasty, but nowhere near pedas. Not in Balinese standard especially. My Nasi Ayam trained taste buds cried their disappointment, but I told them I have no choice.

Another concern is that while the seasoning is good and flavourful, the cooking is not. Both my one-piece grilled chicken, and the whole mini Ayam Taliwang chicken, were dried and lost most of its moisture. The Picky Eater however, think this is perfect and eat almost the whole chicken beside the charity parts she left me with.

As a wrap-up, on overall we found the food quality is still above average, prices are reasonable, service is fast, the parking space is wide, while the dining area itself is clean but a bit disorganized. Wouldn't protest if I should visit them again, however I'm wide open for other options. (byms)